Windsor family home sells in hotly contested auction

As is often the case, the crowd was silent as the auction began at 56 Brook Street, Windsor. Auctioneer Marcus Muir struggled to get an opening bid on the stunning and like-new six bedroom home.

McGrath Wilston‘s Craig Lea said the house was ideal for a large family. “The sixth bedroom is a fully contained granny flat,” Mr Lea said. “It’s an ideal au pair space.”

Several families were registered to bid and they were all keen to buy, if a little shy. Mr Muir kicked things off with a vendor bid of $1.45 million, a fairly high price for inner-city Windsor.

But the buyers weren’t deterred. Soon after, things picked up as the price rocketed to $1.75 million. Despite protesting $10,000 increments, Mr Muir eventually relented and a price war kicked off between the remaining two bidders, each one-upping the other until proceedings paused at $1.81 million.

The winning bidder, who didn’t want to be named, upped his bid to $1.85 million and the property sold under the hammer.

With his wife by his side, the new owner said the house couldn’t have met his family’s needs better.

“If we sat down and planned a build for our home, this met all our criteria,” he said. “For our family dynamic, this is perfect.”

Although his assertive bidding eventually scared off the rest of his competition, the new owner said it was his first time buying a home at auction.

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“Calm on the outside, but frantic on the inside was the best description,” he said. “I tried to maintain a level outlook.”

A father of two, with another on the way, he said their family was set to continue growing over the next few years.

“We’ve been back from overseas for just over 12 months so we moved back into our home and we started looking when we realised we’d outgrow that.”

Later on Saturday morning in Woolloongabba, 21 Athlone Street went under the hammer.

The three-bedroom home had the potential for dual-living, the downstairs area was a self-contained home. It was rented out at the time of sale.

“When you do have someone living downstairs, you do have the capacity to have that extra income,” McGrath Bulimba‘s Ivana Reich said. Buyers were also attracted to the house because of renovations done to the kitchen and the home’s proximity to the city, she said.

“You’re only one kilometre to South Bank, you’re 400 metres to the hospital and St Lawrence’s school there.”

Auctioneer Charlie Higgins struggled to coax each bid out of the buyers, and the auction paused several times for negotiations. Eventually it sold to a young couple for $901,000.

On Saturday afternoon another family home in Upper Mount Gravatt sold after brisk bidding.

Ray White Mount Gravatt‘s Grant Boman marketed and auctioned 109 Zetland Street. Bidding didn’t slow as the price shot up from $700,000 all the way to $816,000, where it sold. Mr Boman said the sellers had set a “sharp” reserve and needed to sell the property after moving to the Sunshine Coast. “One family’s bought it and another can move on with their lives up on the coast.”

Mr Boman is a strong advocate for Mount Gravatt, and he said the local market was very tight when it came to family-sized homes.

“There’s outstanding room for growth and every family-sized property we have has strong interest and I think that means we’re set for growth.”