Are we at a stage where it's worth looking again at investing in the purchase of houses for renovation/reselling?

I sat in on a property auction at the end of April this year. Most properties (mainly houses, cottages, smallholdings and pubs) did sell (ie, reached or exceeded reserve) except pubs, which remained unloved unless suited to immediate conversion, but nobody was bidding strongly above the published guide prices. The room was packed (about 125 people), but quite a few of those who were registered to bid (ie were holding a numbered card) held back from doing so.

I'm not quite ready to be buying anything myself, but I have viewed a few places in the past few weeks, and will probably be sitting in on an auction coming up at the end of the month, just to get a further feel for how things are going as we head into autumn.

On my patch (southwest Wales) the agent most heavily involved in auctions is John Francis - and it will be one of their two auctions (at Carmarthen on Sep 30 or Swansea on Oct 1) that I'll be attending. (Or maybe both). There's about 15 properties listed so far at each. The agent's website for these auctions is www.johnfrancis.co.uk/auctionnew.htm

I've viewed the 65k semi in Cardigan (selling at Carmarthen) and the 50k detached one at Brynamman (selling at Swansea) - and it's that latter one which seems to have the greatest potential markup margin, so I shall probably be seeing how that one does - though it's not in the right locality for me - I'm going to be looking to buy somewhere around the central english/welsh borders next spring/summer. Does anyone here have any guidance on which agents to check out for auctions in that area? And any info on particular properties suitable for renovation there?

I will post the outcome of these two auctions on my patch, just out of interest - to see how things went compared with whatever guide prices appear in their catalogue.

Let us know of investment opportunities at other upcoming auctions, and how they pan out over the coming months.

I meant I've heard nothing from Allsops since the preliminary date. Assuming they were built when the lease was granted in November 2006, they took a while to sell as new builds?

Lot 281 (Bromley) doesn't look bad - guided at 40-60k most recent similar sold 215k November 2010.

Looks too cheap to be true

Could be a structural problem with Lot 281 Bromley

It looks to have a very nasty settlement crack to the rendering on the front wall, don't you think?

Look to the LHS just above the arch.

I doubt its settlement - they are mainly 30s built. More likely A window or doors have been replaced/installed behind that hedge and either no lintel put in - or more likely, it wasn't supported properly during installation. The latter is quite common with so called expert double glazing installers who fail to support bays properly when replacing a lower bay window.

You could be right Exec. Looks to be on a slope as well. If it cost 50k to fix and you bought it for 50k it might still be a good buy

Looks quite nice across the road from it on Google's StreetView.

"If it cost 50k to fix and you bought it for 50k it might still be a good buy"

I was just thinking that, Jeffmack. The 'you' meaning you and not me, though. ;-)

Help me find a 'doer-upper' near Poole/Bournemouth to earn some money on.

Something priced around not much more than circa 200k to buy, or preferably even less. A sea view would be appreciated too but probably a bit much to ask.

Results from Mustbesold.com auction on 6th Sept.

Lots Offered 68
Lots Sold Prior 11
Lots Sold in Room 21
Lots sold after 2
Lots unsold 34
Total Lots Sold 34
Percent Sold 50%

There are always properties at auction in Bournmouth.

I use eigroup.co.uk, you can search by location but you can not get the auction details unless you subscibe (300 pa) You need to do some detective work to find the auctioneer

Dorset Auction Properties

http://www.edwardmellor.co.uk/auction/catalogue/

Auction is Sept 13.

Doc - if you are looking for property in Bournemouth, you should be aware of this it may affect the resale value :-))

Was at the Barnard Marcus auction today and it was clear that for all lots the guide prices were well below the reserves. The difference was far in excess that any catalogue I have seen before. When I arrived the room was very full, but as every property went though, mostly unsold, even though the last bid was well in excess of the guide it set the tone for the sale. The room quickly started to empty and by lot 50 (of 176) the room was only half full. The auction assistants were running around trying to complete deals after bidding finished by asking for the under bidders best offers. I would say that only 35% was sold in the room.

I bid on two that made in excess of the guide but were unsold, and one I bid to 83,000 and it was sold for 84,000

Results from the Barnard Marcus auction. They list 90 lots sold in the room, but many of those were unsold at the fall of the hammer and tied up afterwards.

