It was not cashed up developers or investors but young families who snapped up homes at auctions across Sydney on the first weekend of November.

Some dreary Saturday weather could not deter the spirits of young families who were determined to place winning bids amid hefty competition.

Families were at the forefront of the day’s results, picking up properties from Newtown terraces to spacious six-bedders in Sutherland Shire.

Cathartic moments were abound as buyers finally found the end to their property seeking journeys, some of which had spanned several years.

Ray White NSW head of auctions David McMahon highlighted today’s strong auction activity. “This is the first time we have scheduled over 200 auctions on a Saturday this financial year,” he said.

SOUTH

Home buyers Hayden and Emily celebrate their auction win in Mascot. Picture: Julian Andrews.

Smiles were bright despite the gloomy weather as a young couple picked up their new family home in a cathartic auction moment.

A crowd of around 40 were present at 28 Middlemiss St in Mascot, where Hayden and Emily celebrated the end of an arduous property journey.

Hayden said he was “really happy to have won” what he described as a “pretty intense, pretty stressful” auction.

The winning number for the couple was $2.55m.

Bidding for the property opened at $2.48m, immediately clearing the three-bedroom home’s $2.4m guide.

MORE: Nine in 10 homeowners facing ‘mortgage nightmare’

A section of the crowd at the auction. Picture: Julian Andrews.

Selling agent Chris Skarlatos of The Agency said he thought this bid would blow the other bidders “out of the water.”

It was Hayden and Emily’s third auction in three months, having been previously outbid at the last second on two other homes in the area.

“We had one place that we liked at on a similar street and I thought we had won it at the second call,” Hayden said.

“And then someone else came out with a massive bid.”

“I made a promise to myself that it wouldn’t happen again after the first one.”

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The property sold for $2.55m.

Mr Skarlatos admitted he thought the buyers would be out of the race, having seen them be outbid previously.

“I’d seen them at other auctions cap out below 2.45m,” he said.

“But they told me the other day that they were going to go for broke on this one because they were just over looking.”

MORE: Bank’s brutal reaction to couple’s loan plea

Auctioneer Bree Davis conducts proceedings at 28 Middlemiss St, Mascot. Picture: Julian Andrews.

The home’s vendors, Elias and Sarah said it was “an unbelievable result.”

Sarah said they were hoping to achieve the homes reserve of $2.4m, which was exceeded from the jump.

She expressed how happy she was to see another young family purchase the home.

“It’s so nice that another family is moving in,” she said.

“It will make an amazing family home.”

Sarah said the family were relocating to the inner west to be closer to their daughter’s new school.

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1 Portview Place, Burraneer.

Down in Sutherland Shire, a huge six-bedroom home also went to a young family.

Six bidders registered for 1 Portview Place, Burraneer, with four being active.

The winning bid came in at $4.705m, a price $1.305m over the suburb’s median.

The successful buyers were a young family from outside the area.

Selling agent Tiffany Perez said the buyers were excited to make the move to Sydney’s Sutherland Shire.

MORE: Inside wild interior of $5000 a day rental home

The six-bedroom home sold for $4.705m.

“They were a beautiful young family from outside the area,” she said.

“They are from Earlwood and were thrilled with the result.”

The sale came amid a busy pre-Christmas market, with demand for quality homes on the Burraneer peninsula remaining high.

“It’s that mad rush before Christmas, there are a lot of beautiful homes coming on and selling for great prices,” Ms Perez said.

“The auction method continues to deliver transparency and competition, which really helped drive this great outcome.”

MORE: North Shore mansion smashes price records

INNER WEST

31 Golden Grove Street, Newtown (centre).

It was the start of a new chapter for one first home buyer couple after securing 31 Golden Grove St, Newtown.

According to Raine and Horne Newtown director Michael Harris, the couple had been looking to get into the property market for 4 years.

Fresh from The Block, auctioneer Tom Panos oversaw the $2.29m sale, $109,000 over the property’s guide.

