First time buyer and viewing a house that's going to auction .. help

[CrazyMonkeyBars]

Evening all..

I was hoping some of the more experienced property buyers/sellers on here could help me please?

As the title saids, I'm a first time buyer with a good sized deposit (family help) but I'm buying alone. House prices where I live have increased so much that it's becoming a lot more difficult to get my foot on the ladder.

I recently saw a house that was being advertised via right move through an auction. Originally 145k but then reduced to 125 in the space of 3 weeks. Last sold in 2014, I'm not sure what the circumstances are or why it's not being sold on the open market. Have driven past and the outside looks ok from what I can see. No pics of inside.

I phoned yesterday to get some more info and explain my position. I was honest and said I wouldn't be interested or in a position to go down the auction process (as I believe I would have to pay fees upfront if my offer was accepted (?) which I'm not willing or can afford to do) and the sale has to be completed within 15 days which isn't possible as I would need to get a mortgage. The lady I spoke to said that the vendor is willing to consider any offers beforehand so I've arranged to go and view the property next week, a couple of days before the auction. It's an open viewing so I'm not sure how many other people will be there.

I can't really make head nor tail of the description online and even though the lady that I spoke to said that the vendor may be willing to consider offers beforehand, I can't see that anywhere in the description online (I have looked at other auctioned properties before on rightmove/zoopla and they normally say if that's the case).

I suppose nobody can say without seeing the description themselves (although I don't really want to post the link as it'll be outing), but how does it normally work with properties being sold through auction? The lady wasn't particularly helpful or explained things very well, but then again I might not have explained myself properly either... if I was to put an offer in after viewing beforehand, would I still need to pay fees upfront etc like I would if I bid at auction and also complete the sale within that time frame? This is what I'm concerned about. I don't want to waste my time or theirs by going to view if it that is the case...

Sorry for rambling on, and hopefully someone has experience in this area.

Thank you

Evening! just wanted to update you all (for whoever is interested )

I put my offer forward on Monday for 125k which was the guide price. The sales manager said that it would still need to go to auction as I wasn't in a position to exchange contracts/pay deposit upfront which I expected. She supposedly tried to contact the vendor to let him know any way but didn't manage to speak to him before it went to auction yesterday. It hasn't sold. The reserve price wasn't met (which has now been advertised as 137k). I saw that the highest bid went up to 135 but apparently that was an "off the wall" bid (I had to use my old friend Google as I had no idea what it meant 😅) so I have no idea what figure the bidding went up to.

She contacted me to let me know. I did tell her I that I might be interested in offering a bit more, but that all depends on if the seller is happy to wait a bit longer. She has asked me to find out from my broker/mortgage lender what sort of time frame it would be so that she can put my offer forward to the vendor and negotiate a deal for me. She said I have a better chance of having my offer accepted if I can provide more details in terms of time scale etc as I'll look like a serious buyer. She's also said I will need to offer some incentive to the vendor by offering a higher price than my original offer due to the fact that I can't exchange/complete immediately. I knew this already.

They are having a meeting with the vendor next week to discuss a plan to see if he wants to put it up for auction again or look at other alternatives, so she has asked me to email over the details and my best and final offer early next week. I've been thinking long and hard about this all day. I'm happy to offer a higher price but I don't feel it's worth the reserve price. I was going to offer 130 but that may still be too low. The house itself is lovely, in a really desirable location with a driveway, garage and large-ish back garden but it is very small inside (bungalow). Not so much of an issue right now as I'm single with no kids, but if I were to stay there long term and have a family I would have to do some work on it and probably have a dormer extension built as both bedrooms are tiny and the second bedroom is at a funny angle so you can only fit in a single bed.

Hopefully I will catch my broker tomorrow, have a chat with her and see what she thinks in terms of time scale, survey etc and then take it from there. The legal pack is already available as are the water/drainage reports etc so I wonder if this would speed up the process as my solicitor wouldn't need to wait so many weeks for that to arrive? (No idea if they can even be used as the seller bought them or would my solicitor need to request a new report?). I'd love to hear some words of wisdom or any advice that you all have. Am I wasting my time?

Thank you 😊

I can see you've been through a similar situation @mindutopia , what do you make of my latest update? Am I silly for entertaining this?

Just to let everyone know (after my very lengthy post earlier) I have decided against the house. It doesn't feel right and I don't want to be rushed into making the wrong decision, after all this will be the biggest purchase of my life and I don't want to have any regrets. I don't feel good about offering 130k as it would require work and it would cost at-least 20-25k to make it bigger. There's a reason why it didn't sell at auction, definitely overpriced. I think I jumped at at all the excitement (have been looking for a property for just over a year now) but I'm confident that I've made the right decision by letting this one go.

Thank you all for your advice and support. You've all been super helpful and I really appreciate. I'll definitely come on here again the next time I see a property!