Open this photo in gallery Handout

535 Nicola St., No. 505, Vancouver

Listing price: $3.680-million

Selling price: $3.4-million

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Previous selling price: $417,890 (1999)

Days on market: 35

Taxes: $9,209.03

Maintenance fee: $1,444.16

Buyer’s agent: Ian Watt, Sutton WestCoast Realty

What they got

Open this photo in gallery The unit's large patio overlooks the Coal Harbour marina. Handout

The unit is large, at 2,237 sqare feet, with a 1,400-square-foot patio overlooking Coal Harbour marina. It is an updated corner unit in a 1997 building with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a foyer and pantry, wide oak plank floors, walk-in closets, built-in cabinetry and contemporary gas fireplace and high-end kitchen appliances.

The action

Buyer’s agent Ian Watt says his clients were moving from another Coal Harbour condo. They planned to move into the new unit with their adult daughter. They wrote an offer on the fifth day of the listing that was in the ballpark, but got rejected. No counter offer was made. A month later, the seller’s agent asked if they’d like to offer again. They offered $3.4-million and it was accepted, Mr. Watt says.

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The condo market has picked up, he says, even at the luxury end. “A lot of people have realized that it’s not getting any cheaper, and now they are jumping in, because they’re like, ‘Uh oh, I missed the bottom.’”

The agent’s take

Open this photo in gallery The unit features high-end kitchen appliances. Handout

The buyers wanted a unit with a lot of outdoor space, which is hard to find, Mr. Watt says. If the unit had come onto the market a couple of years ago, it would have sold for upward of $3.9-million.

An unusual twist, he says, is that the seller tried to sell the buyers his mattress. “They said, ‘I don’t think so. We just paid $3.4-million, why would we want your old mattress?’”

The sale closed Oct. 21.

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