There is nothing that spells confidence in real estate like organising a congratulations gift package for a bidder who looks to have secured a home right up until the last minute.
As one unlucky bidder found out, no one is guaranteed anything until all bids are considered and the hammer closes the sale.
In the month leading up to the auction, one bidder was in pole position to take the three-bedroom home in Heritage Park with a bid around the $700,000 mark.
Ray White Marsden buyer’s manager Raymond Bita even went to the effort of arranging a gift for them.
The brutal reality of auctions turned that gesture on its head when 75-77 Hawthorn Street went under the hammer a fortnight ago.
“We thought it was theirs and then another person came in the day before, registered [for the auction] and done deal,” Mr Bita said.
“I messaged the original bidder a couple of days later, I said ‘we actually had a gift ready for you, we were 100% positive you were going to secure this one’.”
More than 100 people turned up to see the house sell, including the last-minute addition of someone bidding on behalf of an interstate buyer who went on to win the auction.
The neighbours were hungry to see how the auction would unfold, realising the values of their own properties would be measured similarly. They were not disappointed.
“The expectations were around mid-sixes, high-sixes,” Jess Nguyen, Ray White Marsden’s agent for the sale, said.
“The owners’ expectations were about $710,000.”
Even at that inflated price, the first bidder would have had enough in their budget to push a bit higher, but not anywhere near the almost $800,000 figure that it sold for.
In total, the interstate buyer overcame the steady favourite with a final bid of $780,000 for the home, which sits on a half-acre block at the end of a private cul-de-sac, backing onto bushland.
“I honestly did not think we would get what we got for it,” Ms Nguyen said.
“On the day, it just went way above what they [the original bidder] could afford.
“At the end of the day, we were extremely disappointed for her and her family.”
The property attracted five offers prior to the auction, 52 buyer enquiries, and two active bidders out of seven.
The outcome was music to the ears of neighbouring residents, who were popping champagne bottles when the hammer came down.
“I had a resident on a block of a similar size a few streets away, who sent me a text saying ‘you’ve just added $100,000 to the values of everyone who has a half-acre block’,” Ms Nguyen said.