MORE: Beachside apartment has bargain price guide

Tom Panos arrives at the auction. Picture: Supplied.

The Victorian style terrace attracted a crowd of 55, with seven registered bidders.

Bidding went back and forth across most bidders, including a builder, two young couples with kids, a retired investor, a young couple without kids and the final winners of the home, a first home buyer couple from Waterloo who are intending to move in and renovate their dream home.

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NORTH SHORE

6 River Ave, Chatswood West.

A crowd of around 80 witnessed a small property claim a massive result at auction in Chatswood West.

The 569 sqm property at 6 River Ave was purchased for $1.908m, a price $408,000 over its guide.

The home also went to a young family, who competed with two other active bidders of the eight registered.

MORE: When Aussies could see their next RBA rate cut

Eighty people were present for the home’s auction.

Ray White Upper North Shore selling agent Jessica Cao said the home was “a nice entry point” for the Chatswood area.

She added that the home could use some renovating throughout, but said it was a “great opportunity” for someone who was “willing to do the work.”

The post Sydney auctions: Emotions high as families find new homes appeared first on realestate.com.au.

When searching for an apartment in New York, people typically have a few key features they’re looking for. Lush, with lots of space and quiet neighbors are all usually pretty appealing descriptors. In Caroline Shadood’s case, her apartment in Glendale, Queens really has the “quiet neighbors” part nailed, because she’s surrounded by the quietest neighbors of all: dead people. Hundreds of thousands of them.

Shadood’s place is all but surrounded by Evergreen Cemetery and a section of Knollwood Park Cemetery, two in a chain of cities of the dead that stretches from Bushwick to Rego Park. Being hemmed in by graveyards is less spooky than you’d think though, according to Shadood, who says that in addition to giving her a look at the business side of death and great ambience come Halloween, the cemeteries offer lots of space to catch some fresh air. Here’s how she explained her current situation as told to David Colon.

My neighborhood is like a peninsula, but surrounded by graveyards. The two streets near my place lead to graveyards. So when I say I live in a graveyard, I guess technically I’m in a plot of land surrounded by graveyards, but it’s not like I’m on a path in the middle of a graveyard. Have you ever rode the L or the J past Broadway Junction and seen that huge graveyard? That’s what I’m next to.

I’ve been here in this huge two-bedroom corner apartment since June 2017. My friend’s mom owns the building. At my last apartment, I was living alone and discovered my landlord was a pedophile who was on Rikers because he’d gotten caught. And then I got robbed by my maintenance guy. Instead of sticking around to deal with all these lovely people, I decided to split as soon as possible, which was within less than three days.

[Editor’s Note: Brick Underground’s series “Living Next to” features first-person accounts of what it’s like to have an iconic or unusual New York City neighbor. Have a story to share? Drop us an email. We respect all requests for anonymity. This article previously ran in October 2019. We are presenting it again in case you missed it.]

When my friend’s mom heard about the situation, she told me I could live there. My apartment is above hers, and she wants a person who’s quiet and isn’t around too much. Kind of like my neighbors.

My place is near the Halsey or Wilson L stops, both of them are like a 10- or 15-minute walk. To go as the crow flies it would be just five minutes, but you have to go around the graveyard. If you can walk through the graveyard, which you usually can on weekends, it’s a lot faster to get to the train.

Caption

Caroline Shadood’s block in Queens, which dead-ends at a cemetery.

Credit

David Colon/Brick Underground

A suburban vibe

It feels really genuinely suburban here. Once you cross Cooper Avenue and leave the Bushwick/Ridgewood part where there are bars, it gets really suburban. There’s nothing within a few blocks except for highway and gas stations. So, I live around a lot of families with yards and cars, and then there are a few abandoned buildings that are getting bought. Luckily they seem to be getting bought by families instead of developers. The families here seem to be Latina or Russian, like a lot of Ridgewood and Glendale.

