THE DO'S AND DON'TS OF BUYING AT AUCTION

A small guide of do’s and don’ts while buying the property at an online auction.

Purchasing property by auction is a straightforward and hassle-free process. If you’re thinking of bidding on one of our auction Lots, take a look at the following quick guide to the do’s and don’ts of property auctions.

Let’s start with Do’s:

Your research

If you would like to purchase at auction, it’s a good idea to register to receive online auction notifications, catalogs on requests, and sign up via our website to receive updates and your own login suite. This will ensure you’re informed of all lots being sold by online auction and will give you time to read the legal pack, carry out any viewings and put your finances in place prior to bidding.

View the property

Wherever possible we arrange group viewings for all our properties. These can be booked via our website or by calling the relevant auctions team which will divert you to LPE or Vendor. If it is a land you are looking to purchase, you can visit the site at your own convenience, you do not need to advise us, and in the cases of tenanted properties, we do our best to work with the sellers to arrange access. For all viewings, one of our viewers will attend at the agreed time to let you into the property.

Read the legal pack

We upload all the legal packs to our website prior to offering the lot for sale. These are available to download for free, once you register and provide the documents required to activate your login. For our online auction lots, they will be uploaded prior to the online auction commencing, for our room auction lots, the legal packs will be uploaded around a week prior to the auction date.

Set your budget

It’s important to set a budget before you start bidding. You may have already costed up any refurbishment works you wish to carry out and therefore it’s important to ensure you don’t get caught up in the auction excitement and bid too high for the property. Once the online cycle is ended and your bid is a successful bid, you will exchange contracts or enter into a reservation agreement committing yourself to the purchase. Remember while buying a property via websold.co.uk Ltd.’s online auctions you are liable to pay the ‘Buyer’s Fee’ (admin fees) as mentioned in legal pack/property particulars.

Get your finances in place

Once you’ve set your budget, you should sort out how you’re going to pay for your new property. Completion times can be as little as 20 working days, so it’s important to have the finance in place prior to bidding. It is possible to purchase at auction with a mortgage, provided a mortgage in principle has been secured, or short term bridging loans can also be used. You can find more information about auction finance, please speak to our dedicated team who will put you to the right channel.

Get Homebuyer or Building Survey

You should conduct the survey prior to buying the property to secure your reservation. You may contact us for access, however, the payment you made for the survey is at risk and it is no guarantee you will be able to purchase the property, as the sale is subject to contract. The vendor (websold.co.uk Ltd) will not reimburse the cost of the survey to the buyer in any circumstances whatsoever.

Here are the Don’ts

Be put off by renovation work

Some of the properties being sold by auction are in need of renovation and refurbishment. However, in many cases, it is only cosmetic decoration required, which indeed you may consider a necessity for your new purchase anyway.

Worry about bidding

If you’re attending an auction for the first time, don’t worry about it being a scary experience. You don’t have to sit on your hands and you can sneeze if you need to! Bidding at an auction should be exciting and should be something you feel comfortable doing. If you’re not sure what to expect, you should attend an auction prior to the one you wish to bid at so you can watch how they work and know what to expect when it comes to your turn.

Forget the quick timescales

The auction purchase process is much quicker than a traditional private treaty sale and it is much more secure. Part of the reason for that is, that contracts are exchanged on the end of timer (reverse cycle) and completion takes place shortly afterwards, sometimes only 20 working days later. It’s important to check the legal pack for the completion times for any property you wish to buy to ensure you have your finances in place and your solicitor is able to organise any paperwork in time. If you don’t have your full finances in place by completion date you could be charged interest on the purchase or even sued by the owner. These cases are usually few and far between.

Purchase without solicitor advice

We always upload the legal pack for each property on our website prior to it being offered for sale. This is so that our buyers can do their research, which includes your solicitor reading over the documents in advance of bidding. This is to ensure anything which you may not be happy with, is picked up prior to committing to the sale; you may purchase the property without appointing a solicitor however the risk is quite high in this case.

Think auctions are only for investors

Anyone can buy at auction; it’s not simply a domain for property professionals or investors. If you’ve seen homes under the Hammer then that gives you an idea of who attends, it could be individuals wanting a rental property, couples wanting a renovation project, a family wanting a home to move into or maybe a business owner wanting new premises. If the property is right for you and your budget fits then make a bid!