When 96 Kirrak Road hit the market in late January 2026, most agents would have predicted a 3-4 month campaign. Located in Wonthaggi rather than the more sought-after coastal pockets of Inverloch or Cape Paterson, this five-bedroom family home on 5 acres (approx. 2 hectares) faced the same challenge confronting every Bass Coast acreage property: how do you reach serious young families looking for space and lifestyle?

The Wonthaggi Acreage Challenge: Location, Buyers, and Time

96 Kirrak Road is exactly the type of property families looking to upgrade to acreage dream about. Five generous bedrooms. Multiple living areas. A 5 acres (approx. 2 hectares) block offering space, privacy, and the lifestyle freedom that's impossible to achieve in suburban Melbourne. Established gardens. Room for the caravan, boat, and workshop. Everything a family relocating to the Bass Coast could want.

But here's the challenge every Wonthaggi agent knows: you're competing with Inverloch's beach proximity and Cape Paterson's coastal lifestyle cachet. When young families start researching the Bass Coast region, they typically search for "Inverloch real estate," "Cape Paterson houses for sale," or "beachside properties Bass Coast." Wonthaggi often gets overlooked despite offering significantly better value and larger land parcels.

The vendor needed two things traditional real estate marketing struggles to deliver:

First, reach. Not just local browsers or tyre-kickers, but qualified young families with genuine purchasing capacity who understood the value proposition of Wonthaggi acreage living.

Second, speed. In a market where comparable rural residential properties across Gippsland were taking 115+ days to sell, sitting on the market for months wasn't an option. Every week a property languishes creates downward price pressure and buyer hesitation.

The traditional approach—list on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au, run a few Facebook ads, maybe some local newspaper advertising—wasn't going to cut it. We needed a fundamentally different strategy.

The Digital-First Strategy: Why Social Marketing Outperforms Traditional Portals

Rather than relying on passive portal advertising and hoping the right buyers stumbled across the listing, we deployed Inverloch @realty's proprietary "social engine"—a multi-platform digital marketing system designed specifically to reach and engage Bass Coast property buyers wherever they spend their time online.

Here's what made it work:

1. A Bespoke Property Website That Converts Browsers to Buyers



Before spending a dollar on advertising, we created 96kirrak.com—a dedicated, SEO-optimised website featuring professional photography by our in-house 3996Studio, comprehensive videography, and an immersive 3D tour that allowed young families to thoroughly inspect every room, storage area, and outdoor space without leaving their homes.

Why does this matter? Because serious buyers won't make the trip for an inspection unless they're confident the property genuinely meets their needs. The bespoke website received 6,393 visits compared to 2,842 views on the realestate.com.au listing—a 2.25x advantage. More importantly, visitors spent significantly longer engaging with the property, and they spent an average of 4-5 minutes engaging with the content compared to under 60 seconds on portal listings.

2. Precision-Targeted Social Media Reaching 181,000 Bass Coast Buyers

Leveraging Inverloch @realty's 30,000+ organic social media following built over years of consistent local content creation, we deployed paid advertising campaigns across Facebook and Instagram targeting:



• young families aged 30-50 who'd previously engaged with Bass Coast, Gippsland, or sea-change content
• People who'd recently searched for "Inverloch real estate," "Wonthaggi properties," "Cape Paterson houses," or "Bass Coast acreage"
• Families currently in suburban homes seeking more space and land
• Followers of lifestyle, rural living, and sustainable property pages

The campaign reached 181,000 people—7.2x more than the realestate.com.au "campaign exposure" metric of 25,163. But reach alone doesn't sell properties. Engagement does.

The targeted social campaigns generated 591 qualified enquiries—people who provided their contact details, asked specific questions about the property, and demonstrated genuine interest. In contrast, the realestate.com.au listing generated just 7 actual enquiries (via email). The portal also showed 17 "phone & SMS reveals"—but as we'll explain below, this is a misleading metric that doesn't represent actual buyer contact.

