THE AUCTION

 Unlike the Perth real estate market where houses are sold after the first opening, it's a more leisurely process in Melbourne. Four weeks of regular openings on weekday nights and Saturdays. Our agents, Cody and Matt, were kept busy with multiple visits from a variety of groups.

Sensible buyers want a building inspection done and all one can think of as the seller is of all the hidden house problems that might suddenly appear. We did have one drama shortly before we moved out with major drainage work required but it seemed that there was nothing else to dissaude a potential buyer....apart from interest rates, the cost of living crisis, the time of year, the colour of the house, the lack of an ensuite, a small kitchen etc etc etc.

Given the 5% decrease in the Melbourne market over the previous 12 months, we'd lowered our expectations in terms of a reserve price and on the day itself, Saturday 30 November, Cody made sure that we understood the world wouldn't end if there were no bidders or if the reserve wasn't reached. Having said that, he also offered a hint of the light to come - that there were at least three potential buyers on site.

We hid upstairs after the final inspection while friends gathered outside amongst the crowd. It had been raining up to that point (we are talking about Melbourne after all) but miraculously it stopped for the auction. We could vaguely hear Cody's spiel but were desperately trying not to listen in order not to stress too much. And then the magic words: 'we're on the market' i.e. the reserve have been reached.

At that point, we relaxed....but only for a minute because then the excitement started. Our neighbour Mike started sending us second by second updates as the price increased to a final figure that was $250k over our reserve. Everyone in the neighbourhood knew the price within minutes because of the local What's App group and there were both amazed comments and a complementary one - from our plumber!

The new owners are an American couple with a young daughter. They are both science/environmental academics at the University of Melbourne so we felt that the house was to be in good hands. And perhaps they were spending American dollars which may have helped the final price given the pathetic state of the Australian dollar.

A number of years ago, the previous owner of the Pink House turned up on our doorstep to pass on a painting she had commissioned when she and her (shortly to be divorced) husband had finished renovating the house. They had named in Lofty Hawke after her father who'd been a (tall) pilot. We decided that is was appropriate to pass the picture on to the next custodians of the house. 

Our next task was to head out to put the sold sticker on the house and then celebrate for the last time with some Doman Chandon (Victorian) Sparkling (for pleasure) rose (to match the house) with the friends who'd braved the weather for the event....and of course with our trusty real estate agents.

Susan & Matt with signed e-contract

But there was one more event to be had. As a thank you for being such good clients, our Shellabear real estate agent in Perth sent Susan and me a Chin Chin voucher and we'd booked months earlier on the basis that we would either need to congratulate or commiserate each other. So it was cocktail time amongst the bright young things in Flinders Lane to end this momentous day.