Monday 28 November 2011
Student knocks down lots
Russell Homer and Alan Collett
A student on placement with East Anglia based chartered surveyors, Barker Storey Matthews, has won first prize in a prestigious national auctioneering competition run by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Russell Homer, who is studying real estate at Nottingham Trent University, is looking forward to becoming a chartered surveyor after graduating and has previously only done a small amount of auctioneering in class and online.
The competition was run by the RICS in conjunction with Allsop Auctioneers and the competitors were required to auction several fictitious lots, including the Olympic Stadium, 51 Albert Square Walford, and Horse Guards Parade. Bidding was conducted by a floor made up of experienced professionals and challenges were thrown at the auctioneers in order to put them off their patter.
Russell said: "I was a little surprised when somebody in the audience offered me a bribe and another caused a scene by threatening to sue my client - thankfully I managed to keep it together."
Keith Agar, senior lecturer in real estate at Nottingham Trent University, who attended the event, commented: "We're delighted for Russell winning this prestigious award. He faced stiff competition from students and recent graduates, but handled himself with style and displayed natural skill. He even 'took bids off the wall' to push the bidding up to the reserve price and this helped him to sell all of his lots. It was a genuinely tough competition - but he handled it all like a pro."
Steve Hawkins, partner at Barker Storey Matthews also commented: "Russell really brought home the bacon with this one. He's a good lad - a great asset to our commercial agency team and he's a pleasure to have on board."
Russell says he is currently unsure about taking up auctioneering as a career: "It's certainly possible, but I'm really enjoying commercial estate agency. I'm also quite interested in going into property development after graduation, but we'll just have to see how it goes."
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