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Auction – what’s it all about

House is being advertised by estate agents in newspapers, they prepare brochures with photos of the house and its floor plan, and they put a signboard near the house to advertise it and to make easier for interested buyers to locate it.

Seller sets “reserve price”, which means that he won’t sell for anything lower than that during the auction. The date of auction and inspections are advertised in newspapers and on the signboard. All of the inspections and check-ups have to be done before the auction day.

Many sellers like auctions better because they know that in 6 weeks (the time house is advertised before the auction.) they are likely to sell it. It also means that they have to keep the house spotless and in perfect condition (in case people want to inspect it) for only 6 weeks instead of unknown period of time.

On the date of auction all interested buyers come at specified time and they begin placing bids on the house – in other words everyone says what they want to pay for it. Highest bidder gets the house and must pay the deposit (10%) the same day.

It could happen that in the auction every buyer would bid below the reserve price. In that case the house is not sold, but it is quite possible that the owner will contact the highest bidder for further price negotiation.

The bad points of auction in buyer’s eyes are:

• There are no limits on the price, so it can get rather high

• All of the check-ups buyer does to make sure nothing’s wrong with the house cost him money with no guarantee he will win the action

• The deposit successful bidder has to pay is non refundable

• The contract buyer sign is unconditional, which means that even if your loan wasn’t approved by the bank you still have to buy the house or loose your deposit

• Buyer may be busy somewhere else on the day of auction

• Each buyer competes with other buyers and it drives the house price up. In private sale buyer competes with the seller – and it drives the price down

• The pressure buyer feels when he has to compete with other buyers

But even if you see a house advertised as being for sale by auction, you can still avoid it – go to the agency and make your offer. In many cases the seller will agree or you’ll have a chance to negotiate the price.

Some reasons for seller to accept your offer would be:

• Auctions cost a fair bit of money - for example if the reserved price is 450,000 an auction can cost 4500, which seller can save by accepting your offer

• Sometimes the seller is in a hurry and needs a quick sale

• No one knows how many people will turn up during the auction and what they will offer for the house, so seller might prefer to take your offer rather than take a chance on auction.

To be continued…

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You can guess that just by looking at the address, even before you open the map. Every street has a suffix, such as “boulevard”, “avenue”, “street”, “road” and so on, knowing what that suffix means tells you a lot!

So this is what I’ve found about those street names (in alphabetical order):

Avenue

Avenue is a straight road with lines of trees or large shrubs running along either side

Boulevard

A boulevard is usually a wide, multi-lane arterial road, divided with a median down the center, and “roads” along each side designed as slow travel parking lanes and for cyclists and pedestrians, often with landscaping of high quality.

Crescent

A crescent is a quiet street in the form of arc, sometimes even closed at one end.

Cul-de-sac

A cul-de-sac is a dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet. Cul-de-sac literally means “bottom of a sack” in French.

Grove

Grove is a quiet smaller tree-lined street, intended for local transport rather than as a through road

Lane

Lane is a narrow way or road, often a pedestrian lane found in towns where it usually run between or behind buildings. Historically speaking, alleys or lanes were built to allow for delivery of coal to the rear of houses.

Parade

Parade is a centrally located wide road with several lanes going in each direction

Promenade

An esplanade or promenade is a raised walkway area. Generally speaking it can be anywhere, but almost all of them are by the ocean, sea or river. This allows people to walk along the water front, without having to walk on sand on the beach. Esplanades became popular in Victorian times when it was fashionable to visit seaside resorts.

Road

Road has more traffic than street. Road’s main function is transportation (meaning cars are ruling), while streets is more for public interaction.

Quay

Quay is a wharf, usually built parallel to the shoreline.

I hope you have as much fun reading this, as I had googling for it

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They write: BRIGHT AND SUNNY
Which means: The previous tenant scarpered with all the blinds and curtains.

PETS OK
Because something’s gotta be done about the rats.

FULLY FURNISHED
The agent couldn’t be bothered moving the previous tenant’s crap out of there

ONE WEEK’S RENT FREE
Will somebody please, please sign a lease on this uninhabitable shithole?!

Anyway, here’s the link and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Click here to read the full article about real estate adds lexicon.

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Studio is a flat with only one room, which serves as a bedroom / lounge / kitchen; it is something that a student would go for.

Unit means small house, usually located in a block of similar houses, it has mutual walls with other units – as opposed to a house, which is free-standing. Some units look very much like motel rooms. There is one big parking space for all the units in the block and there are common rubbish bins (you don’t have your own driveway or garage or even a rubbish bin ).
It is very common that units belong to body corporate – click on this link to read who they are and what they’re for. Units are usually smaller than houses and most of them will have 2 bedrooms, but there are also relatively big units, with 3 bedrooms and 2 toilets and even a court yard.

The difference between a house and a townhouse is that house has one level and townhouse – 2 or 3 levels with lounge and kitchen located on the first level and bedrooms above them. Both house and townhouse usually have front lawn and rear garden or courtyard, own driveway or garage and own garbage / recycle bins.

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