National Residential – Online Bidding & Buying Process Explained
National Residential brings efficiency and enjoyment into buying a property through our unbeatable combination of outstanding online-bidding technology along with the personal touch provided by our local estate agency network.
With National Residential you can bid on a property 24 hours a day from the comfort of your PC, iPad, Tablet or Smartphone. We use the very latest Online and SMS (Text Messaging) technology to enable buyers to monitor properties, place bids, arrange viewings, ask questions, and to keep buyers constantly informed of the current bids and the ‘Best and Final’ end dates for online bidding.
Unlike other faceless online-agents, we also provide that all-important personal contact through our local estate agency network. We work with the very best local estate agents to carry out viewings and to assist buyers making offers on our properties. This provides buyers with the personal contact of an experienced local estate agent to help them through the bidding and buying process.
Buyers simply have to register to bid with ourselves or with our local agent, view properties in the normal way, and then thoroughly enjoy the experience of buying with National Residential.
How it works
We are instructed by vendors to sell their properties for the best price possible within just 28 days. Buyers must be chain-free and have either mortgage or cash funds to complete within 56 days.
Before you are able to bid you need to register with ourselves for online bidding (unless you prefer to register and bid through one of our local estate agent partners).
Successful buyers are required to pay a small holding deposit of 1% (minimum £2500) of the purchase price to secure a property together with any buyer’s fee which will be clearly listed in the property details where any exist. We therefore strongly advise that you carry out market research and due diligence on any property before you bid.
All auctions (Registered and non-Registered) are subject to our Online Bidding Terms & Conditions – please ensure you read and understand these terms.
Our experienced sales team and local estate agents will help answer any questions you may have – simply phone us on 01244 757152 (Mobile Friendly) or 0800 6123694 (freephone from landlines)
Register with ease
You’ve seen a National Residential property online and you’re eager to view and bid for it, so your first step is to simply register your interest. For more details on registering, please see our Register To Bid page for more details.
If you do not have a mobile number, or if you prefer to speak with us personally, you can also call us on 01244 757152 and register with our sales team.
Arrange a viewing
Once you have registered interest, you are able to book a viewing. We instruct local estate agents to help us conduct viewings, mainly through open days held during the week and at weekends, and you will be invited to attend one of these.
Confirmation of your viewing appointment will be sent to you by SMS text.
Auction Duration
The duration of the online bidding is usually 28 days but can be shorter or longer. We run the online bidding until we are sure we have achieved best bid price for the seller. Sellers may reject the highest bid at the end of online bidding if it does not achieve their ‘Reserve Price’*. Sellers may also choose to accept a good offer and end the online bidding early.
You will be updated regularly of current highest bids throughout the online bidding by SMS messaging.
We send automatic notifications of the current highest bids on days 14, 21 and 27 and at 6.00 pm on the final day of online bidding.
If you have made a bid, you will also be sent an SMS if you have been outbid.
We endeavor to ensure ALL buyers are fully informed of bids throughout the online bidding process and have the fullest opportunity to buy any property.
Sales progression and completion timescales
We are a fast sale estate agency and pride ourselves on achieving sales in 28 days and completions within 56 days.
Once we have received a Holding Deposit and Purchasers Agreement from the successful buyer, our expert sales progression team drives through completions quickly and in the 56 day time scale.
We offer panel solicitors and mortgage brokers who act quickly and who are able to complete in these timescales. There is no obligation to use our panel solicitors or brokers but if you do, we are able to more easily manage the whole sale process quickly and efficiently.
Our panel solicitors and brokers will also price match any quote that you may already have so you get all the benefits at no extra cost.
Our sales progression team are highly experienced and motivated to drive through completions quickly. You never know what unforeseen obstacles might arise during the completions process but please be reassured that we are on hand to resolve all issues as quickly as possible and to help you every step of the way.
Please Note: in some circumstances we may be uncertain of a property’s Market Value and the Reserve Price the vendor should set. In such circumstances we may ‘test the market’ for up to 7 days with a provisional Guide Price before we open the online bidding. Once we have ascertained the level of interest, we will agree the Reserve Price and Guide Price with the seller and open online bidding. Reserve Prices and Guide Prices will still be set within the rules specified above.
We achieve great results in a short space of time because we aggressively market a select number of properties in a variety of media, both nationally and locally, for a limited time. Don’t miss out on a fantastic opportunity to buy a great property at a realistic price due to hesitation or delay.
Take a look at these keenly priced properties
and make an offer today.
Frequently Asked Buyers’ Questions
Sellers approach us because they require a quick and certain sale for many reasons. They simply do not have the time to wait 6-12 months to sell through a traditional estate agency sale.
Our sellers require a quick and certain sale for their properties within just a few months and fully appreciate that in order to achieve a quicker sale they also have to be more realistic on price.
However, although our sellers our sellers are motivated to achieve a quick sale, they also want a good price.
We therefore provide sellers with a service to a quick sale of their property for the best price that can be achieved within 28 days.
To achieve the best price in 28 days, we market all our properties at an attractive ‘Offers Over’ price and use our modern auction-style bidding process to obtain bids quickly.
