What are the pros and cons of buying via modern auction?

[FuzzyBumbleeBee]

The house we like is up for modern auction, previously I have always been told auctions (traditional) are best for cash buyers as if it goes wrong eg your own house sale falls you end up in a bad situation

We don't have to move although we are fed up with where we live but we do love this house we are looking at, it would be perfect for us.

Please tell me all you know about modern auctions the good and the bad

Total scam method of buying.

The entire point of traditional conveyancing is that you can pull out if you find issues...

Traditional auctions are different in that they should have a legal pack plus there's the element of risk that is mitigated by speed of process & usually a lower price.

I have read that with MMA, buyers pay their non-refundable deposit of thousands of pounds and then the MMA company spin out the process so long that buyers give up in despair, of course losing their deposit in the process. These companies really have no incentive to actually complete a sale on these properties.

I think the supposed 'appeal' for the buyer is that you can get a 'better' house for less money because you're agreeing to a fast sale. However, I've noticed houses often get relisted as MMA when they've been on the market for a while and not sold, which makes you wonder what issues they potentially have. I'm sure plenty are fine, but I wouldn't like to take a gamble as the deposit is a lot of money to lose. If you know reputable people in the building trade who can advise you it could be ok.

I do love the house but from the sound of it from peoples experiences here and from a few other people I have spoken to an auction, modern or traditional is just not for us

Dp is going to view it this week, we don't have days off that match up so I've already been and see if he likes it enough to try other options

I did mention my reluctance re auction yesterday when I viewed and was told we could pay a percentage to get it taken from auction but I don't want to do that either as he suggested it would be 6-10k and we don't have that sort of money

I'm tempted to pay for the packet from the auctioneers at £350 which is a bit cheaper than if I got all the surveys done myself and get the estate agents to say to the sellers we won't touch an auction but if it fails to ssell we are willing to go the traditional route

We considered a property at auction. I can’t remember now if it was modern or traditional. The sales pack was available to us for free though on request. We made an offer pre-auction at the guide price. They said no. It didn’t meet that at auction.

They came back to us a few days later and asked if we were still interested. We said we were and our offer stood. They came back again at 5pm on the Friday and said they had another similar offer and whoever would be willing to exchange on Monday, they would accept. We said thanks but no thanks. We were willing to proceed, but only as a traditional sale where our solicitor would have time to review the legal pack and send enquiries, etc. It was sold the following week so I assume the other offer, probably a developer, did proceed. I don’t have any regrets missing out, but I do think it’s worth putting in a traditional offer as the chances are high it may not sell at auction.

Just incase this information is useful to anyone else

Today I spoke to the estate agents and said modern auction isn't for us and I'm not willing to pay the auctioneers fees but could they tell the sellers we are interested in putting in an offer outside of auction if it dosent sell.

Their answer to this was No they wouldnt tell them.
As we had viewed the property knowing it was under auction that if we wanted to buy it we are tied in for up to 2 years and would be unable to make any offer on the property outside of auction.

I find this truly ridiculous, I may be about to do some Facebook sleuthing as I know the sellers names and let them know the estate agent is a pain but if they want to switch we are interested.
Property has been up for sale for over a year but recently reduced into our price range.

As we had viewed the property knowing it was under auction that if we wanted to buy it we are tied in for up to 2 years and would be unable to make any offer on the property outside of auction.

I'm not sure what they mean by this. I think there usually are clauses to say the buyer can't accept an offer outside MMA whilst it's listed with the agent, or they have to pay fees. I don't think there's anything to stop the seller removing the listing with the agent after a certain time frame (would be surprised if it's 2 years!) and moving it back to a non MMA listing. They may have a point if you've viewed the property though as they could technically argue they've 'introduced' you to the seller.