Although most people still choose to sell their property via the standard estate agent route, an increasing number of property sellers are turning to auctions.

But, what are the pros and cons of selling property at auction and is it an option you should consider?

We look at the main advantages and disadvantages of auctions for sellers, to help you decide if they are right for you.

Pros Of Selling Property At Auction

Seeing the hammer fall when your property has just sold for a great price is a fantastic feeling. But it’s not just the adrenaline rush that makes selling at auctions a good choice for many homeowners.

Sell Quickly

One of the biggest attractions of selling a property at auction is the fact it allows you to sell very quickly. Not only will you have a set date where you know you will find a buyer (providing your reserve price is met), once the hammer falls, the buyer is legally bound to complete the purchase within a set amount of time (usually around 28 days).

This makes it great if you need to complete the purchase quickly, either to free up the cash or to avoid losing out on the purchase of your onward purchase.

Chain-Free Selling

One of the biggest drawbacks of selling a property via the standard routes is the existence of chains. Chains exist when the purchase of one property, relies on the successful sale or purchase of another. For example, when the buyer of your property needs to sell their current home to fund the purchase of yours.

Although they cause less of an issue in Scotland, chains have the ability to slow down sales and even cause them to fall apart completely. Selling a property at an auction avoids chains as people can only buy at an auction if they have the funds available and are chain-free.

This gives you much more security that once a sale is agreed, it will actually happen.

Increased Competition

If the auction house does a good job of marketing your property, you could benefit from increased competition for your home.

Think about it, when your property comes up for auction, if there are several potential buyers fighting it out to be the highest bidder, it can cause the final sale price to shoot up higher than you anticipated.

Auctions do not always lead to increased competition, but when they do, they become extremely favourable to the seller.

Seller Remains In Control

When selling a property at auction, you always remain in control. That’s because, once a sale is agreed, the buyer cannot renegotiate or pull out of the deal without financial or legal penalty.

Compare this to selling via an estate agent, where the agent fields all offers for you and the buyer can attempt to renegotiate at any point up until contracts are exchanged. When considering this, it’s easy to see why many people prefer the control and certainty they get from selling at auctions.