The owners of 12 Cooinda Cres, Watsonia, sold their home as they prepare for a new life travelling the nation on the road.
A Watsonia couple will turn a nerve-racking, $916,000 auction win into a future living on the road.
For 12 Cooinda Cres vendors Belinda and Danny, self-confessed workaholics who had mostly just gone on holidays that suited their dogs in the past 20 years, selling up was the first step towards a caravan trip around the nation.
Initially they will make a trip to Vietnam before returning to a custom caravan that they’re taking west, then north and beyond that are just hoping they will be able to avoid winter from here on.
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“It’s actually quite freeing,” Belinda said.
“You grow up with your parents in a house and chores, and you continue that in your house … and now it’s like we are just absolutely free.”
While they have enjoyed pulling weeds and mowing the lawn over the 13 years they lived at their Watsonia home, they’re not expecting to miss the jobs — or paying a mortgage.
They’re also not going to miss the stress of selling a home in a challenging market.
“We were very nervous in the lead up with all the doom and gloom out there,” she added.
“But we are very surprised and happy with the result.”
A firepit and barbecue space ensure the rear yard is ready to go for warmer weather.
The kitchen has been renovated and is ready for the next home chef to get started in.
While there was a pause ahead of bidding, eventually an $800,000 offer came through that started to get their hopes up.
But when the momentum stalled just before it reached their reserve, Belinda said “I nearly chewed my finger nails off”.
Happily the bidding recommenced and the home shot onto the market so fast the auctioneer didn’t get a chance to reveal the fact until it reached about $863,000.
While they had consistently been adding to and improving their home over the years they lived there, they did freshen up the paint and said decluttering had also been important.
The buyers, who have moved from New Zealand, were locking in their first home in Australia and outbid another couple eyeing their first home.
The home’s front living room provides a comfortable space to relax in.
The home’s rear yard had vegetable and herb patches, shedding and a studio.
Ray White Macleod’s Kaylah Guerra said the result was a standout for an area where auction results had been patchy of late, but showed that where sellers put in the effort to present a good quality home well, good results could follow.
“On paper, it doesn’t make sense for it to have sold for this much, but having a good quality product, they are the types of homes that are selling well,” Ms Guerra said.
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