Navigating Your First Auction Property with Stephanie Baker

In today’s episode of Girls in Property, Athena sits down with seasoned property agent Stephanie Baker to delve into the world of auction properties. Auctions can be a goldmine for property professionals, but navigating them successfully requires a solid understanding of the basics—such as what constitutes an auction property, associated fees, timelines, and the potential risks and rewards. 

Stephanie brings her wealth of experience to the table, guiding us through these crucial fundamentals. She also shares her insights on how to assemble the right team to support your auction ventures. To wrap up, Stephanie recounts a recent property disaster she faced and the valuable lessons learned from the experience. 

Don’t miss this engaging and informative episode—tune in to get the insights you need for your next auction adventure! 

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Transcript

0:02

Good morning everyone, welcome to today's episode of the Girls in Property podcast. How is everybody doing today? I hope you're all well. So today I would love to introduce you to somebody who's absolutely fabulous, absolutely glamorous and somebody who really shows that within this property industry you can be both absolutely beautiful, do amazing things, lie on a, you know, one of those in the swimming pool on the beds. acting like Kim Kardashian in an amazing way, but also be an absolute boss lady within the property world. So today I would love to introduce you to Stephanie Baker. Hi, Steph. Thank you so much for such a lovely intro and honestly, I feel so honored to be on here. So thank you so much for having me on. No problem at all. I was trying to do you the best intro and then I thought to myself, what are those things called when you lie on the, you know, in the the pool on those like water beds? I can't actually remember. It's just like a pool bed or something, isn't it? But yeah, I hadn't actually seen one until we went on holiday in Marbella and I was like, right, I am having a photo shoot on there. I am doing a Kim Kardashian. Yeah, I loved it. was, listen, you know me, I was here for it. I was like, go on Steph, that's great. And like I said, what's amazing is... sorry, gone. No, no, no. What I was going say was it's amazing the fact that you're, like I said, what I want to get women on here to represent is this idea that you can be absolutely incredible as, you know, CEO of your company and do incredible things within the property world, but also have fun and also be glamorous and also just be a woman at the same time. And I think that's so important to represent. Yeah, no, I really appreciate that. Thank you. Because I think especially like that photo on Instagram is like a prime example, isn't it? You know, and I said to you, didn't I was like, I was should I post it? Should I not? People. And I should do it shouldn't be an issue. But I think especially with how social media is and how people behave on social media, it does kind of you do end up feeling quite nervous about showing who you are if that makes sense. Yeah, and like I said to you, girl, post it, 100%, go for it, which I love. So Steph, for those who don't know you, can you please take the time to introduce yourself, tell everybody a bit about your story, where you've come from, and what you're doing within the property world at the moment, and then we can take the conversation from Yeah, perfect. So my background, I, well, I didn't have a great upbringing. It was very, well, pretty much homeless when I was a kid for a while. And my mum's my only family and she once said to me, well, not once, she said it on multiple occasions. She was like, bricks and mortar, bricks and mortar, bricks and mortar. And from there, I think it's always ingrained into me that I can't rely on anybody. sounds so sad, doesn't it? You can't rely on anybody and having assets that will always generate you an income that is going to go up in value is probably one of the most important things that you can have. yeah, started off, was kind of like where I got the inspiration to always want to invest. I worked abroad for a number of years, worked on yachts and bought a couple of buy -to -lets, did a refurb when I came back and started working for an estate agency up in the northeast and probably the best thing I ever did really because it taught me so much from the inside out, that location, processes, etc. I then worked in auctions. I was a Southwest Auction Manager for a nationwide auction house and love auctions. I could sit and talk to you all day about auctions and just how great they are. But then I started, I just got to a point where I was like, didn't want, and I think the catalyst was somebody actually saying to me, you can't have a holiday. Like I wanted to take a day off for whatever reason. And my boss was like, you can't have it off. And I was like, I haven't met this in my life. So then that was like the catalyst for me being like, I'm quitting my So I just put the steps into place. I invested in my education. I started up a rental service accommodation business which replaced my income. Then quit my job and focused on sourcing for investors, did a lot of networking, sourcing for essays, service accommodation, buy to let, buy refurbs. And did that for two years in my own business and hated absolutely hated just working for myself. Coming from a sort of corporate office job, wall for wall street, to then just being on your own and in your own business. No one to celebrate your successes with, no one to help when things are bad. And it cumulative me having a breakdown. And then I was like, right, something's got to change. And