Bianca Chatfield: Compromising key to securing new home

I had to be flexible and surrender some control to finally beat the competition — but I did it. Here’s how, writes Bianca Chatfield.

Nicole Jacobs with Bianca Chatfield at her new Bayside home. Source: Instagram

How do you buy in this “unprecedented” market, where supply is short and demand is out of control?

I can’t say I have a one-size-fits-all solution, but I hope sharing my story can provide some solace and guidance for anyone in the eye of the househunting storm.

As I wrote in my last column, I spent 18 months looking for a new home after selling the first one I ever bought in late 2019. I almost threw in the towel and signed a 12-month lease before FOMO got the better of me.

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Inside Chatfield’s new beauty.

I hired buyer’s advocate Nicole Jacobs earlier this year and we got the deal done a few months later. Last week, I moved into my townhouse in Melbourne’s southeast.

So how did I finally get here?

Firstly, working with Nicole challenged my logic around the location I thought I wanted. Once I started to entertain looking further from the city, I found more properties that suited what I was after, and I started to enjoy spending time in suburbs I’d previously dismissed.

To anyone having to reconsider their target suburbs, perhaps after being priced out of their dream neighbourhood, I’d recommend spending quality time in the postcodes on your new hit list. That was key for me – checking out the cafes, going on beach walks and soaking up the general calmness of areas further out from the inner city. I started to love it.

Mind you, on the drive back to where I was living in Melbourne’s inner south, I would find myself questioning for the 100th time if I was doing the right thing. This is natural.

Secondly, I identified my main competition as downsizers with much larger budgets than me who wanted single-level homes, like villa units. So my focus became properties that were a little less favourable to my downsizer friends: anything with stairs. Having a two-storey place was no issue for my partner and I – although, I’m sure my damaged knees from netball may disagree down the track.

Question your priorities.

The townhouse market was still smothered in potential buyers. But instead of missing out on properties by significant margins, I started to just miss out. That seemed a win – I was at least in the right market and one would eventually fall my way.

Shortly before I bought, I missed out on another nearby property that I could really see myself living in. It had potential to improve and was bigger than the average townhouse. I somewhat enjoyed watching Nicole bid on my behalf, but it went $10,000 over my firm maximum.

My disappointment flipped to hope when I saw the next prospect online a few weeks later. After a few inspections alongside 30 other househunters I had come to recognise along the way, Nicole and I agreed this townhouse ticked a lot of the boxes.

We tried putting in an offer before auction to get a jump on the competition. But the vendor didn’t budge – the five-week marketing campaign was set in stone and we had no choice but to wait it out until auction day arrived.

Then, cue another Covid outbreak.

The Thursday night before the Saturday auction – and before lockdown kicked in on the Friday – the vendor decided to take offers. This caught me off guard, and in the middle of running an online workout with my Victoria University netball academy. In hindsight, that wasn’t a bad thing.

A tidy courtyard at Chatfield’s new place.

Nicole took charge and I sat by my phone waiting for updates. We’d had several conversations about my maximum price, so I left the game plan in her capable hands.

We thought the vendor was asking for our best and final offer, but the process turned into a bidding war. I was mid-burpee when Nicole texted me the opposition’s latest bid, and I immediately started to feel sick. The nerves and emotions were taking over.

After the session finished, I sat in silence for half an hour waiting for an update. We had reached my maximum and were waiting to hear if it could be matched.

It wasn’t, and the keys were mine.

I had to pay a bit more than the quoted range. But in this market, properties aren’t going for what they’re advertised at.

Compromise and surrendering control got me there in the end. I just had to trust in the process and if it was meant to be, it would be mine.

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