Julie Mahoney hammers down Townsville’s first online auction success

LEADING Townsville agent Julie Mahoney has not only conducted her first online auction but her team also managed to become the first Townsville office to sell property through an online platform.

Two properties were snapped up on Monday night by eager buyers, 7 Townsend St, Mysterton (pictured above) sold for $450,000 and 116-118 Martinez Avenue, West End went for$545,000.

Office principal and selling agent Julie Mahoney said the auctions drew a large range of bidders including locals, those from interstate and even a few international viewers translating to some great results on the night.

“We did private inspections through the properties, one of the groups inspecting had seen the house in the paper in Ayr,” Ms Mahoney said.

“Most of the bidders were local but the demographic was quite interesting.

“We had bidders who were aged from 70 plus online and one of my vendors who will be auctioning later in the month watched from England.

“There was also a buyer watching from Ingham and one of the vendor's family members from New Zealand.”

“We were very nervous, however it was an easier process than what we thought it was going to be and not being able to see the competition actually made it easier,” they said.

The couple had been looking for several months and the four bedroom home was exactly what they were after.

“We wanted a property that we didn't have to renovate or do anything on, it was perfect in our eyes,” they said.

“We kind of knew that if we saw a house that we were happy with then we would just go full steam ahead and we couldn't believe when the hammer went down and it was ours, we just looked at each other and went ‘oh wow’ because we didn’t expect to get it.”

“We obviously had the 2019 floods and all regional markets have been tough but before recent events we were seeing really good activity in the January and February markets so there were a lot of developments and projects and people were confident,” Ms Mahoney said.

“But we’ve been through tough times so it’s nothing new to us and I don't think it will affect prices too much. We’re very resilient here and people are still buying in the marketplace.”

Calling the auctions was Ray White Queensland chief auctioneer Mitch Peereboom who said he is thrilled to see both buyers and sellers embracing the new technology.

“It’s clear that auctions are able to create competition in any market and deliver unconditional contracts and great results for our sellers so we’re really proud that we can still conduct this process remotely,” Mr Peereboom said.