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The front door of a bluestone villa at dusk, swung open on its hinges into a lamplit hall, its half-round fanlight glowing above

Come in. We’ll walk you through it.

Villas, cottages and hills homes from Kent Town. One agent, gate to garden.

Walk in

The worn bluestone step and tiled threshold at the villa's front door

01The gateFront faces westThe appraisal

The appraisal We start at the front gate.

We come to the gate first and walk up the path the way a buyer will. We look at what the street sees, which way the living room faces, what the hall does with the light, and what needs doing and what doesn’t. It takes about an hour, and afterwards you get a written note of what buyers will notice first.

The price conversation rests on what similar homes nearby have sold for, taken from the public records and shown to you, one by one. We won’t give you a number on the doorstep.

  • How the house sits on the street
  • Which way the living room faces
  • What the hall does with the light
  • What needs doing, and what doesn’t
Looking down a long villa hall, a half-round of late sunlight on the pine boards and doors standing open on both sides

02The hallFaces eastGetting ready

Getting the house ready Buyers slow down in the hall.

People walk a hall slowly. In the afternoon the sun comes through the fanlight and lays a half-round of light on the boards, and most of them stop in it. Before any photographer comes, we walk the house with you and write a short list: what to mend, what to paint, and what to leave exactly as it is. Nothing is done without your say, and you pay any tradespeople directly.

  1. Blinds up before anyone arrives: let the fanlight do its work.
  2. One thing on the hall table, not five.
  3. Leave the old boards alone. People love them as they are.
Getting ready Illustrative
JobDaysWho
Clear the hall table and hooks1You
Ease the sticking door1Carpenter
Two coats on the hall walls3Painter
Garden tidy2Gardener
Styling, only where it helps1Us
A villa's front room in late light, a window seat with linen cushions, a fireplace and a worn linen sofa

03The living roomNorth-west windowThe campaign

The campaign Plan the weeks around the day you want to be settled.

The campaign is the part everyone sees: the photographs, the listing written by the agent who walked the house with you, the floor plan, the board at the front fence and the launch. It runs to a plan, and the plan starts from the day you’d like to be settled.

Plan around the day I’m
Selling by
Days from contract to the keys

First walk-through 

The keys change hands 

    A typical campaign, week by week
    WeekWhat happens
    1The walk-through, and the list of what to do
    2–3Clearing, odd jobs, painting and the garden
    4Styling, a clean, then photography on a weekday
    5The listing and floor plan, and a midweek launch
    5–8Saturday and midweek inspections
    8Offers close, or the auction on a Saturday
    9The contract signed
    10Settlement booked, thirty to sixty days on

    Dates are a plan to talk about, not a promise. Public holidays are worked out for the year you pick; the government list is the final word.

    A villa kitchen with a long timber bench and a bowl of lemons, the back door open to the garden

    04The kitchenBack door to the eastInspections

    Inspections The bench is where people stop and talk.

    • Saturday, 11.15. Someone always opens the pantry.
    • Wednesday, 5.30. The kitchen light is on and the back door is open. People stay longer.
    • Saturday, 11.40. A couple stand at the bench and talk about where the table would go.

    We run every inspection ourselves: Saturdays, a midweek twilight, and private ones when you ask. We keep a sign-in sheet at the door, send you a short note the same evening on what people asked and what they noticed, and otherwise stay out of the way.

    A brick path through lavender to a timber gate, a lemon tree, and a ring of keys on a garden bench

    05The gardenEast, towards the HillsSettlement

    The sale, and the keys Offers, the contract, then thirty to sixty days to the keys.

    Private sale

    Offers by a set date, and the negotiating done in the open. Then the contract, and a cooling-off period your conveyancer explains.

    Auction

    The reserve talked through the week before, then a Saturday auction. There is no cooling-off once the hammer falls.

    Then somewhere between thirty and sixty days. We’re there in the garden when the keys change hands.

    Plan the weeks Homes we are selling

    Homes we are selling

    No addresses here and no prices. Ask, and we’ll walk you through.

    The villa's front door at dusk under its glowing fanlight

    The villa with the long hall

    A bluestone villa on the city fringe, with a hall that runs straight from the front door to a garden facing the Hills. It’s the house you just walked through.

    Four main rooms either side of the hall, a kitchen across the back and a lemon tree by the gate. Saturday inspections, and a Wednesday evening one while the light is long.

    • The hall, with late sun on the boards

      The hall

      The half-round of sun on the boards most afternoons. Then the height of the ceiling.

    • The front room and its window seat

      The living room

      The window seat and the north-west light. Then the fireplace.

    • The kitchen bench with a bowl of lemons

      The kitchen

      The long bench and the back door open to the garden. Someone always opens the pantry.

    • The brick path to the back gate

      The garden

      The lemon tree. Then the line of the Hills over the back wall.

    Ask about this home

    A sandstone and timber house among gums in the Adelaide Hills on a misty morning

    A stone house in the hills

    An old sandstone cottage with a newer timber wing, joined by the kitchen, on a gravel drive among stringybarks.

    The stone wing
    Thick walls and deep sills. Morning light comes in low across the floor, and it stays cool well into summer.
    The timber wing
    One long room under the verandah, with the gums close enough to hear.
    The kitchen
    Between the two wings, with a window onto the drive and the mist sitting in the trees most mornings.
    The verandah
    Faces north-east and holds the sun until early afternoon.

    Inspections: Saturdays, by arrangement.

    Ask about this home

    A cottage on the city fringe, still being painted

    A small brick-fronted cottage, halfway through its painting. The new colour is a pale gum green; the old cream is still on the hall side.

    We’ll photograph it once the painters have gone and the rooms have had a day to air. Until then, this is where the list stands.

    • The walk-through, and the list
    • Clearing the front room
    • Easing the back door
    • Two coats on the front rooms
    • A garden tidy
    • Photographs after the painters leave

    Ask about this home

    These homes and their rooms are drawn for this page.

    The same person at every door.

    The agent who walks up your path writes the listing, opens the door on Saturday, takes the offers and stands in the garden at settlement. You hear from them every week, and they’ll tell you plainly if now isn’t the time to sell.

    1. Gate Walks it
    2. Hall Lists it
    3. Living room Plans it
    4. Kitchen Opens it
    5. Garden Hands over

    Ask us over

    Tell us a little about the house. We’ll come to the gate.

    Private sale or auction

    A ring of old brass keys on a folded linen cloth on a garden bench

    We come to the gate first, walk up the path the way a buyer will, and leave you a written note.