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Buyer finds dream home before ready to sell, agent makes it happen
How this agent made the buyer's dream come true.
Last updated: 10 September 2024
A small but perfectly formed Aro Valley home came on the market in April this year. It attracted a mix of buyers but one in particular, Paul from Wadestown, fell really hard for it The problem was, he was two years away from being ready to sell, he’d only gone to the open home because his son suggested it.
But the Tommy’s agent selling the Aro Valley property, Alexia Stoddart, asked to go and see his house to see how ready for the market it was, and carried him along on a surge of can-do energy, helping him get his house ready in a matter of days.
The transactions to buy Aro Street and sell Wadestown weren’t without their hitches – Paul’s attention was taken by another property in nearby Mt Cook, which the family thought could work well for him – but his offer wasn’t accepted and he came back to his first love, the Aro Valley home.
A real estate transaction is a complex beast and all the main parties go through it collectively and individually so we decided to talk to the buyer, the seller and the agent on this particular deal and get inside their heads for a bit.
Paul Wotherspoon: the Buyer
Paul Wotherspoon, a retired teacher and potter, was minding his own business, living in his Wadestown family home when his son, Ned said to him: “You should come and have a look at this place in Aro Valley.”
“I always thought Aro Valley would be a good place to live in my 80s and beyond –I had friends in the suburb’s Holloway Road, had lived in Devon Street in the past –so I didn’t need much persuading.
And when I saw the small home, I really liked it. It had a useful shed/studio in the back yard, I told the agent, Tommy’s Alexia Stoddart, it was perfect but it was just two years too soon.
At this Alexia said to me. “I’ll come round and have a look,” and she had me on the market within two weeks.”
Paul‘s home in Wadestown’s Cecil Road was in good condition.. It was a large house with an apartment downstairs and a studio workshop and kiln shed in the garden. This was a handy place to declutter some of the contents of the home in the run up to putting it on the market. The 600 sq ft workshop was also a good draw to buyers who could think of various uses for it.
Paul didn’t immediately put an offer in on Aro Street. Another property came up for sale in Mt Cook which his daughter, based in Auckland, found and liked because it was close to his son, Ned. So Paul put an offer in on that property but it wasn’t accepted so he came back to Aro Street which was still on the market.
“The Mount Cook one near Massey University was in the wrong place and didn’t have the atmosphere of Aro Street, “ he says.
So Paul put in his offer on Aro Street. “I named a figure I came up with “off the top of my head,” a number I thought was fair if I got what I wanted for my place in Cecil Road.” Because the offer on his house was slightly lower, his offer on Aro Valley was lowered slightly too. Paul’s son in law was doing the negotiating for him with Alexia
“The whole thing (purchase and sale) happened in two and half months, says Paul. Which was pretty good going in the tricky Wellington market at the time. (April to July 2024)
“Alexia was very approachable, friendly, decisive and communicative,” says the happy new homeowner.
“Aro Street has provided me with a clean slate. Like the Tale of Two Cities character, Sydney Carton I feel like I have been “recalled to a new life and to new potentials.”
Paul is now writing his travel memoirs, from the front room of his new home, happy with the distractions of the colourful passing parade up and down the busy street.
Aro Street Home: the Sellers
The two vendors were out of town so relied heavily on Tommy’s agent Alexia Stoddart to do what needed to be done.
“We liked the sound of the buyer, Paul. He seemed like a nice man, at the right age and stage to really enjoy the house.”
“We met with two agents before we chose Alexia Stoddart from Tommy’s. We liked her experience and she seemed to understand the house well and its special qualities.”
“Throughout the sale process, we remained open minded. We were out of town and we weren’t in any particular hurry, as we didn’t have to sell.”
“We thought Paul was a good fit for the house and so we were patient when he needed more time. If you own a house and love it, when you sell it, you hope the new owner sees the things you like about it. It wouldn’t have felt as nice if it were a developer who wanted to buy it to bowl it over.”
Alexia’s experience proved to be an asset. She worked hard to coordinate the contingent house sales to enable settlement.
Alexia Stoddart: the Agent
The Aro Street home came on the market when the market was turning a bit in April 2024.
“I thought it would appeal to a professional couple and there was a couple with a child who were keen. There were also single buyers, and Paul was one of those who came to the first open home. He told me it was two years too early.
“I said, “We can make it work,” and Paul was amazing, he moved mountains. He had the front and back of the house painted in a week and we had it photographed and launched onto the market.”
The LIM arrived two days before his deadline and we found his garage didn’t have the CCC (Code Compliance Certificate) I got onto the council and advised the need to have them there as soon as possible, then once they visited I coordinated the structural engineer and an electrician. We received a tender offer subject to CCC prior to settlement but the price wasn’t where we needed it to be. We got the electrical certificate and report from the structural engineer which achieved CCC, we kept marketing the property and then at around week two or three, a lovely couple who had moved back to NZ came through and loved it. We put in a vendor warranty in the agreement that it would have CCC by settlement which meant his offer was unconditional.
While we continued to market Paul’s Wadestown property, Paul’s offer on Aro Street was extended. Once the extension had lapsed, he had his eye on a different property which he offered on but wasn’t successful. He came back to re-offer on Aro Street and we made it all work. He was very happy, he’d gone full circle. It was one of those times where it had been love at first sight for him and we made it happen.
As it was an estate sale, the vendors weren’t in any hurry. They liked the profiling of Paul. We did have a cash out clause but it would have to be quite a bit above Paul’s offer, the vendors said.
We sold Aro Street at tender date to Paul subject to him selling his own home. He had two weeks to get the property ready and then sold Cecil three weeks after so the vendors of Aro Street had to wait around a month for Paul.
We kept marketing Aro Street with open homes every weekend and we almost had other people offer but the vendor's response was always, “we don’t want to cash Paul out.’
Dealing with the vendors of Aro Street, (one in Auckland, one in Australia) it was about continual conversations, letting them know how things were tracking with Paul’s house in Cecil Road which didn’t sell at tender. They were aware of the CCC issue and that you can’t get bank funding unless work is compliant. They were very patient as long as they were kept in the loop. We were on a Whatsapp group in daily contact and I was in contact daily with Paul and his family, one son in Wellington, another in Australia and his daughter in Auckland. There were many phone conversations.
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