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Auction ReadinessPrompt.
Auctions in Australia are unconditional. You bid, you buy — no cooling-off period, no finance clause, no building inspection condition. This prompt builds your pre-auction checklist, your maximum bid framework, and the five questions you must answer before you register to bid.
Why this matters
**Why this *matters***
An auction is the only property transaction in Australia where you can commit to paying hundreds of thousands of dollars without a cooling-off period, without a finance clause, and without a building inspection condition. If you bid and win, you are legally contracted to complete the purchase. If your finance subsequently falls through, you lose your deposit and may be liable for the vendor’s loss on resale.
Most buyers walk into auctions emotionally prepared but practically underprepared. They know what they want to pay. They don’t know whether their pre-approval covers the actual property type and location. They haven’t confirmed their conveyancer has reviewed the contract. They haven’t ordered a building and pest inspection because they didn’t want to spend the money on a property they might not win.
That last calculation is the one that catches people. The cost of a building and pest inspection is $600. The cost of buying a property with an undisclosed structural defect is potentially hundreds of thousands. The discipline of running a complete pre-auction checklist is not about being cautious — it is about knowing exactly what you are buying before you bid on it.
“You don’t decide your maximum bid at the auction. You decide it the night before, in writing, and you don’t move it on the day.
What you're building
A complete pre-auction preparation pack: a finance and legal readiness checklist, a maximum bid framework built from comparable sales evidence and your formal finance approval, an auction day strategy, a step-by-step guide for what happens after the hammer falls, and the five questions you must be able to answer before you register to bid.
Claude (free tier works). Your property details, your pre-approval status, your maximum budget, the auction date, and whatever due diligence you have completed so far.
Build the checklist.Answer five questions.Know your number.
The output produces a personalised pre-auction checklist and maximum bid framework based on your specific situation. Work through it methodically. The items you cannot tick off are the items to resolve before auction day.
Pre-approval is not formal approval. Many buyers bid at auction on the strength of a pre-approval, win, and then discover their formal approval has conditions attached — a valuation, a final payslip, an insurance certificate — that create unexpected delays or shortfalls. Confirm with your broker that your pre-approval will convert to formal unconditional approval for this specific property before you bid.
Day 07 prompt
Auction Readiness
You are an Australian property strategy assistant helping a buyer prepare for a property auction. Auctions in Australia are unconditional — there is no cooling-off period, no finance clause, and no building inspection condition once the hammer falls. Help me prepare properly. PROPERTY DETAILS: - Address: [full address] - Auction date: [date and time] - Price guide (if disclosed): $[amount or 'no guide given'] - Property type: [house / apartment / townhouse / other] - State: [NSW / VIC / QLD / SA / WA / TAS / ACT / NT] MY FINANCE POSITION: - Pre-approval status: [yes — approved to $X / verbal indication only / not yet obtained] - Lender: [name if known] - Pre-approval expiry date: [date if known] - My absolute maximum I can borrow: $[amount] - My available deposit and costs budget: $[total available] - My walk-away price (the maximum I will pay under any circumstances): $[amount] DUE DILIGENCE COMPLETED: - Contract reviewed by conveyancer: [yes / no / in progress] - Building and pest inspection: [yes — outcome: / no / ordered] - Strata report (if apartment): [yes — outcome: / no / not applicable] - Comparable sales research: [yes — comparable range $X to $X / not done] Return a complete auction readiness report with these 6 sections: ## 1. PRE-AUCTION CHECKLIST — WHAT MUST BE DONE BEFORE AUCTION DAY For each item, mark whether I have completed it based on what I told you, and if not, what I need to do and by when. Be specific about the risk of each incomplete item. Finance readiness: - [ ] Formal pre-approval (not verbal) in place, with unconditional capacity confirmed at my target price - [ ] Pre-approval covers this specific property type and location (lenders can restrict certain postcodes or property types) - [ ] 10% deposit (or 5% if agreed with vendor) available as a bank cheque or in a settlement-ready account - [ ] I know exactly how I am funding the deposit: from which account, confirmed available Legal readiness: - [ ] Contract of sale reviewed by my conveyancer and all issues identified and accepted - [ ] Special conditions understood and accepted - [ ] Settlement terms noted: standard 30/42/60 days or vendor preference - [ ] Cooling-off period: note there is NO cooling-off after an auction purchase Due diligence: - [ ] Building and pest inspection completed (note: cannot be made a condition post-auction) - [ ] Strata report reviewed if apartment (note: cannot make this a condition post-auction) - [ ] Title search completed by conveyancer - [ ] Council zoning and any overlays confirmed Market research: - [ ] Comparable recent sales reviewed: properties that have actually sold, not listed - [ ] My maximum bid is based on comparable sales evidence, not on the agent's price guide - [ ] I have inspected the property at least twice at different times of day ## 2. MY MAXIMUM BID FRAMEWORK Based on what I have told you, help me build my maximum bid framework. - My absolute maximum based on finance: $[calculate from my pre-approval and deposit] - My comparable sales supported maximum: $[ask me to provide comparables or note this needs to be researched] - My emotional ceiling (the most I would pay and still feel the deal makes sense): $[ask me] - My maximum bid: the lowest of the three numbers above - Flag: your maximum bid must be set in writing before the auction. Do not adjust it on the day based on emotion or competitive pressure. The agent's job is to get you to pay more than your maximum. Know your number. ## 3. AUCTION DAY STRATEGY - When to register: arrive early, register