Modern Method of Auction

[AhBiscuits]

I've been trying to sell my Dad's house since Feb. I had one false start, the buyer pulled out after the survey. I've had a steady trickle of viewings but no real interest. Most feedback is that they like it but the work required is more than they want to take on.
I've dropped the price twice.
Just sacked the current agent and met with a new one. They think the asking price is fine, it's just a slow market in this area. My brother is selling his house in the next village and it's been on the market over a year.
There's no urgency to sell but I'm just fed up and want it gone now. I don't want it to sit and fester over winter.
They have suggested I consider the modern method of auction. Does anyone have any experience of it?
https://hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-selling/modern-method-of-auction/

It would completely put me off buying a house. The buyer pays a load of upfront fees which they don't get back if anything happens to the sale and this also increases the actual cost of the property.

I agree. I have heard these companies sometimes take an upfront non-refundable fee from the buyer and then stall on the paperwork until the buyer gives up and goes elsewhere. They don't have an incentive to actually sell your house, if they can take a fee from multiple buyers. I wouldn't buy in these circumstances.

I don’t really understand how in a slow market with a difficult to shift property you think by making it more expensive for people to buy you’ll find enough buyers to battle it out to achieve your price.

I’d drop the price again at the right price someone will buy it.

I guess the motivation for the buyer is that properties generally sell at about 10-20% below it's market value.

My elderly neighbours house sold this way, it had only about 12 years left on the lease… it sold with a proper auction house 3 months later for an additional £30,000. So if selling via auction I’d probably use an auction house… think it was bonde Wolfe? Or bond Wolf?

I won’t even look at property being sold this way.

If you think it’s sellable at c15% below what you are asking, and you need less hassle, just drop the price that much.

What about contacting a 'we buy any house' type company? They don't pay full market value, but if you want rid asap?

What others wrote. I'd use a normal auction house.

If you think you’ll get 10-20% less then maybe just price it that way or stick it in a normal auction.

But you usually end up paying the 10% in non refundable fees. So the property isn't actually cheaper for the buyer.

A 'proper' (traditional) auction is a completely different kettle of fish to the 'modern method of auction' though. I agree I'd never consider viewing a house being sold by the latter method.

Traditional auction vs modern method of auction - Goughs Solicitors

Put it through a proper auction house or drop the price.

I remember your previous thread about your dad's house. It sounds as if the market in your area isn't moving well as prices are too high relative to what the buyers can afford.
I think the great majority wouldn't touch a house for sale with the MMA method. I would definitely avoid. In my opinion, it would be much better to drop the price significantly to get it sold or use a traditional auction. Can I ask how much you have reduced the price by so far?

We've dropped the price by 30k so far, 300k to 270k. It will obviously have to come down more. It needs a lot of updating and obviously any work costs a fortune these days.

I agree with everyone else, wouldn’t touch MMA house with a barge pole

what’s bonkers is when the proerties for sale switch to this method they usually drop the price so much that you’d have loads of people interested, but then they’ve excluded these interested people by making it an auction sale.

A house near me dropped the price 50% but went MMA I knew 5 people who would have been interested and made offers if it had remained open to normal offers

Also youve only dropped 10%? Are you going to continue to chase the market down or make a big drop to £200k/£225 now ?

Totally agree. The cost of work is so high and extensive work is pretty daunting for a lot of people. I would reduce the price by at least 10% now in the hope of attracting interest from people whose children have returned to school recently and might be hoping to move before Christmas. It's hard to suggest a price reduction as I don't know where it sits relative to others and what is selling in your area.