What if you get cold feet and refuse to "sign here"? Don't the T&Cs of the auction (I gather you are required to register and sign that you accept the T&Cs before even being allowed to bid)
*require* you to sign, and therefore, should you refuse, lay you open to a law suit?
Don't know, I've never got that far -the prices the other bidders are prepared to pay are too much for me :-(
tim
>
Are you saying you have made bids but have always been outbid? In that case "don't know" isn't a valid answer to the question of whether you need to sign something *before being allowed to bid*.
AIUI you are allowed into the auction room without formalities if all you want to do is observe, but you can't just start bidding willy nilly, by making some casual gesture like in the movies, such as waggling your newspaper or discreetly nodding your head. You have to hold up a numbered sign issued by the auctioneer (which is called a "paddle" and looks a bit like a ping pong bat) which you have to obtain beforehand and there will be stuff to sign at that stage.
Yes, you are right you have to register.
But I don't recall that this act alone committed you to the actual purchase. Your 'funds' are not checked until you win, and you could fail to satisfy this test. There might be some clause in there that 'punishes' you for this but it's only going to be at the level of compensation to the auctioneer, not the property owner.
tim
>
I wouldn't be so sure about that. I would have assumed that by registering you confirm that you have read and agreed the T&Cs, and that they say that if you bid and win you are bound to commit.
If it then transpires that you can't afford it, I would assume that you would be liable to the seller for the difference between your bid and the underbidder's (assuming there is an underbidder), and to the auctioneer for your share of the buyer's premium (if there is one).
In the absence of an underbidder you would probably be in the same position as having exchanged contracts in a normal sale and being unable for lack of funds to complete. The seller would try (not very hard) to find another buyer and look to you for the difference plus costs plus interest.
In message , Ronald Raygun writes
Some guide prices seem to be set stupidly low to attract lots of interest, for instance I went to look at a property with a guide price of £50,000 about 2 years ago, they bay windows were falling off, you could put your arm in the cracks in the basement and the acros that were holding the roof up had gone through the roof and were poking out the top. Anyway, its was of interest to us up to about £150,000 but we were told they already had pre-auction interest over that and it went for £250,000.
It was quite fun looking at it as it was more or less open door with about thirty people in there all at the same time - except we had to go outside to get in the basement as the stairs had gone! You could see what people were thinking, some just ignored the building and were looking at the plot size and some were talking about redecorations as though they could just paper over the cracks.
BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.