Outsourced auction management provider IAM Sold is now working with the UK network of Fine & Country.
Although the full roll-out will not begin until 2018, IAM Sold secured its first sale for Fine & Country last week, achieving a remarkable 84% over the £850,000 starting price on a four-bedroom detached house in need of … well, quite a lot.
The property, in Longfield, Kent, is set in about 3.5 acres and attracted 21 viewings and 34 bids, selling for £1.562m.
From next year, IAM Sold will be working with all of Fine & Country’s 200 UK offices, enabling them to offer its bespoke auction solution to clients where appropriate.
Jamie Cooke, managing director of IAM Sold, said: “We’re delighted to be working with such a renowned estate agency brand, and pleased that its first property sold through our auction service attracted a high amount of attention and phenomenal sales price.
“It just goes to show how choosing the right sales strategy for a property can help it to achieve maximum value – great for both vendor and agent.
“The transaction is a record for IAM Sold in terms of sales price achieved, but with our rapid expansion in the south of the country, we expect to see more sales in these kinds of price ranges.
“Much like auction in fine art and antiquity, it can be the best route to sale for items that will be in high demand or are rare to come to market.”
Fine & Country CEO David Lindley added: “The modern method of auction is no longer reserved for homes at the bottom end of the market.”
The property – ramshackle but with development potential – had been marketed by Fine & Country firm Clifton & Co. It is still listed as Sold Subject to Contract, with the modern method of auction being conditional and allowing time for completion on the fall of the electronic gavel.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51222234.html
Comments (7)
A good job all round I’d say…
by the agent for recommending to their vendor that Auction was best advice to secure the best price, and by their Partner I Am Sold for enabling such a great result by opening the marketing up to all potential bidders and not just cash buyers who’d normally buy at traditional auction. The Modern Method of Auction as they call it draws in 100% of the buying public, not just investors, and developers with cash etc.
None of us is privy to the discussions between the vendor and selling firm but it is perfectly reasonable to assume that they may have said: ‘Mr Vendor, we think the selling price is going to be between £X and £Y. However this is a unique property in the area and has characteristics which could be extremely valuable to the right buyer. Just how valuable we cannot tell at this stage but the auction method should enable us to tease out the interest and achieve the best possible price’.
I take my hat of to them for a good job done – and there would have been a very, very full fee involved albeit paid by the buyer. Let’s see an onliner call centre do as good a job in the circumstances 😉
… is exactly my point. The agent’s professional and thorough knowledge and research produces the figures of £X and £Y based on all factors that might influence a buyer to purchase, in the marketplace in which they operate, no doubt as ‘local experts’. It would seem in this instance that this part of the job had not been thoroughly enough done if (at least) two bidders determined that the value of the lot was almost double what the agent has concluded. Something got overlooked, for sure.
I have no doubt the seller is ecstatic, and probably the successful buyer is pretty chuffed too. But you imply that winning a ‘very, very full fee’ has been deserved for a ‘good job done’ in this transaction, and I merely question whether the remarkable outcome masks the less than accurate guidance given to both seller and potential buyers in the lead up to the auction, and whether the agent’s ongoing reputation is therefore enhanced or diminished by the experiences of those taking part in this event.
fine and country living up to there reputation as totally incompetent ,not only that but they seem to think its a good thing to be that bad at valuing
Is that not a bit harsh on F&C?
Surely the idea of an auction is to set a price to attract attention, they have obviously achieved this with the final figure achieved.
To me it looks like a job well done.
Smile Please …. sure it is, if you achieve 10%/20% or even in some cases 30% over top end of guide. But 84% over guide begins to look like the original guide/advice was misleading. Not to mention all those disgruntled underbidders who may perfectly reasonably have made significant financial commitments/expenditure on surveys etc based on the assumption of the possibility of succeeding somewhere at least in that ballpark.
It sounds like whoever valued the lot may have overlooked the potential for redevelopment. At least the auction process ‘outed’ that. In other circumstances, a private treaty sale to a land buyer, who may have immediately turned it for an 84% profit, may have caused significant embarrassment to the agent, followed by a lawsuit from an angry vendor client. That’s the kind of thing that has stereotyped the reputation of estate agents for so long.
Strange decision, therefore, to use national media to expose a weakness in your firm’s ability to more accurately estimate property/land value…
Yes exactly. We won’t be seeing that house standing for too much longer.