8/383 Gilbert Rd, Preston, sold to the only person to make a bid for it — despite multiple bidders in the crowd.
A Preston auction has proven it only takes one bidder to get a sale done.
The two-bedroom unit at 8/383 Gilbert Rd, Preston, was sold in post-auction negotiations for $475,000 — above the home’s price guide, and $20,000 more than where it was passed in.
The one and done sale was a case of history repeating, with owner Archie Garcia paying $275,000 for the same unit almost 20 years ago while en route to a basketball game.
RELATED: How tiny, 5m-wide Melb home sold for $1m+
Shocking number of Victorian households in mortgage, rental crisis
Sooshi Mango’s Joe Salanitri and family sell Mt Waverley pad
“The home was going to market in a few weeks and I put a bid in,” Mr Garcia said.
“Before I got to the game, I had it. I remember winning, because I was in a bit of a daze — but I did play well.”
In his mid 20s at the time, and only having been in the work force for a few years he said his first home purchase was a “terrifying” moment.
But he was very confident in the location, having grown up there after his family migrated from the Philippines in his childhood.
Open-plan living inside the unit suits modern lifestyles.
A rare courtyard garden that comes with the apartment helps set it apart.
“But I remember in High St there was a three-bedroom townhouse that went for $650,000 and I was thinking that was insane, so when I saw this I was thinking ‘yes that’s expensive, but not so much as the other home’,” Mr Garcia said.
With a courtyard, proximity to Preston market and with family and friends living in the area, it was a perfect base for him for three years before becoming an investment property.
“Every five years I have thought of selling it, and every five years I have thought no — because I wanted to keep it. I thought it might be the house my wife and I move into when we downsize and I really like the area.”
But with the home sold yesterday he was making plans to take family and friends out for a meal to celebrate.
A well-maintained kitchen is ready to go for the next owner.
Spacious bedrooms provide plenty of space in older-style apartments like the Gilbert Rd offering.
Fletchers Inner North senior associate Dennis Dellas said while two first-home buyers who had expressed interest were in the crowd, they had chosen not to bid — leaving an investor to claim the keys.
“A few more bidders might have got it to $495,000 … but what we got is a fair market price,” Mr Dellas said.
“But the take away is some first-home buyers are still looking for the perfect home, and that just doesn’t happen in life anywhere, not just real estate.”
Fletchers chief operating officer Jeremy Tyrrell said auctions delivering results around Melbourne’s north boded well for a strong finish to the year, with homes already booked to go under the hammer as late as December 20.
Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.
MORE: The Block: Data shows brutal wait for unsold Daylesford homes
English (US) · 