I'm delighted to announce that we have entered into an agreement to jointly host regular property auctions with a nationally recognised company.

Auction House have grown significantly over the last few years by teaming up with local estate agencies, successfully selling 308 lots, representing a value of £28.5m the period January-March 2011, giving them a success rate of 81%, compared to a national average of 69%.

Our local auction, held at Preston North End's stadium on 20th April 2011, produced at 92% success rate. This included a portfolio owned by a client of NR&A's, which had a sale agreed on it, and went to auction when the sale fell through. The portfolio achieved £41,000 MORE at auction than the previously agreed price, which I'm sure you will agree is a great result.

Mind you, I'm not surprised the result was so good - the auction room itself had almost 300 registered bidders within it, and many properties had multiple bidders. This was a better than expected turnout, and it just shows that there ARE people out there who want to buy.

But surely, auctions are the last resort? This is a commonly held view and, yes, there are a lot of properties there that are being auctioned because they have failed to sell on the open market. The buyers there are mainly investors, so it's not always the best route if, say, you're selling the family home to upgrade to another family home.

It is, however, a fantastic way to sell an investor suitable property. The people there have funding in place - remember, when the gavel falls, contracts are exchanged and the sale is legally binding - so the funding HAS to be there.

And it's not necessarily true that auction properties exclusively sell cheap. More than half of the properties at the last auction sold for 20-30% more than the reserve price. Note that the reserve price is set as the minimum that the vendor will accept for the property, and is not related to the Guide Price, which is set purely to generate interest.

We're already looking forward to our next auction, at 2pm on the 21st June 2001, again at PNE's ground. Whether you're thinking of buying or selling at auction, or just want to go along for the experience, then we'd love to hear from you.