200 sales in Cook, and Phyllis is more in love with the suburb than ever

“I’d be better off doing this myself.”

This is what Phyllis Tidmarsh told herself after appointing a sales agent to sell her bed-and-breakfast lodge in Jindabyne in 2007. Phyllis, her husband Rodney and son Nathan were trading the alpine lifestyle for the capital, and were selling up before making the big move.

But the sales agent they’d chosen wasn’t up to Phyllis’s unrelenting high standards.

She ditched the traditional sales model and decided to sell privately. Her work as an executive assistant in Thredbo for over three decades meant she had an eye for detail, was super organised and could liaise with people at all levels. And if anyone knew the magnificent lifestyle that came from living in the mountains - and the hard work that came from owning and running a bed-and-breakfast - Phyllis did. It was, however, time to make the move. 

“I reached out and I did my own marketing. I got a free editorial through one of the big Sydney papers and I thought, wow, this is pretty cool,” she says.

So cool in fact that when she returned to Canberra with her family she went straight to work as an EA to Troy Reddick at Elders Real Estate. She was in her element: meeting new people, reconnecting with old friends and getting to intimately understand the workings of the real estate industry in the nation's capital.

Elders was eventually bought out by Ray White, with Phyllis transitioning into a longed-for role in sales: showing buyers through properties in the suburb she had come to know best, and where she lives.

Phyllis’s love affair with the 2614 postcode had commenced. Today, she is one of Ray White's Elite Agents and has sold more than 200 homes across the 55-year-old suburb, ranging from two bedroom townhouses through to six-bedroom mansions. She currently holds the suburb record for Cook, with a home on Booth Crescent selling for $2.25 million.

Bussell, Skinner and Booth are the three most sought-after streets in Cook, Phyllis says, but no matter where you buy, you’re embraced by a wonderful 2614 family.

“Cook has this gorgeous sense of community and you hear people say it all the time,” Phyllis says.

“One of the first questions I ask buyers as they walk into one of my open homes is, do you know the area? And if they’re new to Cook, it’s so exciting.”

She rarely ventures beyond the suburb’s shops for anything, she says, including a daily coffee at Little Oink, Aqua Hair to get her hair done, The Cook Grocer for shopping and To All My Friends for a pizza and craft beer or gin.

“It’s an absolutely buzzing area,” Phyllis says. “I get a wave from everyone as I walk past.”

And when it comes to describing her selling style, and why she’s been so successful in Cook, Phyllis says: “What you see is what you get."

“There's no glitz and glamour with me," she says.

"I'd like to think I've got the upper hand walking into a presentation because of my high energy level, 15 years of experience, authenticity, and empathy towards both buyers and sellers.

“I'm a local, I genuinely love the suburb and surroundings, and I think people can feel that.”