Symonds & Sampson’s March auctions attracted interested parties from all over the South of England and London as well as telephone bidders from Europe as 14 lots went under the hammer in Devon, Dorset and Somerset.

Auctioneer Mark Lewis said, “We moved our 1 April auction to 30 March to allow buyers to complete on 31 March before stamp duty changes added a further 3% to second homes and buy-to-let properties.  However, with the Easter weekend taking out 2 working days it put pressure on everyone to get the legal packs approved and money moved so that deposits could be lodged and completions

The main advantage of buying a property at auction is that you avoid the lengthy process of buying a house in the traditional way. At auction, the process happens in a matter of minutes rather than months and when the hammer falls, you own the property.

The other many benefits of buying property at auction are listed below. If these don't convince you, nothing will!

Low prices

Auctions really do offer the chance to secure property at bargain prices. Thousands of properties are sold at auction in the UK every year - and many are hard to value, meaning they often sell at below market value. You

Well, today we're off to Somerset to take a look at a rather quirky property that, whilst writing this, has already been sold stc!  However, I'm still going to share it with you, as to be honest, this has been my favourite property of the year, so far and I've quite a lot to say about it :-)

This gorgeous property is a previous conversion, and still retains some fabby features from the original old mill itself. It's ready to move into, having very attractive residential accommodation established on the upper floor of the building. Where the flexibility lies to shape this property to your

A first floor flat in need of complete refurbishment smashed its upper guide price by £40,000 when it went under the hammer.

The property in Oaklands Road, Bedford, was sold earlier this month for £140,000.

Ian Kitson of our Property Auctions department said the guide price of between £90,000 and £100,000 had outperformed expectations; he added that the property market in Bedford and the surrounding villages had made a particularly strong start to 2016.

"There was huge pre-auction interest in this particular lot, including more than 40 viewings and a total of 78 legal packs downloaded in just

One of the capital’s leading auctioneers says that selling homes through estate agents will inevitably become longer and more frustrating because of new Stamp Duty charges.

Last Friday (1 April 2016) saw the introduction of an additional 3% Stamp Duty for anyone owning more than one home – even if this is because they are in the process of selling their property in order to buy another.

Auction House London auctioneer Andrew Binstock said: “The latest tax is a punishing blow for those following the traditional estate agency route to market. The 3% hike in Stamp Duty will kick-in as soon as

Sutton Kersh’s March auction saw 121 lots on sale, another huge auction for Liverpool. Bidding was particularly fierce on some of the city’s landmark public houses and de-commissioned churches.

The Fairfield Arms on Prescot Road in Liverpool, saw a bidding war between buyers, with the property going for £168,000, more than £68,000 over the property’s guide price. Interest was also high in The Cabin public house in Kirkdale, which sold for £50,000, £10,000 above the guide price.

Other unusual properties at auction included Tetlow Church near Stanley Park, a two storey brick and stone building

A former police facility that has planning permission for two new homes sold for nearly £270,000 at auction.

The property, in Ermine Street South, Papworth Everard, near Cambridge, attracted plenty of interest and eventually went to a local developer.

It was sold for £268,000 - £18,000 more than its upper guide price.

The site was previously used by Cambridgeshire Constabulary as a police service facility. It currently features two single-storey brick buildings and a single garage. South Cambridgeshire District Council has already granted outline planning permission to demolish all buildings

Why buy property at auction?

People buy at auction for lots of reasons. They may want to move quickly or they could be looking for a plot of land to build on, a repossession, or quite simply they want a quick purchase without the risk of gazumping. Also, many buyers looking for investments buy at auction as a catalogue full of properties gives them lots of opportunities to choose from.

Buying a property at auction is both exciting and potentially profitable. It avoids all of the lengthy purchasing procedures that you usually have to endure and the risk of everything falling through at the 11th

The imminent changes in Stamp Duty charges didn’t stop investors from competing for the best properties at Romans’ second auction of the year, as hundreds of buyers packed the sales room at the Green Park Conference Centre in Reading.

Competitive bidding for rare and high demand lots resulted in 73% of the lots selling on the day with several post-auction deals still to be done. To the delight of sellers, the majority of properties made significantly higher prices than their reserves.

Simon Clayton, Romans’ Auctions Director, comments: “Before today we were concerned that the new Stamp Duty

Selling property at one of our future auctions will be cost effective, simple, fast and stress free. If you feel that this method of sale might be right for you, why not get the ball rolling and get in touch for a FREE VALUATION via our PROPERTY ENQUIRY FORM.

Selling at auction also widens the potential market, not only will there be buyers who want to make it their home, there'll also be investors, developers and property dealers interested in buying. In many cases an auction could prove to be the best method for selling your property and not just a last resort.

Some of the benefits of