Just bought a house at auction....GULP!
OK so we finally did it…we managed to buy a house!
The auction process as I have mentioned before is bizarre and none more so than our experience today! I am happy to report however I think we have bucked the trend! Read on………….
We viewed our prospective property three weeks ago and tried to suck as much information about the vendors expectations out of the salesman as possible…but no joy….cards very close to chest. He then tried to suck out of me how much we thought the place was worth…”hard to say” I said ”it would need a lot of work to get it how we wanted it, but if it goes for the right price it’s worth investing in” A real cat and mouse game! Having viewed early in the marketing campaign it allowed us a cooling off period which as I have mentioned before (on the old forum) is in my opinion vital. We did our homework and set our budget to buy which in this case we set at NZ$550K max.
Judging by the many properties we have viewed in the East Coast Bays we guessed it would sell for between NZ$540K to NZ$580K and we did not hold out too much hope of being the successful bidder. Auctions are funny affairs and you just never know f you've paid too much! The property comprises a single level dwelling of “permanent materials” (fortunately for us) on a 1200m2 section with sea views across the Hauraki Gulf, such properties always command a premium. It is situated down a private right of way and is 2 minutes walk to the local primary and intermediate school which both have very good reputations.
The turn out was like Ladies Day at Ascot …except no hats and no posh suits, no posh nosh and no horses….actually it was nothing like Ladies Day at all…it just sounded good! Anyway it was a good turn out of about 30 people and I thought OK too much interest, auction fever will drive the price up!
Too cut to the chase the bidding started at NZ$380K (by the auctioneer) and to my surprise stopped with yours truly at NZ$485K! I was then taken inside for a chat and told that the vendor was looking for NZ$500K as a reserve and would I meet it! “No I wont” I said but I will meet them half way at NZ$493K. They took this offer back to the vendor and I was then asked to step back outside where the auctioneer promptly put the house back to the other bidders for offers higher than NZ$493K…….BIZZARE……..totally bizarre and just not cricket!! What do you think!
The real laugh is that we would have paid up to NZ$550K for it! Furthermore if the vendor had named his price of NZ$500K instead of going to auction we would have gladly paid it! As it transpires we think we got a bargain!!!! We have seen 500m2 sections in the area being sold for NZ$440K with a peep of the sea if you build up to maximum permitted height!
RESULT………........AWESOME :P ………………STOKED!
Karl