so I went into partnership with another company and hence why the move down to Manchester. where I now focus on mainly directory developer stock, which is off market. So that is a mixture of off plan, completed apartments, full block sales and supported living. And here we incredible. Yeah. What a story. I love that. You're like, yeah, this is me. This is me now. No, fantastic. there's so many. Yeah. And you know, it's like a book, isn't it? Just different chapters of life. And there's so many questions I want to ask you about both the past and the present and the future as well. But before I do that, and before I get too, too much into the podcast, because I will hope I won't don't want to forget is can you please tell us something you are celebrating at this moment in So I have hopefully got a property going through at the moment for my first property to purchase down in Manchester. I've been picked to the post on multiple occasions, so I'm just really hoping that this touch wood is the one that's gonna go through. That's amazing. And is that to actually live in as well? Like you're refurbing it and living in it at the same time? Wow. Yes. Okay, fantastic. I've got my fingers and toes crossed for you because I know how stressful that can be, especially when it's like your own property. So fingers crossed that all goes well for you. That'd be amazing. And then what am I celebrating at the moment? I'm celebrating actually kind of now leveling up with girls in property. In terms of its equipment actually is what I mean. So at the moment I'm of course doing my podcast and when I'm not in the studio and I'm at home, I'm leveling up my home equipment. So as you can see, if you're on YouTube, I've literally got myself a brand new mic. So hopefully the sound is going to be a lot better on this podcast. And I bought myself a new camera as well. Although to be honest with I couldn't get it to work this morning, which is so frustrating. I'm just rubbish at technology, but I've got a new camera. For those on YouTube, you can see I've got myself a brand new plant in the corner, even though I'm like, I think it needs to look a little bit bigger, but I've got my plant and then I'm gonna order myself like a neon sign. So yeah, I think, I think I've always talked about this idea of when you start out, it doesn't have to be perfect, just start. Like, but as time goes on, it's so nice to also recognise when it's time to level up, it's time to invest and it's time take things to new heights and I feel like I'm at that place with girls and property now which is such an amazing achievement. So yeah, I've got all this new equipment and yeah, it's exciting. I love that. I think honestly, I think what you're doing with the girls in poverty, I think it's amazing, like so inspiring. And I think what you're doing is incredible. thank you. I just want to give people a voice. That's my main thing. I'm like, come on, tell your story, get people to know you. Like, it's so important. Even these conversations where I have on the podcast, people say things. like, I didn't know that about you. Like, Steph, I didn't know that about your upbringing, for example. I had no idea. And of course I can really relate with my own story as well. And it's funny, isn't it? When we talk about where we are now and who we are as these women. It's actually ingrained from really early childhood, I think, and the way that we were raised and this idea of you can't rely on anybody else, you can only rely on yourself. I think that stems from early childhood and looking at your environment and thinking, I will not allow this to happen to me and my family. So I find that so interesting and really like deep rooted as well. But yeah, so. Auctions let's talk about auctions because quite frankly, I haven't had anybody on this podcast yet talking about auctions So that's super exciting and to be fair a lot of people a lot of people actually come to me Asking me questions about auction. So I would love to hear from you about this So can we please start off first of all by just asking you if you were to think about somebody who was looking to? Acquire their first auction property first of all, what would be the top three things you advise them to immediately when even looking to acquire an auction property. Yeah, so I think first and foremost, well, it's a bit of a common misconception that you need to be a cash buyer in order to be able to purchase an auction and you don't. If you are purchasing with a mortgage, just make sure that you have everything set up in place so you can get a mortgage offer on a specific property. Now, the one thing I would say on that is, say for instance, you are looking at putting an offering of say 150 ,000. but you know that the max that you would be prepared to pay is 200 ,000. Get your mortgage offer accepted at 200,000. Even if you don't bid, it's easier to come down than it is to go up. Get your valuation done, get your mortgage offer in place because once you've put that offer in on the auction site, if it's accepted, you are committing to purchase, that's it. And if you were to fall out, if you were to fall through, and you couldn't complete, say you couldn't get a mortgage, you would forfeit your reservation fee and a deposit potentially as well. But I mean, that aside, the first and foremost thing I would obviously do is your legal packs. So the legal packs are amazing because they will give you everything that you need to know about the property. And if it's not in there, you can ask the questions before you bid. So the legal pack will have everything that you need in say land registry, title deed, searches, special conditions, all of the stuff that is normally