Your Domain: Single mum of four sells two-bedroom Nunawading unit after auction

A Melbourne mother of four just managed to sell her family’s home at auction last weekend, after hours of negotiations left her $10,000 below the price she had hoped for.

It was a momentous week for the single mother, who was selling her home of five years at auction while making some life-defining changes.

“On Wednesday I finished up at my workplace where I’ve worked for six and a half years. Saturday, the auction. And Monday, going back to uni as a very mature-aged student,” she told Your Domain.

The two-bedroom apartment is in Nunawading, 19.5 kilometres east of Melbourne’s CBD.

“It might surprise you a little bit that we have a two-bedroom unit and I have four children,” she said. Three of the children shared one bedroom, and they also had a dog and a cat.

“At the moment I share with my two brothers, and it’s not the funnest situation,” daughter Bella said. “I’m excited to move on to a bigger house.”

A bigger house and a trip to Bali were on the cards if the home sold for Rebecca’s desired price.

“I’ve told [the kids] that there’s an agreed price and if we get that agreed price, we’re going to Bali,” she said ahead of the auction.

However, director and auctioneer Tim Heavyside of Fletchers Real Estate Canterbury was surprised when the start of the auction saw not a peep from bidders. A vendor bid of $650,000 was needed to warm proceedings up.

A bidder jumped at the opportunity, putting his hand up for a bid of $655,000. The auctioneer was not happy at the small increment, but accepted the $5000 bid after the bidder declined to increase it to $10,000. Sitting inside, Rebecca said it was not a good sign. Mr Heavyside paused the proceedings to gain further instruction.

“The position might be that if the others don’t engage, we’ll pass it in at $655,000. Then we’ll invite the [bidder] inside to start the negotiation process,” Mr Heavyside said to Rebecca.

Happy with the plan, the auction resumed, but Rebecca no longer felt confident the home would sell.

“I might be selling one of my kidneys to fund going to university,” she said.

The home was passed in after no further bids were made. The highest and only bidder was invited inside to negotiate, but refused to put in a higher offer and left the auction.

Mr Heavyside approached interested parties who remained near the property, telling them the vendor expected at least $730,000. The negotiations took more than 90 minutes.

The fight was worth it, with an offer made for $720,000. It wasn’t quite what Rebecca had hoped for and meant the holiday to Bali was off the table.

“I expected there would be, not a bidding frenzy, but given there were 50 groups through, it would be a bit different,” she said.

But Rebecca accepted the offer made by a first-home buyer and celebrated anyway.

“I didn’t feel too good at the start of the auction but I think having my support crew here helped and I know what I’ve got and where I’m going.”

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