2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Levi Winchester)
Selling a family home following the death of a loved one can be a highly stressful ordeal - especially if the property isn't in good condition. After her elderly mother sadly passed away, Cheryl was forced to sell her home in order to pay for substantial care home costs. But as the three-bedroom, end-of-terrace Victorian house had stood empty for five years, she knew getting a good price for it wasn't going to be an easy task.
The fact the property also hadn't been updated in more than 30 years also didn't help. This is when the family decided to try going to auction - and were left stunned when they made £42,000 more than expected. Cheryl, who lives in Liverpool and has worked in HR for the NHS for nearly 40 years, said: “When our mum moved into a care home due to her Alzheimer’s in 2019 the house was left in an acceptable, but unrenovated state.
“It hadn’t been modernised for 30 years, but was left painted on the inside. Leaving any house unoccupied that long would always lead to some kind of deterioration. The issue is we knew estate agents would just opt for the lowest possible sale price because of its long term uninhabited condition.
” When Cheryl’s mum passed away, her estate went into probate – the legal process, which can last anything from months to years, where a deceased’s assets are wound-up, debts are paid and wills are honoured. But taking a hit on the sale price would have impacted the family’s ability to repay costs associated to their mum’s care home bill. A probate advisor recommended going to auction as an alternative to a traditional estate agency sale for their home, which was the largest asset to be liquidated.
Cheryl said: “Apart from watching Homes Under the Hammer, I hadn’t really considered auction as an option until it was recommended. We were told it would be better as an auction property because of its general condition and it still contained all of our mum’s heavy furniture – we just thought it wasn’t up to scratch for a traditional estate agency sale.” The family worked with Probate.
Auction to sell the property and were left stunned when it fetched £117,000 under the hammer. Cheryl believes the family home would have sold for £75,000 if she had gone through estate agents - meaning it sold for an extra £42,000 than she'd anticipated. The property was also marketed “as seen” meaning that Cheryl’s mum’s heavy furniture would be the responsibility of the buyer – so the family did not have to worry about arranging for everything to be cleared.
The entire process took two months from start to finish. Cheryl said: “I honestly believe on the open market, we would have achieved around £75,000 for the house, however our advisors at Probate.Auction set a guide price of £90,000 and sold it for £117,000.
It was all very exciting as we dialled into the online auction to watch auctioneer Russell Taylor in action. “We couldn’t believe it all took place in less than a minute! We were told the buyers were interested in the property to convert to an HMO (house of multiple occupation) as some of the larger Victorian houses in the neighbourhood had that potential – which would have seen a total refurb of the property in any case.” But there are things to be aware of if you're considering going to auction.
There is no guarantee your property will definitely sell - and there is also the risk you may end up selling for less than its market value. There are also fees to pay - and these can be applicable even if the property doesn't sell. For example, Probate.
Auction charges administration fees of £1,750 plus VAT, an entry fee per lot of £20 and seller's commission of 17.5%. Nick Kalms, founder of Probate.
Auction and Resi.Auction, said: “Families facing the daunting realities of probate need greater support and fairer options when it comes time to sell the family home. Probate properties are always harder to sell because of their general condition so we have created a market place to deal with this.
Having dealt exclusively with probate property for the past decade, our evidence shows that at least 30% of probate properties could benefit from a sale via Traditional Auction.”.
