How LIVE property auctions on Zoopla.co.uk work
As we write, there are less than 4 days till our first LIVE auction.
Traditionally auctions have been for property investors and developers. However our auctions are designed for everyone including buyers, sellers and agents. Home hunters can now search properties for sale several weeks in advance at Zoopla.co.uk/auctions, arrange viewings with the relevant estate agents and then place online bids during the live four day auction period. At the end of the live period, the successful bidders will exchange contracts online.
The first LIVE auction starts on February 11th at 12:00 pm and bidding runs for four days.
Here’s an overview of how the auctions work in seven easy steps.
1. SEARCH
Find properties that are of interest to you.
2. PROFILE & REGISTRATION
Create a profile and register for the auction you wish to bid in. This is a very important step and will ensure you are notified of any changes or additions to the auction.
Separate registration must be undertaken for each auction you wish to bid in. Registration is fast, free and simple.
3. DUE DILIGENCE
Do your research. We advise going to see the property prior to bidding. Relevant documents (including HIPs and Legal documentation) are available to download for each property on the property details page to assist you.
4. FINANCING
Arrange your financing prior to bidding. Further information is available within the finance tab, or you may wish to arrange your own.
5. VIEW
Contact the estate agent to arrange a viewing and inspect each property you intend to bid on. If you wish to have a survey carried out on the property you’ll need to coordinate with the estate agent marketing the property. The contact details for the the agent can be found within the property listing details.
6. BID
All bidding takes place online from Thursday to Sunday.
There are multiple bidding strategies. Either bid the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for the property or monitor the auction very closely and bid in increments competitively as the auction progresses
Remember, a Buyer’s Premium is equal to 2% of the winning bid amount. VAT will be added to establish the total purchase price.
Example: the winning bid = £100,000. A buyer’s premium of £2,000 (2% of £100,000) and VAT of £350 is added to make the total purchase price = £102,350.
7. EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS
If you are the winning bidder, you will receive a ‘Winning Bidder Confirmation’ via email. If required, a customer service representative will assist with the documentation process and explain the specifics of the sale.
Be prepared to complete the contract and transfer the balance of your 10% deposit within 48 hours of the auction close.
A full set of frequently asked questions can be found here.
Add comment February 8, 2010
Best and Worst Celebrity Neighbours Revealed
 Most Desired Celebrity Neighbour |
 Least Desired Celebrity Neighbour |
When it comes to the value of your home, celebrity neighbours can both add to and detract from property values in a neighbourhood. Our 2010 Celebrity Neighbour Survey makes it clear who would be welcomed and who wouldn’t.
Prolific twitterer and ‘national treasure’ Stephen Fry, who lives in West Hampstead, London where the average value of a detached house is £854,266, has been crowned as the celebrity the nation would most like to share a fence with.
In second place was the nation’s newly crowned ’sweetheart’ Cheryl Cole who lives in footballers favourite Oxshott, Surrey where average property values are £1,202,774. Completing the top five choices for best neighbours were Location, Location’s Kirstie Allsopp, pukka chef Jamie Oliver and Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson.
Respondents made it clear that being ‘noisy’ and ‘disruptive’ top the list of things that make a bad neighbour and voted Pete Doherty as their least desirable celebrity neighbour – a more unpopular choice than Nick Griffin.
What’s interesting is that it’s likely that the Babyshambles rocker doesn’t have any immediate neighbours anyway. He currently resides in a nine-bedroomed red-brick Georgian house on the outskirts of Marlborough, Wiltshire where the average value of a detached house is £466,781.
Doherty fought off fierce competition from Rehab singer Amy Winehouse who no doubt experienced some ‘for sale’ signs going up in a hurry last year in the leafy suburb of Hadley Wood in Barnet (average value of a detatched house in Barnet: £875,984) when she announced she was moving in.
Politically speaking…
As a possible sign of things to come in May, the nation has made clear which political figure they would prefer as a neighbour in 2010 with David Cameron (who, when not in London lives in Dean, Oxfordshire where average property values are: £646,523) making the list of ten most desirable neighbours, while Gordon Brown features as one of the ten least desirable. However, BNP leader Nick Griffin (Welshpool, average property values: £175,537) outstrips all other politicians in terms of unpopularity, capturing almost 10% of the votes as the celebrity people would least like to find next door.
Sitting on the fence…
Following his recent stint on Celebrity Big Brother, Vinnie Jones appears to have split the nation in terms of whether he would make a good neighbour, with 3.2% of voters saying he would not be their choice of a desirable neighbour and 3.8% voting for him as someone they would like to have living next door. Similar sentiment surrounds Gordon Ramsay (Wandsworth, London, average value for a detached property: £854,266) who appears to be the Marmite of neighbours, with an almost equal number of people voting both for and against him as someone they would want on their street.
What was pleasing to see was that, as a nation, we seem to know our neighbours with only 7.9% of respondents claiming to not know who is on the other side of the fence and in some ways contradictory, the two traits that were overwhelmingly stated as making a good neighbour were ‘keeping an eye on our property’ and ‘minding their own business’!
