A brand-new, high-specification townhouse secured off-market within weeks, at a price supported by comparable sales.
Garry and Marinka had spent thirty years overseas and were coming home. That is a very particular buying position. They knew Melbourne, but they knew the Melbourne of three decades ago, and nothing about current values felt solid underfoot.
They wanted a brand-new, well-built townhouse they could settle into for the long term. As Marinka put it to me early on: "This is our last move. It has to be perfect."
Six months of searching had produced mostly frustration. Quoted ranges that bore little resemblance to sale prices, and weekend after weekend inspecting homes that were never going to suit them.
We started by rebuilding the brief in concrete terms, because "perfect" is not something you can search for. Single-level living or a genuine ground-floor main bedroom, a specific standard of finish, low maintenance, and the pockets of the east that suited how they actually wanted to live.
Then I gave them the thing they were missing most, which was a reliable sense of value. I walked them through recent comparable sales so that when we found the right home they would recognise a fair price rather than having to take my word for it.
New townhouse stock often trades quietly, before a campaign starts. I went directly to the agents and developers I deal with regularly and found a home that matched the brief before it was advertised.
We negotiated off-market, with no other buyers in the room and no auction to bid at. They secured a brand-new townhouse that matched the brief, within weeks of engaging me, at a price we could evidence.
After six months of feeling behind, the whole thing was settled without a single Saturday auction.
Buyers returning from overseas are exposed in a way local buyers are not. They have no mental price anchor, and underquoting hurts them more than anyone because they have nothing to test it against.
Fix the value problem first and the property problem gets much easier. Once Garry and Marinka could tell a fair price from an optimistic one, they made the decision quickly and without second-guessing it.
