Online auction

There are lots of threads on bidding at auctions, they are worth a read before you participate.

You need to understand a few very important points about auctions.

• Many of the properties have problem titles which make them extremely difficult to get mortgages for.

• Many are being sold by Receivers which means the Receivers are not bound my the same obligations that typical sellers are. They are not obliged to give certain assurances about the property.

• At auction, the contract is formed when the hammer drops, the property is yours, warts and all. You sign a contract and pay a sizeable deposit on the day. If you pull out after that, or the bank refuses drawdown of the mortgage due to problems with the title, you lose all your deposit which might be 5-15% of the auction sale price.

• It is up to you to do the survey/legal search BEFORE the auction as it will be to late after your bid has been accepted.

• You really need a SPAR (solicitors pre auction report) on the property before you bid, this will cost you.

• Auctions are exciting, you can get caught up in the bidding and end up paying more than you intended, each bid is “only a thousand more” than the last one.

All in all, auctions are not for the uninitiated or inexperienced. A lot of bidders are cash investors who know what they are doing. So if you sign up online (you have to pay to register and pay a deposit if you want to bid on a particular property), make sure you do your research, it will be too late if you realise you have made a big mistake, after your bid is accepted, unlike a private treaty sale where a deposit is fully refundable up until the contracts are signed, you can lose your shirt at an auction.

and on w

So a bit like a few years ago when everyone was buying cars at auctions because they are "great value" and the buyers ended up paying retail prices for auctioned cars.

Not disagreeing with the general advice about auctions but I would just point out that in Galway city and surrounding areas a lot of perfectly good, normal properties are sold at auction. No title issues, no receivers, no goons. I bought my house at one and my parents sold a house at one and they both had everything perfectly in order. This seems to be different to other areas of the country and is driven by a particular estate agent, as far as I can tell. There has never been particularly good value for the Galway properties at these auctions either. Recently they have been selling off repossessed houses at the auctions but the vast majority of those are not in Galway city.

Anyway, you can’t bid unless you’re completely ready to buy. The solicitor has to do a lot of work in advance, so I’m guessing that’s why you need their name to register to bid (ours was an in-person auction and I just can’t remember if we had to give the solicitor’s name). You should be able to watch the whole thing online though and I would advise doing that if you think you might buy at auction. The Galway auctions were also on an RTÉ programme a few years ago that you should be and to find on the player.