needed in conveyance and process of a standard sale, it's all in there for you. And honestly, is the best. I don't understand how it can take so long to get standard completions through in the UK. Like Dubai seem to do it very quickly. Auctions can do it very quickly. But honestly, it's painful. And I think auctions to me is the way forward for both vendors and buyers because it's all of the information is there first off and it's straight, it's simple, it's quick. And you don't get time wasters either. So, legal packs, making sure that you're looking through them. If you don't know how to look through a legal pack or it's your first time, get a solicitor to look through it for you. Normally they'll charge between 250 to 500 pounds, but they... They are worth the weight in gold and if you are successful and you purchase the property Normally the solicitor will just take that off the fee anyway because their work's effectively done for them or a lot of it and So that would be first and foremost and Secondly make sure that when you're viewing you are you know, you're taking a builder you get a survey done Anything else that you want to do you need to make sure that you do that again before you put your offer because you can't backtrack. So say you put an offering of 150 ,000 and then you get your surveyor out and they say, well, it's got subsidence. Actually, it's only worth 120. It's too bad. You know, you've already committed to purchasing it at that price. So making sure that you do all your due diligence, making sure that if you're getting a bill around there, you're costing up for your refurb so accurately. And thirdly, I would say make sure that you're reading through the individual auctioneers. terms and conditions. So for instance, the company I used to work for, they were unconditional most of the time. So what that means is that you would exchange contracts straight away and you would complete normally 28 days later. You would pay down a reservation fee along with a 5 % deposit. And that's obviously non -refundable. Other companies, another quite common one is conditional, which means that normally you would have 28 days to exchange and then a further 28 days to complete. Again, you would normally be paying down a reservation fee and if you were to pull out for any reason, that is non-refundable. So yeah, making sure that you read through the individual auctioneer's terms as well. I love that. What fantastic advice. Brilliant. And in terms of if you were to think about your experience or when you were actually at the estate agency experiences that you saw that other investors went through, what would you say were some of the things that could go wrong that you've seen go wrong for everybody to be aware of to try and avoid as best they can really? Yeah, it's a great question that and to be honest, most people, the negotiators that work for the auction houses, they're there to help and support and guide you through the process from start to finish. They are commission based, so do try and get on the right side of them because they will want to help you then. But I mean, experience wise, quite a popular one down in London, along with short leases is an absent freeholder. which basically means that it's very, very difficult for you to extend the lease. And obviously if it's a low lease, then you wouldn't be able to get a mortgage on it. So they can be really good deals because normally they'll sell cheaper, but sometimes if people aren't looking, they'll buy something with a low lease thinking that they've got a great deal, but not realize that the reason it's a good deal is because you can't get a mortgage on it. So that was quite a common one. EWS1 forms, especially again, mainly in London when you're buying apartments. EWS1 for anybody who doesn't know is now a statutory requirement for anything that has or is a high rise or has cladding, mainly after the Grenfell disaster because of obviously the flammable materials. So unless it probably has an EWS1 form, potentially again, it won't be more visible. What else have I seen? I've seen it all when I was working there or heard it all. People just not doing their due diligence a lot of the time, but it happens less than what you would think. People that don't realize that a property, yeah, he's either got subsidence or things like pylons in the back garden. Yeah, loads of different things, but yeah, mainly just not doing the due diligence on a property. I love that. I think, I think one of the other things you said to me when we were off of the podcast was you were talking about yourself in Manchester and your solicitor actually having a look at some of the actual properties that you were looking at and saying, that particular area I know has got subsidence. And you're like, great, I've now got that information. So it's all about the power team, isn't it? And using that and not, trying to do everything on your own. We can sometimes get so trapped in that. And it's like, you don't need to like, Treat the business like a business, ask for help, in professionals, bring in your power team. What would be your advice about massively and I've always been culprit for this as well is again, you know going back to that doing everything on your own and not relying on anybody You can't get anywhere like that At least not very quickly But yeah, absolutely making sure that you have a really good power team around you and knowing your area as well and knowing who is an expert in that area so I think we were also saying about how People that are purchasing when they're purchasing For instance, they might know that that area has got a mineshaft underneath it. So if they're bidding on something, they'll