Owner occupiers – $1.27m freestanding house in St Ives – ‘patience and flexibility’

As recent arrivals to Australia from South Africa, our clients, now a partner in a major law firm and his young family, found themselves confused about where and what to buy in the Sydney property market.

Initially retained as their buyers’ agent to purchase an apartment they had found in Rose Bay, due diligence undertaken by Curtis Associates exposed a variety of serious risks associated with that property on the basis of which, they decided not to buy it.

They then decided to retain us afresh to find and buy a semi detached home in North Bondi. On realising that a home on a large block of land had become a priority, another fresh retainer was negotiated for us to find and buy a freestanding home on the upper north shore.

With that as our clients’ final focus, we bought their five bedroom dream home in St Ives prior to auction for $1.27 million.

Applying the hindsight test™*.

Eight months later, our male client wrote: “My neighbour’s place, same size land as us but house is not much more than 1/2 the size, for about $40k less than ours …130 viewings, 20 contracts out, 14 bidders at the auction.”