In terms of buildings, there’s a few condo-looking buildings that don’t seem to have anyone in them. I’m in one of the few without a yard, but it’s okay, because I have the whole graveyard and a park nearby.

Greeting the spirits

I had a little superstitious moment moving into this place, where I was like, “There are almost no living people around here, it’s almost all dead people, and I should be respectful towards them.” So when I moved in I did a little ritual and lit some candles and said like, “Let’s be at peace together.”

It wasn’t anything official. I don’t identify as a witch or anything. I lit a bunch of white candles, because white’s for the dead. I know a lot of dead people and was just like, “Let’s just all be cool here. I’m gonna walk my dog near you and he might pee near your body, but it’s not in a malicious way.”

Navigating the sea of cemeteries

It’s awesome walking around the graveyards. The rules are kind of weird about dogs because there’s mixed signage. There’s a lot of signs that say “Please curb your dog” and “Dogs welcome” but sometimes a security person will tell me I’m not allowed to have a dog there. It mostly depends on the person, but even though it’s one huge green mass of land, it’s actually several different graveyards. Some are based on religion and culture, and then there’s some with huge sections of everyone. In Cemetery of the Evergreens you can have dogs, but at Mt. Carmel you can’t.

The security people there are mostly trying to make sure no one is doing anything shady though, because there’s so many dead ends. There’s a lot of teens that come back there and want to do crimes. You know, the teens and their crimes. Because of the dead ends, there are really really bright security lights on at night to make sure no one hangs around there, so I have to put blackout curtains on my windows, which I never did before.

Graveyard with a view

I like going as deep into the middle of the graveyard as possible on Sundays when it’s open, because that’s where you can get really nice views of lower Manhattan. It’s really hilly around here, so standing on my stoop you can see lower Manhattan like you can in the graveyard. It’s just that on my stoop I’m by Cypress Avenue which is really noisy, but deep in the graveyard you get the views without any of the noise. There are also really old cobblestones and stuff when you go deeper in, while on the outside section there are more recent graves.

You see the inside business of death sometimes when you’re in there. A couple times I’ve been walking through and I saw a casket getting lowered in the ground. And there are times I’ve seen a recent grave, and there’s a popsicle stick with some cardboard on it that says something along the lines of “This person’s buried here but their headstone hasn’t been delivered yet.” Honestly it makes me want to work at the graveyard. A lot of the employees I see are doing a lot of landscaping, lots of mowing grass and planting flowers, that kinda stuff.

If you keep the windows open or you go outside in the morning, it smells like fresh cut grass. It doesn’t smell like the city, which is really cool. Because the landscaping is really meticulous, those guys are out there making sure the graveyard looks really manicured. So it always smells like grass and plants and you hear birds, and then you go one block out and it’s the highway and totally “F— you New York.” But in my little peninsula it’s really chill.

A park to get away from people, including the deceased

I’m also about a 10-minute walk from Highland Park and all this pretty nature, but you do have to walk along the highway to get there. The walk to get to this peaceful place is f—ing terrible, because you’re basically walking alongside the Jackie Robinson Parkway, there’s cars whipping everywhere, and the sidewalk is really narrow and covered in trash. But then you get to Highland Park and it’s like you’re not even in New York City. It’s so quiet and there are reeds and overgrowth and ferns.

I once walked in a loop around the Ridgewood Reservoir on a weekend and I only saw two people in a span of 45 minutes. When you compare it to going to other parks in Brooklyn, like McCarren or Prospect or Fort Greene Park, it’s much more deserted in the nature parts. There’s also the recreational parts, where there always seem to be people barbecuing. It always smells good, and I want to go and try to be friends with those people. When the graveyard’s closed it’s nice to walk over to Highland Park, but I prefer the graveyard because there’s no traffic getting there.

