Just bought a house in Melbourne Diaries

Some luck has come my way.

Bid for a house this morning and to my great surprise (and, from what I could tell, the surprise of the real estate agent), I ended up with the property at around 4% BELOW its reserve price. This is pretty much unheard of in Melbourne, or even Australia - every single adviser I spoke to said that on average a property would be sold 10-15% above the reserve, and likely more at an auction. When the agent said I’d done a really good deal, I think she genuinely meant it. This is also a time when the property market is at its highest recorded levels, with four-fifths of auctions clearing and considerable panic about whether people below 45 will ever own their own homes.

Still trying to work out what just happened. From what I was told by the vendors, I was one of four confirmed bidders. One was an elderly couple who were in the mindset that it was 1979 and that the property might pass in (fat chance). Another was MIA on the day and may have stuffed their finances up. The third bidder, a couple, wanted to buy the house and the one adjacent to it, and as soon as they saw a semi-determined bidder got nervous and physically walked away. This was very silly, as I think the seller was prepared to do a deal for both houses given that the price was falling below the reserve, but after the auctioneer contacted the seller, the couple had disappeared. They were annoying me anyway, as they put their bids each time on the third and final call (a habit picked up from real estate TV shows that I think is stupid behaviour, as all it showed was they were inexperienced). I think I have been the beneficiary of poorly thought out ‘strategic bidding’ by other people.

So I am now a homeowner, and can put my many awful years of renting behind me. The house is only slightly larger than the one I have now, and is solidly built with a beautiful design. It doesn’t have much of a garden but it is in a really pretty part of the city. One issue is that the art deco style I have at my present place (glass dining room table, framed film noir posters) won’t work in this new house, but that’s a minor concern.

Very, very good news for me.