You could be forgiven for feeling sorry for this wonderful family home nestled quietly in a leafy court in Wantirna South. It’s a house that has generated many wonderful memories, but eventually children grow up and parents grow old.
The family’s two sons have moved on, one living and working overseas and and the other residing in Glen Waverley. While more recently the parents transitioned into Aged Care, leaving the home empty and alone.
The time had come for the parents to hand ownership of the home to a new and loving family who would create their own lifetime of stories and experiences. But with the parents unable to manage the sale themselves, and their sons not able to offer hands on assistance due to location or medical reasons, they needed to find another solution.
So, the sons engaged Tower to handle the many aspects of presenting the home and manage the sale process.
However, the family was handed another blow when COVID-19 hit and disrupted life as we know it. The property market was heavily anticipated to decline, so there was no time to waste. The team at Tower got straight to work, ensuring the home was immaculately presented to attract as much interest as possible from a limited number of buyers and finding the best local agent to look after the marketing.
The first task was to declutter the home and much to the owner’s delight, we were able to realise several thousands of extra dollars from the sale of unwanted furniture and personal effects. The house then received a fabulous makeover, with a sparkling new colour scheme internally and externally, the heavily overgrown garden tamed and manicured, the roof tiles pressure cleaned, and some minor repairs undertaken.
The home was then ready for some professional styling and furnishing, and within just three short weeks, it was time to put the marketing campaign into action.
The first week of open inspections went extremely well, with good levels of interest from prospective buyers. But then the COVID-19 lockdown laws hit and real estate agents found themselves in an unfamiliar situation. With open houses forbidden, the agent was restricted to one-on-one inspections and the scheduled public auction had to be cancelled.
It was clearly time for a new strategy. Tower worked with the agent to change the property listing to ‘private sale’ and quickly coordinated the production of a 3D virtual video tour of the house to sit alongside the property listing online.
The number of inspections subsequently declined, as expected, but the 3D virtual tour proved to be invaluable. After watching the video, potential buyers who then went on to inspect the property all showed serious interest. Offers soon followed and when the vendors received an unconditional offer at the mid-point of the advertised price range, Tower worked with the agent to negotiate the offer closer to the higher end of the price range and the vendors happily accepted it.
Senior Property Manager for Tower, Phil Hoopmann, commented that sales just don’t get much more challenging than this.
“The timing and market direction certainly weren’t ideal, but through good presentation, limiting the time to market and responding quickly to changes brought on by the COVID-19 lockdown, we managed to achieve a price not dissimilar to the market prior to the pandemic. It’s also satisfying to know that this wonderful home will soon be enjoying the company of a new and loving family.”
Who doesn’t love a story with a happy ending!
