Steve and Josephine Hantos, with kids Liam, Matilda, Audrey and Oscar, are selling without a reserve. Picture: Tim Hunter
In the dollar-signs-in-their-eyes, flip and sell, asset-collecting world of the Sydney housing market, one family has decided someone else’s dream is worth more than their own wallets.
So they’ve put their Epping house up for auction without a reserve price.
It’s got an estimated value of about $1.5 million, but without a reserve Steve and Josephine Hantos would have to hand over the keys for as little as $1 if it is the only bid placed.
The couple want their four bedroom house to continue to be a home to happy memories, to “pay it forward” after getting lucky in business and investments. .
“We want the house to sell for a record price. Not a record high — the other way,” Mr Hantos said.
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The family have a sentimental attachment to the property after living there for 15 years and would be “sad” if it sold to a developer who knocked it down, he said.
“We want another family to come in and make it a home,” he said. “We’re hoping that doing this will draw more of that kind of buyer or even steer it toward a first homebuyer.”
Comparable sales near The Third Ave home were about $1.5m.
Selling agent Catherine Murphy of The Agency said she had never encountered a seller who tried this before.
Reserves are usually used to protect the sellers in the event of low bidding as it stipulated a minimum amount conditional for the sale.
But the lack of a reserve on the house on Third Ave will mean the sellers will be unable to negotiate the price or shape the outcome in anyway.
“The sellers are being incredibly brave,” Mr Murphy said. “No reserve means they have to accept whatever is offered, even if theoretically it’s just $1.”
The couple are throwing in their appliances as part of the sale.
The estimated value of $1.5 million is based on a normal selling campaign, comparing it to similar property sales, but the outcome of the auction would be impossible to predict, she said.
They’re also throwing in their Smeg appliances, including a fridge, dryer, washing machine and other household items, to sweeten the deal.
Mr Hantos said his family were moving to Beecroft but he felt sorry for younger families seeking homes. “I feel so bad for people starting out and trying to get in the housing market. COVID has made it even worse.”
Cooley Auctions director and auctioneer Damien Cooley will be calling bids on the property when it goes to auction August 22 and said the sale was getting people excited.
The couple have owned the home for 15 years.
“It’s going to be really interesting,” he said. “It means we’re selling regardless of what’s offered.”
But bidders may still have to be realistic because the level of competition would dictate the bidding, Mr Cooley said.
“If it’s going really low, if it’s $25 or something like that, I’ll be wishing I registered … but it’s definitely not going that low.”
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