The Australian Financial Review has spoken to the team behind the most intriguing recent property sale for our column, How it Sold.
The property: A four-bedroom house at 25 Bulimba Parade, Bulimba, QLD. Sold before auction $1.35 million.
Who was the agent/agency? Frank Lombardi, Tony Doherty, Ray White East Brisbane.
How long was this on the market? [Tony] 24-25 days.
Why did this one sell? The buyer was an expat returning home.
Was it overpriced? No.
What did you think it would go for? I appraised it as $1.2 to $1.25 million. The market saw it at about $1.2 million at the top. The lower end of the appraisal range was probably what I would have got it to, had I not met this guy.
What was surprising about it? We sold the house to an expat who saw it one morning for the first time and bought it that night in cash, unconditional, in just 12 hours. He's a pilot who lives in Hong Kong. He and his wife want to make their way back to Australia in the next 12 to 24 months. They wanted to buy before things get more expensive. The Hong Kong market is absolutely bizarre, like Sydney. He was used to that level of aggression. He carried it into our market and we capitalised on that.
The property had some fundamental issues. It was a family home on a block size that couldn't cater for a family. At 303 square metres, it was not phenomenally small for the inner city, but we're a village environment 5km from the city and the consumer wants yards. If they want 303-square-metre blocks, they'll go to Kangaroo Point.
The house is in a cul de sac. I was waiting at 10am on Friday morning for a private inspection. By 9:45, she hadn't come and wasn't answering her phone.
While I was waiting, a car drove in, past the house and the people had a look. It was my buyers. They had marked the property down on a piece of paper and were driving past to look. It was their last property. I invited them in as they drove away.
Once he came in, we spoke for about 90 seconds. They were back in town for a couple of days, staying in the spare room of a friend's house. They were there to buy a house. He told me how he'd really struggled in his dealings with real estate agents, with the lack of information and his ongoing battle to find something. It was big factor in this story.
I began to answer his questions and give information.The auction was the next day, but we had no registered bidders. I couldn't quote a price but I could speak about comparative sales.
Did you tell them you had no registered bidders?
I did not say to him we had no registered bidders, but I said we had 11 groups though the first open home and five through the second. As far as they were concerned the auction was tomorrow and they had to buy today or risk losing it tomorrow. It was off the back of all the competition he feared that he paid a premium. The 'fear of the loss' is the rough industry term. They flew back to Hong Kong the next morning at 8am.
The person who had booked the original 10am inspection phoned me the following day to try and book another inspection and I was delighted to tell them it was sold.
Do you reckon we'll see another result like this: a) next week b) next year c) next cycle d) never?
c) Next cycle. 303-square-metre blocks are not something associated with our immediate area, but they are becoming more and more acceptable. By the next cycle, buyers are likely to be more comfortable with the block size. It's a by-product of affordability.
