Family homes don’t come much grander, and with as much potential, than this magnificent, century-old, brick Edwardian-style property in Camberwell, positioned on over 1,000 m2 of land.
So, Tower was delighted to recently be asked to manage the sale by the Estate’s Executor. As a busy medical professional, he was time-poor and overawed by the process of selling a home full of such treasured family memories. Not only were we able to help manage the sale but we also provided much-needed advice on how to maximise the value of the property.
The Executor’s parents purchased the property in 1971 and other than a rear extension, the property remained virtually untouched during the time they owned it. Although it still sits soundly on the original bluestone foundations, the elegant period features desperately need some tasteful upgrades and maintenance to restore the original charm and timeless allure.
Fortunately, a Heritage Overlay would prevent developers from getting their hands on the property, so it was left to Tower to find the next owner – hopefully, someone that would lovingly restore it to its former glory.
The first task was to help the Executor remove nearly 50 years of possessions that cluttered every corner of the home and even overflowed out into the garden sheds. We arranged a chattels valuer to identify any items that should be set aside for an auction house, and thankfully there were a few gems in the collection, as the value of the auctioned items went a long way towards covering the cost of clearing the house.
Once the floor space was cleared, we assessed the value of the property. Our advice was that spending a lot of money on styling and presenting the property wouldn’t be reflected in an increased sale price. Instead, our recommendation was to make the home as presentable and livable as possible, focusing on garden maintenance, thorough cleaning and removing threadbare carpets, which fortunately revealed magnificently wide and intact timber floorboards.
Finding the right real estate to sell such a historic property was also critical. Tower sought marketing proposals from the three most prominent local agents and recommended the most appropriate to the Executor.
However, just as the property was ready for market, the COVID-19 lock-down restrictions took hold and agents couldn’t carry out open homes or public auctions. In response, Tower worked alongside the agent to monitor the market for a few weeks and determine the appetite of genuine buyers. Then, rather than organising a full marketing campaign, which was unlikely to deliver a good return on investment, we worked with the Executor to begin an Expressions of Interest (EOI) campaign. Marketing activity targeted signage, internet advertising and direct marketing to the agent’s database of buyers and saved the Estate approximately $13,500.
After just 11 days of marketing, we were thrilled to have eight buyers interested enough to consider making an offer. In consultation with the Executor, we instructed the agent to close the EOI in a further seven days and subsequently received five formal written offers.
What followed was a lengthy process of negotiation between the two parties with the highest offers, before the property was eventually sold for $500,000 more than the original highest offer and the advertised price – a fabulous result for the Estate.
Senior Property Manager for Tower, Phil Hoopmann, commented that sales just don’t get much more satisfying than this.
“To say that the Executor was delighted would be an understatement. What was initially an overwhelming task, further complicated by the coronavirus pandemic, turned out better than planned. And the fact that the property went to a local family intent on restoring it to its former glory made it even more satisfying.”
