Celebrating the auction sale: Tindi Sorbera (Henley Homes), Maddison Luebker and her daughter Mia (auction winner), Sandy Eade, Colin Eade and Rory Costelloe (Villawood Properties). Picture: Tim Carrafa.
A dedicated Melbourne nurse has helped add $1,150,500 to the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday appeal, and bought her family a home.
Maddison Luebker, who studied at the Children’s for a while as she became an anaesthetic nurse and whose older brother was a patient in his infancy, is still in shock after winning the bidding for the Mt Duneed property in a record-high result for the appeal.
After almost a year of being outbid for other homes, Ms Luebker said while the house had “felt like it was ours” during their first inspection, they had assumed they would be outbid again.
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“It was the dream home, but it felt very far out of reach, I didn’t think we were going to get it,” she said.
“That it happened today. That it’s this house … it must have been meant to be.”
One of three bidders, Ms Luebker made a final $500 bid to claim the keys to the four-bedroom house built by Henley Homes at Villawood Properties’ Armstrong Mt Duneed estate with all proceeds going to the Appeal.
She’d had to pause the auction part way through to confirm with her husband Rheace that it was OK to push an extra $10,000 past their planned budget, but knowing where the money was going they had both felt it was worth it.
The two-storey Juno design home by Henley has set a new record for the annual Good Friday Appeal charty auction, topping last year’s $1.11m figure.
The impressively appointed home was valued at more than $1.3m ahead of its auction.
Her first phone message after the auction was to her husband, to tell him “we just spent a whole lot of money”.
“We are so blessed that our daughter is healthy, and I can’t imagine what it would be like for the parents taking theirs into the hospital, so if we are going into debt, the best place for it to go is to the Royal Children’s Hospital,” Ms Luebker said.
The pair will move into the property with daughter Mia, 2, as they relocate from Point Cook to be closer to her parents in Torquay.
Villawood Properties co-founder Rory Costelloe said to get a record result in the midst of an election campaign was particularly remarkable, but noted that the buyer had still done very well.
Sports starts and RCH super held an Easter egg hunt at the Good Friday Appeal charity home in Mt Duneed ahead of its sale. Picture: Alison Wynd.
Royal Children’s Hospital patient Scarlett Dickson, 12, with tradie OSL Concreter Luca Tauoletti in front of the Villawood Home. Picture: Brad Fleet
“People do seem to go above and beyond a bit because of the enthusiasm of the day,” Mr Costelloe said.
“But the home is valued at over $1.3m … and this is Villawood’s best estate, and the home is near the nature reserve and the creek, and it’s walking distance to the train and shops and schools. So it’s really the best possible location.
“We are just super excited.”
Henley Homes chief executive Antony Blackshaw said after building 46 homes to support the Good Friday Appeal he was thrilled the latest one had set a new record, estimating that they had now raised a combined $22m since 1993.
Ms Luebker is looking forward to sitting down on the couch with her family when they move into the house later this year.
The house is in one of the area’s top locations, with extensive local amenities on offer.
“This year is exactly $1.014m more than the first home we ever sold,” Mr Blackshaw said.
“So for all the trades and the workers involved to get an outcome like this, it’s such a good result. Most of them who have worked on it have been in the children’s hospital themselves, or their kids have used its services.”
Real Estate Institute of Victoria auctioneer of the year Paul Tzamalis said with his own first child recently born it had been an honour to call the sale.
Mr Tzamalis added that you worked for every extra bid “when you know that every dollar is going to the Royal Children’s Hospital”.
“It’s a pretty special occasion,” he said.
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