Living with death

I think I was already relatively Goth and a pretty dark-humored person. I’ve had quite a few family members and friends die, and I don’t say that as a “boo-hoo feel bad for me” sense, just to say I have a certain comfort level with death that I don’t think other people at the age of 30 might have. I don’t think living near the graveyard has made me any darker. I do think it takes a certain type of person and a certain comfort level to be okay with walking by construction workers and landscapers lowering caskets into the ground on a daily basis and not feel creeped out or grossed out, to just tell yourself, “This is another part of life and now I have a more constant reminders.”

My boyfriend just moved in with me recently, and I don’t think he’s too freaked out about the cemeteries. His only gripe is the same as mine, that both of us used to be a block or two from the train and now we’re like a solid 10-15 minute walk depending on how fast you feel like walking (I’m a slow walker).

Dress rehearsal for a zombie apocalypse

One thing I’ve seen here is that people take Halloween really seriously. That was a pleasant, fun surprise. You know how there are parts of the city where people get intense about Christmas decorations, like in Bay Ridge or Dyker Heights? In this part of town, people get really insane about Halloween decorations. If you walks around my block of any of the blocks around the perimeter of the graveyard, people go all out.

There’s fake graves with zombie hands sticking out of the ground, and lights and jump scares and and those giant inflatable Santas and reindeer like you see in the winter, but instead it’s ghosts and pumpkins and skeletons. Some of my neighbors at the end of the dead end will put their decorations on the fences near them. So not going in to the graveyard, but incorporating the scenery into their art. Why not work in where you’re living to make your decorations better? And there are a ton of trick or treaters of course, because it’s spooky.

I had a funny moment on Halloween one year. I dressed up as Sally from “A Nightmare Before Christmas” and she’s sort of a zombie rag-doll-looking character, with sunken cheeks and eyes and parts of her face sewn up. And I did really elaborate makeup and some guy was pulling into the graveyard to turn around off the highway and saw me walking my dog in my zombie makeup and got totally freaked out. He rolled down his window and yelled, “You scared the s–t out of me!”

People like to joke about zombies and stuff and I just sort of roll my eyes. If you’re afraid for me in the zombie apocalypse, at least you’ll have a friend who’s the first to know about it. I’ll be the first person who sees them climbing over the fence and I can call people and tell them to run. Although the zombies will probably just be at the bridges by then, and we’re all gonna die, and it’s fine.

CEO Erik Carlson talked about the success of new tools and fee models at RE/MAX, and said the company’s franchisees are “definitely seeing a lot more inbound activity here,” which may, in part, be in response to the recently announced acquisition of Anywhere by Compass.

The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) and other trade groups issued statements of support this week as they seek to have the Senate confirm two key leaders to federal housing posts.

The letters reference President Donald Trump’s nominations of Joseph Gormley as president of Ginnie Mae and Frank Cassidy as commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

Gormley, who has served with Ginnie Mae as its executive vice president and chief operating officer since April 2025, would become the first permanent president of the government-owned company since Alanna McCargo departed in May 2024. His nomination was initially sent to the Senate banking committee in August.

Cassidy, who joined the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in April as its principal deputy assistant secretary, was nominated to lead the FHA in August. The FHA has been without a full-time commissioner since the start of the Trump administration in January, when Julia Gordon left the post.

NRMLA’s endorsements

NRMLA’s letter, signed by President Steve Irwin, was addressed to Senate banking committee leaders Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Irwin wrote that the trade group has “strong and unwavering support” for the nominees.

“Mr. Gormley’s extensive experience and deep understanding of capital markets make him an exceptionally well-qualified candidate to lead Ginnie Mae,” Irwin wrote. “For our industry, Ginnie Mae’s role in guaranteeing Home Equity Conversion Mortgage-Backed Securities (HMBS) is absolutely critical. This guarantee ensures the necessary liquidity and investor confidence required to sustain the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program, which is vital for providing older homeowners with responsible access to their home equity.

