When real estate agent Karen Van Der Stelt recently advertised a property in North Batemans Bay with a 'Declared reserve of $700K', she was doing something she hadn't done in 21 years of selling real estate.
She knew it was a risk, but with this particular house, the gamble paid off.
In an auction market that she said was currently slow, the house attracted a huge amount of interest.
Certainly the declared reserve alerted first time buyers, but the eccentric nature of the property, on two hectares of land, was a huge boon to local tradesmen.
It's not every day that you find a western cedar clad, faux log cabin in the middle of Australian bushland with several living rooms, two kitchens, three bedrooms, three bathrooms and space for four cars.
Karen believed the "quirky" nature of the property, the low reserve and the property's potential attracted a particular type of buyer.
"We had all different walks of life looking at the property, but mostly young tradies," she said.
"They'd come with their partners or wives, one little baby on the hip, another on the way.
"They thought 'you know we can get in around that cheaper price, we're on acreage, and we can live in it as is, and we can just do it up' - so we had heaps of interest from that point of view.
"But in the end it was two couples from Sydney that fought it out."
And fight it out they did.
In a market that was attracting three to four registered bidders, the house attracted nine, with three more showing interest but unable to meet the firm 42-day settlement criteria.
The house sold for $825,000 - $125,000 over the reserve price.
Karen said the house had been empty for four years when the owner passed. With no living relatives, the property was prepared for auction.
The owner was a collector of sorts and when Karen lifted the cover off a garaged car she revealed a vintage Mercedes in mint condition. She said the vast amount of belongings remaining in the house were "very eclectic" and these were gradually sorted, donated and sold.
A team of workmen, alongside the executor of the will and Karen, worked tirelessly for months getting the house sale ready.
Several trees that had grown over the house and were removed by Calem Lewis Tree Services, the paths were pressure washed, the waist high grass was tended. Cleaners worked around the clock for weeks.
Elbow grease on the windows and the removal of ancient curtains revealed the snippets of water views that Karen suspected were there.
Precarious sheds and water tanks were demolished, and the balconies declared unfit for purpose.
But even if the owner had to spend $200,000 on the property, Karen believes it was still a bargain.
"By the time people got in, it was as schmick as it could be," she said.
