Whether you are after a bargain investment, an unusual property with character, or the house of your dreams that you have been waiting to buy for years, buying a house from property auctioneers can work out to be great value.
As the hammer drops you can find yourself walking away with an amazing deal. But it can also go the other way - if you don't do proper research, you can find yourself lumbered with an expensive wreck that you'll never be able to shift.
As with much of the property buying process, the key is research. The more time you put in before laying out your hard earned cash, the better your eventual deal could be.
This attitude towards buying from property auctioneers has been confirmed by new research from a company called Auction Finance.
It discovered that 25,000 houses are sold at auction each year. Figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors show that's around £5.2 billion of property a year.
Auction Finance's survey showed up to three out of four people bidding for homes at property auctioneers hadn't even got a valuation on their potential new home.
And the company says that's like playing Russian roulette with your money, especially if you're not a professional property investor.
It believes that you have to have huge experience in buying from property auctioneers to be able to spot potential problems in a house just by looking round. Most people would be better off getting a survey done first.
Seeing as you might have to have three or four surveys done on potential properties, experts suggest you put a portion of your overall budget aside for surveys. It will be money well spent to discover subsidence problems before you've paid out hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Other advice from experts revolves around spending time on the internet finding out all the information you can. Use a good property portal to look at the prices similar houses have sold for; this will help you set an accurate price guide.
Also use search engines and council websites to check the demographics of the area. It's pretty easy these days to find out crime statistics, flood risk and what neighboring properties sold for, even for a country property. You can also get information on the house from the Land Registry for a small fee, which is a valuable investment before you go to property auctioneers.
And it's worth typing the address and postcode into search engines, and on local newspaper websites.
The other research you can do is pounding the streets. Visit the area at different times of the day to see what the traffic is like, if it's affected when pubs kick out, etc. Keep an eye out for signs of crime such as boarded up windows or broken glass next to cars. If lots of houses are up for sale, ask yourself why.
Knock on neighbors' doors and ask them about the house - you might be surprised what you will learn. Have a series of questions that you want answered, such as the recent history of the property, why it is up for sale at auction, and how well it has been looked after.
Be friendly with the people you speak to; they might be your neighbors soon! And while you are knocking on doors, remember it's an area you don't know. Stay safe and don't attempt this exercise on your own.
With all of this information backing you up, you will find the process of buying from property auctioneers a lot less scary.
