Award-winning Ashgrove home sparks bidding war between two keen families

A sought-after, renovated family home that won two Queensland awards for design sparked a frenetic bidding war at auction on Saturday, as two families fought for it.

Bidding opened at $1.3 million, and jumped quickly to $1.65 million, before two close bidders spent almost half an hour battling for the home.

The eventual buyer was a Paddington family with young children, who won the home for $2.1 million.

Agent Nicholas Carroll, of Ray White Spring Hill, said the excitement was tangible, particularly because the vendors had been clear in their intentions to sell on the day.

“They were very set on going all the way to auction,” he said.

“There were a number of people who were wanting to make conditional offers, but the sellers’ instructions were pretty firm. They did want to sell it on the day, and they did want to sell it under the hammer.”

Carroll said the property’s unique character and versatile floor plan attracted substantial interest from local families looking to stay in the tightly held and family friendly suburb. Some 122 groups toured the home in the four-week campaign.

“The house actually won a number of awards,” he said.

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“It got kitchen of the year and renovation of the year in 2010 for Ashgrove by the [Queensland] Master Builders Association, so it was a very different home where the owners had put a lot of thought in when they were doing the renovation.

“They opted for the higher ceilings and for the big open-plan living at the back, which flows onto the deck, they’ve got electric blinds, the pool house, the three-car garage, so there’s a lot of extra features you wouldn’t see in a normal standard two-bed, two-bath house.”

In nearby Graceville, a surprise twist resulted in the sale of a neat four-bedroom house to a man in his 30s, despite the campaign overwhelmingly attracting downsizers.

Two registered bidders and about 40 spectators gathered at the onsite auction, where the selling team and vendor expected the winning bid to go to an older buyer.

Agent Adriana Cameron, of Ray White Sherwood, said the vendor received several prior offers and conditional offers on the day, but the transparency of the auction led to a surprise purchaser.

“We would have thought absolutely a downsizer, just because of the size of the home, that main bedroom on the ground and the size of the block at 450 square metres,” she said.

“The beauty of auction is it’s short, there’s a deadline of four weeks, but you know it’s going to go through.”

Most of the auction was spent negotiating with the eventual buyer, whose sister was bidding on his behalf.

He eventually bought the home for $985,000.

Cameron said she advised the vendor, an older lady looking to move into an apartment, that auctioning was the safest way to sell, especially because banks had tightened lending policies.

“I had to say, look, the beauty of auctions is there’s no conditions,” she said.

“I’m finding I’m losing contracts constantly because people’s finance crashes. Three months ago, these people were able to get their finance. Now, what they could get even three months ago is all different.”

In Morningside, neighbours flocked to watch the onsite auction of an elevated five-bedroom family home, before lining up to congratulate the eventual buyer.

There was only one registered bidder, who received immense support from the crowd.

Agent Shane Hicks, of Place Estate Agents Bulimba, said the family friendly atmosphere was tangible.

“It’s a very friendly street where everyone knows each other, so there was a big crowd of about 60 or 70 people there,” Hicks said.

“I don’t think there was a single neighbour that wasn’t there, and then at the end it was really nice, all the neighbours came up and introduced themselves to the new purchaser and welcomed them to the neighbourhood.”

The auction began with a vendor bid of $750,000, after which the seller declared they would not be bidding further.

The buyer gradually increased their bids until the property was declared on the market at $790,000, and sold promptly.

Hicks said the successful bidder, a family with young boys, couldn’t resist the home’s size and easy family lifestyle.

“They were attracted to this one because it had character, land size, a quiet street because it’s a cul de sac and just a really family friendly neighbourhood,” he said.

“That was the major attraction: the land parcel. It was perfectly flat land as well, 759 square metres of perfectly flat land, it’s really hard to get.”

Despite the single bidder in this occasion, Hicks said the auction market was still healthy in Brisbane.

“It’s not quite as much theatre as having an auction where there’s three or four bidders there, and it does inevitably lead to to-and-fro communications, but it’s not that unusual,” he said.

“There are definitely still buyers in the marketplace, there’s no doubt about that, but probably the average number of registered bidders is definitely down a bit.

“But if you’ve got a reasonable buyer and a reasonable seller, there’s still plenty of transactions happening.”