If you thought that selling property by auction was the last resort for a desperate vendor to get rid of shabby, vermin invested dive, a bank offloading its stock of repossessions or a family wanting to move from a severely compromised house on the North Circular, think again! Many sellers are turning to auction as an alternative way of selling their homes and many properties sold by this method are actually high-end houses in good condition and in favourable locations.
As progressive agents keen to increase the range of services we provide to our clients, Rural View have teamed up with a well established and experienced Auction House to launch our own branded auction department.
Traditionally auctions have been held in a venue such as a hotel conference room at a predetermined day and time with bidders either physically present, at the end of a telephone or represented by the members of the auction team by proxy via written bidding instructions. At the fall of the hammer, contracts are deemed to have exchanged and there is a legally binding commitment to complete the transaction, usually in 28 days.
In modern times, online auctions have become increasingly popular as they offer the seller flexibility and control of the process and with Rural View Auctions there is the option that it’s commission free.
So why is the popularity of property auctions on the rise? The answer is multiple; speed, security, price, cost and transparency.
SPEED – Timing is a key factor for many auction sellers. As long as the reserve price is achieved, their property will be sold on the auction day or earlier and completion will be set 28 days or if they prefer, 56 days later.
SECURITY – Rather than the period of anxiety in a standard private treaty sale between accepting an offer and exchanging contracts, there is the certainty that when the digital hammer goes down, the sale is secure. Having already carried out their pre-sale checks and surveys, the buyer is financially committed to their purchase and pays a non-refundable deposit and/or reservation fee.
PRICE – The property is only sold if it meets or indeed exceeds the reserve price set by the seller unless they agree to accept a lesser amount. The starting bid price is advertised at a more competitive level so as to encourage interest from buyers and generate competing bids to ensure that the best price is achieved.
TRANSPARENCY- The process is transparent with both the vendor and prospective buyers aware of the bids being made. Our proactive auction team is there to guide and advise both the seller and purchaser every step of the way.
COST – Vendors have the option of selling at auction without incurring estate agency or auction commission fees which will effectively be paid by the buyer through an additional reservation fee.
The only costs the vendor will occur prior to a sale will be for a legal sale pack that contains all the documentation required to process a sale including the searches. Sellers can use their own solicitor to do this but we have access to partner solicitors who specialise in this type of work and can produce complete packs within days for a highly competitive price. There will be subsequent solicitor’s conveyancing costs to be paid.
If selling your property by auction sounds like a tempting proposition and you want to find out more about it, give us a call on 01722 716895.

Rural View 29.3.19

Appointing a solicitor for conveyancing

You’ve found your perfect home or your agent has hooked you a buyer, now what? For many, it’s only at this stage that they start to think about appointing a solicitor to act on their behalf in the conveyancing process. i.e. the legal business of buying and selling property. However, we would urge buyers and sellers to do this before arriving at this stage.

The reasons why one should be well prepared in advance of agreeing a sale/purchase are many and varied but could save you time, avoid complications, stress and even help to avoid disappointment.

In this article, I discuss how to go about choosing a solicitor. In a future one, I will write about the steps involved in appointing a solicitor and what happens before they can actually get the ball rolling and get a sale underway.

Conveyancing: do you homework!

First of all, be prepared to take a day or two to do your homework and find a solicitor you feel is the right one to do a good job for you. It is worth doing a bit of research and asking friends, relations and agents for recommendations.

How experienced are they? Have they dealt with your type of property before? How well do they know the area you are buying/selling in as some local knowledge can be helpful?

How transparent is your solicitor? Make sure there are no hidden fees and that you have an idea as to what you are going to be charged for and how much.

How proactive will your solicitor be in issuing or chasing paperwork, raising or dealing with enquiries, liaising with their opposite number and progressing matters as speedily but as effectively as possible?

How available are they? Solicitors are busy people but you don’t want your case to be at the bottom of the pile. You want them to be good at communicating not only with you but also with the agents involved as agents have a role to play in keep things moving and everyone in the chain informed.

Solicitors: choose wisely

Do not necessarily go with the cheapest quote. Bearing in mind the sums of money involved and the potential complexity of a transaction, good property conveyancing is too important a service to skimp on a few quid on. The same can be said about choosing the right estate agent but that’s another story!

There several large conveyancing companies that process sales almost on a production line basis. They are usually cheaper than the more traditional local solicitor whose office you can pop into and some are perfectly efficient, particularly if it’s a straight forward sale but others can be like dealing with a call centre manned by inexperienced staff.

Lastly, don’t forget that where there is a mortgage involved, the loan provider will also be a client of the solicitor.