3. Professional Visual Content That Commands Attention

Here's a critical insight most agents miss: quality matters more than quantity when it comes to property marketing.

The 96 Kirrak Road listing featured:

• 40+ professional photographs showcasing every angle of the home, land, and lifestyle opportunity
• A 2-minute cinematic property video highlighting the home's flow, natural light, and acreage setting
• A complete 3D virtual tour allowing buyers to "walk through" at their own pace
• Aerial drone photography contextualising the property's location and privacy

The data proves buyers demand this level of visual content:

• 105,104 photo views on the realestate.com.au listing
• 5,189 floorplan views
• 230 3D tour engagements
• 553 map expansions (buyers checking proximity to beaches, schools, shopping)

young families researching Bass Coast properties won't even consider inspecting a home without comprehensive visual documentation. If your listing has 10 mediocre iPhone photos and a basic description, you've already lost 90% of potential buyers before they even consider attending an open home.

4. Openn Offers Platform: Transparent Digital Competition

Here's where the strategy diverged most dramatically from traditional approaches.

Rather than managing offers through phone calls, emails, and private negotiations behind closed doors, we used the Openn Offers platform—an online private treaty system that brings complete transparency to the sales process.

Every interested buyer had to qualify and be approved before they could submit an offer through the platform. Once approved, they could:

• Submit their offer digitally through the Openn app
• See exactly how many other qualified buyers were competing (10 registered buyers visible to all participants)
• Track the negotiation in real-time from their devices
• Receive notifications when other buyers improved their positions
• Participate in the final offer stage under a countdown timer

This created unprecedented competitive tension. When buyers logged into the Openn platform and saw they were competing against 9 other qualified, approved buyers—all able to improve their offers at any time—they understood immediately this wasn't a property they could lowball or "think about for a few weeks."

The platform's transparency meant every buyer could see the competition was real. No wondering if other "offers" were genuine. No agents playing buyers off against phantom competition. Just clear, verifiable evidence of 10 qualified families all wanting the same property.



When we triggered the Final Offer Stage, the platform's countdown timer created urgency. Every time a buyer improved their price, the clock reset—giving others the opportunity to respond. This drove the 42 competing offers that ultimately delivered the $1,310,000 result.

The Results: 42 Competing Offers and a 16-Day Sale

The first open home drew 50 inspection groups. Traffic was backed up to the Bass Highway as young families converged on Wonthaggi. Several groups had driven from across the region and beyond—families ready to upgrade from suburban living to acreage lifestyle.

By the close of the first weekend, 10 buyers had registered as qualified purchasers. Each had demonstrated financial capacity. Each had inspected thoroughly. Each wanted the property.

Rather than waiting weeks for interest to potentially wane or for one buyer to "think about it," we triggered the Openn Offers Final Offer Stage—inviting all qualified buyers to compete digitally through the platform under a countdown timer. The response was unprecedented for a Wonthaggi acreage property:

42 competing offers flooded in over 48 hours.

The transparent offer management process allowed all parties to compete on a level playing field, with buyers able to improve their positions through multiple rounds. The competitive environment drove the final sale price to $1,310,000—a result that exceeded the vendor's expectations and left nine disappointed but genuinely interested buyers who simply couldn't secure the property despite being qualified and ready to proceed.

Total time on market: 16 days.



For context, comparable rural residential properties across the Bass Coast region were averaging 115+ days on market during the same period. We achieved an 86% reduction in selling time whilst maximising price through genuine buyer competition.

The Data That Exposes Traditional Portal Marketing's Limitations

Let's be honest about what the numbers reveal. Here's the complete performance comparison:

Of the 50 groups who inspected 96 Kirrak Road at the first open home, fewer than 15% came from realestate.com.au enquiries. The overwhelming majority—85%+—were generated through our targeted social media campaigns and the bespoke property website.

This pattern isn't unique to this property. It's consistent across Inverloch @realty's entire portfolio and represents a fundamental challenge to the traditional portal-dependent real estate model.

