With the internet becoming more and more ingrained into our daily life and more people looking for lifestyle changes or to invest their money in property, it’s no wonder that the auction process is changing.
Once a standard selling process, property auctions can now easily attract buyers from around the country or even the world, giving sellers a wider potential market.
Online and phone bidding at auctions is becoming more popular, and with many larger agencies doing off-site auctions, there isn’t always a need for a buyer to travel to the auction or hire a buyer’s agent.
There are, however, a few strategies to consider when you aren’t going to be buying in person to ensure you are getting exactly what you want.
Do your research
Properties can look fantastic on paper (or on the screen) but as many know, the moment you look at the property in person, you notice the things that aren’t so great.
Things such as the dodgy neighbourhood, proximity to local amenities and those small but costly things that need repairing. Once you’ve found a property you’d like to place a bid on, it’s time to start doing some research into the property and its surrounding area.
Whether you are planning on moving into the property yourself or using it as an investment, you will need to look at surrounding facilities are as well as researching the neighbourhood, and local housing market, flood or fire risk and average rental price.
As always, you should pay for a professional building and pest inspection prior to purchase to ensure the property is structurally sound and so there are no nasty surprises once the property is yours.
Make sure your finance is in place
Like any auction you need to ensure your finance is in place before bidding. In both an online and phone auction setting you will have very little time to present a cheque or transfer for deposit after the auction is complete.
The last thing you want to do is lose the property because your deposit wasn’t available.
In saying this, it is always best to check with the selling agency how you will be required to pay the deposit if you do win – some may expect a bank cheque to be delivered within a certain time frame, while others may want the money transferred directly to their trust account via internet banking.
Read up on the rules
Each online bidding auction will have its own set of rules, whether that be the deposit you initially have to pay, registration paperwork you need to fill in, when you need to make deposit payments and when and how you can bid.
Make sure you are up to date on these rules.
If you are planning on bidding via phone, you will need to check whether the auctioneer, vendor and agent are comfortable with this method. You will need to ensure all paperwork is filled out, and generally if you are bidding over the phone, there is more paperwork than if you were bidding in person.
Bidding on the phone
If you are planning on bidding over the phone, you need to ensure the person who is doing the bidding for you knows what they are doing and can keep you updated on what is happening.
In these circumstances, you may be best to use a buyer’s agent instead of a friend or family member if you feel that your friend or family member may get overwhelmed.
The background noise on the day may make it sound like someone is bidding when really it is a vendor bid, so you do need to have a good level of trust in the person doing the bidding for you.
While there may be different requirements and paperwork to be filled in, bidding online or over the phone at an auction, can be a great way to secure a property in another city or state.
But you do need to do your research, perhaps more than you would normally do, to ensure you are getting a property that suits your requirements.
