Help! - How to buy a house at auction?

catt_2

Well, despite all those pre-auction offers that were allegedly made on the house we were interested in, it was actually presented for auction on 19th April. Presumably the offers were unacceptable to the vendors or the purchaser was unable to exchange contracts before the auction date deadline.

The bidding went up way beyond the guide price, exceeding it by well over 25%.

But that wasn't enough. It failed to reach its reserve and is unsold. It's still available. But hardly a bargain. It will probably appear in next month's auction catalogue. We will look out for it and see if the guide price remains the same. So it cost the owners £700 to submit it for auction and they'll have to pay that fee all over again unless they get a discount second time round.

Lara

Did you bid on it at auction after all?

catt_2

Lara,

The auctioneer told us that there was strong demand for it. Several people had paid for a survey and an Asian family wanted to demolish and rebuild something bigger and newer. So we decided to increase our chances by putting in a pre-auction offer, which we did. If our offer had been accepted, it would not have gone to auction.

Unfortunately, others had done the same and the auctioneer told us there were higher offers. We could not up our offer because this priced it out of our range. The price was now too high for us and we did not think the house was worth the amount and we also have concerns about rising interest rates.

It is disappointing of course but we want to stay rational and not lose money on a house. There will be another house for us. Thanks for your interest, Lara.

Wig

real1314 wrote: »

There doesn't need to be a stooge - the auctioneer himself can legally invent bids up to (just below)the reserve price. If it goes beyond the reserve he stops. If it doesn't meet the reserve, it's unsold. This is knowing as "bidding off the wall" iirc.
Lots of people think it's dodgy, but then again, he can only push it whilst it is at a price that it would not be sold at. Then again, you see lots of auction where people won't bid on a property starting at (e.g) £100k, so he starts it lower at £75k, but then the same bidders end up bidding up to £120k??
It's a game that's played by both sides.

I'm just pointing out that even if you see someone bidding against you (actually bidding) you have no way of knowing if they are real or not. So have a price in mind and stick to it.

What Lot No. was it?