PHOTO: Judi O’Dea
According to realestate.com.au 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.
Judi O’Dea at her home in Brisbane, where two recent clients have lived while finding a new home. Picture: Supplied
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.
The Paddington home Judi sold before the vendors came to live with her for three months. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold
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.”
