I owned an old and rather small unit in a highly desirable street but at a hugely undesirable position of the building for 35 years , on the top floor , no lift , not much views from the windows . An elderly tenant lived there with her cat for many years , and somehow we developed an unspoken understandings that I shall not raise the rent and she shall not demand things unless it was necessary for the function of a living space . She was living on a modest income . A nightmarish situation for the estate agent that managed this unusual tenancy setup. I was pretty sure that I was a bit of a rogue landlord in their views . When the unit became vacant , naturally it was in a horrific condition , carpet worn out , cat’s hair everywhere , windows not closing properly and so on and on , as the result of decades of neglect . And standing in the middle of the living room of this unit of mine , I decided to sell it as it is ! When I arranged the initial meeting with John and Hagan of Belle Property St Kilda , I was frank with my proposition that was “ put it on the market as it is but deduct the cost of the renovation to make the place liveable from the sale price “ . For any Real Estate Agent , It would have been so much easier to put a property on the market if it were pre-renovated as they can use the phrase “ lovingly renovated “ in the advertisement . However , John of Belle Property possessed a flexible mind . Within a minute of hearing my proposition , without raising an eyebrow , John worked out the initial sale price range of the unit that was to be advertised online . So , that was how it began . Several weeks later , I had a call from John . He said that the responses to the advertisement were good he felt confident enough to raise the sale price range a bit , and he needed my permission to do so . I , then , sensed a happy end was approaching ….. !
