Auctioning your home can sometimes be a good way to achieve a relatively swift sale whilst also creating the potential to make a decent profit, although the actual process of selling a flat or house at auction can be overwhelming if it’s something that you’ve never tried before.
One of the most daunting aspects of trying to sell a property through this approach can be the various insider phrases that you could expect to hear during the various stages of selling. That’s why it can be a help to homeowners if they take time to familiarise themselves with the key phrases that they are likely to read or hear when trying to sell their home at auction.
Many potential property buyers are looking to find bargains at auctions, particularly as demand for homes in the UK continues at a strong pace. If you decide that selling your home at auction is right for you, start by learning many of the important terms listed below.
Top phrases you might hear at a property auction and what they mean
Absolute auction: when a home is sold without a reserve price or conditions
Actual completion date: when a successful auction sale is deemed complete
Addendum: addition to the existing auction lot information
Auctioneer: the person hosting the auction
Bankers draft: cash-equivalent cheque used in auction transactions
Bid: an offer during an auction for buying a home
Bidding war: when two or more people compete to buy a home, raising its sale price
Blind buying: buying a home at an auction without ever viewing the property
Block viewings: a single viewing that anyone interested a home for sale can attend
Bridging finance: short-term financial loan used in property transactions
Buyers’ administration fee: a payment the property buyer must pay to the auctioneer
Buyers’ premium: another fee that the buyer must pay to the auctioneer
Catalogue: details the property and how to arrange a viewing
Certainty of sale: means a home sold at auction is a binding legally enforceable sale
Chaps: Clearing House Automated Payment System for same-day property payments
Clawback conditions: certain conditions that might apply to specific home auctions
Cleared funds: money that is available to immediately spend in a property transaction
Commercial lending: loans issued by business banks for buying homes at auction
Completion date: the final date on which an auctioned home sale must be finalised
Conveyancing: transferring the legal title of a home to another person
Covenant: an agreement in a home’s deeds relating to the property
Deposit: partial payment on a promise by a buyer to complete purchasing a home
Exchange of contracts: transfer of key documents that occurs when the auction ends
Fall of the gavel: when the gavel drops, the auction is considered over
Final bid: the last bid placed on a property up for sale at an auction
Guide price: a seller’s expected minimum price for selling their home
Hawking: when buyers attempt to buy homes that failed to sell at auction
Hooks: homes auctioneers think will be very popular and place prominently in catalogues
In the room: someone who physically attends and auction and places a bid
Increment: the difference in value from one bid on a home to another
Jump bid: a bid above whatever value the auctioneer asks as the increment
Legally binding: a winning bid is an agreement to buy your home that you can sue to enforce
Legal pack: contains all of the important legal documents about your home
Listing agreement: contract signed by the seller and auctioneer authorising the auction
Lot: the term for a single property up for sale at an auction
Modern auction: online listing auction that takes place continuously over many weeks
Mismatched properties: when an auctioneer sells a home not typical for their catalogue
Neighbourhood profile: range of details about the area where the home is located
Off the wall: allows the auctioneer to bid if bidding has started but is under the reserve price
Online auction: takes place virtually rather than in person at an auction house
Opening prices: the first price that the auctioneer asks for people to start bidding
Paddle system: buyers place a bid in person by raising a paddle given to them
Planning applications: tell the auctioneer if you have planning applications on your home
Pre-auction offers: these must be placed with auctioneers before the auction takes place
Pre-bid registration: the process of registering to attend a future auction
Previews: another term for the viewings of a property held before the auction takes place
Proxy bid: auctioneers can place bids on behalf of a buyer who can’t attend an auction
Reserve price: the lowest price a seller will accept for their home at auction
Reserve hooks: when auctioneers wait until late in the auction to sell the most popular homes
Reserve price: The lowest value at which a seller agrees their home can sell at auction
Risk to reward ratio: the seller’s gamble on how much profit, if any, they’ll make at auction
Rostrum: a raised podium from which an auctioneer might stand during the sales
Spotters: people alerting the auctioneer to bids that they might have missed
Starting price: the initial opening bid that auctioneer offers for a home
Stock: the properties for sale at an auction
Telephone bid: a bid that someone who can’t attend the auction in person places by phone
Traditional auction: takes place at one specific time until typical auction rules
Unsold lots: properties that don’t get any bids at an auction
Vacant properties: these are homes sold at auction in which nobody is living
Vendor: the person selling a house or flat at an auction
Withdrawn lots: properties dropped from an auction or that failed to meet their reserve price
You can also choose other approaches for selling your house or flat
After you’ve learned the above phrases and other information about selling a home at auction, you may have some questions for the team at Auction Link. And that doesn’t mean you will struggle to find a buyer for your property, it just means that you will have to consider whether to try selling it through an estate agent or using a quick home buyer.
An estate agent will do most of the hard work of selling your property, including hosting the viewings and marketing the listing. But they will charge commission for this work that will reduce you total net profit from selling your home. And it can sometimes take several months, or in worst case scenarios even more than a year, before you get any serious offers from buyers. This is far from ideal for anyone who needs to sell their home in weeks rather than months.
By contrast, fast home buyers are able to finalise the purchase of a home often within a few short weeks after a homeowner first contacts them about selling their house or flat. That’s because they work one-on-one with homeowners and don’t need to wait for mortgage approval before being able to fund the purchase. And the legitimate speedy home buying companies never charge homeowners fees to buy their properties, which lets the owner retain all of the profit from the final sale price.
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