After an extended period of living and working overseas, Australian ex-pats Leslie and Rob Webb decided they wanted to return home.
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However, being based in Abu Dhabi in the midst of a global pandemic, the couple had to rely on technology and research by their buyer's agent in order to select their next long-term home.
Their preference was the South Coast to be in close proximity to family.
Read more: Property Suburb in the Spotlight: Jamberoo
"We'd been looking for two years in different areas of the South Coast," Mrs Webb, 49, said.
"But we just couldn't find what we wanted.
"Or we'd spend money on conveyancing, or do the due diligence but not actually get anywhere because someone else would drop in before us. Or something would happen with the property not being what we thought it was."
The couple finally found what they were looking for in a Jamberoo property which had been on the market for well over a year.
The 100-acre property at 209 Clover Hill Road, Jamberoo sits on the slopes of Jamberoo Mountain.
The getaway recently sold for $3,508,000, after 500 days on the market.
What sealed the deal was the Webb's South Coast-based buyer's agent Matt Knight, director of Precium, conducting comprehensive walk-through videos and FaceTime inspections of the property.
Mrs Webb said they were "quite confident" about buying a home sight unseen.
"We've purchased this way before," Mrs Webb said.
She said at the time they were living in Australia but purchased in another Australian city, with the buyer's agent showing the property on video.
"I saw the Jamberoo property before, but just online, four or five months beforehand.
"When our buyer's agent went through it, he showed us video of every single room, showed us the outside extensively, and just really showed us what the property was about. Those on-site videos really gave us a clear understanding of the property and what we were buying."
The couple sold their home in Hunters Hill earlier this year.
The Webbs eventually plan on returning to Australia and moving into their new home.
The property features wildlife, waterfalls, creeks and walking tracks.
According to CoreLogic, it previously sold in late 2016 for $2,700,000.
Mr Knight described the property as a "diamond in the rough, because the jungle had overgrown the property and made it much less presentable than it needed to be".
"I think a lot of buyers overlooked the property, because of how the overgrown gardens made it present," Mr Knight said.
"As a buyer's agent, it presented an opportunity to secure a quality asset, as long as the buyer had the willingness to roll up their sleeves and do the work, to help the property realise its potential."
Selling agent, Scott Douglas from Raine & Horne Kiama said the home had been owned by a Chinese-based seller, who typically visited the home for about a month each year.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic meant the home hadn't been lived in for two years.
Therefore, Mr Douglas said the sellers had only had three months' personal use in the nearly five years of ownership.
He said the sale had been a difficult one, as while finding the right buyer had been a lengthy process, the sellers had also taken some time to meet the market.
"You had kangaroos on the front lawn and up near the front door, wombats, echidnas," he said. "The rainforest had engulfed the property, as there had been no upkeep in the past two years."
However, he said it was a "magnificent" home, that was "more like a retreat in the rainforest".
Read more: Property Suburb in the Spotlight: Woonona
Mr Knight said a significant percentage of his work at the moment was inspecting homes for clients in lockdown in other parts of Australia.
"But I've always had some overseas, Aussie ex-pat clients, and people who were unable to travel to see properties due to distance or time," he said.
"The volume of Aussie ex-pats wanting to come home has gone up since the pandemic.
"I've had clients from South-East Asia, the UK and Middle East who have wanted to come home because COVID made things difficult there last year.
"They saw Australia as a bit of a safe haven, and made the decision to purchase on the South Coast."