Cat house sells for $15K above asking price

The Kurralta Park maisonette with the distinctive cat motifs and extensive doll collection has sold for $15,000 above the asking price at $365,000.

“The other agent they had in told them, they’d be lucky to get $310,000 so they’re pretty happy,” says agent Neil Wilson, principal at Wilson Real Estate. 

This cat-themed decor proved popular with feline fans online.

Serious potential buyers were happy to look past the colourful interior and the young couple who purchased the home plan to renovate.

“It was priced at a point where a lot of people thought ‘yeah, it could still be a fixer-upperer’ and that’s why these people have bought it. They’re going to fix it up and live in it,” says Wilson.

What happens to the cat pictures & dolls now?

The current owners, an elderly couple with one cat, will keep the many pictures in the home as each image is attached to cardboard and can easily be removed.

“They’re taking it (the decor) with them, but I think they might give me a portion of it to keep,” jokes Wilson.

Doll fans had contacted the couple after seeing the listing photographs on realestate.com.au and offered to give them more porcelain dolls, but the couple will sell some of their dolls, possibly at a future garage sale or online.

The pictures and colourful items can be easily removed.

Beige decor wouldn’t have sold this property

While most real estate stylists tend to advise clients against displaying such unique decorfound at the two-bedroom property, Wilson says taking down the pictures “would have sterilised the property”.

“I do think it would never have ever got any interest if we’d had one of these makeover businesses go through the property and just make it look just like any other home,” he says.

He says he’s never seen interest in a property like the buzz generated once the internet got wind of the eye-catching cat pictures and other motifs hanging in every room.

The couple who purchased the house were looking for a property in the area for a while, says Wilson.

“From the owner’s point of view, it was short, sharp and shiny and they achieved well above what their expectations were.  However that came about, it’s good,” says Wilson.

Resource: realestate.com.au