A 2 bedroom flat for £1. But what did it sell for?

22 April, 2021

A 2 bedroom flat for £1. But what did it sell for?

When GetAnOffer estate agency were asked to market a property in Schooner Street, Barrow-in-Furness, like always they did their research to assess the prices in the neighbourhood and work out the best method of sale.

Schooner St forms part of a vast Victorian tenement development, built in the 1880’s to house shipyard workers and their families. In recent years the area had fallen on hard times but works and improvements are planned and the location has seen big investment lately.

But it made it a very tricky property to value so Tom Cranenburgh suggested an online auction. But what reserve price?

Amazingly, to find the true market value, the minimum price was set at just a pound. For a two bedroom flat!

And it could have sold for that but, thanks to wide publicity that saw interest from local and national press including The Sun, The Mirror and Metro, the bidding on the day (21st April) was fast and furious, with the virtual hammer falling at just over £15,000 – still amazingly cheap for an historic, two bedroom home but a lot higher than it might have been.

Tom explains “it was a hell of a risk but in the end I’m happy with the price, the owner is happy and I hope the buyer will be too – they have a lot of property there, for not very much money!”

And will there be more auctions?

“Oh yes” replies Tom, “but I don’t think my nerves can take another £1 reserve for a while!”