PROPERTY is so hot in the Wilmslow area more houses are going, going, gone under the hammer.

Home owners are choosing to auction their homes instead of selling by conventional methods.

And more often than not auctioneer Rodney Jennings is the man holding the mallet.

Rodney, 60, auctioneer with Mellor Braggins for 20 years predicts more people than ever before will buy and sell their homes in a saleroom rather than by private treaty.

He said: "It is an exciting way to buy and sell property. Many people these days would rather buy a property than get a pension. If you make all the necessary arrangements before the event, people shouldn't be scared of buying a property at auction."

A senior partner with the Wilmslow based estate agents for the past 40 years he took hold of the hammer in the eighties and was a natural, a showman with a firm hold on the proceedings.

He says the best auctions are relaxed but entertaining. "The key is to take hold of the room and quickly. If you don't grab the audience right at the beginning, the room will control you. You have to be very firm and take no nonsense. Some bidders like to ask silly questions to cause uproar so you have to stay in control.

"I am under pressure to make sure each property sells. I like to keep it businesslike as well as light hearted."

But he is not just entertaining in the auction room and has become a regular on television starring in property programmes, including the BBC's recent "Homes Under the Hammer" series .

"Televised auctions help to raise the awareness and we have investors and private buyers coming from all over the region. It's a great way of selling property," he said.

His advice is for buyers to do their research beforehand but admits some bidders splash out a small fortune on property they have never even seen.

The canniest bidders are farmers, he says, as they are used to the bidding.

He once sold a hole in the ground, a cave house in the hills near Macclesfield which went for a mere few thousand pounds and last year sold a barn and farmhouse for over two million pounds.

"You never know what is going to happen at an auction, that's the thrill of it," he said.

Once the auctioneer has banged his hammer down, the final bid has been accepted and the successful bidder must pay ten per cent of the deposit on the spot, with the balance a month later.

Most buyers follow through with the purchase but there are some who don't.

"We've had the odd person doing a runner. One of the reasons for a disappearance was when someone was asked to produce the identification that is required under money laundering regulations.

"Someone once successfully bid for a property but once they were asked to produce ID, said they just had to nip out to make a quick call. We never saw them again."