A New Way to Acquire a New House

Buying a house no longer needs to be a time-consuming affair of rushing around to view the endless succession of properties on the market. All that is required of a home seeker is a click of the mouse at the right moment.

The newest addition to the South Africa’s largest online auction site and marketplace, bobshop.co.za, is a two-bedroom apartment in a Helderkruin, Gauteng complex. The bidding starts at R1, with no reserve, which means that the property on auction has to go to the highest bidder, whatever the amount of that bid may be at the close of the auction.

The auction, organised by Private Property, opened on Wednesday 5 November at eight o’clock in the morning and will close a week later, on Wednesday 12 November at five in the afternoon. The closing time may turn out to be a bit later, because the auction will automatically extend for three more minutes each time a new bid is placed within the last minutes.

This move by Bob Shop and Private Property comes as a relief to both sellers and buyers in these tough times. For the sellers, the online auction format translates into attracting additional attention for their property. They are able to spread their net wider, much wider than with traditional methods. After all, Bob Shop has over 300,000 registered users and twice as many visitors each month.

In order to discourage those who might be more interested in playing than in buying a house, the bidders will be asked to submit their credit card details. A hold will be placed on R5000. At the end of the auction, this amount will be taken off the winning bidder’s credit card towards the deposit – or forfeited, should the winner be unable to finalise the purchase for whatever reason.

The online auction format provides the prospective property buyers with a simplified and transparent procedure right at their fingertips. The Bob Shop users are certain to welcome this auction, because it is a fantastic way to acquire a new house - with a mere click of the mouse.  And with the bidding starting from R1, this has got to be the fairest way of buying and selling property.

Buyers are advised to do their research beforehand and to check not just the market value of the property on auction, but also to contact the local planning department to see what is in the offing for that particular area.

Admittedly, putting your house on a R1, no reserve auction does take some courage. For a more conventional approach to selling and buying property, bobshop.co.za and Private Property have two houses in Western Cape. While both are also on auction, they have starting bids of R600,000  and R1,800,000 respectively. Both Capetonian beauties come with a secret reserve price and will only be sold under the hammer if that reserve is met.

The Bob Shop site is no stranger to property sales. However, most of the houses listed on Bob Shop will be found in the classified section.