Bidding Technique. Things to watch out for:-

*  Sign in and join the auction at least five minutes before the start time.

*  Read the Auction Act 1927 link at the foot of the Auction console.

*  Bidder names are not visible in the Auction, only a randomly allocated bidder number is shown.  To identify your bid, by the bidder number you will see ‘You’ in red.  If its not there you are not on the leader board. 

*  All bid times are based upon when a bid is received at the server.  Your bidding screen refreshes every ten seconds, allowing you to see who holds the top 5 places.  When bidding is fast you may have to bid above the recommended bid value shown to stay with the leaders.   If the bidding is a long way below what you think is the right price you could try to leap ahead of the bidding and put in what you think is a Realistic LOW price for the property.  A sudden leap in bidding has a psychological effect on other bidders who may give up and allow you to secure the property at that realistic low price.

*  When you begin to  enter the first number in the next bid, your screen will stop refreshing, giving you time to enter the bid.  BUT you won’t see if more bids have come in.  So don’t enter a number then wait, put the numbers in.   You don’t need commas or a pound sign or pence.  Press Bid, then you will see your bid with commas inserted.  Various warning messages may be displayed in red e.g. if your bid is massively high.  If you have made a mistake and your bid is not correct, press reject.  If it is correct press Confirm.  You will then see where you stand.

*  Make up your mind before you go to Auction what will be your maximum bid.  Write it down on a piece of paper and then don’t go Above  it ! 

*  If bidding is fast then wait till it slows down.  Don’t panic, many bidders choose to hold back and bid when the price gets closer to what they feel is the right price. Again it’s like running a race, there is a mental game going on behind the numbers.  Moving into the race as a new bidder, toward the end of the bidding, can break the confidence of your opponent who thought he controlled the race.   

*  Remember if bidding stalls you may need to bid to keep things going if you want to buy the property.  We always have a reserve price so the auctioneer may have to withdraw the lot if the reserve price has not been reached. If a lot is withdrawn from the auction but you are still interested in buying contact the auctioneer straightaway and make an offer in confidence.  If  bidders make an offer after the lot has been withdrawn the  auctioneer will normally ask for best and final bids from the top bidders.    

*  Bids can be withdrawn only if they are the leading bid and made in error.  If you advise the auctioneer through the console before SOLD is displayed, he will pause the auction and withdraw your bid.  You cannot withdraw your bid after the SOLD notice has been displayed.

Property auctions provide a great opportunity for you to pick up a bargain.  Buying at auction usually means that you have a very limited time in which to complete.

Our partner organisation, Mortgage Avenue can often provide up to 100% of the purchase price, allowing you to complete within the required time until you get your long-term finance in place or to bridge the gap if your arranged funds fall short of your final bid – Mortgage Avenue can offer the difference.

· Decision in Principle within 1 hour

· Money in 24 hours

· Up to 100% of purchase price

· No standard criteria

· £30,000 to £3,000,000

A link to Mortgage Avenue is available on our partner page.

The ‘buyer’s premium’ is normally a percentage additional charge on the ‘hammer price’ of the lot payable by the winning bidder.  It is made by the auctioneer to cover his ‘administrative expenses’.  At a Get Set 2 Move Auction all bidders agree , to appoint an independent lawyer and surveyor.  They provide legal title, building condition and mortgage valuation information equally to all bidders before the start of the auction.  The cost of provision of this information is recovered through a fixed fee buyer’s premium (approx £1,000) payable by the successful bidder, see :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buyer’s_Premium

 Auctions on GetSet2Move are different.  Many of you will be familiar with eBay style online auctions.  An auction on GetSet2Move is fundamentally different for these reasons.  

The auction is conducted in real time by a live auctioneer, it has a posted start time and like a real auction it goes on until bidding stops.  Then the Auctioneer displays the classic three final calls Going Once, Going Twice, at any point a rival bidder can still restart the bidding, until the moment when the final call of ‘SOLD’ is displayed.  

Finally… Yes we do ‘strike the hammer on the desk’ when the Sold Notice is diplayed on the bidding console.  From this time a legally binding contract between seller and successful bidder exists.  A full log of all bids and auctioneer notices is retained for audit purposes.  Bidder identity is not displayed.  

The Bidder has to pay the Buyers premium of around £1,000 by credit/debit card online within two hours and contact the nominated  buyers solicitor who will handle the rest of the Exchange and Completion of the Sale contract.  Standard legal fees are paid from the Buyers premium by the auctioneer.  Disbursements (expenses incurred) and Stamp duty are not covered.  I’ll write some more about the buyers premium in my next blog.

At a GetSet2move auction a Buyer’s solicitor is appointed right at the start when the property is first marketed.  The Buyers solicitor  looks over the details of the HIP information, asks the standard questions and gets the answers from the Sellers solicitor and provides a report for potential bidders.  In a conventional  system this happens at the end of the sales process and roughly 35 % of agreed sales fall through at this stage.   With our process any problems are sorted out right at the start not at the end of the process when it’s too late.  In some auctions where bidders have expressed an interest in getting the property mortgaged a survey will also be carried out by the broker on behalf of bidders. 

We advise bidders who have an interest in a property to register their interest in bidding through the website as soon as possible.  This is because if an offer is made that is acceptable to the seller, all bidders currently registered with an interest in that property will be asked to make a best and final offer.  Homes can be sold before the auction if an acceptable price is offerred.

1) When to Sell and when to Buy? I always recommend Sell before you Buy. This may seem strange but think about this:-

a) In a falling market if you sell first, you can buy later at a lower price.

b) There’s no chain to worry about and you use the money from equity in your own home to cover the deposit on your next and earn some interest.

c)     Many people are not aware that you can get a better deal on house removals if you move into your new home a few weeks after you move out of your old home. This is because it allows companies to schedule their deliveries efficiently and to fill spare load capacity. It’s also much easier because YOU don’t have to MOVE-OUT and MOVE-IN on the same day.