This years The Block auction has left two competing teams heartbroken as their houses failed to sell at auction. So what happens now?
After Tom and Sarah-Jane only made a measly $20,000, both Ankur and Sharon and Dylan and Jenny made the tough decision to have their houses passed in at auction in the hopes they could negotiate a bigger payday down the track, not wanting a repeat of Tom and Sarah-Jane’s auction result.
WATCH NOW: Ankur and Sharon’s house gets passed in.
Both couples failed to attract any bidders, including serial buyer Danny Wallis, who purchased the additional three properties on the show, in what is surely an incredibly disappointing result after months of blood, sweat, tears and time away from families to compete on the renovation program.
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Especially frustrating for both couples was to see Rachel and Ryan pass their property in and still secure a sale (and profit of $169,000.86) with Mr Wallis on the night.
”I’m so glad that we were just able to think clearly and have it passed in, that was the most important thing,” Rachel told 9Entertainment.
In a double shock to the system for viewers, the poor auction outcome was the first time in over ten years that two couples have had their properties passed in, following Josh and Jenna, and Rod and Tania in Series 4 in 2011.
WATCH NOW: Dylan and Jenny’s House Gets Passed In.
What does passing in a property actually mean?
When a property is passed in, it means the bidding has not reached the vendor’s reserve price which is the minimum price our blockheads (and the nine network) were prepared to sell the properties at.
Before any bids reach the reserve price, the vendor has the opportunity to ask the highest bidder to step out of the auction to carry out private negotiations.
This process is known as “passing it in”.
During these negotiations the bidder may offer more money than they did in the auction or the vendor make accept less money than they hoped.
More often than not, the results of these negotiations are that the two parties meet somewhere in the middle.
Now, as filming has wrapped, the heartbroken contestants will continue to negotiate with potential bidders, both stating in the aftermath of the auction that they were still open to offers to buy their homes.
Ankur and Sharon, the rookie renovators of the season, confirmed to 9Entertainment that after not hitting their reserve price of $4.8m, they are looking to sell it for $4.3m.
Speaking with the Daily Mail, Sharon revealed that she and her husband are getting out of Melbourne to clear their heads and take a break, ”We need a holiday. We’re a hundred percent going to take a break and then reevaluate what we want to do next year.”
”I think what we are going to try to do is go back to South Australia, where we are from, and spend time on the family farm in the vineyards and just have a good time.”
She continued, ”I grew up on a farm and I love it, and my future is always going to be on a farm. We are just figuring out when.”
If they can’t come to an agreement, Ankur said the house would go back on the market and be sold from there.
”Unfortunately there wasn’t enough bidding in the room,” Ankur told 9Entertainment.
Not all was doom and gloom however; ”We got a car, which we’re completely grateful for, so even if we walk away with nothing, it’s fine.”
Dylan and Jenny are also expected to continue negotiations in the days and weeks to come, as both couples seek a profitable result.
Passing in a property can be a dicey game, let’s hope it works in the favour of both remaining couples.
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