How We Sold ‘The House the Banks Wouldn’t Touch’
Every property has a story. For 36 Open Drive in Arundel, the story looked like it had been a long and difficult journey.
It had complications.
‘What kind of complications?’, you ask. Well – no doors, no windows, electric wires hanging out the walls. Those kinds of complications. It’s the kind of house that banks wouldn’t touch, meaning buyers would struggle to get finance.
That seriously limits the pool of buyers.
But we love a challenge at The Henry Wong Team®. In fact, non-cookie-cutter homes like this one are our speciality.
Read on to find out how we sold the unsellable in just 8 days, and got featured in Domain for our efforts.
The Property and Its Challenges
Arundel is about 10 kilometres away from Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. The median house price there is $1.15 million. 36 Open Drive never looked like it would come close to that, given the condition of the home.
Sitting on a large block of land totalling 684 square metres, the owners said to us they weren’t expecting more than $800,000. That would be about land value. That would probably be about right, given the property was unlivable. The pool was empty, walls were missing and electrical hazards were evident.
It was uninsurable, and as a result, no bank would lend for it.
So how did we find a buyer willing to part with $911,000 to secure the deal?
The Strategy Behind the Sale
Non-cookie-cutter homes require a different approach to standard properties. This is why most local real estate agents simply aren’t successful when selling them. To successfully find the right buyer for this home, we couldn’t rely on traditional buyer traffic. We had to cast our net wider than that.
Network of Buyers
To do that, we leverage our massive network of buyers, inventors and real estate prospects that we’ve cultivated over the years. This stretches across Brisbane, interstate and internationally into wealthy Asian communities looking to buy property in Australia.
Our network helps us gain early traction on a sale, and often we sell a property through it without going to market. It’s what sets us apart from local agents.
Social Media Following
Another method we employ to reduce our reliance on the main real estate portals is social media marketing. We’ve built up a large and engaged following across multiple digital platforms, including over 11,000 on Facebook, nearly 4,000 on Instagram and nearly 8,000 on LinkedIn. Putting our listings on front of all those eyes online helps us get exponential reach through sharing and liking.
The Perfect Buyer
This property had lending limitations, so the perfect buyer needed to be a cash buyer looking for a property with potential. We had to target that segment right from the beginning of the campaign.
We had multiple groups of buyers look at this home. Some were first-home buyers with pre-approval on their finance. I asked them to clarify with their insurance broker if they would insure it – none of them would. So that took them out of the equation.
Despite a small buyer pool, we still got many groups through who were ready to act. I deal with many buyers with inter-generational wealth, and a lot of them looked at this home. They were interested in either rebuilding it to rent out, or buying it for their children or grandchildren.
In the end, we got six written cash offers. The eventual buyer offered $911,000 and asked for a 14 day settlement.
This all took less than 8 days.
Featured in Domain
The unusual circumstances around the sale, plus the speed of the positive outcome, caught the attention of the media.
Shortly after the result, the story was featured by Domain in an article titled “No doors, no walls and an empty pool: The house banks wouldn’t touch sells in eight days.”
The article highlighted the unique nature of the property and the way a focused sales strategy helped achieve a quick result despite the financing hurdles.
Media coverage like this reinforces an important point: with the right approach, even properties that seem difficult to sell can achieve strong outcomes.
Selling a Complex Property? Contact The Henry Wong Team®
Every property sale comes with its own circumstances. Sometimes, as in the case of 36 Open Drive, they’re obvious. Other times, they reveal themselves during the campaign. Whatever the case, you want an agent on your side with the knowledge, experience and skills to sell non-cookie-cutter homes.
If you’re selling a property that might present challenges, get in touch with my team or me. This is what we do – this is where we have made our mark on the real estate industry. The right approach to the sale could unlock a result you weren’t expecting.
