Selling a home when living interstate can be challenging at the best of times, but when the home belongs to a relative and the property can’t be visited due to COVID-19 border closures, it becomes particularly difficult.
Tower recently came to the rescue of a niece who was appointed as Guardian for her Uncle in aged care by managing the sale of the Uncles family home in Melton Victoria. Living in Sydney and with a busy job, our client welcomed Towers involvement.
A quick sale and high price were paramount, as the Uncle’s Daily Accommodation Deposit (DAP) was becoming a financial burden. However, the ‘second wave’ of Coronavirus cases that resulted in a Stage 4 lockdown in Melbourne meant that agents were unable to conduct inspections with prospective purchasers. The only option was to wait until lockdown was lifted before commencing marketing.
Compounding the problem was the fact that the property was full of the Uncles furniture, effects and personal belongings. Fortunately, our client had already engaged a home clearing service that was well known to Tower. We worked with the home clearing service to ensure all the Uncles belongs were sorted and packed for sale, donated to charity, or otherwise disposed of. This was able to be undertaken during lockdown and by the time lockdown was lifted, the home was cleared, cleaned and professionally furnished ready for marketing.
Two prominent local agents were invited to submit marketing proposals and the preferred agency was recommended to our client. They didn’t disappoint.
Tower also ensured that our client was referred to a good Conveyancer so that sale documentation was prepared in time for the campaign. We also resolved issues regarding registration of a spa and compliance of an alfresco area recently added to the property. This removed the potential for any concerns by buyers.
With everything attended to, the agent commenced the campaign with seven inspections (one-on-one under COVID regulations) after just the first day of advertising. Within a week, three written offers were reviewed by Tower and presented to our client. Each offer was above the asking price. The highest offer also happened to be unconditional with a settlement term of only 49 days from signing of the contract. The offer was accepted immediately as it clearly ticked all the boxes and brought to a successful conclusion what would have otherwise been a highly stressful and time consuming, ‘remote’ experience for our client.
Our client summed up her experience as follows, “I cannot believe I’ve got to this point….I feel blessed to have crossed paths, and be referred to decent, reliable and honest people and businesses, for me to navigate through this complex situation in COVID times and living in another state”.