know that they need to take that into account. But yeah, absolutely, the solicitor one was a really good one. That was actually a networking event. And I got speaking to somebody about probably that I was looking at buying and he said, you need to be careful about subsidence around that area. And I was like, right. All those different things. Absolutely. Having a good power team around you is imperative. Well that networking was worth going to for you, wasn't it? Network guys, that's the key, network. I love that. So, okay, so that's auctions and that's kind of a real fantastic way for people to get into property, I think. And a lot of people now are looking at auction properties, particularly like probates or repossessions and things. And I think that's fab. But also your expertise is around, well, first of I find it really interesting, because I think a lot of people relate to this as well, Steph, is this idea of when you first started, you talked about replacing your income. So you looked at creative solutions such as rent to essay and that kind of a no money down strategy, let's just say. And then you, of course, moved on to other things and your property developments and everything. So how did that transition happen? When did you know, okay, I've now I've now got enough, I've now left my full-time job, I've done the whole rent to essay thing. I'm now ready to transition through that. What was that like for you? Yeah, so I think anybody who knows me that says that I always bang on all the time about spreading your assets across multiple strategies. So for me, I always knew that I wanted to have a few essays, but it wasn't an area. Once it paid me a wage, I didn't want to expand that business. I wanted to have assets in other areas. And also like as much as rent to essay is great, it's not your asset. So Again, coming back to that not relying on anybody, it's not my asset. So yeah, for me, I knew that I wanted to have a few essays, but I didn't want it to be something that I would be focused solely on. I'm a massive believer, know, get yourself a supportive living, get a biotech, do some refurb, get a HMO. So yeah, for me, it was about not wanting to have all of my assets in one strategy. So I always knew I wanted to be into a different direction. Yeah, so here's an interesting conversation then. So I hear you, I promote all the time about diversifying your portfolio because you never know what's going to happen. And a classic example, which you may or may not have gone through was of course, if you had service accommodation during COVID, for many, it just shut down their whole business. So I'm a massive advocate for diversification. However, what do you think about this? This will be an interesting conversation. On my most recent solo episode, I talk about this idea of my top five mistakes from my first two years as a business owner and property investor. And one of the things I said was one of my greatest mistakes in my first two years. And I see others doing it is diversifying too quickly because what I find happens and, do you remember Jackie, Jackie Tom speaking about this at the property entrepreneur summit, where I find that people learn lots of different strategies all at the same time. And they, they learn about, let's say service accommodation for a month. They then, and a dead set on doing that, then they learn about HMOs for a month, then they learn about supported living, then they learn about et cetera, et cetera. And actually what they do is they become, they get all this knowledge and it just becomes overwhelming. And then they end up just staying still as opposed to actually venturing out. So how, what would be your advice for somebody who yes, wants to diversify their portfolio, as you said, but at the same time, doing it in the correct way? What would be your advice? Yeah, that's a really, really good point. Because I think when Jackie was talking about that, I think nearly everybody in the room was nodding their head like, yeah, we've all been called for it for doing it at some point. I think for me, was, yeah, absolutely that. it can become so overwhelming, and then you just don't know what to do. I think focusing solely on what you're doing at that point and that time, while you're growing that stage or that property or make that your your main focus and then obviously once you've done that then look at moving into something else and focusing solely on that. So yeah that would be my advice but it's a lot easier said than done isn't it you know it's that kind of shiny penny syndrome. Yeah, literally. And speaking to others, I always found that when I went networking at the beginning of my journey and speaking to others, you'd be really proud of what you were doing. Let's just take, for example, HMOs in Bournemouth. And then somebody would come along and be like, oh, I wouldn't do HMOs in Bournemouth. HMOs are dead. Article 4 killed it. I wouldn't do that. And then you start doubting yourself and you go, oh, well, this person has been doing it for 20 years. I should be listening to this person of 20 years. And it's like, but then you actually learn, don't you, that they say these opinions. And then you find out later down the line by speaking to them more and more that they haven't invested in property in about 10 years. And you're like, so you don't actually know what's happening in the market. So it's really this idea of do your own due diligence, isn't it? And your own thoughts and then diversify from there. Yeah, and I think as well you've touched on a really good point there as well and I think it also comes down to having that self -belief because I think it's so easy isn't it you can get so caught up in what