trying to sell a house abroad on auction, help or advice please

happyhero

Hi, I hope this is the right place for this, my father left the UK to live abroad about 25 years ago but now wants to move back to the UK. He currently lives in Greece and has been looking on the net for ways to sell.

He is keen to sell in a UK auction, which I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing, ie will he get much interest and how will people be able to make a decision without seeing it or do some people decide without seeing it or do they make the effort to go and see it first etc etc.

He found something on the net and I cannot tell if it is any good or not; he found pattinson.co.uk who advertised to sell free which is probably why he liked it, but they say because it is a property abroad there will be a charge and it works out over £700 with the VAT.

If they sold it I suppose that this would be ok but it sounds to me like they will just try and if it does not sell, that money is gone, not sure if that is right or not so I have said he should check it all out very carefully and I would look here for answers too.

We are both not experts at this and do not know all the ins and outs of auctions, or who to use, so can someone maybe explain a few things and maybe advise what he should do to come out of this best. I think from what he has been checking that he feels there is a chance to get a better price at auction compared to selling normally.

Any help/advice etc, appreciated.

happyhero

bump bump please

princessamy86

£700 with no guarantee of sale sounds a bit steep to me, and I don't know a lot about the overseas market but as a general rule, if you sell any property at auction in the UK there is around a 20% discount from market value. I had a quick look at the rightmove overseas section for you, there are specialist agents on there or you can pay £75 a month to advertise your property without an agent. It might be worth having a ring around these specialist agents to see what services they offer? Then you can have a comparison to show your dad. Steer clear from the timeshare companies, there was one called Properties Away but I didn't have an in depth look, that seems to be the kind of thing you are looking for anyway. His other options are to advertise in the kind of publications that the target market for the property are likely to read-is it more suited to older people/families/young people? Is it near a golf course? Would an agent in Greece be able to do anything for him? It would be worth researching the local market, because selling through a local agent will probably be easier than trying to sell it through a UK auction.

456789

I agree you would probably find it easier to sell with a local agent - and are locals supposed to bid in the uk auction if they want it? or is it in an expat area?

Wig

Don't use Pattinson under any circumstances, they charge buyer 5.875 % on top of the bid price, that means that you will get 5.875% less for your house than you would have got if you used a standard UK auction house and not one with links to the USA.

I frequent lots of property auctions in the local area and look at the UK national ones aswell. I have seen them offering property overseas, such as Spain, so ask your local auction houses and the national ones like
Barnard Marcus
and
Harman Healy
and
Savills

DO NOT use ALLSOP because they charge ridiculous money for legal packs the other 3 auction companies make no charge for legal packs (to the buyers).

In your case it would be best to use a national auction and not a local one, but to be fair I have only ever seen overseas property at local auctions and you can always set a reserve. Common sense would suggest the price you will get will have to be a bargain for the buyer, no-one is going to risk real value money on a property they have not seen and have little knowledge of the legal processes of another country. You can include lots of photos perhaps in the legal pack.

catmiaow

Wig wrote: »

Don't use Pattinson under any circumstances, they charge buyer 5.875 % on top of the bid price, that means that you will get 5.875% less for your house than you would have got if you used a standard UK auction house and not one with links to the USA.

I frequent lots of property auctions in the local area and look at the UK national ones aswell. I have seen them offering property overseas, such as Spain, so ask your local auction houses and the national ones like
Barnard Marcus
and
Harman Healy
and
Savills

DO NOT use ALLSOP because they charge ridiculous money for legal packs the other 3 auction companies make no charge for legal packs (to the buyers).

In your case it would be best to use a national auction and not a local one, but to be fair I have only ever seen overseas property at local auctions and you can always set a reserve. Common sense would suggest the price you will get will have to be a bargain for the buyer, no-one is going to risk real value money on a property they have not seen and have little knowledge of the legal processes of another country. You can include lots of photos perhaps in the legal pack.

It's free for UK properties so would you say you still should not use them as thinking of using them myself?