The arrival of such a preeminent property to the market is normally accompanied by much pomp and … [+]
Lights. Camera. No action.
When Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond first approached the team at Forbes Global Properties to list his estate in Sydney in late 2023, he came with a list of non-negotiables.
All five people in the selling team would be bound by an iron-clad non-disclosure agreement. There would be no online listings on real estate websites. Throw in that you can’t reveal where any prospective owner might be sleeping at night. Then the kicker. No photography or videography of the interior living quarters.
With a sticker price of over AU $200 million (US $134 million), the mansion named Wingadal stands poised to shatter the record for Australia’s priciest home sale.
Marketing a property of this caliber comes with multiple challenges. You might think that to find the right buyer, surely you need to generate buzz. But for listing agent Ken Jacobs, a Forbes Global Properties Director with decades of experience transacting high-profile listings, John Symond’s stipulations were anything but a shock. “The higher the value, the less coverage owners want,” says Jacobs.
The allure of Wingadal is at once utterly apparent yet enigmatic. This paradox is by design.
Jacob’s colleague and lynchpin marketer at Private Properties Global in Sydney, Tracey Atkins, said the vast majority of Sydney locals likely recognize the estate. No wonder. It spans 2,767 square meters (28,804 square feet) over four stories across 98 meters (320 feet) of water frontage.
Symonds is philanthropy personified, and Wingadal has hosted many functions. Yet comparatively few outsiders have really seen inside the home. For the sake of privacy per se—and in anticipation of passing ownership to another—Symonds wanted to protect the privacy of the home during the period of sale.
Under such strictures, creativity must beckon for marketers.
The making of the film
It’s three days before the May 1, 2024 launch. Atkins is editing the marketing film herself at her home office under the quiet cloak of night. Under the strict NDA, even her husband is kept in the dark, none the wiser.
How do you market a property when you can’t show the bulk of it? And only five people in the world know about the upcoming listing? Cue real estate’s favorite motto: location, location, location.
Through a variety of angles, drone footage of the home’s exterior establishes the picture and provides a sense of location and scale for the viewer. With a cut to vistas towards the Sydney Harbour, Opera House and Harbour Bridge, Atkins begins her narration against a gentle backdrop of birdsong. Eventually, ultra-discreet close-ups of Symond’s art collection give us a taste of the taste of the interiors.
“There’s an artwork that hangs in the foyer of John Symond’s magnificent home, inscribed with the words his mother, Joyce, told him as a young man. ‘Johnny, in life think big, really really big. And then double it again.’ With Wingadal, her son went on to do just that.”
Opening the scene with a personal family story was a deliberate decision. “Since it was built, Wingadal has been the subject of endless comments about its size, style and cost. I wanted to flip the narrative, to humanize,” said Atkins, “because there are genuine stories to tell.”
While potential purchasers can’t see directly into the property’s six bedrooms from the released media film, here’s what you can see: a marble-clad dining area, an entertainment floor with 6,200 acoustically engineered rods facilitating a state-of-the-art sound system, multiple balconies and outdoor seating decks. A 22-seat movie theater, swimming pool, 2,500-bottle wine cellar, all-floors elevator, plus two commercial kitchens.
Designed by award-winning architect Alec Tzannes, the property took eight years to build. This marks the first time it’s come on the market.
Absolute privacy doesn’t come free. Listed for AU $200 million, the Point Piper mansion is set to be … [+]
Finding the right buyer
At over AU $200 million, the sale would comfortably eclipse the current house record in Australia set by Scott Farquhar. The co-founder of software company Atlassian spent AU $130 million (US $87.2 million) for a mansion in the same neighborhood last year.
Few may be the contenders for purchase, but the film has amassed over 29,380 views already since its May 1 release on YouTube. “Uptake unbelievable,” said Atkins. News of the listing fired major local and global news publications. No surprise that interest originates mainly from international billionaires.
So, in the end. Have the limits inflicted on the usual sales mechanisms by property owner John Symonds restricted the eventual possibilities? Ken Jacobs gives us the answer. “A house like this creates its own buyer.”
Forbes Global Properties is a director member of the invitation-only network of top-tier brokerages worldwide—the exclusive real estate partner of Forbes.
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Source: www.forbes.com