How one bidder’s ego cost him $89,000 at auction

A few weeks ago, I went to an auction on behalf of a client. And like all Sydney auctions it started predictable… and ended absolutely wild.

The property

There were three registered bidders:

• Me, for my clients

• Bob the Builder (a developer)

• Charlie (an owner-occupier)

Opening bid: $1.9M from Bob. We bounced back and forth in small increments and 20 bids later, we hit $2.1M.

Bob then stepped back, and Charlie jumped in. After a slow climb, the property was “on the market” at around $2.20M and Charlie soon tapped out.

So far, so normal. Then… it all went sideways.

The madness begins

Bob came back. And for the next $200,000, he only bid in $1,000 increments.

Didn’t matter if I bid $5K or $20K he’d come back with another $1K.

Every. Single. Time.

By $2.45M, I had the lead  and Bob walked out. Literally walked down the driveway.

The agent chased him (of course). From around the corner came the call:

“$2,451,000 on behalf of Bob!”

Unbelievable.

The turning point

We crept up to $2.47M. My bid. Then, out of nowhere, Bob jumped to $2.5M.

Classic move the agent had clearly told him, “She’ll stop at the round number.” But I always prep my clients: never stop on a round number.

So I fired back at $2,510,000. My final bid.

And that’s when Bob made his $89,000 mistake.

The $89,000 mistake

After fifty-plus $1K bids, all Bob had to do was add one more  $2,511,000  and he’d have won.

Instead, he yelled:

“Two point six million!”

He overbid by $89,000. Standing down the driveway. I’m not even sure he realised what he’d done.

The hammer fell at $2.6M. A tough result for my clients, but watching arrogance burn $89K? Slightly satisfying.

The postscript

After the auction, Bob reappeared cigarette in hand  and casually told us he’d already offered $2.7M for the semi next door.

He wanted both sides: 850sqm for four townhouses.

But when you add it all up $5.3M in land, plus $250K stamp duty, $20K per year in land tax, DA and build costs he’ll need to sell each townhouse for $2M+ just to break even. On a 2 year project.

New townhouses in that area? Around $1.8–$1.9M.

The takeaway

Sydney auctions are unpredictable and sometimes, totally bonkers. We didn’t win that one, but we’ve since secured a great property and didn’t pay $89,000 more than we needed to.