The Phone/SMS "Reveal" Scam You Need to Understand

Real estate portals prominently display "Phone & SMS reveal" counts—17 for this property—as evidence of strong buyer engagement. Here's what they don't tell you: this metric counts every time someone clicks to reveal your phone number, not actual phone calls received.

Who clicks to reveal phone numbers?

• Competing agents checking your listing
• Nosy neighbours seeing what it's listed for
• Price-checking browsers with no intention of buying
• People comparing your property to others without genuine interest
• 
  

Of the 17 "phone & SMS reveals" on the 96 Kirrak Road listing, we received perhaps 3-4 actual phone calls from realestate.com.au sources. In contrast, the 591 enquiries from social marketing represent actual conversations with interested buyers who provided their details and engaged directly with our team.

The Traditional Agent Marketing "Strategy": Portals and Window Cards

Here's an uncomfortable truth about most real estate agents in the Bass Coast region: they have no marketing strategy beyond paying for portal listings and putting a card in the shop window.

Walk into most traditional real estate offices in Wonthaggi, Inverloch, or Cape Paterson and ask them about their marketing plan for your property. You'll hear the same script:

• "We'll list it on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au"
• "We'll put a sign out the front just advertising our business"
• "We'll put a card in our window"
• "We'll hold open homes on Saturday"
• "We'll email it to our database"

That's it. That's the entire strategy.

No targeted social media campaigns. Most can barely manage their agency Facebook page, let alone run sophisticated audience targeting that reaches 181,000 qualified buyers.

No bespoke property websites. You'll get a generic template on the portals and maybe a page on their agency website buried amongst hundreds of other listings.

No professional videography or 3D tours. You might get a franchise photographer at your property for 20 minutes to take a dozen photos of your most expensive asset, but comprehensive visual marketing? Forget it.

No proprietary buyer databases or social audiences. They're entirely dependent on whoever happens to browse the portals that day.

The traditional model is simple: pay realestate.com.au and domain.com.au thousands of dollars in advertising fees, hope the right buyer sees your listing amongst thousands of others, and wait for enquiries to trickle in.

When that doesn't work fast enough, they'll suggest a price reduction. Because if passive portal advertising isn't generating enquiries, the property must be overpriced—right?

This is why some acreage properties in the Bass Coast region sit on the market for years with traditional agents. Not because they're overpriced. Not because there aren't buyers. But because the marketing isn't reaching the buyers who exist.

The 96 Kirrak Road campaign proved this definitively. The property generated:

• 591 enquiries from targeted digital marketing
• 7 enquiries from realestate.com.au (84.4x fewer)
• 50 inspection groups at the first open home (traffic backed up to the Bass Highway)
• 85%+ of buyers came from social marketing, not portals

If we'd relied on traditional portal-dependent marketing like most local agents, we would have had 7 people inspect the property over several weeks, received perhaps one or two conditional offers, and been pressuring the vendor to drop the price by week three.

Instead, we created a competitive environment with 10 qualified buyers fighting through 42 offers to secure the property in 16 days at $1,310,000.

The difference isn't the property. It's the marketing.

What This Means for Bass Coast Property Sellers

If you own acreage, rural residential, or lifestyle property in Wonthaggi, Inverloch, Cape Paterson, Wonthaggi or anywhere across the Bass Coast region, the 96 Kirrak Road campaign demonstrates several critical lessons:

1. Professional Marketing Is Non-Negotiable

The days of selling rural properties with a few smartphone photos and a basic description are over. Families upgrading to larger properties expect—and demand—professional photography, videography, 3D tours, and comprehensive visual documentation before they'll commit to making the drive for an inspection.

The photo views, floor plan engagements, and 230 3D tour interactions on this listing prove that buyers are doing extensive online research before shortlisting properties to inspect in person.

2. Social Marketing Delivers Superior Buyer Reach and Engagement



For this campaign, targeted social media advertising delivered 84.4x more actual enquiries than realestate.com.au. While portal listings remain part of the marketing mix (particularly for SEO and brand credibility), they're no longer the primary driver of qualified buyer engagement for Bass Coast properties.

