Real estate agents can sometimes cop a bad rap as being greedy, but the extraordinary actions of one property professional are helping to dispel those myths and show just how kind they really can be.
Judi O’Dea of Ray White Paddington in Brisbane has gone above and beyond for two of her clients – by inviting them move in with her.
At different times over the past 12 months, Ms O’Dea offered up her home to two separate vendors to help solve a dilemma they faced with needing to find short-term accommodation between selling and moving into their next home.
One stayed for three months at her Paddington home, struggling to navigate the city’s “diabolical” rental market at the time, Ms O’Dea said.
The first couple that moved in were the sellers of nearby 28 Prince Street in Paddington.
The property sold for $2.93 million in May 2021 following an auction that ran for an hour-and-a-half, with the successful buyer insisting on an especially quick 14-day settlement.
But then, Ms O’Dea explains, the penny dropped for her elated sellers – Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s publicity manager Cindy Ullrich and her husband Hilton – that they’d need to find somewhere else to live in a fortnight.
“When I rang them the next morning, they were both in tears and said ‘it’s not to do with the money, but we have nowhere to go’,” Ms O’Dea recalled.
“I said ‘it’s okay – you are going to live with me’.
“I have separate accommodation downstairs with a kitchen, bathroom and separate entrance where my adult children lived before they moved out.”
The couple – along with their cat Atlas – made themselves at home while they found a new home to buy.
During that period, Ms O’Dea said she had “a wonderful time” with her house guests – who paid to cover expenses – and formed a friendship with them.
“It was so funny during COVID – we were actually in our own little bubble,” Ms O’Dea said.
“We used to go downstairs for dinner, then they would come upstairs. We had a lovely time together.
“During one of the Queensland lockdowns, Cindy would work downstairs, and I was working upstairs and we could hear each other talking away.
“Since then Cindy and I have had some lovely visits to the theatre together.”
After her generous hospitality the first time, word spread and late last year Ms O’Dea had another seller ask if they too could stay in her home for a stint.
This couple had sold a home they renovated at 60 Northam Avenue in Bardon and stayed with Ms O’Dea for two months while they gutted and renovated another property they owned before moving into it.
Originally, Ms O’Dea explained, this couple and their dog were going to live in the home while they renovated, but it didn’t work out as planned.
They just needed short-term accommodation and Ms O’Dea “was delighted to make it easy for them to move in and be here for a short period of time”.
“They were lovely,” she said.
“Real estate agents don’t always talk about the good things they do, but they do do kind things.
“I knew these clients well and having them stay with me was easier than them trying to find an Airbnb, and gave them somewhere to stay short-term, which was a relief for them, especially in this rental climate.”
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