Buyer's advocate shares his thoughts on The Block auctions

He successfully snapped up Josh and Elyse’s winning house for comedian Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes at the weekend. Now buyer’s advocate Greville Pabst shares his thoughts on the auction results and the series overall.

Season 13 of The Block has been filled with drama from day one and Sunday’s auction was no exception. Five beautiful homes went under the hammer, as many potential buyers gathered to try and get their hands on a great piece of real estate. The dream family homes are perfectly located between the Elsternwick and Ripponlea villages with public transport, restaurants, cafes and also one of Australia’s best schools, Caulfield Grammar, within walking distance.

Greville Pabst successfully bid on Josh and Elyse’s house for his client Dave Hughes

Bidding at auction can be very nerve-racking, hence these days more and more people are seeking advice and lead from a buyer’s advocate like myself. A buyer’s advocate can guide a buyer or seller through the process in order to get the best possible outcome. This season, every one of the homes was purchased by a buyer’s advocate, bidding on their client’s behalf. My client was the wonderful Dave Hughes.

The auctions were off to a great start and I was able to place the winning bid on the greatest house of them all, Josh and Elyse’s, which Hughesy was very happy about. Josh and Elyse’s, or now Hughesy’s house, is located on the best spot of them all being a corner block facing north, with the smart roller garage door that opens onto the backyard, an impressive hallway with soaring high ceilings and solid hardwood floors. To top it all off, the Dave Franklin designed garden with plunge pool is simply stunning. I actually expected it to go for a bit more, so we are both happy with the final price.

The second house up for auction was Jason and Sarah’s, which also received a great result. When I brought buyers through the houses in the lead up to the auction, houses one and five were the most popular. I’m not surprised that they ended up in the top two with Josh and Elyse being the winning couple.

After the first two auctions, tensions increased when Sticks and Wombat reached $130,000 over reserve. The bidding continued to slow with a thin buying pool, so I’m not surprised that the remaining houses did not reach a better result. I’m actually more surprised that Ronnie and Georgia’s house was the only house that got passed in.

The past weekend was one of the busiest auction weekends in Melbourne history, with over 1,100 properties up for auction. This made the competition even harder, especially when five houses in the $2.5+ million price range are being auctioned back to back. It doesn’t normally happen, and if the auctions would have been staggered over a few months, we would likely have seen more competition and higher results.

Taking a quick look at the results of last year’s season, we can see that the auction order has a huge impact on the result, with the winners being the first ones up for auction two years in a row.

There are many variables when placing the winning bid on auction day, here are just a handful of my tips and tricks:

Before the auction, it’s important that you have all your financials sorted and have set a clear budget. It’s good to have an uneven number as your final limit, as it would be very frustrating to lose a property for just a couple of thousand dollars.
During the auction, make sure you have a clear view of the auctioneer and can keep track of each bid that comes through to have good eye contact.
Stand in a position where you can see your competition and be able to read their body language, it will reveal more than you think.
Sometimes it’s all about the timing and knowing when to enter the bidding, when to pause, hold back and when to walk away. I tend to sit back and get a feel for the competition before making my first bid.
An auction can be very nerve-racking, but the more prepared you are prior to auction, the better you will feel during the auction. Keep a relaxed face, show confidence and don’t let the opponents know your limit.

It’s been a great season of The Block and I’m very excited to see the transformation of The Gatwick coming up in 2018…

–Greville is CEO and executive chairman of WBP Group and one of the buyer’s advocates on The Block. He is a regular commentator on Sky News and the daily papers such as Herald Sun, the AFR and The Australian, helping everyday Australians make better property decisions.