Assuming we obtain a price the seller is happy with, we require a buyer to pay a small Holding Deposit (of 1% + VAT or minimum £2500 + VAT) and any buyer’s fee to reserve the property, remove it from the market and secure the deal for both parties.
We request that buyers should do everything possible to complete within 56 days of agreeing to purchase a property. However, if buyers need a little more time than this (e.g to obtain their finance, extend leases, evict tenants) then additional time may be allowed provided agreement is obtained from the seller.
We provide for a 56 days timescale (versus the usual 28 days through traditional auctions) so that buyers may purchase properties with either cash or mortgage. All buyers must be chain-free and will be expected to have proven funds.
If buyers are relying on gifted deposits or the sale of assets to fund their deposits they must declare this from the outset.
Buyers will be purchasing a property from a seller who has requested that we achieve a quick and certain sale for their property so buyers must be prepared to do everything they can to complete within the 56 day time-frame.
We do not usually accept offers from people in chains or who have to sell a property before they can buy. Buyers must either be chain-free or have a guaranteed sale going through on their property (ie. has exchanged) before we would recommend our sellers accept their offer.
Please note that sometimes buyers have initially told us they are chain-free only for us to find out they are in fact relying on the sale or refinance of another property to fund their purchase. Matters may then go wrong and buyers may either lose their deposits because they are unable to raise funds, or buyers have had to raise expensive bridging finance to complete their sales within the agreed timescales.
We therefore request that buyers disclose all the relevant facts relating to their source of funds before agreeing to purchase any of our properties. Buyers Holding Deposits are at risk otherwise.
There are no additional costs for buyers to purchase MOST* National Residential properties.
*Where a fee does exist, it will be clearly listed in the auction details.
Buyers are required to pay a Holding Deposit of 1% of the agreed purchase price (minimum £2500). However, this Holding Deposit is not an additional cost. The Holding Deposit is paid by the buyer to reserve a property and forms part of their purchase price funds. The Holding Deposit is paid to the seller’s solicitor on completion and the buyer pays the additional balance.
Buyers will also be required to pay National Residential or their solicitor £300 on account to order local searches (or to purchase the legal pack if this is available). We pay this £300 to the buyer’s solicitor immediately so that we ensure that the buyers solicitor is formally instructed and they do not delay ordering searches. If the local searches eventually cost less than £300, the buyer’s solicitor will refund the balance on completion.
Buyers will obviously have to budget to pay for their legal fees and mortgage valuation/broker fees if there are any.
We are instructed by sellers to achieve a fast sale and completion for their property. As a result, we will only sell to committed buyers who can complete quickly.
To ensure this, we require buyers to be chain-free; to have funds available to complete within 56 days; and, to pay a small Holding Deposit to reserve a property.
Most committed buyers are happy to pay the Holding Deposit as it is an affordable fee; it is not an additional cost; and, it is also refundable under some circumstances – please see clause 4 of our Online Bidding Terms & Conditions.
Committed buyers benefit by paying the Holding Deposits, knowing their properties are removed from market and they are at a much lower risk of being gazumped and losing money on wasted costs.
If a buyer attempts to renegotiate the purchase price, or to withdraw from a sale, they risk losing their Holding Deposit.
Holding Deposits are non-refundable for any reason other than the seller withdrawing from the sale and for certain other exceptional circumstances listed in clause 4 of our Online Bidding Terms & Conditions.
Buyers are therefore requested to carry out all their due diligence and obtain mortgage ‘agreement in principles’ that is fully credit assessed BEFORE they agree to purchase the property and pay their Holding Deposit.
Buyers do not have to use any of the panel solicitors we recommend and are free to use whichever solicitors they choose. Indeed, many of our professional buyers have long standing relationship s with good solicitors so we prefer buyers to use their own solicitors in these cases.
However, where buyers have not previously worked with or built a relationship with a good solicitor, we prefer to recommend that they use a solicitor on our panel.
Our panel solicitors have expertise in achieving fast completions within 56 days will also price-match any other solicitor’s fees so buyers have nothing to lose financially.
We also do not make an referral fees from recommending solicitors – we do so only to improve speed and efficiency of completions.
Buyers do not have to use any of the panel brokers we recommend and are free to use whichever brokers they choose. Indeed, many of our professional buyers have long standing relationship s with good brokers so we prefer buyers to use their own brokers in these cases.
However, it is often the case when inexperienced buyers use their own brokers a high proportion of these sales drag on or fail to complete at all because their brokers have chosen the wrong mortgage lender and they are either ill-experienced and/or under-motivated to prioritise completing in the quick timescales buyers and sellers require.
We recognise that many buyers do not have relationships with good mortgage brokers and hence obtaining a mortgage can sometimes be tricky and hard work.
We work with the UK’s leading mortgage brokers who are whole of market and who have experience in getting the tough cases through to mortgage offer.
We also work with the brokers within our local Estate Agent partners who also have a vested interest in working hard to get the mortgage offer so the sale completes.
Therefore, we are able to recommend several panel brokers who will go the extra mile to support buyers to get their mortgage offers quickly and successfully.