Buying at auction

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Has anyone been successful buying a house at auction? Any tips please? I'll be on my own with 10week old DS because DH is working away and I'm feeling scared about bidding by myself. We really want the house as it'll make a great family home for us. It needs a lot of work doing to it so we have a spending limit so we have enough money left to make improvements.
Do you have any tactics? ie don't bid straight away? How many incremental leaps to bid?
TIA

Make sure you have a solicitor check through the legal pack before bidding. There can be all sorts of weird, nasty legal problems hidden in there!

When we bought a house at auction I didn't start bidding until everyone bar the current highest bidder had stopped.

Agree with pp- go and look through all the searches and anything you're not sure about, ask a solicitor.

Thank you. Yes, we have had a solicitor check through the whole legal pack and they're happy it's all fine.
Ok, does it go quickly? I'm worried with lack of sleep I won't be able to keep up with who's bidding what!

Make sure you have read the addendums. Check the day before that the house is still entered. Make sure the auctioneer know you are bidding. Agree that coming in at the end is a good strategy as long as you can be seen! Stick to your budget.

Good luck!

Thank you, the auction is tomorrow-fingers crossed!

Take a cheque for the 10% and no extra so you don't get carried away.

Bought my last place at auction, bagged an absolute bargain and loved the process - single most exhilarating moment of my life when the gavel fell

Heaps of luck

Thanks Nc

How did it go?!

Didn't get it Furbys ☹️Thanks for asking. It went for £40,000 above our spend limit so at least it was a big chunk higher and we didn't just miss it by a couple of thousand. Gutted. Back to the drawing board, not sure I'd go for an auction house again-at least not a popular one!

I think estate agents often give a very low guide for houses at auction. Therefore, the house seems far better than any other houses in that price range, to get you hooked. In reality, the house is bound to go for much more, so you are doomed to disappointment. Good luck with your hunting.

Auction guide prices are set to get people interested. You have to take into account what things are actually selling for in the same area as any property you are interested in.

Consider involving a buyers advocate. For a fee they bid for you (they know all the strategies) and can often find out important info from the selling agents before auctions. In my family, we are very good at auctions, but we always employ our advocate anyway (for buying and selling). Priceless help, on big decisions. They can save you a lot of time and guide you on how/when to spend on property inspections and other key services. Just be careful to pick an honest one with good word-of-mouth referrals. Better luck with your next property.

How disappointing- can totally see how you got drawn in by it. I have no experience of auctions but might consider it for flipping a house.

Thank you, we went £80k over guide price after guidance from a surveyor who surveyed the house and we spent out on a solicitor to check the paperwork so lost £500+ on it. You're right, they set the guide price deliberately low to entice interest and I reckon developers have agents in their back pockets on a project like that so its almost a foregone conclusion because they have the ready capital. It went for £110k above guide price so at least we didn't miss it by just a couple of grand. We were in a long chain which fell apart this year three weeks before move date so thought an auction house might be a better way to try and buy a house... will just have to keep looking