05-07-2025
Couple who queued for eight days to buy Melbourne land sell up
A couple who lined up for eight days to secure their dream plot of land in Altona Meadows are all smiles after selling up four decades later.
Saturday's auction of 8 Weeroona Tce was a family affair with their now-grown up daughter, Ray White Williamstown director Joanne Royston, acting as the listing agent for her childhood home.
Ms Royston was aged 13 years old when her parents Loretta and David bought the block where they built a four-bedroom home.
She recalled her mum and dad enlisting her grandmother Nesta and their friends to help take turns while lining up for the land, in 1984.
'They slept in cars and had chairs to hold their place in the queue,' Ms Royston said.
Her parents were keen on the block because it backs onto a park.
Saturday's auction saw four bidders compete for the abode.
The house sold for $906,000, a sum slightly higher than the $800,000-$880,000 asking range.
'A young family bought the house, they love the location,' Ms Royston said.
'A gate opens from the property to the park where there's a soccer club, netball and basketball courts, flora and fauna walks and a BMX track.'
Her treasured family memories include walking in the park with her parents and younger brother, Travis, who now works with her at Ray White – while the auctioneer was fellow agency director Dean Stanley.
'We were both born a day apart at Footscray Hospital and our mothers are very close friends,' Ms Royston said.
She said that her parents were planning on moving into a retirement village unit, where her father was looking forward to having a much smaller garden.
And a first-home buyer family has an extra reason to enjoy their interstate holiday after scoring a Caroline Springs house for $920,000 on Saturday.
The four-bedroom home at 14 Caddick Gardens was listed with a $700,000-$750,000 range but soared above price hopes thanks to five keen bidders who participated in the auction.
Calder Real Estate Agents Delahey's Mo Safatli said that a couple with two primary-school aged children claimed the keys, just before they were due to fly to Queensland for some time off.
'They did say to me that it would be extra special if they bought the house,' Mr Safatli said
The wife was too nervous to attend the auction so she waited around the corner while she husband did the bidding.
About 50 people, consisting of 19 buyer groups and their friends and relatives, attended the pre-auction inspection.
A $700,000 bid kicked off the main event, conducted by auctioneer Andy Reid.
The auction lasted for eight to 10 minutes and bids came in so quickly that Mr Safatli only had a chance to consult with the owners around the $870,000 mark to confirm that the property was on the market.
The vendors, who had kept the house as an investment property for the past 15 years or so, had repainted and installed new carpets prior to putting the home on the market.
Mr Safatli said that some houses in his region of Melbourne's western suburbs did surpass their listed ranges by hundreds of thousands at auctions, once in a while.
'It does happen sometimes, I think with this one the fact that it was presented immaculately made all the difference,' he said.
And he has noticed buyers becoming more competitive since the Reserve Bank lowered Australia's cash rate in February and May, which widely led to lowered interstate rates.
'The mindset is of them buying today before it (prices) go up tomorrow,' Mr Safatli said.
