Woodlands resident leaves $1.2m house-sale proceeds to Heart Foundation and Diabetes Research
A LITTLE old lady in Woodlands has left every penny of her $1.2m house sale to two WA charities.
WHAT could be better than buying a new home — other than finding out afterwards that your million-dollar bankroll was fulfilling a little old lady’s last wish.
Long-term Woodlands resident Lurline Giles bequeathed the proceeds of the sale of her property on her death to be jointly shared by the National Heart Foundation WA Division and Diabetes Research WA.
The lucky winning bidder at the auction this month was Subiaco businessman David Parin who was none the wiser of the special nature of the sale until after the hammer fell.
The rules of sale meant agent Jarrad O’Rourke, of O’Rourke Realty Investments, could not reveal the proceeds would be going to charity.
“It was quite a humbling experience but we couldn’t disclose the details prior to the sale,” Mr O’Rourke said. “Mrs Giles evidently had a heart of gold.”
The home, a plum development opportunity at 218 Ewen St, Woodlands, about 10km north-west of Perth, went under the hammer for $1.205m with more than 100 keen locals in attendance.
Mr Parin said he was thrilled that the proceeds would go to the two groups.
“While the purchase of the property was purely a commercial transaction for me, it is very nice that on this occasion two well-known charities will benefit to the tune of $1.2 million from this sale,” Mr Parin said.
“I was very pleased to meet the representatives from both charities after the auction who explained to me how the proceeds of the sale would be used to benefit their outstanding work in the community.”
The property sits on a 1012sq m block and the bidding was strong, Mr O’Rourke said.
“We understand Mrs Giles had no direct relatives or children after the untimely death of her husband,” Mr O’Rourke said. “We had multiple bidders and the house achieved a very pleasing selling price.”
A spokeswoman for Diabetes Research WA said all funds to the organisation remained in WA and local researchers were liaising with their counterparts from all around the world.
A National Heart Foundation WA spokeswoman said the foundation must have done something right to have come to the attention of Mrs Giles.
“Some 58 per cent of our funds are gifts in wills, which accounts for $23m a year in donations and the bulk of this goes to research, given one person in Australia dies every 12 minutes from heart disease,” the spokeswoman said.