St Peters property badly damaged by fire sold with help of spoof horror movie
Buying and selling property is often an emotional business, but for one Sydney vendor, the auctioneer's hammer brought an end to a traumatic few months.
Tom Noicos was forced to sell his home after it was severely damaged by fire in August.
Police alleged the fire was started by a former housemate and Mr Noicos' insurance company refused to pay out on the policy.
On Saturday a healthy crowd of onlookers and 20 registered bidders hoped to bag a bargain in the hot inner-west suburb of St Peters.
Despite the home's position directly under the flight path, its proximity to the city and the opportunity to add value led real estate agents to create a spoof horror movie to sell its merits.
For Mr Noicos, a former IT worker, it was an emotional day.
"I've lived in this house for 15 years. There are a lot of good memories, but it's time to move on," he said.
"I was going to move eventually, but not like this."
Competition was strong for the federation home, which is now blackened by soot and in need of money and TLC to restore it to its former glory.
Winning bidder Sonia Chen bought the property for $790,000. This was $90,000 above the reserve.
Her husband George Ge had mixed feelings about the purchase.
"She's excited," he said.
"I'm not so excited because I have to do a lot of work, I have to renovate. I have no idea."
The home was one of 900 properties to go under the hammer in Sydney on Saturday.
But a flood of properties now on the market in the lead-up to Christmas has seen a dip in auction clearing rates, according to the Real Estate Institute of NSW (REINSW).
"We've seen definitely a shift in market momentum, so more stock means more opportunities and more competition for those properties on the market," REINSW deputy president John Cunningham said.
Mr Cunningham said 2015 is likely to be a more stable year, with interest rates remaining low and a more balanced market set to continue.
