A five-bedroom home in Valentine that sold for $1.5 million last week was sold off-market, from a data-base of buyers, and after a ‘private viewing’.
The 687 square-metre block in the Valentine Gardens estate broke a sales record for the area.
The sale of the Cedrus Close home was due to what Altitude real estate agent Dan Irwin describes as “a connection”.
“The client said ‘All we want is someone that will listen to what we need’,” Mr Irwin said.
“They had already assessed two or three competitors when I was called out.
“A simple chat turned into a connection. A simple plan was proposed. No pictures, no styling and no major disruption.
“We organised pre-qualified Altitude database buyers to attend a private viewing on Monday and Tuesday, and the rest is history.”
Mr Irwin, who has worked in the real estate industry for almost a decade, says a ‘little to no fuss’ approach is what downsizers prefer.
“They’re scared,” he said.
“They don’t want large numbers of strangers in their home, they’re worried about COVID, they don’t want their neighbours knowing their business, and the last thing they want is an auction on their front lawn, with me yelling in front of the whole street.”
“By matching a seller with a previously-qualified buyer on our database we eliminated the stickybeaks, we got a record price for the seller, the buyer got the house we knew they were after and all parties were happy.”
This type of sale Mr Irwin says is particularly successful when an agent works to sell homes within his area.
“Agents have to pay to advertise on major portals like realestate.com and Domain and what most people don’t realise is we generally make no money on advertising.
“They are good for reach and in our consumerist society this works well for the younger generation, but baby boomers are more safety conscious and this method suits them better.
“This sale sets the bar not only for the Gardens Estate but also for Altitude’s ‘off the market’ approach,” says Mr Irwin.
In post sale reviews it seems his buyers and sellers agree.
The former owners of the Valentine home described the process as “very comfortable”.
The new buyers said the approach meant a usually stressful situation was “by far the smoothest and easiest purchase [they] had made”.
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For more real estate stories:
- Charlestown home joins million dollar sales list
- Lockdown to lure more Sydney buyers
- New Lambton home sells well above expectations
