TAP 18. ‘The Block’ Go behind the scenes with a winning auctioneer. A Podcast For Real Estate Agents
For the last 4 years David Wood has been invited to be a featured Auctioneer on Channel Nine’s mega successful reality TV series, ‘The Block’. In this interview, David takes us behind the scenes so we get to discover how the show works and why it’s become so successful.
It’s interesting to speculate exactly why Channel Nine’s reality renovation series, ‘The Block’ is so successful.
The show, which has already started production on its 11th series, challenges four couples to renovate a property, usually an apartment in a block of 4, and bring their renovation in on budget and on time.
And to spice things up, the stakes are high with each couple getting the opportunity to win a cash bonus if their selling price at auction is the highest over the set reserve. Each couple also gets to keep the money made over reserve when the auctioneer’s hammer comes down and the property they renovated is sold to the highest bidder.
If you watched the series this year, you will have seen the winning couple make close to a million dollars, an all-time prize record for the show which has won 5 Australian TV Logie awards since starting in 2003.
Perhaps it’s the drama, emotion and excitement of tuning in each week to watch real life everyday people overcome personal and renovation challenges or perhaps it’s just the Australian obsession with property and the way a very clever production company brings everything together when it all comes down to ‘auction night’
Either way this winning formula has been adapted in 9 other countries and continues to engage a property hungry audience for every episode.
As always with a sale by auction, all the effort, tension, expense and personal investment comes down to that 15 or 20 minute window when the auctioneer asks that question, “How much am I bid?” and the fun begins.
The featured auctioneers which are personally chosen by each couple on The Block are among Australia’s finest and I was keen to take my Top Agents Playbook listeners behind the scenes to learn a little more about The Show and how the production comes together.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to make too many calls as my brother David, a director with real estate company Hocking Stuart in Melbourne’s Albert Park had just finished his fourth auction for show and shared some interesting insights into this highly successful reality series.
And just before my interview with David, I want to play an edited audio of the auction so you can experience the excitement of auction night on the block. This audio starts with The show’s host Scott Cam asking the contestants their reserve before David starts the auction.
I hope you enjoy this interview with David.
I’m back next week to present an interview with Toronto agent Melanie Piche who gets about 80% of her leads online from her blog and speaking the language her clients want to hear. I believe her website (which I’ll share next week) is one of the best real estate websites going around right now and she share’s a little addition she made to the front page of her site that helped Mel and her team double their response.
So thanks so much for tuning in, until next time, have an awesome week in real estate, dream big and take names.
This Wikipedia entry on the The Block is very comprehensive.