65 Grove Street, Birchgrove

The background

A longstanding relationship with the vendor helped to secure an outstanding price for this gem of a terrace which enjoys one of the peninsula’s most prized locations. On 25th February 2022, Rosemary Chen and Matt Hayson sold 65 Grove Street, Birchgrove, a grand four-bedroom Victorian terrace, prior to auction after just nine days on the market.

Rosemary comments, “We met the owners five years ago before they relocated to the Central Coast. The property had been their family home for 63 years! We stayed in touch to keep them abreast of our market and offered suggestions to help revitalise the property in anticipation of an upcoming sale.

Strategies we employed in this campaign

“A terrace a few doors up which was a more renovated version came onto the market two weeks before us, so we needed to be very clear with buyers about the superior location of our listing. We also had to reiterate the fact that while perfectly comfortable, our property offered scope to personalise the home and our price guide reflected that.

“To help our vendors we provided advice on how to get it looking its best for the sale and had it professionally styled. We also recommended including a drone image to highlight the proximity to the water and Harbour Bridge and suggested that a dusk photo shoot would really help with the online engagement as well.

“We held private inspections for buyers from our database before the first inspection. Demand proved high, the property presented well and the energy at the inspections was positive which all helped. It was really well received with many contracts being issued after the first Saturday inspection, and then it came down to fine tuning the interested parties.

“It was a highly emotional sale for our vendor, aged 91, and we communicated with him and his son after each inspection to advise of buyer and price feedback. This gave them comfort in knowing exactly what was happening and if we needed to make any changes to the campaign. Many buyers were ready to pull the offer trigger after their first inspection however we needed to get more feedback and more time to ensure the vendor was comfortable.

“The ultimate buyer adored this pocket of Birchgrove and loved the idea of personalising the home down the track. After three private inspections they were ready to make an offer and we sold the property before auction for an impressive $3.485m after an initial guide of $2.8m.”