BOUGHT* - $2,090,000

A big crowd has gathered to see one of the better mid-sized Victorian packages going around. A number of other agents are here indicating that, as expected, this should have very solid interest. The quote is $1.65m to $1.795m and it is what it is, but the home feels a $2m plus buy with the only rider being Asling which carries a fair bit of traffic - although for me this does not make it a B grader. Crowd is jammed into the back and is around 100 and so it's down to business with Steve Tickell and Peter Kennett. You can feel there are a heap of bidders here and this should go off like a cracker. The spiel is over and we are down to business. An opening bid comes crashing out of the blocks at $2,000,0000. Wow - good on you, I think. Maybe more brave than I would have been but it was a great bid. Half the crowd move into a catatonic state as they realise they won’t be bidding on this home that they had hoped would be theirs. It's immediately announced on the market by Stephen, which is fair play and a just reward for a brave bid. With the wind out of everybody's sails and the momentum killed, it took some time before four more bidders limped like scared cats up to $2,070,000, and then Bidder One knocked them completely out with a $20,000 bid to be the winning and final bid at $2,090,000. This was classic bidding technique designed to minimise damage for the eventual winner. Footnote: The papers keep telling you the market is dead - well the four under-bidders wouldn't think that, nor the other half dozen that didn't even get a bid after they collapsed, metaphorically, into a heap after the first bid. You feel the chronic stock shortages of quality family homes like this may be beginning to drive price northwards again.

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