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It was a normal campaign, with an extraordinary result for one of the country’s leading auctioneers.
Last weekend Damien Cooley, owner and auctioneer at Sydney-based Cooley Auctions, put his family home up for auction, selling under the hammer for $1.707 million. And despite having 16 registered bidders, the Australian Real Estate Awards 2013 Auctioneer of the Year admitted he remained nervous during the campaign.
“It is a very different experience then what I am used to,” Mr Cooley told Real Estate Business.
“My wife and I were well informed by our agents throughout the entire campaign and we felt we were really realistic and knew that the market would determine what the property was worth.”
Despite interest from buyers pre-auction day, Mr Cooley said the home was always going to sell via the hammer.
“We wanted to let the auction process run its course, and our attitude from day one was that we were going to market. We remained confident that an auction was the right choice for our property and we are very happy with the outcome.”
However, a clever bidding strategy by one buyer had Mr Cooley frustrated, the award winning auctioneer said.
“When the bidding started the first bid was at $1.2 million and then second was $1.6 million, which was obviously a strategy to knock out a large majority of the bidders - which it did,” he explained.
“As a auctioneer I was frustrated, I wanted the auction to grow with momentum. It was a good strategy.”
According to Mr Cooley the campaign followed a straight-forward marketing plan of online and print advertising.
John McManus of LJ Hooker Artarmon/Willoughby and former number one agent from the Real Estate Business Top 100 Agents ranking, Peter Chauncy, of McGrath Estate Agents Crows Nest, were the selling agents. Andrew Cooley of Cooley Auctions auctioned the property.
Mr Cooley and his family purchased a home in Artarmon late last year, which they plan to renovate.
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