Australasian Real Estate Conference: Secrets behind Australia’s top property sales
Australia’s top real estate agents reveal the secrets behind some of the country’s most talked-about home sales.
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From $80 million ghost houses to auction bidders on paddleboards and nude neighbours, the Australian love affair with real estate has served up some incredible tales.
We asked some of the superstar agents who will feature as speakers at Australasian Real Estate Conference (AREC) 2023 for their most memorable sales.
Marcus Chiminello – Director Marshall White
“There was the one I sold for a Victorian record of $80m.
It was a vacant house, deemed or coined by the local market as a ‘ghost house’. It had remained as an unfinished construction site since 1991.
It was inspected at 5.30 on a Thursday afternoon, sold on the following day with one inspection by one buyer, and a deal done for just over $80 million.
That was quite memorable for many reasons. It was a house that was shrouded in mystery, everyone wanted to see what it was like behind the biggest iron gates and boarded up windows.”
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Justin Nickerson – Director Apollo Auctions
“There have been a lot that have blended into one but we did a landmark auction on the creek on the Gold Coast a few years ago. It was attended by more than 400 people and you literally couldn’t find a spot anywhere so we had bidders on paddleboards! It doesn’t get any more Gold Coast than that!”
Phil Harris – Managing Director Harris Real Estate
“I was conducting an open home inspection of a townhouse when the adjoining neighbour thought it would be a good idea to clean his outside pergola up a ladder in his underpants. Not exactly a great view for the potential buyers who were in very close proximity in the rear courtyard.”
Kate Ashton – Maryborough Ballarat Real Estate
“I had a property one block from where I live in my country town, which had not been lived in for the last 50 years. I used to run past it as a child in case someone came out and grabbed me. The furniture and pantry items had not been moved. The toilet was covered with ivy and the wisteria out the back reminded me of the whomping willow from Harry Potter. I sold it last year and still nobody lives there.
“I also had one that should’ve been in a horror movie, it was winter- there were spiderwebs everywhere, no power, multiple cool rooms, creepy furniture, piles of asbestos and it was during Covid when the rules were that only one person could go through your property at a time.
At least that way, I knew that everybody was off the property afterwards and not hiding under the floor!”
Cindy Cash- Principal Ray White North Richmond
“A favourite recent sale of mine was at 12 Observation Close, North Richmond, within Belmont Estate. It was a home owned by a local builder and his interior designer wife. The home naturally was spectacular with beautiful views of the city and mountains. The home itself coupled with Ray White PR got a lot of media attention and write-ups. We sold it at auction for a record result within the estate! I have broken my sale record within the estate three times now.”
James Tostevin- Director Marshall White
“My favourite sale in my entire career was 12 Russell Street, Camberwell, a magnificent two storey Victorian Italianate mansion which I have sold on three separate occasions. I door knocked the property in 1996 on behalf of a client who ultimately bought it ‘off-market’. I maintained contact with these clients for 18 years before selling it for them in 2014 and during that time, I watched it progressively evolve into the quintessential family home with an impressive and timeless renovation. It is set in a beautiful garden which complimented all the painstaking improvements my clients undertook at great expense. When I sold it in 2014 the reserve was $6,000,000 and it sold for $6,800,000.”
AREC founder and real estate guru John McGrath said this year’s agent speakers were the cream of the Australian real estate crop.
“Every year we have a goal to present the best line-up of speakers ever assembled for AREC,” Mr McGrath said. “We have to search long and hard to find the greatest success stories both in real estate and outside as well. Some are easy to find as they stand out and some sit below the radar.
“We strive to find people who will resonate with our audience and who can share their insights on what they do everyday that has allowed them to be incredibly successful.”
This year’s AREC event will be of interest as national real estate markets recover.
According to the latest Proptrack Home Price Index, national home prices continued to stabilise in April after rising for the fourth consecutive month, rising 0.14 per cent.
The cumulative increase in 2023 is now 0.75 per cent.
Strong migration, tight rental markets and limited supply are offsetting the impact of rapid interest rate rises.
AREC 2023 is at the Gold Coast convention centre on 28/29 May, 2023.
For more info and bookings, head to AREC 2023.
Originally published as Australasian Real Estate Conference: Secrets behind Australia’s top property sales
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