The property dates to 1846, the bluestone house to the 1860s. Before soldier settlement cut it up, this was the largest sheep station in Victoria, and one family held it for 127 years. The homestead, the woolshed, the shearers’ quarters, the stables, the formal gardens on Warrambine Creek – all heritage-listed, all intact.
The owner had held Barunah a long time, and was ready to sell. Privately, and done properly.
The trouble with a house like this is the buyer pool. Ten bedrooms of bluestone, seventy-five minutes from Melbourne, a garden that needs a full-time hand. Very few people want to live in that. More could see what else it might be – if someone showed them.
Strategy
Sold as a house, Barunah is a heritage obligation with a big maintenance bill and a very particular buyer.
The owner had already given me the brief without meaning to: at its best when it’s full of people having a good time.
So the job was to turn a private residence into a going concern before a buyer ever saw it. Fill the place, prove it works, and hand the agent a business with a story instead of a floorplan.
Action
The owner and I did a detailed review of the venue’s history, what he wanted from the sale, the timing, how private it needed to stay, and what he was prepared to do to make it happen.
Then I filled the house. A staged birthday weekend at Barunah with real guests – the long table in the dining room, tennis under lights, the pool, the woolshed and the history. I also directed a photographer so we had all the assets required to enable a buyer to see it alive rather than imagined.
Next, I built a full website for Barunah Plains as a venue – weddings, family events, accommodation, rates – written and photographed as if it had been trading for years. Why book a venue, when you can book a mansion?
Outcome
Barunah Plains sold for a significant sum of millions.
Since then, the new owners have invested in the homestead, farm and outbuildings, and Barunah now runs as one of the most sought-after wedding and events venues in Victoria – receptions in the bluestone woolshed, guests in the homestead and the shearers’ quarters, marquees on the lawn above the creek. Over New Year it hosts one of the country’s larger music festivals.
If you’re holding an asset that could be worth more as a business – I can help you find the inflection point, and direct the choices that get you there.
