A new online auction website is tackling the credit crunch with a novel scheme that sells houses for as little as £75.
With the housing market at a virtual standstill sellers are resorting to increasingly innovative solutions as they attempt to sell their homes.
However, after the much publicised failure of several self-run property ‘prize draws’, savvy home owners are now seeking professional reassurance that the sale of their property will be successful and, more importantly, legal.
One rather unusual online auction site is taking full advantage of the influx of sellers desperate to shift their home at a respectable price. Humraz.com was founded specifically to make the property sale process affordable, however, unlike most auctions it’s the caller of the lowest unique bid that will take home the prize.
Bidders must buy their place in the running with an entry fee that's determined by the home’s asking price, the cost of stamp duty, website commission and a donation to charity. Once the auction goes live they then get up to 200 attempts to select the lowest unique bid, it’s this element of ‘skill’ that gets round the lottery laws that have stalled similar draws.
The winner then has the opportunity to purchase the property at their bid price, making for an arrangement that guarantees both the seller and the buyer benefit from the deal.
Highgate resident Samantha Grief is to become the first London-based seller to auction her home on the pioneering site after a conventional sale fell through earlier in the year.
Having already dropped £125,000 off the initial asking price on her two-bedroom flat, the auction practically guarantees her the £425,000 amount she is now looking to raise. What’s more, she will also be able to donate £10,625 to her chosen charity, Business Action on Homelessness.
The auction for Ms Grief’s home will begin once 7,900 individuals have purchased a ticket at the agreed £75 price and the bidding will begin at a maximum of £22,400.
