'Undervalued' Seddon dump gets almost $1 million at Melbourne auction

The new owners of 52 Alexander Street, Seddon, have a task ahead of them after purchasing the rundown house for $990,000.

The Edwardian, which has dual street frontage, also has crumbling ceilings, sloping floors, and only one toilet – and it’s in the backyard. Despite all its failings, auctioneer Tony Gerace called it a “real gem” that “ticked all the boxes” except, perhaps, being liveable.

Failing to get crowd participation, Mr Gerace made a vendor bid of $850,000, then actually went backwards when a group of four encamped on a V6 ute offered $800,000.

“I will go backwards, I’m being friendly today!” he explained as he took their bid. A couple standing on the other side of the ute quietly started their campaign, too, but the flip flop-wearing foursome outbid every one of their efforts.

The property, which was quoted at $850,000 – $900,000, was on the market at $900,000 but 10 more bids from the competing parties saw it hit $990,000, with the self-proclaimed “renovators” in the ute winning the opportunity to work out what to do with it.

While a couple of locals muttered: “unbelievable, it doesn’t matter if they’re unrenovated!” a Burnham’s real estate agent suggested it was undervalued and should have fetched more.

Tradies’ utes also dominated at the auction of 33 Wales Street, Thornbury, which hasn’t been traded since the owners built it in 1920.

Hockingstuart auctioneer Adriano Persichetti initially couldn’t get an opening bid for the three-bedroom unrenovated California bungalow, though they had apparently had a few offers for the retro Laminex table inside.

A vendor bid of $1 million did the trick, though, with two would-be buyers helping it quickly reach “selling” at $1.1 million. However, suddenly they were out, and a man getting instructions through iPhone ear buds began competing with two men. They swapped 20 bids between them before a brand new entrant made four bids and bought the property for $1,245,000.

The number of developers present was an indication of the property’s potential, with one saying they would have extended the rear and maybe kept it had it not fetched $100,000 over their budget.