Twenty months. That's how long our house has been for sale in one form or another, and then it all happened in five days flat. If you're in the middle of your own slow-burn sale, or wondering whether "quietly listed" is even a real thing, this one's for you.
The 20 month journey
We built our house, and we loved it. It was exactly what we wanted, until it wasn't quite big enough anymore. Surprise twins will do that. What started as a family of three became a family of five almost overnight, and suddenly the house we'd built for our needs at the time didn't quite fit anymore. So we started looking for something bigger, and listed our place about 20 months ago because there was another property we wanted.
We did the open homes, put ourselves out there properly, and nothing sold. Rather than pulling the listing altogether, we made the call to go quietly listed. Still for sale, still open to the right buyer, just off the open market and without the open home circuit every weekend.
It's a decision more people are making than you'd think. Not every seller wants their life on display every Sunday, especially if there's no urgency to move. Going quiet doesn't mean giving up, it just means waiting for the right person to come along instead of chasing every person who comes through the door.
And that's exactly what happened. For 20 months, not much moved. Then, out of the blue, our real estate agent called.
Getting ready when the call came
The agent said they had someone who wanted to look through the house, someone who'd looked at plenty of places and just really wanted to secure one. We had a weekend's notice.
Cue a very productive couple of days. Dump runs, tidying, decluttering, making the house as presentable as we possibly could in a short window. It's a good reminder that even a quiet listing needs to be ready to perform at a moment's notice. You never know when the right buyer is going to walk through the door, and first impressions still count just as much as they would at an open home.
By the time they came through on the Monday, the house was ready. And so, apparently, were they.
From viewing to unconditional in five days, with nowhere to go yet
Monday they viewed. Tuesday we'd signed an offer with a three day solicitor's approval clause. By Friday, we were unconditional. Twenty months of quiet waiting, and then the whole thing wrapped up inside a week.
Here's the part that adds a bit of extra excitement to the story: we have nowhere to go yet. No new place lined up, no settlement date to slot into on the other end. It's equal parts thrilling and a little bit "what now", and if you've sold before finding your next place, you'll know exactly that feeling.
Over the next few posts in this series, we'll walk through what happens from here, sorting finance for the next place, navigating the in-between, and everything that comes with settlement day. If you're in a similar spot, or just curious about how it all works, you're in good company.
We're always happy to chat if you've got questions about your own situation, whether you're getting ready to sell, buy, or juggle both at once.
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