An auction is a good way to snap up a bargain but it is vital to do your homework before you go, warn experts.

Savills auctioneer, Christopher Coleman-Smith, said: “Auctions are a very successful way to buy and sell property, with buyers attracted by the opportunity of doing the deal on the day.”

Auction lists often include houses in need of modernising, buy-to-let investments, plots of land, Grade II-listed houses and derelict buildings.

Arthur Chambers, auctions manager for Carter Jonas, pointed out: “Auctions eliminate time wasters, so it is a very quick way to buy. You don’t get messed about or see the sale collapse because of a chain.”

But at the fall of the auctioneer’s hammer, a legally binding contract is formed so a buyer must pay a ten per cent deposit on the day and to have arranged finance for the rest in advance.

“You are committed to buying and normally required to complete the sale within 20 working days,” Mr Chambers said.

“If you buy a property at auction for £500,000, put down a ten per cent deposit but then fail to raise the remaining £450,000, you will lose your £50,000.”

Mr Chambers says would-be buyers should do as much as possible beforehand, including viewing the property and sorting out legal work.

All bidders need to register, so take photo ID and a recent utility bill. And although you will escape estate agents’ commission, you will be charged a buyer’s premium.

Mr Chambers suggests setting a limit on what you are prepared to pay, before stepping into the sale room.

Auction fever can lead people to bid more than they planned.

A church in Wiltshire with a guide price of £100-150,000 recently sold for £245,000, while a Grade II-listed thatched cottage near the Oxford Canal with a guide of £160,000, went for £176,000 through Savills in July.

Another tip is to sit at the back, according to Mr Chambers.

“Novices rush to the front thinking they’ve bagged the best seats but old hands go to the back where they can see who is bidding,” he said.

Land parcels under the hammer next week through Carter Jonas include 2.6 acres of paddock and river frontage at Garford and 0.40-acres in Hornton. Both have guide prices of £20-30,000.

Another is 1.56 acres of pasture at Noke, with a guide of £50-60,000. The auction is at The Oxford Centre, Banbury Road, on December 7, at 6.30 pm.

For more details, call 01249 706070 or visit carterjonas.co.uk Savills’ regular national auctions often include Oxfordshire properties.

For more information, call 020 7824 9091 or visit the website savills.co.uk/auctions.