It was a reasonable weekend in Boroondara, with a 71% clearance rate. This is not too bad when you consider our Melbourne $1m plus overall clearance rate was 50%. Of the 12 auctions we attended, 6 sold on the day and a further 2 sold before.
The Tostevin brothers (and their team) at Marshall White would be very happy; not only did their Mighty Blues have a great win over the Bombers, but they (with the help of their teams of course) also sold 8 properties on Saturday and tucked away 2 Henry Street Hawthorn and 6 Marlborough Avenue Camberwell before auction a week or so ago. A great effort, particularly given James’ left hand was in bandages – not even a sore hand would stop James from getting out there on a Saturday! He clearly loves his job! Stuart Evans (also part of this team) did well too to get good $1m-ish sales in Hawthorn, Hawthorn East and Camberwell in the past week.
It was a wet and miserable (not to mention cold!) day out there, yet numbers were solid at opens, even if bidders were a little hard to find. I had a great morning coffee at Cattivo (meaning “evil” or “wicked” in Italian). Located on Camberwell Road just near the junction, this cosy little café is easy to get in and out and the coffee is pretty hard to beat. Genovese is the bean of choice here and the food is very good (I was seriously tempted by the jam and crema bombolini but managed to stop myself – I felt like I was putting on calories just by looking at them!)
A few more auctions next weekend (32 compared to 25 today), and it will be interesting to see how the market continues. As per our Market Insight article, we are hearing of a few cases now where properties are being offered up again either just before or after settlements. This is even more reason to make good decisions and ‘think outside the square’ when looking for properties.
Until next week,
Design Smart,
Architect Adam
CAMBERWELL, 32 Christowel St | James Tostevin (Marshall White) Under Hammer: $1,950,000 - 4 Bidders (Photo: Mal James)
Bidderbuzz Auction "Inside or outside that is the big question and the answer is outside and …. the rain. Geez it’s cold. Quaint English home with Sir James Tostevin Esq conducting proceedings; ably assisted by two of our favourite cartoon characters the beanstalk aka Matt Elder and Elmer Fudd aka Hamish Tostevin. Did I say it was cold and now it’s bloody pouring as well.
Thank heavens James is short on speech today – none of us are in need of a War and Peace on this one. Anyway as the heavens start to open up so does the auction with a vendor bid of $1,700,000. After a brief interlude Bidder 1 joins us at $1,720,000.
Half – time is taken and small mercies the great man bounds back out again quickly. Well I can’t sell it on one bid he claims and I’m looking for $20,000 from somebody else. Eventually a second bidder shouts out $5,000. No I won’t take less than $10,000 comes the firm reply. And so we begin a few minutes of banter where Bidder 2 says $5,000 and James says “no must be $10,000”. Bidder 2 succumbs with a $10,000 and Bidder 1 matches the $10,000 and so we are back to Bidder 2 trying to get James to agree to $5,000 – James says no and on we continue.
I’m not sure of the strategy on this occasion from Bidder 2 as James is not going to take your reduced bid on the logic that he’d rather pass it in to Bidder 1 who looks strong at this level and use you as the man outside as pressure in a pass-in negotiation.
Anyway like any smart auctioneer after we get to $1,780,000 James looks like he rolls over to Bidder 2 and accepts $5,000. Smart. Bidder 3 enters as the “on the market” question is asked at $1,810,000. Some Tostevin humour is forthcoming and a direct answer avoided.
More bidding with Bidder 1 – who has done it well from the start, leading the way and we get to just below $1,900,000 when Bidder 4 joins in. It’s on the market at $1,910,000 and still in $10,000’s we finish with the starter bidder at $1,950,000. Good, rocking, but bloody wet and cold auction with Sir James getting a strongish number. Good name that name James." (Mal James)
Biggest Sale: HAWTHORN, 31 Coppin Gr James Tostevin (Marshall White); Under Hammer, $3,230,000 - 3 Bidders "Cracking auction this one. In front of rugged-up crowd of around 40 people and with rain looming, auctioneer James Tostevin was in fine form (despite the bandaged hand!) and conducted bidding traffic well. Auction opened swiftly with a crowd bid of $2,000,000, then bidder 2 joined in the action with a $25,000 rise. A race between two bidders standing closely together in front of the auctioneer (how often does this happen!) saw the price climb in measured steps. Just as the auction looked like it was about to lose some puff, Bidder 3 came in strongly at $2,400,000 and the fight continued between Bidders 2 and 3 - again quite slowly. The property was declared on the market at $2,530,000, then the pace picked up, reaching the $3,000,000 mark quite comfortably. Bidder 3 appeared to lose some puff around the $3,200,000 mark and I think Bidder 2 sensed this, ultimately buying the property for $3,230,000. Very entertaining auction here and a great result for the vendor. " (Adam Woledge)
Biggest Pass In: KEW, 16 Banool Av Alastair Craig (Jellis Craig); Passed In: $2,550,000 - 0 Bidders "Auctioneer Alastair Craig was looking nice and sharp in his blue pinstripe suit which complemented this beautifully presented property well. The crowd were in agreement as well with about 70 present, however most seemed to be curious bystanders as none were willing to put forth any bids. Despite two vendor bids and Mr Craig's enticing words the crowd weren't willing to join in and the property was passed in at $2,550,000." (Joshua Bong)