Auction Date Monday, 12 September 2011
Venue Grand Connaught Rooms, Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5DA
Start Time 11:00
Lots Offered 174
Lots Sold Prior 20
Lots Sold in Room 90
Total Lots Sold 110
Percent Sold 64%
Total Raised 14,989,500

I once employed an auctioneer to run an auction for me to sell about 80 sets of upholstery items (eg, 3-piece suites, 2-piece suites, etc) in a large out of town industrial unit.

At his suggestion we joined forces with a 'carpet and rug specialist' to make the event even bigger. And further at this suggestion, after setting my reserves for every item, I agreed to use some of 'his people' to bump up the bidding. The benefit was mutual: higher prices for me, higher commissions for him. As to whether these guys came with the carpet people, I don't know and I didn't ask.

Anything that got knocked down to one of these guys, well, guess what happened?

Correct. The 'buyer' never actually appeared in front of the auction administrator at the end of the auction, so as to pay the monies owing, get a receipt and be able to collect the goods. The buyer was a 'no show' and although initially registered, was simply not pursued by the auctioneer.

I presume they would merely be used again as 'part time off the books' contacts for a future auction. I guessed that they did actually work for the carpet specialist. There were about half a dozen of them doing the bidding according to my recollection.

Rather interestingly, the auctioneer did not approach me for some 'cash' to remunerate these people for turning up for the day and as to where and how he got his money from to do so himself, well, I don't know. Perhaps they had the odd item quickly knocked down to them, if it was one that hadn't been given any reserve price? Whatever. My best guess on it was that they were 'associates' of the carpet businessman.

I still believe myself that the auctioneers still use insiders to bid up the items being sold even to this day. As to how these people originate onto the scene, I can only guess. Whether they are employed by the sellers I can only guess at too. However, proving all of this is a very difficult thing to do. You wouldn't get any information on this from the mortgage department of the big banks who have re-possessed the property being sold in the auction and if the property isn't sold, then the auctioneer just draws his basic fee from his client and says, "Well, at least we tried."

Being an insider in 'the auction game' is a very fruitful and lucrative professional hobby for lots of people, I'm sure.

From the recent Allsop auction held in London.

Property Type........Lots Offered Lots Sold.....% Success...Yield......Av. Lot Size
Regulated ................11..............9...............81.8............4.1.......152,000
Assured Shorthold......69.............64............. 92.8.............8.75.....135,680
Assured.....................1...............1.............100.............10.2.........92,000
Ground Rents (80 yrs+)14............14.............100..............5.6..........30,479
Sites with PP............. 6..............4...............66.7.............-...........495,000
Sites without PP..........7..............7..............100...............-..........146.429

Andrews and Robertson Auction
Auction Date: Thursday, 22 September 2011
Venue: Grand Connaught Rooms, Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5DA
Start Time: 11:00
Lots Offered: 118

Result
Lots Offered: 118
Percent Sold: 55%
Total Raised: 11,552,450

Third Irish Sale Takes Allsop Space Total to Over 40m


UK-Irish auction partnership Allsop Space held its third successful sale of Irish property at the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin last week raising almost 10m from the sale of 84% of 67 lots offered. This brings the newly formed company's sales receipts since April to over 40m with an overall success rate of 92%.

The composition of the catalogue was less reliant upon distressed stock with a greater proportion of lots being offered on behalf of private sellers. A total of six Irish lenders were represented along with various fixed charge receivers and administrators. Lots ranged from residential investments in Dublin to vacant houses in rural locations. Commercial properties offered included vacant pubs and industrial investments, mixed use buildings and a partly let garage site for redevelopment.



Commenting on the sale, auctioneer and director, Gary Murphy, stated:

"This result demonstrates a continuing and, we hope, a sustainable demand for Irish property. The evidence gathered at the auction established that only 14% of successful buyers were using borrowed money. The majority were cash purchasers."

The auctioneers reported a broad international interest in the event with buyers registered from Australia, Luxembourg, Gibraltar and the UK. The mix of buyer was equally varied. 57% of lots went to buy-to-let investors, 29% to owner occupiers and 11% were sold for development.

Ha, just got that as well