For Belinda Herbert, selling her parents' family home under the auction hammer turned out better than she could have hoped.

The Rotorua woman helped her dad, Jack Miller, sell the family home last month after her mother died suddenly.

Mrs Herbert said her dad needed to downsize from the home they'd been in for 13 years, and their agent recommended an auction as the best way to sell the Lynmore property.

She said while she'd had a previous experience with selling at auction which wasn't so great, she trusted the advice of their agent, Fiona Marshall from Professionals.

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"Fiona said we could be surprised at what it went for and we were."

Mrs Herbert said she'd recommend the auction process to anyone.

The property was marketed over a three-week period.

"It had been a family home for 13 years. Mum and I came down from Auckland, saw it, fell in love and put an offer on it. We hadn't even sold the house in Auckland at the time."

After 13 years in the family, she said they weren't really sure what the property would be worth.

"We wanted it to go as quickly as possible and get the best price."

Mrs Herbert said while the auction was "terrifying", the agent kept everything as relaxed as possible and made sure the family were aware of the process.

"She created this amazing atmosphere."

Mrs Herbert said because the auction process was clearly laid out to her, she felt much more comfortable this time around.

"They asked us what we would accept, what would be reserve and what would be our pie in the sky figure. We almost got to our pie in the sky. We were just so pleased."

While she didn't want to say how much the property had sold for Mrs Herbert said it was "well above what was expected".