Top queries to ask an auctioneers when selling your Southend home
One option for selling your house of flat in Southend is to use a property auction, in which you’ll agree to a reserve price — the lowest amount at which you’re willing to sell your home — and hope that many people are interested in buying the house or flat and keep trying to outbid each other by offering higher prices for it.
Just remember that there’s no guarantee that your home will receive any bids above the reserve price, but a single bid is a binding and legally enforceable agreement to buy your property. That means you need to set the reserve price at a level you are comfortable with, even after subtracting the commission that their auctioneer will charge for their work. And if you receive no bids then the home doesn’t sell and you’ll have to start the sale process again.
You might also face some delays when selling via this method, including a wait of at least a few weeks between the day on which you list your flat or house for sale and that day on which the auction takes place. If your property sells, there’s also a waiting period of an average 28 days for the buyer to complete their part of the process before the sale can be finalised.
Auctioneers will do most of the work in selling your home, including creating a listing that advertises the property using photographs of it and a text description of its main features. They expect to be paid for this work, and most auctioneers charge commission based on a percentage of your home’s sale price. You may be able to negotiate lower fees with some auctioneers.
Some auctioneers only know how to sell certain types of houses or flats, and that’s why this question is important. If your home has unique features that might make it more difficult to sell, such as dry rot or being located in a flood zone, and an auctioneer has never sold such a home before, they might find it difficult to generate any interest in your home from potential bidders.
Many homeowners want to achieve the fastest sale of their property that they can, and this question can help you with planning the timeline for the sale of your house or flat. If you home sells at auction, buyers typically have 28 days to sign all of the required legal papers any to pay you the proceeds, but some auctioneers might set longer or shorter deadlines so always ask.