Property

Evening Standard

11/02/04 - Property news section

Going, going, gone

By David Spittles

The auction year begins this week with an exciting mixed bag to suit all budgets.

Perhaps auctions are the way forward for first-time buyers keen to employ a bit of lateral thinking: clubbing together to buy with friends; or for making a shared investment with relatives, who want to renovate and sell once their youngster has made enough money to put down an independent deposit. Auctions can help you to get on the ladder at a realistic price.

You cannot get a guaranteed bargain at auction - rival bidding can ratchet up prices. But it is possible to pick up property that cannot normally be bought through estate agents.

Unmodernised period houses, for example, are usually sold direct to small developers for conversion. Dozens of such properties are due to go under the hammer this month.

Some are wrecks, others require cosmetic improvements, a few are split into bedsits but could be returned to single residence. Some have desirable addresses, others are in up-and-coming pockets of the inner city.

Increasingly, properties are being offloaded by councils and housing charities that are merely looking for the best price on the day. Executor sales can also throw up attractively priced homes.

One such property is a handsome, doublefronted house in Brixton being sold by FPDSavills (lot 61, 16 February), with a guide price of £ 500,000.

The firm's Paul Mooney says auction buyers became more price sensitive last year, and he expects this to continue in 2004.

However, there is 'unlimited appetite' for the right sort of property such as Victorian or Georgian town houses. 'A lot are in bad condition and so not for the faint-hearted. But it's a fantastic chance for someone who wants to design a house from top to bottom.'

When buying an unmodernised house you must do your detective work before the sale. 'We recommend getting a survey, whatever property you intend buying,' says Gary Murphy of estate agent Allsop.

When instructing a surveyor, request a breakdown of likely repair costs. A full structural survey could easily cost £ 800. Have your finance lined up and be aware of the maximum loan a mortgage lender will grant.

The valuation put on the property by a lender may be considerably below the hammer price, leaving you with a shortfall to find.

Auction firms are trying to make the process easier for buyers by arranging pre-sale viewings and offering mortgage and legal advice. It is also possible to bid via the internet.

Auctionwatch is a personalised search service that identifies properties according to your requirements - type of house or flat, price, location and so on.

'It keeps you one step ahead of the pack,' says David Sandeman, managing director of Essential Information Group, which provides the service.

'Time is of the essence when you buy at auction. Usually there is only a two- or three-week gap between the catalogue being sent out and the auction taking place, which isn't long.'

At any one time EIG has a database of about 28,000 properties supplied by 180 auction firms. The service costs £ 95 plus VAT for three months.

You state your requirements - say, an unmodernised house in Clapham - and EIG emails details as soon as it gets them from auction firms.

The list is updated twice a week. You can then visit the company's website (www.eigroup.co.uk) and get a picture of the property, description and location map.

Historic information on 280,000 properties is also available, so you can check past and present values.

'This is useful because a lot of buyers get excited by the guide price, only to be disappointed on the day of the auction when bidding is much higher,' adds Sandeman.

Andrews & Robertson, which covers mainly south-east and south-west London, says there is a trend of young families buying part-vacant homes. Houses with a sitting tenant are about 30 per cent cheaper.

Some young couples with small children do not mind sharing a large house with a tenant occupying a couple of rooms or a self-contained flat at the top, because it can be a way of getting a house in a desirable street for the price of a flat.

When the owners are better off, they may be able to buy out the sitting tenant. But it is a bit of a gamble in terms of the tenant leaving. It could be two years or 20 years. Or perhaps never.

Andrews & Robertson has a three-storey house in Thrale Road, Streatham, SW16, that is part-occupied by a regulated tenant and has a guide price of £210,000 (lot 33, 17 February).

Houses sold by London boroughs including Wandsworth, Southwark, Lambeth, Merton and Enfield are also on offer in the Andrews & Robertson auction, with guide prices starting at less than £ 200,000.

Lewisham and Hither Green are improving on the back of the success of Canary Wharf. Also at the Andrews & Robertson auction in Wellmeadow Road, SE13, a doubled-fronted terrace has a guide price of £ 220,000 (lot 56). In Somerset Gardens an elegant early Victorian house overlooking a green has a guide price of £ 350,000 (lot 43).

The company is also offering three adjoining terraced houses in a conservation area in Kennington (lot 29) - guide price, £ 975,000 - perhaps for a buyer to keep one, rent one and sell one.

Close to the Olympic regeneration site in Hackney is a four-storey semi with planning permission for conversion into four flats (lot 28, FPDSavills). The guide price is £ 470,000.

A terraced house (lot 5, FPDSavills) on the Jesus Green estate in Bethnal Green, close to Colombia Road flower market, has a guide of £ 280,000.

London commuters may be tempted by a listed house overlooking the village green in Finchingfield, Essex.

It comes with a timber barn suitable for conversion and has a guide price of £ 280,000 (lot 69, FPDSavills). Meanwhile, a detached 1930s house in Purley - guide price of £ 390,000 - is also expected to attract strong bidding (lot 33, FPDSavills).

Auction dates

Allsop: tomorrow (020 7494 3686)
FPDSavills: 16 February (020 7824 9091)
Andrews & Robertson: 17 February (020 7703 2662)
Clive Emson: 19 February (01622 630033)

Find this story at http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/homes/news/articles/9097596?version=1
©2004 Associated New Media

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