Brett and Jessica Strauss on the balcony of 5/2 Simmons St, Newtown, with views of Enmore Rd behind. Picture: Luke Drew

THE tenant of a two-bedroom Newtown flat paid more than he expected at auction today to secure his first home, purely because he didn’t want to move out.

DJ Kerry Wallace, 36, works at SlyFox nightclub, which is just up the road from the two-bedroom apartment at 5/2-4 Simmons St, Newtown that he bought for $995,000 — $15,000 above the written reserve.

Mr Wallace is at a music conference in Amsterdam so couldn’t attend, sending instead his boss, Slyfox publican Brett Strauss to do the bidding.

The living area at 2 Simmons St, Newtown. It was huge. Picture: Luke Drew

But soon after the gavel fell, Mr Strauss handed the Sunday Telegraph the phone and an excited Mr Wallace said: “I’ve just heard we’ve got it — I thought we might have got it for a bit less, but I was prepared to pay a bit more because we wanted to stay.”

He and his partner, schoolteacher Laura Duggan, 36, and their English toy terrier, Sticky Fingers, had loved living in the apartment, which was larger than most at 111 sqm.

The view from the back terrace at 2 Simmons St, Newtown. Picture: Luke Drew

Although the apartment, on the second floor of the two-storey block, faced onto busy Enmore Rd, the main bedroom was at the back and relatively quiet, opening out onto a large terrace that looked across suburbia all the way to the airport. And stairs led down to an even larger communal terrace.

Five parties — four of them first home buyers and an investor — had registered for the property, up for auction through Agency by Glenn Regan.

Steps led down to an a large communal terrace — scene of this morning’s auction. Picture: Luke Drew

And three of them were active in the fast-paced auction, which had Under the Hammer auctioneer James Hurley calling the shots. Bidding had opened at $800,000, initially rising in $10,000 increments.

.Mr Strauss was at all times the most enthusiastic — he’d clearly been briefed to nab it at all costs!

Mr Wallace revealed he’d offered vendor Kristine Short, a retired radio producer at ABC National for 40 years, $930,000, but despite the cool market she’d opted to test the market at auction.

90 Victoria Rd, Marrickville, sold for $2.1 million

“I’m pleased they’ve bought it — they’ve been fantastic tenants,” Ms Short said.

It’s been a fine investment — she’d bought it for $780,000 in 2013 and she’s been collecting $730 per week from Mr Wallace over the past two years.

In other inner west auctions, Block auctioneer Damien Cooley passed in two but both sold soon after.

A three-bedroom, two-bathroom home on a 425 sqm block at 90 Victoria Rd, Marrickville, being sold through Cobden & Hayson’s Ben Southwell had six registered bidders with four participating. It passed in for $2,077,500, but sold to the highest bidder for $2.1 million.

It had off-street parking for four cars.

The cute weatherboard at 84 Cecily St, Lilyfield, sold for $1.36 million

And a cute two-bedroom weatherboard on a 164 sqm block at 84 Cecily St, Lilyfield, being sold through Cobden & Hayson’s Peter Gordon had passed in on a vendor bid of $1.36 million. The buyer made an offer of $1.3 million, but Mr Gordon convinced him to up his offer to $1.36 million at which point it sold.

It didn’t have off-street parking.