It was our last throw of the dice: Bidding and winning at The Block: Fans v Faves auctions

GUEST OBSERVATION

The aftermath of bidding on our fourth Melbourne series of The Block has been busy and we can’t believe how much interest our involvement on the finale generated. 

I like my new nickname “The Frankinator” given to me by reporter Alison Stephenson in a News Limited article.

The Block auctions in 2014 are now over and we congratulate all the contestants on their big financial windfalls. The total combined profit was $2,426,000, working out to be an average of $606,625 each. The breakdown was:

• Dale and Brad ($507,750)
  
  
• Kyle and Kara ($567,250)
  
  
• Lysandra and Alisa ($616,000)
  
  
• And the overall winners Chantelle and Steve ($736,000)

You would be disappointed if you were the Cameron Street Richmond contestants who in 2011 won much less than any of this year’s contestants with total winnings of only $225,000. That’s a total difference of $2,201,000 or 978% less. No wonder this year’s contestants were crying with joy!

Unfortunately there were no bargains to be had again this year, unlike our purchase of Polly and Waz’s house in Richmond for $858,000 for one of our investor clients. With a fantastic current rental of $995 per week and an extra $30,000 per annum in depreciation, this represented great buying and it is still returning 12% rental return year on year.

Myself and other Real Estate Professionals believed that the properties would sell in the vicinity of $2.2 to $2.5 million which was what properties in a larger townhouse development in Danks Street, Albert Park with similar accommodation had been selling for.

OUR CLIENTS AND BIDDING 

Frank Valentic bidding at The Block: Fans v Faves auctions. Picture courtesy of Channel 9.

We were bidding for an investor who was a business owner in Kilsyth for Brad and Dale’s property with a budget of $2.3 million, giving our client a 6% return and unfortunately we were the under bidders. There were at least six other bidders and an eventual sale price of $2,310,000. Our client was disappointed we fell short as he had another property settling that week and he said he would have definitely pushed himself higher for these unique properties if he had more funds available.

We then bid on Kyla and Kara’s apartment for our home buyer clients who were a professional young married couple in their 30s living in SOUTHBANK.  The intensive care surgeon and marketing manager couple were keen to bid on both of the north facing properties with the tree lined street views.  We bid strongly to our budget limit of $2,430,000 and again were unfortunately the under bidders, to another real estate professional who bought it for $2,440,000 for a downsizer elderly couple.

We had an investor client who was a business owner in Horsham who was keen to snag a bargain and a 7% return (around the $2.2 million mark) for the next auction but we didn’t get many bids in with six to seven bidders taking the twins’ Alisa and Lysandra’s property to $2,380,000, so we were never really in the hunt for this one.

The last auction was our home buyer professional couples’ first preference as they were attracted to the amazing city skyline vistas and the larger north facing living area.  I have bid at over 2,000 auctions over the last 19 years as a buyer’s advocate / buyer’s agent and attend many auctions each weekend, and I have never been more nervous at an auction. It was our client’s first choice and our last roll of the dice.

My client was performing operations at his hospital and his female partner was too emotional and nervous to be anywhere near The Block, so she was waiting with family nearby.  I knew there would be five to six bidders for this preferred north facing property so I jumped the bidding early from $1.9 million to $2.2 million, as we now do with most auctions every weekend in the current buoyant Melbourne market place.

I bid confidently and assertively and shook off a few other bidders to be left fighting it out with another buyer's agent, who I found out afterwards was bidding on behalf of an overseas Chinese investor.  It literally came down to the wire and we finally secured the apartment for our home buyers on our last bid of $2,470,000.  It was almost like déjà vu as we missed out on the first three Sky High apartments last year in Park Street South Melbourne before securing the last apartment on our last bid for a single female downsizer client from Glen Iris.

Our delighted home buyer clients arrived to sign contracts in their new home and then had celebratory champagne at their new local, The Vincent.

Our fourth Block auction experience was another exciting action-packed night.  Our two investor clients were disappointed to miss out although they understand how important it is to stick to their set budgets.  The TV show continues to have a successful formula and attracted great support from over four million viewers.  My family and I enjoyed watching the series and enjoyed being a part of the experience again and it’s great to see more positive headlines in the press regarding the Melbourne property market again.  The great Australian dream of owning a beautiful home continues to appeal to viewers and this year resulted in great results for Channel 9, the contestants and all the successful purchasers again.

We look forward to hopefully being involved in our fifth Block series with the office conversions at 121 High Street Prahran which they have already started filming and have already had their first room reveal. The series will air around September later this year. “The Frankinator” looks forward to hopefully being part of the next series!

Frank Valentic is managing director of award-winning buyers' agency Advantage Property Consulting.