“We believe Mr. Gormley possesses the financial acumen and leadership skills necessary to maintain the stability and health of the HMBS program, ensuring it continues to function as a reliable source of credit for the senior demographic.”

Prior to joining HUD, Cassidy had extensive experience in the commercial real estate industry. He was a senior managing director with Walker & Dunlop and also held positions with Newmark Knight Frank, Berkeley Point Capital and Oppenheimer & Co.

Irwin wrote that having Cassidy lead the FHA is “paramount to ensuring effective stewardship of the federal housing programs.” The agency endorsed and insured more than 28,000 HECM loans in fiscal year 2025.

“Mr. Cassidy’s background suggests a commitment to rigorous program management, consumer protection, and the mission of promoting sustainable homeownership and housing stability,” Irwin wrote. “We are confident that he will bring the necessary dedication to managing the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund and enhancing the protections and benefits available to seniors utilizing FHA-insured reverse mortgages.”

Senate testimony

NRMLA wasn’t the only trade group to issue support for the nominees this week as the National Housing Conference (NHC) and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) also sent letters to Senate leaders.

A committee vote to send the nominations to the full Senate appears imminent as confirmation hearings for Gormley and Cassidy were held Thursday in Washington, D.C.

In his prepared testimony, Gormley mentioned his prior experience at HUD and FHA during the first Trump administration, saying that “we were able to make great strides in improving and making that program more efficient.”

“I also have experience in the private sector serving on the executive team of a large mortgage servicer and I have a good understanding of many of the challenges those companies face,” he said. “… If confirmed as President of Ginnie Mae, I would draw on all these experiences to ensure the organization fulfills its mission of providing low-cost financing and ultimately making the American Dream of homeownership more accessible and affordable for the American people.”

Cassidy’s testimony touched on a personal experience he had with FHA years ago.

“While in college, I planned to rent an off-campus townhouse, but the owner offered me the chance to buy it. With an FHA-insured mortgage and 3.5 percent down, I became a homeowner at 20 years old,” he said.

“That experience gave me a firsthand understanding of the wealth-building power of homeownership, and it’s the kind of opportunity I want to help expand for more Americans. It’s also why I believe so strongly in FHA’s mission. When done right, it’s far more than a lending program — it’s a bridge to ownership, upward mobility, and long-term financial security that helps families build wealth and stability across generations.”

Equity Union Real Estate announced Thursday that Dennis and Yana Chernov, along with The Chernov Team, have joined the Los Angeles-based brokerage.

The Chernov Team — known for its work in luxury real estate — specializes in new construction and residential sales, including traditional homes and condominiums.

The group ranked No. 13 nationally by RealTrends Verified among medium teams, as well as No. 5 in California and No. 2 in Los Angeles based on sales volume.

In 2024, the team reported more than $329 million in sales across 124 transactions.

Dennis Chernov — founder and executive Realtor — was recently recognized in the Los Angeles Business Journal’s LA500, Leaders of Influence and its 2025 list of Top 100 Residential Agents.

His wife Yana Chernov serves as head of operations and marketing. Together, they lead a staff of 10 professionals and nine agents.

“Dennis and Yana have built a highly skilled team of hand-selected agents, marketers and industry specialists and have grown the Chernov Team to be the highest ranking and top-performing real estate group in the nation. I’m very proud to welcome them back home,” said Harma Hartouni, CEO of Equity Union. “Dennis is the embodiment of what it is to be an Equity Union agent, he’s humble, works hard and is well respected within our community.”

The Chernov Team reports annual sales exceeding $300 million and career sales over $3 billion. Their partnership with Equity Union aims to expand the brokerage’s luxury market presence and enhance global outreach.

Equity Union Real Estate, one of California’s largest independent brokerages, has more than 950 agents and annual sales surpassing $3 billion, according to the company.

The firm was recognized by RealTrends in 2025 as a GameChanger — citing 189% year-over-year transaction growth and the highest national growth among brokerages without mergers or acquisitions.