Dream house being sold by modern method of auction

[Sushey]

Hi all

First time post on a forum so I'm a little nervous! Would be grateful for your thoughts.

I was browsing Rightmove recently for fun and happened upon the perfect house for us: period property in the countryside, five minutes from our current home, and with an annexe that we would move a relative into so we could help care for them. The problem is that it's for sale via modern method of auction which we are not prepared to enter into, thanks in part to reading a lot of forum posts and also because our current house isn't even for sale (though it might be handy to note that several houses in our area in the last year have sold within 2/3 months).

Its guide price is 575k and it has just gone live. I've done some research and found it was reduced to 795k in August 2024 (I can't find what it was listed for prior to then) and it was again reduced, to 695k, earlier this year. This makes me wonder whether there is a major problem with the property or if the seller just wants a quick sale at this point, unless it was very overpriced to begin with, which I'm not knowledgeable enough to answer and there aren't many similar properties in the area to compare it to.

I've heard of people writing to sellers and wonder if we should do so in this case to let them know of our interest in the property, and whether they would consider selling it via private treaty (after of course viewing the house and undertaking a survey). We think they would reject this given it was previously listed as a private treaty sale, but I feel like we've nothing to lose by asking. I don't want to enquire this with the EA as it seems we would then be bound by the auction T&Cs. I've read the terms to see if there is any way neither we or the seller would have to pay the reservation fee if selling via private treaty, but it seems like this would only be possible if the seller cancelled their contract within the 14 day cancellation period or after the contract has ended.

As I write this, I'm not sure whether I'm being delusional or optimistic, or should pay it no more attention. I just know that I would be gutted if the house did sell and we did nothing to show our interest, even if we are rejected.

Thanks so much for any advice.

You haven't even put your house on the market yet so are not in a position to negotiate.

I would probably send the owners of the house a letter expressing your interest.

But I think to have any chance of being taken seriously you would have to at least have your own house on the market.

We sold my parents house by Modern Auction, there was a caveat that if we ( the sellers) sold it privately once it was accepted for auction then there was quite a penalty to pay for their loss of commission.
So your dream house owners might just say "Nope it's with the auction now" unless it fails to meet reserve .

I think you're delusional, sorry. There's no way I would let you come round, view my house, have a survey done and consider making me an offer when you've not even got your own house up for sale. You're not in a position to do this.

Suppose you put your house up for sale and no one buys it in the next year? (Not unknown - see your 'dream' house) I could have sold my house at auction! Guide price is a 'come and get me' one. It will go for far more than that.

First comment on this and you have quoted the op in full

ffs stop it

Sorry, I did realise after I posted ...whoops!

You’re right to be wary of MMOA. What I would do is view, and if you want it then put an offer forward stating the offer is conditional on a private treaty sale and that you don’t accept the MMOA terms. Make
sure you do this in writing.

Obviously you’ll probably need to sell your house first.

As a PP has stated, the vendor might be initially reluctant to do this as they will be liable for a large fee to the auction company. However after a while when they start to realise the sheer ridiculousness of the MMOA process the EA has talked them
into, they might be more willing to accept

I'm looking to buy a property but I discard it immediately if something is for sale by MMOA. Any advertised price is increased immediately by the auction fee, which I think is dishonest.

I understand it would be taking liberties considering our house isn't even on the market yet. It was more about expressing that we were planning on putting it on in the near future but could do so sooner, and to have a discussion about any potential possibilities. Although houses near us have sold relatively quickly, I know ours isn't guaranteed the same and I don't expect the seller to wait for us. It would just be good to have a discussion and show our interest at least.

Yes, perhaps it would be best to go down the proper route instead of trying to bypass the EA out of fear that we'd be tied in to the auction terms! At least we'd be able to actually view the house that way for a start, and show our interest and position.

Yes, I think it’s worth writing to the owners.

However, they have to pull out of their contract first before they can engage, which I believe requires 60 days’ notice with 21 days before they can talk or negotiate with you.

They can’t really contact you while they are under contract, or, as someone said, breaching the contract could result in a monetary penalty.

I tried putting an offer on a dream property advertised via MMOA a couple of years ago while my house was on the market (but no offer), and it was rejected straight away. Please also look up another thread in here about this auction method. It has lots of hidden costs and very regid timelines for you to complete once you offer. Most likely you might need a bridging loan while your house is selling. If you add up all the expenses, stress and potential risks, I just don't think it's worth it.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/5047692-modern-method-of-auction

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/4877821-what-can-be-done-about-the-shitshow-that-is-modern-method-of-auction

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5120323-the-modern-method-of-auction

Linking to some other threads in here, but seems there are lots of horror stories, so be careful!

You don’t have the cash ready. It might be your dream house but you are far from
their dream buyer.

I thought it was being phased out anyway?

Same as us. We're currently selling an inherited property by auction and the fines that we would have to pay the agent have made us decide that it's not worth accepting any offers

Yes MMOA is a dreadful way to sell a house. It puts buyers off and results in a lower selling price for vendors. It only benefits the EA and auction companies who pocket the massive fees.

It obviously varies by area but where we’re buying MMOA houses sit around on the market, so I wouldn’t rush. We immediately discounted any MMOA property even if it was perfect for us, too many risks, and we saw the same MMOA properties hanging around for months and months. It probably would have been quicker for those vendors to sell via a traditional auction.

Is MMOA really bad then? Ours is up for traditional auction but they did try and get us to go for MMOA. I had no idea it's so off putting for potential buyers

Yes it’s bad. The buyer has to pay a fee of about 4.5%, which they then lose if they don’t complete with 56 days. So that could easily be £20k or more. That’s why most buyers won’t touch MMOA with a barge pole.

It’s also dreadful for sellers. For the reasons above it results in a much smaller pool of potential buyers.

EAs push MMOA to vendors by telling them they don’t have to pay any fees, the buyer pays them all. Sounds great doesn’t it? Until you think about what that actually means. Buyers arent stupid and will simply reduce their offer by the amount of any fees they have to pay.

For example a buyer may be willing to pay £500k in total for a house. However if they have to pay a 4.5% fee of £22,500, they will
offer £477,500 so that they are paying £500k in total. The seller walks away with £477,500.

If the house was being sold in the traditional way, they would have offered £500k. The EA would take their normal fee of 1% ish and the seller walks away with £495k.

So in this example the seller ends up being £18.500 worse off by selling via MMOA.

The only person MMOA is good for is the EA. They get a much higher than usual fee, and if the seller doesn’t complete within the deadline they sell again, and get paid the fee again.

There was no need to quote the entire OP.
Yours was literally the first answer.

There was no need to be the second to berate this poster, when she literally apologised a few posts later, in this very short thread.

ETA - if you are gonna be the thread police, police yourself first, hmm?

Thank you 😊

Bit bizarre tbh.