you're doing and looking at and you know comparison is the thief of joy as they say isn't it and I think it's so easy to look at people who you know on paper and I think social media is another one you know on social media they could look everything could look amazing but actually beneath the surface it's not. So yeah, think having that self belief to know that what you're doing is right and believing in yourself right or wrongly, believing wholeheartedly in what you're doing. You have to, don't you? If you don't believe in yourself, nobody will believe in it. And getting the right team around you. One of the other things you touched on earlier in the podcast about your story, which I found fascinating actually, was you hear a lot of people who leave their full -time jobs and they go to start their own business and, you know, two years down the line, they'll say, I absolutely love it. I love being my own boss. It's the most best thing I ever did. You just said completely the opposite. You were like, no, I hated it. I didn't enjoy it I was on my own, I had nobody around me. So I of course have my own thoughts about this, but what would be your thoughts about people therefore who let's say do take that leap. I know many people who have literally just recently left their full -time jobs are now business owners, now out there doing it. What would be your advice about trying to get the right people around them? think find what works for you. So I think especially when I was going through a lot of education, there was very much a set process of what having your own business was supposed to be, what you were supposed to be as a business owner. And I tried so hard to fit that mold within that two years. And it just made me miserable, really miserable. And it was only when I... Had a breakdown and I was like I can't I can't do this anymore like I'm trying so hard to like it because everybody says like it should be amazing it should be this and and it wasn't for me and So I had to look at really when I had the breakdown I was like something what actually makes me happy what parts of the business do I enjoy what do I not enjoy and Doing what was actually felt right for me rather than what people kept telling me that I should do that make Completely, absolutely. And it's this idea of like, not one shoe fits all and people are, people are different and that's what makes us so wonderful. And how one person would respond to being a business owner is not the same as somebody else and that's okay and just do what's right for you. It's like, for example, when people say to me, I think I should be doing this. I think I should be doing this. It's like, yeah, but, but why do you think you should be doing that? And they say that's because everybody else is doing And I'm like, well, it doesn't matter what everybody else is doing. What do you think you should do? Or somebody who's not that confident on social media and they're like, no, I should be posting every day. And I'm like, why? Why should you be posting every day? And they're like, because everybody else is doing it. I need to keep up. I'm like, no, you don't. You can just be you. You can just do what you think is right for your business. And I think that takes quite a long time to realize that, doesn't it? And to actually stand, it's easy to say it, but to almost stand in that confidence to say, No, I am enough. What I'm doing is right for me. It's quite challenging, isn't and I think also like failure is a good thing. Like actually failing, I think you learn so much more in your failures than you ever do in your successes. So I think, as well, like I was also, and still am, you you're scared of failure and actually I think we should all be a little bit more embracing of failure is a really good thing, it's a really positive thing. Yeah, I love that. I find that a lot of podcasts now talk about that, don't they? This notion of failure. I've spoken about it again on my previous solo episode is this idea where when we're raised in schools, you either get an A, a B, a C, or if you fail, you get an F and you're taught that, that's really bad. You got an F, you failed. And it's like, yeah, but instead of saying you failed, it's like, well, what did you learn from You learned how to actually, you know, do the exam the correct way or how to go forward in the correct way. And I feel from an early childhood, it's almost from schooling stemmed in us that failing is bad instead of what we learnt. And you see a lot of these, these, these podcasts now speaking about this and actually celebrities speaking about it about this notion and I find it really interesting going forward because let's face it Steph, we'll hold our hands up, nobody wants to fail. If I fail on a launch of a product, if I fail on an event, nobody wants that. You're always gonna feel rubbish about it because as business owners we always wanna be the best, we always wanna put our best foot forward. But I do think it's a healthy response to have to reflect, isn't it? And to think, well how could I do it differently next time? Yeah and also think you yeah you learn so much more as well but I think then you appreciate the successes twice as much as well. If it came easy you wouldn't appreciate it either would you? Well, exactly. This is is the thing and delayed gratification as well, where it's it's this notion around, okay, I'm now gonna gonna do do this, I'm gonna learn, I'm gonna grow. I'm and then I'm gonna get the win at the end and having that which is so wonderful. And then Stephanie, just before we move on to property disasters, just going back to auctions again, because I think it's so important just just to to go back. So if you were to If