The client

This first home buyer couple were renting in the Redfern area and had a logistical challenge to their property search. One of them regularly commuted to Parramatta for work, and the other to Malabar. This meant, that in order for both of them to have reasonable commute times, they needed a property within a ten minute walk of Redfern station.

They’d been searching for some time but really felt like there weren’t many options in general, and barely anything ever coming up for sale.

We sat down in their lounge room, with their gorgeous little dog and talked about what was most important to them. I told them it was likely we would buy in the next 4 - 6 weeks and they laughed. They didn’t think it could be that quick when they had been looking for months.

What was most important to the client

To be within a 10min walk of Redfern station
Avoid high rise strata schemes and looking for a small or medium sized strata block
Single level apartment (the dog was not getting any younger)
A building that was at least ten years old and not riddled with building defects
Good security and avoiding ground floor
Large kitchen for lots of cooking

The search

This search was not going to provide a large number of options purely because of the geographical radius we were constrained by. However, there were a couple of solid contenders in week one:

A gorgeous apartment with a large outdoor courtyard (it was actually level one and secure from the street which was fine). It ticked every box and had amazing natural light. Unfortunately, it also had water leaking into a bedroom from the common property and the building was riddled with waterproofing issues. It was one to walk away from. It went on to sell for $1,180,000.
A top level apartment overlooking trees and greenery that needed a little bit of love, but was otherwise a good floorplan. The building was low rise (four levels), but quite large and had over 100 apartments. There was an existing fire order on the property that was also costing the owners a decent amount of levies in repair bills. It wasn’t right for us and it went on to sell for $985,000.

At the start of week two, we then found an apartment pre market. It was for sale by an investor and was being sold with the tenant in place. These are my favourite types of property to buy because they are not ‘polished’ in presentation, and a lot of people can’t see past the presentation.

The property

A two bedroom, two bathroom, two balcony, plus parking apartment that overlooked trees and greenery. It was modern, although provided scope for kitchen and bathroom renovations in the next few years.

It was in need of a paint job and just a good clean.

It is a 5 minute walk to Redfern station which was so important for these clients!

The owner was set on ‘going to market’ so we didn’t have the opportunity to buy pre market. At our first inspection we noticed some areas outside the bathrooms where the carpet was damaged. To be sure we understood any plumbing issues, we organised for a plumber to attend with us at a follow up inspection. Thankfully everything checked out.

We completed our due diligence with the strata records ensuring we understood the risks and issues. With all strata, there are issues and this one needed some works to the roof. We factored in the cost of this work to what we were prepared to pay.

The property was scheduled to stay on market for four weeks with an auction thereafter.

The outcome

A lot of properties where the owner ‘wants to go on market’, require at least two Saturday open homes for the owner to have the right feedback about whether they should entertain an early offer.

We had everything lined up to make an unconditional purchase offer. There was a little bit of back and forth with solicitors (probably more than usual), but we got there in the end.

One week after our first viewing of this property, and just two weeks after I sat in my clients lounge room talking about what they wanted to buy, we had purchased them an apartment.

We purchased vacant possession so the tenant would leave before the moved in. We organised for a painter to be in there within a couple of days of settlement and this allowed them into their new home with that ‘fresh’ feeling.

Learnings

A single suburb brief, or a small geographical range will mean that you don’t have a significant number of options to choose from. However, at the end of the day, you only need to find one property that is right. Once you do, make sure you are empowered with information to make an informed decision on purchasing it so you don’t miss one of your few chances.

Purchased pre auction in Redfern after just two weeks of searching