or they may have just inherited a house from a late family’s Will, that they want to sell. Or you may be working with business clients who are in dispute over their business premises, and the only course of action would be to sell the property and split the proceeds. 

Whatever the situation, you know that selling a property in the open market, could take a long time, it could be costly and a lot of hassle.

The average time an estate agent in the UK sells a property is 8-12 months, and then there is the conveyancing process afterwards which could last 3 months+. That may be way too long for your clients.

You are aware of cash buying companies, but know they are likely to only offer 50-60% of the property value to buy the property, and you know that is not in the best interests of your clients.

Putting a property on auction may have crossed your mind, but you are not too sure of the process, and think it may be hassle and fees, and you are not sure if your clients would benefit from it. Ask yourself:

Would my clients benefit from selling faster, in an average of 2 months?

Would my clients benefit from selling their property for free?

Would they benefit in receiving as much money as possible?

Modern online auctions are vastly different from the old and tired auction houses you may have come across before. The modern online auction runs around the clock, 24/7 for a cycle of 28 days, in which bidders can bid at anytime, and it can be tracked at any point on a smartphone or laptop.

Initially, a reserve price is agreed between your client and the auction manager. This is a price they are happy to sell the property for. Any bids under the reserve price will not suffice and the property would not sell. The reserve price is only known to your client and us, and is secret from any potential buyers or other stakeholders, ensuring fairness and helping to get the most money for your client. 

When the property is set to go live on auction, the starting bid is set a lot lower, to generate interest. People often panic at the starting bid being so low, however this is nowhere near what the property will actually sell for. Most of our clients are experienced investors and landlords, and will know that the property is a bargain and will be worth a lot more. The lower price will interest them and they will start bidding.

The modern online auction process is free for sellers. When advising your client of the modern online auction, it is important to outline that there are no fees involved in advertising, viewing or administration, that they would usually pay an estate agent for. Your client will receive 100% of the sale proceeds from the sale. The only cost would be the legal conveyancing fees, which are standard to any property sale. 

The auctions also work a lot faster. This is convenient for our investor and landlord clients, who can buy and get into the property faster. This will be a benefit to your clients, as it is a lot faster than the average estate agent.

An auction cycle runs for 28 days, in which the property is open for bidding 24/7. When it reaches the end of the cycle and the reserve price is met, the property is sold instantly and the buyer pays the reservation fee and deposit on the same day. Legal exchange of contacts takes place on the same day and the date for completion is set 28 days after, where your client would vacate the property and hand over the keys.

If the reserve price is not met at the end of the auction cycle, your client is not legally bound to sell it. We put the property up for a second cycle, which it usually sells on. If at any point, your client changes their mind and wants to accept a current bid on the property and end the auction cycle early, we can accommodate this. We would always advise to wait until the end of the cycle as much higher bids will be highly likely, but the choice is up to your client.

As the potential buyers don’t know what the reserve price is, they often bid above it and your clients end up sell for more money. Not a bad thing to be complaining about. We are pleased to say that over 80% of our properties sell for over the reserve price, meaning a lot of happy clients.

We appreciate that you may still have questions, so check out our process to sell or FAQs page for more information. If you would rather speak with us and put your mind at ease, about advising your clients of the auction route, call us on 0330 223 6118 or fill in the enquiry form below.