PROPERTY AUCTIONS? HERE ARE SOME TRICKS OF THE TRADE YOU MAY HAVE MISSED!

Property auctions can offer buy-low bargains. But this is not universally so - it's not unknown for some in-demand properties to sell for far above market values. Just check out the London auctions immediately after the city boys have pocketed their bonuses! This is what you need to know and do…

1. Search for one-off and occasional auctions by estate agents. There are around 80+ property auctioneers in the UK who regularly stage auctions on a monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly basis. Those in the cities - London (Allsop etc), Birmingham (Bigwood etc), Manchester (Roy Pugh etc) and so on - attract the most entries and are relatively well-known and easy to discover by incoming property entrepreneurs. They're not that secret or hard-to-find! They will inevitably pull in more would-be bidders which means prices may go higher; especially when amateur landlords and first-timers start bidding. It makes more sense to go to those auctions that are held now and again by estate agents who do not stage them regularly. As examples, Robert Ellis ran one recently in Nottinghamshire. Clarke and Simpson held one in Suffolk. Focus on your favoured location, stay in touch with local estate agents and keep monitoring the press. You may find that these events will go unnoticed by the professional investors. Local property buyers may be too nervous to venture in.

2. Buy out of the area. Most property entrepreneurs buy in their home area (or at least focus on one particular area). They buy what they consider to be the best-buy in a given location, rather than an out-and-out best-buy wherever it is. Buyers for the West Midlands will go to Birmingham auctions such as Bond Wolfe. Glasgow property entrepreneurs will go to SVA Auctions in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Yet some West Midlands and Glasgow properties can go elsewhere - to London, as an obvious example (although they also pop up in other North-West and North-East auctions). Vice versa, properties away from these areas can surface at these auctions. Bond Wolfe recently included properties from Lancashire and Humberside in one of their auctions. Buying Birmingham properties away from Birmingham and away from Birmingham properties in Birmingham will offer more buy-low potential! There will be fewer would-be bidders in attendance and that can have the effect of holding prices down! Check out the big city events, and those in bigger towns in a 100-mile radius.

3. Go to the wrong type of auction! Many auctioneers get a reputation for selling only certain types of lots - most typically, for residential property lots or commercial property lots. Sometimes, that reputation is justified, but not always. Nelson Bakewell in London, for example, is widely regarded as an auctioneer of commercial properties from all over the country. As such, it is not usually included on residential property investors' lists of contacts. Yet their last auction catalogue contained more than half-a-dozen residential lots; with several more being commercial property lots that might have residential potential. Clearly, these have greater buy-low possibilities - commercial property investors are less likely to want these and most residential property investors simply aren't there. The wrong type of auction can be viewed in many ways; 'upper class' auctioneers who are assumed never to sell cheaper properties and local auctioneers who are believed to only sell local lots, as examples. By casting your net a little wider and further afield, you may source a lower-priced property bargain.

4. Focus on less attractive lots. Most property investors are looking for perfect-condition properties to turn around and sell on for immediate profits - and all without having to spend any money on repairs or improvements. That makes it more likely that these lots will sell for higher prices, and even above market values if amateur and first-time entrepreneurs are involved. As a general rule, avoid these - you will waste a lot of time and solicitors' and surveyors' fees! Those properties that are in need of TLC - refurbishment and renovation etc - are more likely to be ignored by those must-have bidders who push-up prices. As such, they can offer better bargain potential for you. As a rule - and bear in mind that rules are there to be broken - you will find these less attractive lots mostly at the smaller and less upmarket (but no less professional) auctioneers in towns rather than in city centres. They are less easy to spot at the big London auctions held at the capitals' ritziest hotels.                                     

5. Look for plenty of similar lots and wait for the later ones to go through. Property auctions are no different from any other auction; the auctioneer often puts the best lots through early whilst there are plenty of bidders there. As the room thins and successful bidders leave, later lots may go through at a lower price as there will be fewer bidders remaining. (You'll often find that the 'out-of-town', 'wrong' and 'less attractive' lots get pushed through later which is helpful price-wise). What can help to pull down prices is a series of very similar lots - perhaps put through by a housing association etc - coming through in quick succession. Invariably, the last one or two will sell for lower prices than the first one or two. At a recent - remaining unnamed  - London auction, the less attractive of these similar lots went through first whilst interest was higher, leaving the more attractive ones to come through later and cheaper! Bottom Line? There are bargains about at auction - you just have to know where to find them.