before the auction starts, observe the crowd - Where to stand: visible to the auctioneer, not surrounded by other bidders - When to start bidding: starting early vs waiting — pros and cons for my situation - How to bid: confidently, in clear increments, maintaining composure - What to do if bidding stalls below my maximum: understand what a vendor bid is and how to respond - What to do when the property is passed in: understand the post-auction negotiation process and my rights - The one thing most auction buyers get wrong: [explain the single most common mistake for my market] ## 4. IF I WIN — WHAT HAPPENS NEXT - Immediately: sign the contract, pay the deposit (10% or agreed amount), no cooling-off - Within 24–48 hours: confirm settlement with my conveyancer, confirm finance is formally approved (not just pre-approved) - Finance gap risk: what happens if my formal approval differs from my pre-approval — and what I should have confirmed with my broker before bidding - Settlement period: standard timeframe for my state and what I need to have in place by settlement ## 5. FIVE QUESTIONS I MUST ANSWER BEFORE I BID The five most critical questions I need answered with certainty before I register to bid at this auction. These are not optional — if I cannot answer all five with confidence, I am not ready to bid. 1. [Question about finance readiness specific to my situation] 2. [Question about legal and contract readiness] 3. [Question about due diligence completion] 4. [Question about deposit availability] 5. [Question about my maximum bid and how I will hold to it] ## 6. IF I AM NOT READY If any of the items in my checklist are incomplete or I cannot answer the five questions above, list clearly what I need to do to be ready, in what order, and whether the auction timeline allows for it. If it does not, advise whether I should pass on this auction or whether there is a path to being ready in time. --- Educational analysis only. Not legal advice, financial advice, or credit advice. Auction law and processes vary by state. Engaging a qualified solicitor or conveyancer to review the contract before auction is essential. Verify your borrowing capacity with your mortgage broker before bidding. Do not rely on verbal pre-approvals.
The valuation that didn’t match the hammer price.
In one illustrative scenario, a first home buyer attended an auction in Melbourne’s inner east. She had a pre-approval for $820,000 and a strong emotional attachment to the property. The hammer fell at $848,000. She signed the contract and paid her deposit. The bank’s valuation came back at $810,000.
She found the funds — a combination of family assistance and a personal loan — and settled. But she nearly lost her deposit because she had treated her pre-approval as a guarantee and her maximum bid as flexible rather than fixed. The auction readiness prompt runs this scenario before the auction, not after. It is a fifteen-minute exercise that surfaces the valuation gap risk before it costs you your deposit.
Your first run is fine. Your fifth is sharp.
Update with your actual comparable sales
The comparable sales section of the framework is only useful if you have done the research. Before the auction, spend 30 minutes pulling actual completed sales from the last 6 months in the same suburb for similar properties. These are your evidence base for your maximum bid, not the agent’s price guide.
Confirm your deposit source the week before
Bank cheques, electronic transfers, and the timing of moving money between accounts are all auction-day logistics that need to be organised in advance. Confirm with your bank exactly how you will make the 10% deposit payment on the day.
Run the checklist for every auction you attend seriously
The checklist is quick to run once you have done it once. Any auction where you are prepared to bid should have a completed checklist. Any auction where you cannot tick off the five key questions is an auction you are not ready to bid at.
Save the auction readiness template in a Claude Project. Every time you consider bidding at an auction, open the template, update it for the specific property, and run through the checklist. The preparation is the protection.
What it still gets wrong.
Comparable sales analysis is not a valuation
The maximum bid framework uses comparable sales to set a price ceiling. This is not the same as a formal valuation. The bank’s valuer may arrive at a different number. The gap between your bid and the bank’s valuation is a risk you must be able to fund.
Lender policy on the specific property
Your pre-approval covers a loan amount, not a specific property. When the contract goes to the lender, they assess the specific property — its type, its location, its postcode, and whether their internal policies permit lending on it at your intended LVR. Confirm this before you bid, not after.
Auction law varies by state
The rules around cooling-off periods, vendor bids, reserve prices, and post-auction negotiation vary significantly by state. This prompt provides general guidance. Your conveyancer advises on the specific rules in your state.
Emotional pressure on the day is real
No prompt prepares you for the adrenaline of a competitive auction. The discipline of a written maximum bid that you have committed to in advance is the only reliable protection against bidding beyond your number. The auction is not the time to recalculate.
How this stacks.
Day 07 prepares you for auction day. Day 01 analysed the property in the weeks before. Day 03 mapped your finance readiness before you started attending auctions. Day 22 helped you read the building and pest report. Together they form a complete auction preparation workflow.
On auction morning.
You’ll have a written maximum bid, a funded deposit, a reviewed contract, and a completed building inspection.
You’ll know your number. You’ll have confirmed your broker has pre-approved this specific property and property type. Your conveyancer will have reviewed the contract. You’ll have a bank cheque or funds ready to transfer. And you’ll have decided in writing what you will pay and committed to not moving it on the day. That is what a prepared auction buyer looks like.
Renovation Potential Check
The numbers on a renovator’s delight only work if the renovation budget is real. This prompt stress-tests scope, council constraints, comparable post-renovation sales, and whether the spend actually adds the value most buyers assume it will.
Read Day 08 ↗