somebody was to come to you and go, Steph, I found this property. I really want to go for it. This is what I think I should do. I've got no experience in auctions. you know, what is literally the first thing they should do? Like from, from the get go, what should they do? So go and view, once you've viewed, do your numbers, work out exactly what you think that the property's worth. The next steps would obviously depend if they're a mortgage buyer or a cash buyer. If they're a mortgage buyer, I would suggest then speak into your lender, get them to come out and do evaluation so that you can get your mortgage offer at the maximum amount. Speak to the negotiator as well because, Doing an if would, you know, if I was to put an offer in a VEX amount, is that something that the vendor is likely to accept? There's no point you going through all of that, getting your mortgage offer, et cetera, if the offer would not be acceptable to the vendor anyway. So just making sure that you're building up those relationships with the negotiator too. Once you've done that as well, I would... you know, say to them, because sometimes what you can do is you can say to the negotiator, right, I'm ready. Once you are actually ready, even if the auction say got another 10 days left, you can say, right, I'm prepared to put an offer in today. However, my offer is only valid for say 24 hours. Potentially what they can do is they can close the auction early for you. Now that's not guaranteed. And obviously this comes into building a good relationship with the negotiator because they're not going to want to put you forward to do that to the vendor. if you're not actually a serious buyer. Obviously in behind all this you'd make sure that you're getting the solicitor to look through the legal pack as well. If there is any questions make sure that you get those answered. Negotiator again will help you as much as they can. They will go back to the solicitor, they will go back to the vendor and help you get any of these questions answered. So making sure that you've got everything crossed off, readied before you put your offer in. When you do put your offer in, don't don't mess around. just try and get it accepted and get it tied up as soon as possible. I love that. See? So many golden nuggets. And do you remember actually, just before I go on to property disasters, do you remember your first ever auction property that you actually took on? Like, do you remember Yeah, so it was actually, it was 49 ,000 including the auction fee, it was like a six grand auction fee for a semi. I spent, it was actually just before COVID hit. So I was due to complete on the auction purchase on the day before the announcement, all Boris came on the TV and put us into lockdown. And I was terrified. was like, Oh my God, what am going to do? No one knew what was going to happen in the world, let alone property. And everyone around me was like, that's it. think Steph, you should just pull out, like lose your 6 ,000. Cause I obviously paid the 6 ,000 down, lose that property, lose the property. It's a safer bet. Now I'm quite stubborn. And I was like, no, I'm not doing that. I'm not. It's an asset at the end of the day, coming back to obviously, you know, not relying on anyone having an asset. So I did, the auction company were really good actually because obviously everything was frozen so we didn't complete until lockdown lifted. I did 15 grand refurb and that was valued out at 95. So that was my first auction. Brilliant. And that just shows that you had self-belief and you stuck to your guns. Let's face it, nobody knew what was happening for Covid. We'd never been through it before. We didn't even know what the world would look like after Covid in a way. But you stuck to your guns and you said, no, I'm going to go for it. And actually it turned out to be a, you know, a great little project. I love that. do you still have that property today or did you flip it? Yeah, no, I've got that now. I'm actually using it as an Airbnb at the moment. It's not in an area that I would have thought would work very well. But yeah, doing quite well, actually. So again, it just shows that an Airbnb will work in areas that you wouldn't think to. This is in like a bit of a councillor state, probably not the most desirable area. But yeah, works well. Love that. See, you never know. You never know. Just go for it. I think, I think what the key takeaways, if you agree with this Steph, would be believe in yourself, go for it, but get the right power team, get a sounding board, maybe check with somebody who, you know, who, who has done one before or listen to this podcast about the steps that Steph has given you. and just go for it. There's no better experience you're ever going to have than learning on in the field. As I always say, my biggest lessons were never from the classroom. They were when I set up my first company and I bought my first buy to let in a company name. I learned all sorts through that. So yeah, I think it's just learning, growing, but do as much due diligence as you can and always get the legal pack and pay a solicitor to look over it for you. think that's the key takeaways from this podcast. then Steph, in terms of then my favourite bit of this whole podcast, which is property disasters, property mishaps. So have you got a story for us? in terms of one that's either happened to yourself or from your estate agency days with a different investor, what can you tell Well, there was a couple, probably the most recent was probably a failure more than anything. And it was my own mistake and I should have known better. But Manchester is a completely different market to Newcastle to be purchasing properties