Auctioning a flip...worth the risk?

[Paul Smythe]

Has anyone ever had the courage to put an investment up for auction as opposed to selling it normally? What was your experience? Who did you list with?

I've got a flip that I will be trying to sell later this year, and I was wanting to get opinions on putting it up for auction. I can see two main benefits to auctioning a property:

• It will sell quickly (in theory). You have a set date that the house will sell and you take an unpredictable price in return for a predictable time frame.
• You have the potential to sell for a higher price than a normal listing if there's enough interest, and because we're in a hot market there's definitely a chance.

Drawbacks:

• I'm assuming there are higher fees. I could use some clarity on that, though, because maybe the auction fees just replace realtor fees.
• I don't know the process, but it could be more complicated. I know it is from the buyer's end.
• There's a chance you would sell for a lower price and lose money. A reserve price might help, but it would obviously lower the interest.

What if I were to set the auction start price at my breakeven point? With my current deal that would be about 80% of the ARV, but that way I'm guaranteed not to lose money.

Obviously the price is the main question mark here. Anyone have experience with selling a house via auction?