You need to assume you will be successful; remember, if you are the highest bidder at the fall of the hammer the property is yours—you do not get any finance clauses, cooling-off period or chances to double check the property’s structure.
At auction, if you win it, you buy it, so it’s critical to be prepared for all eventualities on the day by following our auction buying checklist which you want to have completed before the day of the auction.
Auction Buying Checklist:
If you win at auction you will need to pay a deposit; this can be a percentage of the winning bid (for example, 5% of $500,000 purchase price, or $25,000) which you will need to pay on the day.
You will need to ask the real estate agent prior to the auction how you can pay this and if they will accept a personal cheque, bank cheque, deposit bond or electronic transfer.
In some cases, even though a property is going to auction, the seller may be willing to take offers before to sell it even quicker.
It could be worth looking at submitting an offer before the auction to secure it before auction day.
This is the same process you would follow when normally making an offer on a property and the advantage is that in Queensland you can submit an offer on a property that is subject to finance, and building and pest.