PHOTO: She had a cheeky glass of champagne after winning the auction. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied
Lockdowns are impacting the property market, but it could be used as an advantage for many home buyers.
Despite 15 other people competing for the property, Charlotte Watkins was able to secure a two-bedroom apartment in Marrickville for more than $1 million and she thinks a “unique” feature of lockdown may have given her an advantage.
Lockdowns prohibit real estate agents in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide from hosting open homes and in-person auctions.
So Charlotte’s new home went under the hammer online. She’s been renting for the past 14 years in Sydney after moving from London, where she had purchased a house with her friend in her mid-20s.
The now 42-year-old, who sold her UK unit five years ago, has been on the hunt for a home over the years but things never quite worked out.
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The leadership coach said she was lucky enough to inspect the Marrickville property before Sydney went into lockdown and faced up to the online auction on July 10.
While she described the experience as a “bit clunky” as people tried not to talk over each other, she said it also helped lower the intimidation levels.
“It certainly takes the emotion out of it online. When you see people physically you can potentially rightly or wrongly gauge where they are at or what they are doing, whereas with online it was very quick, so maybe it did give me an advantage,” she told news.com.au.
“Face-to-face would have gone on a bit longer as the auctioneer does the whole, ‘Come on, guys, it’s worth this much, who’s giving me more’, but that didn’t happen at the online auction.”
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