Western Sydney couple scores record home price after bold move

Col Fletcher (pictured) and wife Sandra sold their Mount Annan home for a suburb record fee of $1.597 million.

A Western Sydney family is preparing to travel across the country in a dream caravan trip after selling their home nearly $500,000 above prices in their area.

Col and Sandra Fletcher sold their Mount Annan home for a suburb record, netting $1.597 million for the four-bedroom house.

The price was $497,000 more than the area’s median house sale price and well above previous sales in the area.

The home was sold without a traditional real estate agent.

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The price was also about 10 per cent more than what local agents appraising the home as worth.

The record result has opened doors. Now transitioning to retirement, the couple are planning to buy a caravan and start travelling around Australia later this year.

Mr Fletcher said the couple bought the house back in 2002 for around $465,000.

Now an empty nest, the Fletchers were looking to sell up and downsize, but they did not agree with initial appraisals from real estate agents.

“One median figure was $175,000 below what we worked out through research,” Mr Fletcher said.

They decided to sell their home with the help of consultancy group Revolutionary Real Estate, with founder David Kaity guiding them through certain steps of the process such as negotiation and presentation.

The Fletchers learned how important presentation was to selling a home.

“We realised that how we display the house, not as our home but as a display home, would get us a better result,” Mr Fletcher said.

The Fletchers were advised to change a number of small details about their property, such as their ceiling fans and cabinet handles.

“It didn’t cost a lot of money and it modernised the home perfectly for the presentation,” Mr Fletcher said.

They then handled walking prospective buyers through the home themselves.

“We had no problem presenting the home to people who were coming through,” Mr Fletcher said. “The experience was unbelievably good.”

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Details such as the home’s ceiling fans were changed to help with the sale.

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According to Mr Fletcher, prospective buyers were shocked to discover that he and Sandra were the owners of the home.

“They were asking questions that an agent wouldn’t have had a clue how to answer, which we could confidently answer,” he said.

Questions ranged from what the neighbours are like to when new air conditioning was being installed, which the Fletchers could answer on the spot.

“It was a really good system for the buyers as well as us,” Mr Fletcher said.

Only two open houses were held during the selling process and all offers were received in writing only.

Mr Fletcher said this way of selling their home worked out. They now have a “great relationship” with the home’s new owners, who call them often to ask questions about the property.

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