in. And it's a bit like the Wild West. And especially with me being an estate agent, I should have known better. So I went to go and view a house and really liked it. got a good relationship going with the estate agent, put an offer in and said that I would use their lender, their broker, because it would help me get things moving along because it was gonna go to best and finals. And I said, well look, I'll use your broker. Effectively what I was trying to say is, I'll use your broker. you can kind of tell me what the highest offer is. I'll go in at the highest up so it will get the offer accepted, keep it all in house. And I should have had my own broker in the background anyway, just to get me the decision in principle. And I didn't. I relied on that broker who was obviously working for a couple of other people as well. And I had Best and final accepted and the broker didn't come back to it because obviously once you've got an offer accepted then you need to send over your decision in principle, both funds and I couldn't send the decision in principle because the broker was airing me for 10 days. And at all of this point, because I'm still trying to keep him with the agents, I didn't get my broker to... send through a decision in principle from their side. And then conveniently, they had another offer come in, even though it had gone to best in finals, they'd obviously taken that to the vendor, then it went to best in finals again, three times it ended up going to best in finals, and I ended up losing it. So yeah, was, do you know what the worst thing is as well? Like I know, you'll probably get it as well. when you're purchasing, obviously it's supposed to be all numbers based, but especially at me personally, I loved it. You know when you like fall in love with something and you're like, I really want it. And kind of logic goes out the window a little bit. And obviously everything happens for a reason. But yeah, I kicked myself even now that I was stupid enough to have not used my own broker to got the decision in principle and with the proof of funds that same day. Instead I let it drag out and then I've then lost the property. So yeah. Isn't it? to Best and Finals three times, I mean, really. There are no rules, are there? There are literally no rules. They talk about this in Scotland and the fact that, you know, basically as soon as you say yes, that's as good as exchanging in Scotland. Here, it's like somebody could pull out a week before you're about to exchange and add an extra ten grand just because they feel like it. Madness. again, this coming back to auctions, this is why I love auction so much because it's so much more straightforward, both for the vendor because they know that the buyer is not going to pull out and from a buyer's perspective because they know that somebody is not going to come in and go lump them. So yeah, something needs to change. It does need to be more of a system like Scotland where once you put your offer in, you pay a deposit down, it's non-refundable. something needs to change because the purchase process in the UK is terrible. Yeah, yeah, no, I completely, completely agree with you. And do you know what, like you said, there was no failure there. It was just a lesson. And I'm sure you've never done that again. You've always got your own broker to do the decision in principle and off you go. So lessons, that's all it is. Steph, I've absolutely loved having you on the podcast. think it's so lovely to hear different topics on this podcast as well. And like I said, auction's never been one that we've really addressed. And so I'm so glad you came on and shared that and shared your own experiences of how you see the property world as well. Cause I think it's so important for the listeners to hear from various thoughts and perspectives. So if people wanted to find out a bit more about you or get in touch and just have have a chat or they're based in say Manchester, your area, how do people usually find you? What's the best way? Instagram normally if people want to watch my boring life as well it's Stephanie Baker underscore property Your lives are not boring. don't, we don't say that word. They are, they're brilliant. They're absolutely brilliant. Make sure that you go and check, check stuff out. And then of course, if you want to, of course, and then if you want to find me, I'm Athena Dobson, underscore official, come and have a chat with me. We're obviously girls and property on Instagram. Um, and for our website, we're girls in property, um, dot co .uk. And you can find all the information about the community group. We've got over 50 members now. So come and join us. And of course we've got the Christmas gala, which is going to be coming up at Christmas as well. Steph, you mentioned earlier actually about this idea of when you're starting out in doing your own business, whether it be property or not, it could be quite lonely, it could be quite isolating. That's why I created the gala as well, because a lot of people were telling me that they didn't have their own Christmas parties or couldn't go to others. So I thought, well, why don't I just create a Christmas party for everyone? So that's what the gala is, is to celebrate. celebrate all of us and get dressed up and have some fun. love that absolutely any excuse to get dressed up. Literally. But Steph, thank you so much for coming on today. I can't wait see what you do next. I hope you have an absolutely wonderful week. And listeners, if you want to get in touch, just feel free to DM me or email me at girlsinpropertypodatgmail .com. But Steph, thanks again and everybody have the most wonderful week. Speak to you soon. Bye. Thanks, Steph. Bye. Thank you.