Against the Odds: Securing the Dream Inner West Home with One Bid
The Client
A young family living in an inner-west apartment was looking for more space as their kids grew up. With challenging work and family schedules at the best of times, they really didn’t want to spend months viewing unsuitable properties.
What Was Most Important to the Client
Location and easy access to family and work to avoid unnecessarily long commute times
Great outdoor space so the kids could enjoy being outside
Striking the right balance of inner-city living without sacrificing privacy or peace
The Property
A couple of weeks into the search, I found a pre-market opportunity. I knew my clients would love it—and I knew many others would too. The real challenge was determining whether my clients could afford it.
After a pre-market inspection, the agent and vendor decided to proceed to market rather than consider early offers. As expected, interest was overwhelming.
An oversized block of land was paired with a freestanding Federation-style 3-bedroom home. The standout feature? The backyard—a paved entertaining area that flows onto a large, landscaped garden.
At the first open home, over 50 groups came through, prompting the price guide to be increased by $100,000.
We continued to explore other options, knowing this house was amazing, but always going to be a stretch on price.
The Strategy
With strong interest, the agent was eager to take the property to auction. The date was brought forward by a week and set for a Thursday evening.
We’d been monitoring similar properties in nearby streets that had gone to auction recently. This gave us a strategic advantage in gauging whether those buyers might be bidding on this one too.
The Outcome
The auction saw 15 registered bidders turn up—an impressive turnout even for a hot market, which this wasn’t. But the property? Definitely hot!
Bidding opened at $2,000,000, and within 60 seconds it was all over. Fifteen registered, five active bidders, and 20 bids in total.
I made one bid—the final bid.
We secured the property for $2,300,000.
I genuinely think the auction happened so fast, that most people there assumed the agent was just teasing with his “going once, going twice, going three times”. To be fair, some auctioneers do say that about a hundred times before the hammer actually falls. Not in this case though.
The auctioneer called it and my clients were the new owners.
Key Learning
It is really hard as a buyer to:
Not get excited about properties you love that you likely won’t be able to afford; and
Ensure you aren’t ruling out properties that may just sell for what you are able to afford
This was a scenario where we needed to give it our best shot, but know that it really might not have worked out in our favour.
