A northern beaches woman has splurged nearly $5m for a home at auction – $1.7m above the vendor’s hopes – after reportedly arriving barefoot and earlier making a bizarre 5 cent bid.
The woman was seen strolling into the auction five minutes before it was scheduled to start and registering to bid having allegedly made no prior formal contact with the agents.
In a “remarkable” early weekend auction, the two-bedroom apartment in Fairlight sold for $4.7m, with the agent commenting that the winning bidder had been a “bit of a dark horse”.
“She had taken a contract but hadn’t pre-registered, hadn’t answered any calls,” said lead agent Georgi Bates, director at Cunninghams on the northern beaches.
The late registrant was alleged to have sold a property nearby for a multi-million dollar price, according to Ms Bates. Ms Bates also reported that the same woman had missed out on purchasing the apartment at auction 11 years prior.
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5/7 Lauderdale Ave, Fairlight sold for $4.7m $1.7m over reserve.
“My vendor was like ‘ugh she made pay more for it 11 years ago’. There was a little bit of a feud there,” she said. “But then now hugs and kisses because he got nearly $2m more than he was expecting,” she said.
The woman who emerged triumphant at auction faced strong competition from a rival bidder who also lived in the area.
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“The gentleman who competed against her lives also in another apartment nearby, both have views but he has stairs, his mother lived until over 100 so he thought if I live over a 100 I need to think about the future,” she said.
Location of the Fairlight apartment.
“(Both active bidders) were at that stage in life where this is a level walk from the street no steps walk into the apartment, easy living,” Ms Bates said.
The two local bidders knocked the other two who had registered out right from the start.
“They didn’t even get a look in,” Ms Bates said.
“Straight away, she came in quite loud and vocal at $2.9m … everyone was silent from then,” Ms Bates said.
Auctioneer Clarence White had to navigate the heated auction as the two locals went back and forth in $1,000, $5,000, $25,000 and $50,000 bids.
The winning bidder allegedly bidded for it against the vendor and missed out 11 years ago.
The woman even bid against herself a few times.
“I had to coach her a bit as it was getting away from her … she even tried to add a 5 cent bid in at one point,” said Ms Bates.
Finally, the final bid landed with the barefoot woman at $4.7m.
“(The vendors) were gobsmacked, they weren’t even going to turn up,” she said.
Living in Newcastle, they were put off by the early 8:15am auction time.
Ms Bates said in her 25 years of working in real estate, she hadn’t experienced an auction quite like it.
“Everyone was getting there phones out and filming,” she said. “It really was remarkable.”
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