Ins and outs of a Turramurra house sale, August 2004

Ins and outs of a house sale, originally published by Sun Herald in August 2004

156 Bobbin Head Rd
Turramurra
Sold for $830,000
The house: A renovated 1950s three-bedroom brick house with two bathrooms and open plan living areas on 1000 square metres.
The agent James Eyden, McGrath Estate Agents Upper North Shore, says: “this was a nicely presented house which we thought would sell for more than $775,000. The owner was always realistic and we had more than 120 groups of people through the house but only Livio was prepared to make a decent offer before the auction. Livio is Swiss so he had to get approval to own property in Australia before he could make an offer, but that came through quickly and we exchanged contracts three days before the scheduled auction”.

The sellers
Neville and Vicki Zarafetas, daughters Meia and Tiana
The family had lived in the house for nearly three years, and have moved to a bigger house in Pymble.
“It was a dash for cash to sell our place because we had bought something else. I kept saying to James that the bank is going to want a lot of money from me if I don’t sell by a certain date. There were stages of the sale that were nervewracking and there were times it was heated and we had a few blues … but James held true and he got us through.
“When I try to describe what it’s like to sell your house, I tell people to picture a dead carcass that’s been shot by a hunter and is lying there in the middle of the bush and the vultures are circling around it – there were four vultures who all wanted the house but none of them would make a decent offer.
“When finally the first one made a bid, then two other people came in. I said: first in, best dressed, so the buyer came to my solicitor’s office to exchange and make sure the paperwork was in order just three days before the auction. There wasn’t time for any mistakes. If we pulled the auction at that late stage and then the sale fell through, then I could have been in a lot of trouble.
“$825,000 was the realistic price I needed to get for the house when I worked out what I had paid for it and then discounted that crazy stuff the market did at the end of last year.
$850,000 would have been my dream price and $840,000 would have given me more of a smile but $830,000 was five grand over what I wanted, so I was happy.
“We moved out last Friday. It was hard to leave the house because of the work we had put into it, but it was always a stepping stone for us. I didn’t see myself bringing up my children on Bobbin Head Rd.”

The buyers
Livio and Adriana Barbagallo
The Swiss couple were renting in Coogee and had been looking to buy a house close to the bush for six months.
“When we saw this house on the internet we could see that it fitted exactly with what we wanted. It had an excellent floorplan. The living room, for sure, was the room that convinced us to buy it. It’s the room where you spend the most time and we saw we can easily make it perfect and it is very big and looks over the garden.
“We wanted a house on a large piece of land and we didn’t want a lot of rooms, but we wanted large rooms. We had been looking all over Sydney, in the south and in the north, and we wanted something close to nature on some land.
“We like being close to the bush.You can walk and go out with the bikes, you can go to parks. It’s much closer to nature here than places like the eastern suburbs and it’s not that far to the city.
“After the first weekend of seeing the house, we asked each other what we would be prepared to pay. We came up with a figure but before I could make the offer, I had to get approval from the bureaucracy because we are only temporary residents in Australia. This was the easy part. I thought it would take a long time to get approval, but it was only a couple of days.
“When the agent told us our offer wasn’t high enough, I made a better offer. We had to go and sign the papers that night once our offer was accepted. It was very close to the auction but we didn’t think it was nerve-racking. We just knew that if we didn’t get this house, then there would be another one.
“We are very delighted to be in this house and happy it is ours. We are not investors who are hoping the price will go up. We want to stay here for a very long time. We have already started painting the guest bedroom and we plan on doing some landscaping in the garden so we can spend more time outdoors.”


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Ins and outs of a house sale, originally published by Sun Herald in August 2004 156 Bobbin Head Rd Turramurra Sold for $830,000 The house: A renovated 1950s three-bedroom brick house with two bathrooms and open plan living areas on 1000 square metres. The agent James Eyden, McGrath Estate Agents Upper North Shore, says: “this was a nicely presented house which we thought would sell for more than $775,000. The owner was always realistic and we had more than 120 groups of people through the house but only Livio was prepared to make a decent offer before the auction. Livio is Swiss so he had to get approval to own property in Australia before he could make an offer, but that came through quickly and we exchanged contracts three days before the scheduled auction”. The sellers Neville and Vicki Zarafetas, daughters Meia and Tiana The family had lived in the house for nearly three years, and have moved to a bigger house in Pymble. “It was a dash for cash to sell our place because we had bought something else. I kept saying to James that the bank is going to want a lot of money from me if I don’t sell by a certain date. There were stages of the sale that were nervewracking and there were times it was heated and we had a few blues … but James held true and he got us through. “When I try to describe what it’s like to sell your house, I tell people to picture a dead carcass that’s been shot by a hunter and is lying there in the middle of the bush and the vultures are circling around it – there were four vultures who all wanted the house but none of them would make a decent offer. “When finally the first one made a bid, then two other people came in. I said: first in, best dressed, so the buyer came to my solicitor’s office to exchange and make sure the paperwork was in order just three days before the auction. There wasn’t time for any mistakes. If we pulled the auction at that late stage and then the sale fell through, then I could have been in a lot of trouble. “$825,000 was the realistic price I needed to get for the house when I worked out what I had paid for it and then discounted that crazy stuff the market did at the end of last year. $850,000 would have been my dream price and $840,000 would have given me more of a smile but $830,000 was five grand over what I wanted, so I was happy. “We moved out last Friday. It was hard to leave the house because of the work we had put into it, but it was always a stepping stone for us. I didn’t see myself bringing up my children on Bobbin Head Rd.” The buyers Livio and Adriana Barbagallo The Swiss couple were renting in Coogee and had been looking to buy a house close to the bush for six months. “When we saw this house on the internet we could see that it fitted exactly with what we wanted. It had an excellent floorplan. The living room, for sure, was the room that convinced us to buy it. It’s the room where you spend the most time and we saw we can easily make it perfect and it is very big and looks over the garden. “We wanted a house on a large piece of land and we didn’t want a lot of rooms, but we wanted large rooms. We had been looking all over Sydney, in the south and in the north, and we wanted something close to nature on some land. “We like being close to the bush.You can walk and go out with the bikes, you can go to parks. It’s much closer to nature here than places like the eastern suburbs and it’s not that far to the city. “After the first weekend of seeing the house, we asked each other what we would be prepared to pay. We came up with a figure but before I could make the offer, I had to get approval from the bureaucracy because we are only temporary residents in Australia. This was the easy part. I thought it would take a long time to get approval, but it was only a couple of days. “When the agent told us our offer wasn’t high enough, I made a better offer. We had to go and sign the papers that night once our offer was accepted. It was very close to the auction but we didn’t think it was nerve-racking. We just knew that if we didn’t get this house, then there would be another one. “We are very delighted to be in this house and happy it is ours. We are not investors who are hoping the price will go up. We want to stay here for a very long time. We have already started painting the guest bedroom and we plan on doing some landscaping in the garden so we can spend more time outdoors.”