Jessica & Kenneth’s Journey

Recently we had an unusually long assignment.

We were given the exciting task of finding a home for a family of four who currently live in Singapore. They will be returning to Australia at the end of the year. They had a clear criteria list, but as they were keen to find something in the glossy middle ring eastern suburbs, not all of their criteria came together easily. Our clients wanted a large family home on a generous block. They valued nearby parklands, easy access to good schools, period features, lovely renovation quality and quiet, inviting neighbourhoods.

Sound easy? It wasn’t.

Not because there weren’t plenty of beautiful family homes fitting the description… We were engaged to commence our assignment on New Year’s Eve, and in the first quarter of the year, a plethora of gorgeous homes came onto the market. With an assignment like this, we have to identify properties that strictly meet the brief while also learning about their preferred style. We need to understand the attributes that don’t appeal to them and have to accept conflicting feedback. For example, sometimes a buyer will vocalise their displeasure about one feature, but this won’t necessarily be what deters them from the property… it could be something else they can’t identify, or a style issue that can be hard to isolate and explain.

Being a buyer’s agent isn’t always technical. It’s often emotional and hugely reliant on intuition, a close working relationship with the client, and most of all strong, clear communication. While we presented several homes to our overseas buyers, there was one we found two weeks ago that must have excited them.

Our client’s sister arranged to see 35 The Boulevard (in fact, she visited twice). We filmed the property with the vendors’ permission and took extensive pictures of every room that didn’t feature in the professional photographer’s images.

The vendors had done a beautiful job presenting their property. As a visitor we felt that their attention to detail with music, scented candles, linen and designer decorating was exceptional. Ironically, our overseas buyers could not appreciate these little finishing touches because they couldn’t smell the vanilla candles or hear the soft music. They could only rely on our descriptions.

Our team was delighted to have found their long-term home, particularly when it will cater so well to their young children as they grow up. The Boulevard is a beautiful, tree lined street featuring stunning period style houses ranging from Californian bungalows to Spanish Mission beauties. Balwyn North offers local schools (both public and private), easy access to the Eastern Freeway and a family-friendly nature all of its own.

With an arrival date in late November however, we were cautious about coordinating the buying and settling of the property too early for them. We knew that their interest bill would be close to $8,000 per month based on 5 per cent rates, so every month longer was a bonus for our buyers. We submitted a tiered range of offers based on varying settlement times. As we’d hoped, the vendors accepted the 210 day settlement and our buyers will happily take possession of their home just upon their arrival. Sometimes, the settlement date can be just as important as the negotiated price. In this situation, our tiered offer approach paid off, for both parties. A great win-win.