Yes although I am not going to do this unless I know I want to really go for it at auction. I am going to sound out a bit with a pre-auction offer (which is conditional on building inspection). If I get the feeling that the vendor is expecting too much, the auction will most likely pass in and I won't do an inspection before the auction. I think spending money before the auction causes some people to lose their cool during the bidding. I know it sounds silly as $1000 spent in solicitors / inspections is nothing compared to the sale price - but it's amazing what a tiny sunk cost can do to some people.
I've been to 2 auctions over the last 2 weekends in a nearby suburb. Both auctions had no registered bidders and the acuction was over before it started. Chatting with an auctioneer, he said that auction in Brisbane is not necessarily used to achieve the sale on the day, but to set an action deadline for potential buyers and get market feedback. Things tend to move quite fast after the property is passed in, and there can be a quicker outcome than going through the non-auction sale process from the started.
The average auction campaign is ~4 weeks while the average house is on the market for something like 85 days for Brisbane, so if a house is sold within 2 weeks after passing in at auction, it is still a quicker outcome than average.
Anyhow, the agent has told me the house I am interested in has no registered bidders yet, and no one has done a building/pest inspection. So I'd say there's a very good chance the property will also have no bidders at the auction. From then the seller will likely list the property at a certain price and I'd be happier to negotiate from there. If saves me from making the first move.
I've seen quite a lot of houses in recent times... one house that was passed in last weekend is now listed at ~10% below what I thought was a reasonable price. Another house I thought was listed at 10% higher than it should, ended up selling at that price. Both surprised me a fair bit as I have seen really quite a few houses in those areas and price ranges. This leads me to think that, while there's a "underlying value" for each property, the actual sale price can vary +/- 10% just on how informed and desperate are the buyers and sellers.
For example, looking at sold price history, a property was listed at "Offers above $XXXk+" tend to sell within $2-5k of that price (either above or below), while at property listed at $XXXk could sell 5-10% below that price (and rarely above). Perhaps that's because some buyers were naive enough to think that their offer won't be presented unless it meets the $XXX+ tag? It's amazing how that little "+" makes such a lot of difference.