Would you buy a house at auction?

Could you risk buying a home under the hammer? Two readers reveal all

Two readers share their opposing views on this month’s hot topic

YES ‘I am a convert to buying at auction. I think you can get such a bargain’

Esther Gittoes (@consumedbywanderlust) lives in a listed Georgian townhouse (@the_ elephant_house) in Kinver, Staffordshire ‘Buying at auction’s been better for me because

I’d never have been able to afford this house normally. I’ve gone from a two-bedroom apartment to a three-storey listed Georgian townhouse in a lovely village for not much more.

‘The house was sold through a modern day auction. You have a viewing and then put in a bid online. You have to pay a non-refundable reservation fee, which you lose if you pull out. I had a pack of information beforehand, and it was quite hard to make sense of it all. I got a lot more garden than I realised – it goes all the way down to the River Stour.

‘My friend actually found it and I said don’t touch it because it’s being sold through auction. I thought you had to be a cash buyer and I’d got this idea it’d be really messy inside. Now I’m a convert! You can get houses at such better prices through auction. It’s hard enough for a young person or a woman on their own to get a mortgage and buy the normal way, so if you’re able to get it cheaper, great!

‘I had one viewing and then went for it. I had no idea of how much it was worth. I put in my offer and they accepted it and the auction closed early. I was really surprised that it didn’t go higher, but I think they wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible.

‘I would definitely buy at auctions in the future. I do buy furniture at auctions – I’m more open to it now, whereas before I was a bit scared to go down that route. It’s going to take a lot of work, but I think I’ve got such a bargain!’

NO ‘We had a good relationship with the sellers, which you don’t get at auction’

Nina and Sam Ward (@ellerhowhouse) live with their little boy, Freddie, and Labradoodle Moo in a Regency house in the Lake District ‘We bought this house a few months ago. We’d seen it online three years ago and I said, “Oh, house goals!”. It’s like a fairytale. With the stamp duty holiday, my husband said “Shall we go for it and see how far we get?”. We went along with the process and everything just slotted into place. It was built by the architect George Webster.

It has eight bedrooms – three run as a holiday let – and 12 and half acres of grounds and woodland.

‘We bought it through an estate agent. We visited it a number of times and brought our family to see it. We got to know the former owners quite well and had a rapport with them that I imagine you’re missing at an auction. I do go to furniture auctions and they are quite competitive. They are quite fast and a bit unpredictable, and that might be a bit unnerving when buying a house.

‘Every step with this house was far more considered than I imagine it could be at auction, where you’re going to have to react quite quickly. You can’t go away and say, “I’m going to have to think about that overnight”. It did feel we had more control over the finances and there was more openness for negotiation. There were two other offers on the table for the house, but we had a good relationship with the owners; I think they liked the idea that it’d go to a family. They stayed loyal to us even when our house sale fell through during Covid – so there is something to be said for having a relationship with the seller.’