Coronavirus: South Kingsville townhouse sold in email auction
Selling homes in the COVID-19 period calls for creativity. And with on-site auctions temporarily banned, an agent in Melbourne’s southwest opted for an unusual method to ink a deal.
A keyboard has replaced a gavel at the unusual auction of a South Kingsville townhouse, in which three participants bid over email.
While the sale price achieved by 2/47 Paxon St is undisclosed, it’s understood the e-auction netted a figure just above the $650,000-$700,000 quoted range.
Greg Hocking Elly Partners auctioneer Mark de Brabander said plans to send the three-bedroom pad under the hammer this weekend had to be scrapped when the Prime Minister outlawed on-site auctions to aid the fight against coronavirus.
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But when three of the original 20 potential buyers remained in play after the bombshell announcement, he decided to get “creative”.
“I sent out the (auction) rules and asked every offer to be emailed to me so I could show the purchaser a trail of the bids to come in,” he said.
“It got my first bid about 2.15pm, then I got an offer here, another offer here — it was quarter to 11 by the time I wrapped it up.
Mr de Brabander said he took about 15 bids before a first-home buyer who had been “renting around the corner” won the keys.
He said buyers with secure jobs were still active in the market, and agents were up to the task of navigating the unprecedented circumstances.
“We’ll work out a way (to get deals done),” he said.
“The only thing that could shut down the industry would be a complete lockdown where you can’t show a buyer through a home.”
The industry is creating digital solutions to this, with realestate.com.au now allowing vendors to add virtual tours to their listings for free.
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Originally published as Coronavirus: South Kingsville townhouse sold in email auction