TOP 10 MOST DESIRED CELEBRITY NEIGHBOURS FOR 2010
| Celebrity | % of votes |
|---|---|
| Stephen Fry | 26.1% |
| Cheryl Cole | 14.7% |
| Kirstie Allsopp | 9.6% |
| Jamie Oliver | 9.2% |
| Jeremy Clarkson | 7.6% |
| Gok Wan | 5.3% |
| Prince William | 5.1% |
| Vinnie Jones | 3.8% |
| Ricky Gervais | 3.4% |
| David Cameron | 3.2% |
TOP 10 LEAST DESIRED CELEBRITY NEIGHBOURS FOR 2010
| Celebrity | % of votes |
|---|---|
| Pete Doherty | 16.4% |
| Amy Winehouse | 15.7% |
| Katie Price | 12.8% |
| Nick Griffin | 9.2% |
| Gordon Brown | 6.6% |
| Jedward | 6.3% |
| Kerry Katona | 6.2% |
| Ozzy Osbourne | 4.8% |
| Vinnie Jones | 3.2% |
| Gordon Ramsay | 2.1% |
Photo credits:
Pete Doherty / Title: Press Images / Artist: Peter Doherty / Photographer: Kevin Westenberg / Date: December 2008 / Copyright: Kevin Westenberg
Stephen Fry / Photographer: Claire Newman Williams
Add comment February 6, 2010
Forget the iPad, what about the WAGPad?
With all the rumours, revalations and speculation surrounding a certain Premiership footballer right now, we thought we’d take a look at some of the WAGPads available for sale in Oxshott, Surrey.
Oxshott, Surrey, home to England and Chelsea footballer, John Terry and others.
“Oxshott, a leafy, pretty village in one of the richer parts of Surrey. It’s a collection of large houses and luxury estates surrounded by woods with a a flower shop, convenience store and small beautician’s at its centre. Some of the houses are extraordinarily grand — beautiful mansions set in acres of land with intimidating gates and staff working dutifully inside.”
Extract taken from Alison Kervin’s novel, Wags at the World Cup and article in The Times
We’ve named them WAGPads, as it seems it’s the WAGs who spend most of the their time in them.
Market overview for Oxshott, Surrey
Average home value according to Zoopla.co.uk: £1,202,774
Average house price paid in last 12 months: £1,308,344
Number of property sales in last 12 months: 32
1. 6 bedroom house, Queens Drive, Oxshott, Surrey
Sale Price: £5,000,000
- Impressive & immaculate home
- 6 bedrooms, 5 reception rooms
- Attached staff house
- Indoor pool, private estate
- Landscaped grounds of 3/4 acre
More property for sale in Surrey
2. 6 bedroom house for sale, Stokesheath Road, Oxshott, Surrey
Sale price: £2,495,000
- Imposing family home
- 6 bedrooms (2 en-suite)
- 4 reception rooms
- Prestigious private location
- Beautifully landscaped gardens
More property for sale in Surrey
3. 5 bedroom house for sale, Queens Drive, Oxshott, Surrey
Sale price: £2,450,000
- Family home
- 0.75 acres of mature gardens
- Conservatory
More property for sale in Surrey
Add comment February 3, 2010
Properties facing the virtual hammer in February
Having just launched our new auction section on Zoopla.co.uk there is now (as we write) only 15 days to go until our first LIVE auction, so we’ve picked five properties that will be going under the virtual hammer.
Traditionally auctions have been for property investors and developers. However our auctions are designed for everyone including buyers, sellers and agents. Home hunters can now search properties for sale several weeks in advance at Zoopla.co.uk/auctions, arrange viewings with the relevant estate agents and then place online bids during the live four day auction period. At the end of the live period, the successful bidders will exchange contracts online.
Those selling property can speak to their estate agents about selling their property through our LIVE auctions – this could potentially speed up the transaction time and achieve the best possible price.
The first LIVE auction starts on February 11th at 12:00 pm and bidding runs for four days.
Tenure: Leasehold
Description: A studio apartment situated in this very popular location known as the ‘Pimlico Grid’ within very easy reach of Pimlico and Victoria stations.
Tenure: Leasehold
Description: A new-build 3 bedroom semi detached house in good condition. Located on the Waterloo Place estate in the West Bank area of Widnes. The property has easy access to both the M62 and M56 motorways to Warrington and Liverpool.
Tenure: Freehold
Description: A two bedroom ground floor apartment situated in a popular and quiet area.
Tenure: Freehold
Description: Individual and architecturally designed and detached residence. Offering extremely spacious, family sized accommodation over three floors and situated on a quiet lane with panoramic views to the front and side.
Tenure: Freehold
Description: An impressive 5 bed detached house with swimming pool, integral garage and gardens.
1 comment January 27, 2010
Zoopla.co.uk launches LIVE property auctions
We have just launched, what we think is, a very exciting and innovative new section to the Zoopla.co.uk website – LIVE online property auctions with our partner Real Estate Disposition Company (REDC).
From today, house hunters will be able to search properties for sale several weeks in advance at Zoopla.co.uk/auctions, arrange viewings with the relevant estate agents and then place online bids during the live four day auction period. At the end of the live period, the successful bidders will exchange contracts online.
The first online auction of approximately 150 homes will begin on February 11 and end on February 14. So, lots of time to get out and view the properties. Thereafter live online auctions will take place regularly running from Thursday afternoons to Sunday evenings.
We see online bidding as the future of property auctions not only for the buyer, but also for the seller. It really could change the way we buy or sell property.
For buyers – online bidding gives the buyer the chance to purchase property from motivated sellers in a simple, transparent way with certainty of outcome.
For sellers (through estate agents only) – ability to set a reserve price and market via auction as well as the traditional route to achieve the best sales outcome in terms of exposure, price achieved and speed of sale.
Not only is this a great opportunity for the buyer and seller but also for agents.
For estate agents – the auction provides a unique route to market for the agents and their clients resulting in greater exposure of the property and faster times to sale.
So make sure your agent has offered you this service, if not, ask them to contact us direct.
Click here for a little more on how the auction works.
Finally, we’d love to hear your feedback – especially if you’re looking to take part in the bidding. Leave a comment below or come and find us on Twitter.
Add comment January 26, 2010
