A $2.7m offer made this vendor jump early

Was it overpriced? No.

What did you think it would go for? $2.6 million to $2.7 million.

What was surprising about it? The speed at which it sold. The buyer was moving from New Zealand to be closer to her family in Sydney, and had previously missed out on another property with us earlier in the year. Last time, her daughter had bid for her. This time, she flew out to Australia.

She took one look and said: “I love it, it’s perfect, let’s just buy it.” There was one other [interested] party. They wanted the vendor to wait until the morning. But no. It was done that night.

What other interest did you have in the property? There was another party that said if the vendor could wait until the next morning they’d be able to sign a contract. Having said that, their offer was slightly less than the offer we had on the table. As result the vendor said, “No.” The vendor felt very comfortable they were making the right decision to accept the offer.

Why did the vendors accept that just one week into an auction campaign? The vendors were very pragmatic. It achieved where they wanted to be on pricing. To get the quick sale put them in a position to go out and buy something straight away. It took away their fears and doubts and gave them the ability to go out and [buy their next property].

Were the vendors nervous of going the full distance on a four-week campaign? Not at all. Everyone’s got a different way looking at things. Most vendors do tell us if they get a great offer out of the blue they’re going to take it. If you accept a prior offer you know where you stand and don’t have anxiety for another two to three weeks. It lets you get on with your life.

Is the market slowing? I haven’t seen a cooling-off in Haberfield. [But] this week my inquiry rates have decreased.

Is that a sign of weakness to come? It’s a sign buyers have seen the market get hot all of a sudden. There seemed to be a mini-boom last month. Sometimes buyers start to get nervous when they see jumps in the market and want to ensure they’re not overpaying again.

I’m seeing buyers still eager to buy, but being a bit more cautious about making sure they’re doing all their due diligence and crossing all their Ts and dotting their Is. I’m seeing more of that across the board. I’m seeing buyers also saying, “We want to make sure we’ve got loan approval before signing.”

Do you reckon we’ll see another result like this: a) next week b) next year c) next cycle d) never? a) Next week. We sold another one the very following week, pretty much similar circumstances, a two-bed semi.