102-year-old Elaine Keesing and her late husband built their three-bedroom Perth home for about $3,080 in 1956 on land that cost £50-£100; after 70 years, she sells it and prepares for aged care

Elaine Keesing is saying goodbye to the only home she has ever owned, seven decades after she and her late husband built the three-bedroom property for about $3,080. Now 102, the Perth centenarian has sold the Salter Point home after living there since 1956 and is preparing to move into aged care.Keesing recently sold the house in Salter Point, a suburb of Perth, Australia, according to real estate website Domain. She and her husband bought a vacant block and built the home themselves after the Second World War, when they had been living in far more modest conditions.In a video interview with PerthNow, Keesing recalled how special it was to finally have a home of their own.“We built the house. We bought a vacant block,” she said, recalling that the land cost between £50 and £100 at the time.“After the war, we’d only lived like in a room virtually,” Keesing said. “And it was just so lovely to come to a home where you had your own bathroom and a lot of space.”She described the neighborhood in those early years as being almost like a country town, where families knew one another and their children attended kindergarten and school together.Home attracted buyers within two weeksKeesing has not publicly disclosed how much she received from the sale. However, Domain reported that the most recent home to sell in the same neighborhood fetched about $2.4 million.The property attracted several interested buyers and went under contract just two weeks after being listed.“The selling process itself was quite straightforward, and we completed it just before the recent downturn in prices,” Keesing told Domain.However, clearing out seven decades of memories proved far more difficult.“The most challenging part was having only three weeks to clear out 70 years’ worth of mementos, papers, family history and furniture,” she said.“It was a bit of a nightmare for my family, but they managed it in the end,” she added.‘I accept that there comes a time to move on’While leaving the house is understandably emotional, Keesing said she has accepted that it is time for the next chapter of her life.“I am a practical person, and I accept that there comes a time to move on,” she explained. “This next chapter will give me a little more support and will also give more freedom to the family who have cared for me so wonderfully over the years.”She said one of the things she would miss most was the garden surrounding the property.“I will miss the large garden surrounding the house,” Keesing said. “It has been a constant pleasure, changing with the years and with every season.”In her PerthNow interview, she also reflected on the memories created inside the house, particularly in the family room, where her grandchildren would gather around the fireplace during winter.“That was their place,” she recalled, describing how her grandchildren would sit together near the step.Her secret to longevity? Eggs and brandyKeesing’s age and independence have made the sale particularly memorable for the real estate agent who handled it.Cristina Spinella of Ray White South Perth told Domain that working with the centenarian was one of the most memorable sales of her career.“When I met Elaine, I couldn’t believe how sharp she was,” Spinella said. “She went into it with a level of confidence, saying she was going to become a multimillionaire. And she was determined to sign the contract herself.”Spinella also asked Keesing about her secret to living such a long life. Her answer was characteristically simple.“I drink brandy and dry every day at 5pm and every day I eat two eggs on toast,” Keesing told her.In the PerthNow interview, Keesing similarly joked that her routine involved a poached egg in the morning and a brandy at 5pm.Keesing hopes the next owners create happy memoriesDespite leaving behind the house where she spent 70 years, Keesing said she hopes its next owners will experience the same happiness she and her family did.“I just hope they have as happier a time as what we had in the house,” she said. “And I hope they get a lot of pleasure from it.”“I can only think of people being happy here,” she added.After seven decades in the same place, Keesing is now moving forward with gratitude for the life she built there, and with the hope that the home will continue to create memories for its next family.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.