What it's like to sell the family home after more than 30 years

With inner-city property prices tempting owners to sell valuable land, it’s increasingly rare to find a metropolitan home held by the same family for more than 30 years.

Research conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics depicts Australians as frequent movers, with 43 per cent of those aged 15 years and over having moved house in the last five years. Of this group, 46 per cent have moved once, 19 per cent have moved twice, 17 per cent three times, eight per cent four times, and 11 per cent have moved five times or more.

The O’Rourke family is a remarkable exception to this social trend, having owned their Randwick home since 1923.

“It has been well maintained and is a testament to the quality building of the 1920s,” Virginia O’Rourke says.

Having hit the market for the first time in 93 years, the house, brimming with original features, sold at auction on Tuesday. 

O’Rourke hopes the new owners will cherish and value the California bungalow-style property as much as her own family have. 

“This house was far more than a residence… [Selling] is the end of an era,” she says.

“We hope it will remain a residence, much-loved, and provide the new owners with a wonderful future that several generations of our family enjoyed.”

In nearby Clovelly, Carolyn and Warren Matthews recently said goodbye to their childhood home.

“I lived there for 35 years until I was married, and Warren 43 years, so all our childhood lives and some of our adult years,” Carolyn Matthews says.

The home was originally purchased by the siblings’ great grandmother who had moved from the country NSW town, Griffith.

“Griffith had started to change and she thought Clovelly with the beaches and parks was a good place for them [her children] to develop and get a good start in building their lives,” Matthews says.

The character-filled double-brick home today serves as a historical reminder of the suburb’s roots.

“Clovelly was historically known as ‘poverty point’ and has certainly transformed itself over time to the boutique suburb it is today,” Matthews says.

“Now, the street is jammed with cars so playing in the way we did (with the freedom of space, free from the fear of traffic) is not possible. I guess these are the costs of Clovelly becoming a popular suburb.”

Having lived in the house for decades, Matthews feels in “shock” to now be moving on from the property.

“The home was my great grandmother’s, so it seemed to me that it would [always] stay with the family, especially given our very close relationship to the house,” she says.

“So while I did marry and move on, something inside [me] thought the house would always be there.”

Costa Vrisakis and his wife are selling their esteemed property ‘Listowel’ as they prepare to downsize.

The five-bedroom, four-bathroom home at 327 Edgecliff Road, Woollahra is valued at over $16 million – significantly more than the $1.5 million it was purchased for in 1981.

“We put in a pool, a tennis court, added on a rumpus room – we did a lot,” Vrisakis says. 

Vrisakis’ favourite pastime has been forming friendships with neighbours, many of whom also had young children.

“Next door was a doctor and his wife who had nine children, below them was Carla Zampatti who had three children…There were about 17 children in the five homes [surrounding us],” he says.

With the couple’s own children now moved out of home, Vrisakis and his wife are relocating to a smaller property but will remain in their beloved suburb.

“We like the area so much. You’re five minutes to Double Bay shops, three to five minutes to Bondi Junction shops and theatres, 10-to-12 minutes to Bondi Beach and the train line is a 10-minute walk away and that takes you right into the city,” Vrisakis says.

Chris and Jan Seage have lived in their family home at 6 Helvetia Avenue, Berowra for 31 years.

“When the agent sold us our house he said, ‘See you in 10 years when the kids get older and you want a bigger house,’ – but we never left. We were proud of how we improved the property over the years and the kids absolutely didn’t want to leave,” Chris Seage says.

“In the end we could have moved, but the reasons just weren’t there.”

The evolving suburb is located about 38 kilometres north of the Sydney CBD.

“Berowra has changed over the years. The most significant would be the building of the M1 freeway that cut time getting in and out of Berowra to Sydney and the central coast,” Seage says.  

With their children (now 26 and 23 years of age) both moving out of home, the couple are looking to downsize on the NSW Central Coast.

“We have loved living here. This is where we raised our young family and obviously there are many happy memories,” Seage says.

The Melbourne home of Anne Carlisle has hit the market for the first time in 32 years.

The property at 400 Glenferrie Road, Kooyong was purchased by Carlisle and her late husband in 1984, with Carlisle eventually using the property as a bed and breakfast following the children moving out of home.

“It was ideal as there is plenty of room to have two zoned areas… I had much pleasure in meeting my guests over the years and sharing my home with them, especially the brides who prepared for their weddings and left from here,” Carlisle says.

“It has been the most wonderful family home in which to raise a family and numerous dogs over the years and now my grandchildren enjoy playing in the garden.”

One couple who hasn’t been tempted to sell their prized city land is George and Georgina Anastasios of Brisbane’s West End.

West End has changed dramatically since the couple first moved in almost 50 years ago, having recently becoming a hotspot for multi-residential development.

“I didn’t really want this house, but my father said we had to buy something, so we bought this,” Georgina Anastasios says.

“But I’m glad we did… It was a nice neighbourhood and a lot of the Greeks had settled in this area.”

Despite the increasing value of land in the area, the couple have never considered selling, instead choosing to embrace West End’s changing demographics.

“We love where we live… It used to be known as little Greece but now it’s very much multicultural, which is good. There are a lot of high rises and units now within the area.”

My husband loves to walk to central West End to meet his friends for coffee – it’s part of his daily routine.”