20/03/2012
It’s a technique that’s usually reserved for livestock, but the owner of a house in Capalaba has taken the extremely unconventional move of putting his property up for auction with no reserve – running the risk of having to sell it for peanuts.
The gamble ultimately paid off for the highly motivated vendor – described by his estate agency, Ray White, as an American businessman “who was determined to divest and adopted the technique in order to ensure the property sells” – as he managed to shift the property for an above expected sum of $431,000.
What may have worked in the property’s favour is that its unusual ‘no reserve’ billing helped it to draw in the crowds on auction day.
“Over 100 groups of buyers came through the house to inspect it and then more than 160 turned up for the auction itself on Saturday [17 March],” said Ray White Capalaba estate agent Dave Hardman. “Thirty-seven bidders registered on the day and the sale price was well over expected.”
It also seems as if the vendor was confident that he wasn’t going to make a big loss at auction, as he spent more than $20,000 on paint, carpets and gardening in order to spruce the property up before the big day.
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