The ability to target specific demographics, interests, and behaviours through social advertising creates massive efficiencies. Why pay for broad "exposure" to people who'll never buy when you can precisely target families actively researching acreage lifestyle opportunities in Gippsland?

3. Bespoke Websites Convert Interest into Action

The 96kirrak.com bespoke website received 2.25x more traffic than the portal listing, with visitors spending significantly more time engaging with the content. More importantly, the website allowed us to capture visitor data, retarget interested browsers, and build a qualified buyer database for future Bass Coast listings.

4. Openn Offers Platform Creates Transparent Competition

Managing 42 competing offers from 10 qualified buyers through the Openn Offers platform created genuine price competition that simply doesn't exist in traditional "one buyer at a time" negotiations. The platform's transparency—where all buyers could see the real competition in real-time—eliminated the scepticism and hesitation that undermines traditional private treaty sales. This level of verified buyer engagement is only achievable through digital platforms combined with targeted marketing that reaches serious purchasers en masse.

5. Speed Matters

Every week a property sits on the market creates downward price pressure. Buyers wonder "what's wrong with it?" The vendor becomes anxious. Price reductions get discussed. The 16-day sale eliminated all of that whilst maximising competition and price.

The Bass Coast Acreage Market Opportunity

Here's the critical market dynamic this sale exposed: there aren't enough quality acreage properties in the Bass Coast region to meet buyer demand from young families.

Nine qualified buyers missed out on 96 Kirrak Road despite being ready, willing, and financially able to purchase. These weren't tyre-kickers or time-wasters—they were serious purchasers who.d secured their finances, secured finance pre-approval, and actively inspected multiple Bass Coast properties over recent months.

They're still looking. So are hundreds of other families researching acreage lifestyle opportunities in Inverloch, Wonthaggi, Cape Paterson, and surrounding areas.

If you own rural residential property on 4,000m² or more in the Bass Coast region, there's a proven pool of qualified buyers actively seeking what you have. The challenge isn't finding buyers—it's reaching them effectively and creating the competitive environment that maximises your sale price.

Why Digital Innovation Beats Traditional Real Estate

The 96 Kirrak Road sale wasn't an anomaly. It's the result of a fundamental shift in how property buyers conduct their research and make purchasing decisions.

Traditional real estate agencies built their businesses around portal dominance. List on realestate.com.au, run some newspaper ads, hold open homes, wait for buyers to appear. That model worked when portals had a genuine monopoly on buyer attention.

But in 2026, buyers spend more time on social media than on real estate portals. They research suburbs on Instagram. They join Facebook groups about sea-change living. They watch YouTube videos about Bass Coast lifestyle. They consume content from trusted local sources—like our Inverloch3996 social media presence with its 30,000+ followers—rather than scrolling through generic portal listings.

Inverloch @realty's digital-first approach leverages this behaviour shift. Our proprietary social engine, professional in-house marketing capabilities through 3996Studio, and deep Bass Coast market knowledge combine to deliver what traditional agencies can't: massive reach to precisely targeted buyers, driving faster sales at better prices.

With back-to-back RateMyAgent Agent of the Year awards and a 91.9% list-to-sale accuracy rate, our track record speaks for itself.

Ready to Achieve a Similar Result?

If you're considering selling acreage, rural residential, or lifestyle property in Wonthaggi, Inverloch, Cape Paterson, Venus Bay, or anywhere across the Bass Coast region, the question isn't whether you'll attract buyer interest—it's whether you'll reach enough qualified buyers to create the competitive environment that maximises your price.

The 96 Kirrak Road campaign proves that with the right digital marketing strategy, professional visual content, and targeted buyer reach, exceptional results are achievable even for properties outside the premium coastal pockets.

Want to discuss how a similar targeted campaign could work for your property?

Contact Leo Edwards at Inverloch @realty on 0472 523 445 or leo@atrealty.com.au.