Million-dollar sale down to just $500
FIVE hundred dollars was all it took to seal the deal at a Gold Coast auction at the weekend.
The Burleigh Heads house in popular Koala Park sold under the hammer on Saturday for $1.1105 million.
Sean Smith, of Black & Young Burleigh Heads, took the property to auction. It attracted a crowd of about 40, including three registered bidders.
An opening bid of $925,000 kicked things off but once it reached $1.08 million, bidding stopped and negotiations took place.
The auctioneer then put in a vendor bid of $1.1 million before the house was called on the market.
“Two bidders kept going back and fourth,” Mr Smith said. “It got down to $500 increments and eventually sold under the hammer. It came down to $500 essentially.”
The new owners are a Gold Coast couple upgrading from a unit.
“Auctions are always interesting as the party we thought were in the strongest position to buy at the auction didn’t end up making a bid at all,” Mr Smith said.
“The buyers liked the fact the property is close to a park and not next to many other houses.
“They’re in a unit so they are looking for peace and quiet.”
Mr Smith said the Koala Park location and the layout of the house were big selling points.
The four-storey house is built into a hillside, giving it just enough elevation to see as far as Burleigh Heads National Park and the beach.
“The sellers are very happy with the sale,” he said.
“They are moving down to Canberra and had picked something else to buy and can now go ahead with their plans.”
CoreLogic data showed a clearance rate of 37.5 per cent on the Coast, with nine of 24 properties selling at auction.
That’s up from the 22.7 per cent the weekend before.
Mr Smith said choosing to sell via auction came down to the vendor’s circumstances.
“I think it depends on the property,” he said.
“I love doing auctions myself and for the sellers, they’ve got a time period and the options are in their favour.
“On auction day, everything WITH ALEISHA DAWSON & JESSICA BROWN is open and everyone knows what’s going on.
“If you’re lucky you can get it all done and dusted under the hammer. Once it sells under the hammer you can start making plans, you don’t have to worry about a threeweek conditional contract.”