A pre-auction offer at the first open: take it, ring round, or go to auction?

First open. Twenty minutes in, someone at the kitchen bench says, "We'd like to make an offer." You ring the vendor from the car, and they want to take it.

Sometimes taking the offer is right. But there's a third option most campaigns drift into without deciding to, and it's the one worth avoiding. A Sydney sale from July shows why.

The sale, in short

Anthony Kassis of Sydney Realty Centre had a renovated two-bedroom apartment in Tunbridge Street, Mascot. His own listing ended in capitals: "GENUINE VENDOR WANTS SURE SALE."

The first open was on 24 June 2026. An offer came in that the vendor would have accepted. Kassis recommended auction anyway, and the vendor agreed. Before auction day, he told all four bidders the reserve.

By auction day it was down to two. It sold under the hammer on Saturday 18 July, 2.86 per cent over the reserve, and the top two bids finished less than a tenth of one per cent apart.

The man who won was the man who'd made the first offer.

The option to avoid: the phone round

When an offer lands, the easy move is to ring everyone else who's been through and see who'll beat it.

That's still an auction. It happens one call at a time, where nobody sees anybody else.

One says she'll think about it. Two don't call back. The first offer stands, the vendor signs, and nobody ever finds out what the others would have paid with a rival in front of them.

The cost usually lands weeks later, when the same floor plan sells nearby for more and the vendor gets the sold alert. She doesn't ring to complain. She just doesn't ring again.

Why telling every bidder the reserve can work

A bidder who doesn't know the reserve can sit tight and wait for a pass-in, hoping to deal with the vendor alone. A bidder who knows the reserve can't. Sitting tight just hands the place to someone else.

The usual fear is that telling bidders the reserve caps the price. On this sale, it didn't. Two bidders went past it, and they finished less than a tenth of one per cent apart.

Where the purchaser came from

In April, the same man had missed out on another two-bedroom apartment in the same building. That one sold three days before its auction date, through Kassis.

So the one who missed out on the last campaign bought on this one. Every campaign leaves people like that behind, and most of them never hear from the agent again.

If yours are sitting in the database, there's a guide to following up the appraisals and enquiries that went quiet.

What to say to your vendor when the offer lands

Ring from the car, the same day. Something like:

"We've had an offer of [amount] at the first open. Six groups have been through, and two have asked for the contract."

"If one's this keen after one open, there may be others. We can take it now, or let them all compete on one day. Your call."

Then put both options in writing that night. Change the numbers to your own, and only say what's true on your campaign.

If they take the offer, take it cleanly. Write down everyone else who inspected. They're your first calls next campaign.

If they choose auction

Before you tell anyone a reserve, clear it with your principal. What you can tell bidders about price isn't the same in every state.

If you're clear, get the vendor's OK in writing, then tell everyone who says they're bidding. Tell them all the same way, on the same day:

"The reserve's set at [figure]. Once bidding gets there on the day, we're on the market."

And if someone asks whether the vendor would take something before the day:

"No. Everyone gets the same shot on the day."

A note for Victorian agents

From Friday 16 October 2026, Consumer Affairs Victoria says a Victorian auction reserve has to be one figure, made public at least seven days before the auction.

For Victorian sales, telling every bidder the same number stops being a tactic and becomes the rule. The detail is in our article on Victoria's auction reserve price rules from October 2026.

None of this is legal advice. The sale is on Domain's public record and the agency's own listing. Anthony Kassis confirmed the rest to NeuraCall, and hasn't endorsed anything here.

Every campaign leaves a list of people who missed out. NeuraCall works your own database, permission-first, with personalised email and text in your name, and you make every call. If yours has gone quiet, book a discovery call.