For many people watching the recent activity in the property market, their main focus is often on the numbers. Whether it’s the volume of auctions, sale prices, bidder numbers or how far over a reserve the bidding went, people tend to go looking for clear, concise ways to measure the performance of the property market. However, one of the things you learn when you’ve been in real estate as long as I have is that the greatest rewards in this business tend to be more about human emotions than they are about numbers. Sure, the result matters…(obviously)…but I often find that it is the stories behind the results that matter just as much. We had a prime example of this today when we auctioned a 3-bedroom home in St Raphael Street, Avondale Heights (pictured). This property had been owned by the one family for over 40 years, the home having been built for them in 1974! There were obviously a lot of emotions involved as the family members gathered to see the home go under the hammer, just as there were quite a few nerves as they waited to see how strong the interest would be. They needn’t have worried, with four bidders competing strongly, (and several more who never got the chance to raise their hands), the bidding soared close to 10% above the vendor’s reserve price, finally selling for a very impressive $900,000! Suffice to say that the appreciation from the family members after the auction confirmed that all our hard work in the weeks leading up to today’s auction was well worth it! For those who are interested in numbers, however, we saw some this week that provide a graphic indication of just how strong the property market in the City of Moonee Valley this winter. One of our recent listings in Essendon was opened for inspection twice this week, and attracted MORE THAN 70 GROUPS OF BUYERS in that time. This included over 20 groups at a mid-week Open House, and more than 50 groups in a half hour period today! If you thought that Winter would be a quiet period for the local property market…think again. Regards, Bill Karp Director – Barry Plant Real Estate Keilor East, Essendon & Niddrie