First-home buyer wins with letter, outbid by $60,000
Karli Bryant, 25, just bought her first home by letter, beating a developer's higher offer.
Karli Bryant, 25, just bought her first home in Malanda on the Atherton Tablelands despite being heavily outbid. The 116-year-old railway worker's cottage attracted significantly higher offers from a developer.
But the seller chose Bryant's lower bid instead. Bryant grew up in Malanda and attended the school next door to the timber cottage, built around 1910.
She wrote the elderly seller, based in Western Australia, about her grandmother who taught at Malanda Primary and her own plans to teach there too. "I just told her how much it would mean to me to be able to raise my kids in my hometown," Bryant said.
The seller prioritised restoration over price. Real estate agent Janine Rielly said other bidders planned to bulldoze the cottage to build duplexes.
"She was the only one willing to restore it," Rielly said. Two days after settlement, Bryant and her partner were already renovating.
- 25
- Bryant's age
- $60,000 lower
- Bid difference
- 116 years old, built about 1910
- Cottage age
Why it mattersShows that in a soaring property market, genuine connection to a home can outweigh raw cash for buyers willing to invest in restoration.
AustraliaOffers hope to young first-home buyers in regional Australia priced out of traditional auctions by offering what developers cannot: authentic care for a property's history.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 22 h ago
