They did what they were told to do. Two units, one held in each of their names, bought to build a position. About $3.1m between them, and on paper it looked like progress.

It was not. Both projects had fallen behind their own areas, and the layouts were not what the next buyer in that price range wanted. The strategy was fine. The two assets inside it were not.

We ran the four checks on both. Then we walked them through what asset progression is actually for, and where resale and new launch really differ. Not as an argument to move, just the reasoning laid out so they could see it themselves. They saw it. The decision was theirs.

Then the slow part. Pricing both units against what was actually transacting. Timing the listings so they were not competing with each other. Holding firm where the market gave us room. Both sold, and they realised about $1m in combined profit that would otherwise have stayed as paper gains forever.

For the next one we started with the family, not the budget. How much space they actually needed, and for how long. That pointed at a bigger unit, and we bought it at $3.37m, under what comparable units in that project were doing.

Two years on it is valued around $4m. About $600k above their entry, in a home they can hold through the next cycle instead of hoping through it.

The $3.1m, the $1m realised, the $3.37m entry and the $4m valuation are their own numbers. The $600k is today's valuation against entry, not money realised, and valuations move.