Quirky cottage to go under hammer
AN original part of a quirky brick and weatherboard house could become the genesis of a new home in Geelong West.
The unique house on a pocket-sized block at 13 Gertrude St has created a stir among prospective buyers ahead of an auction tomorrow.
Price hopes for the threebedroom house on the 286sq m block are $350,000 to $380,000.
The house combines a flat roofed, brick veneer extension at the front with two bedrooms, a long kitchen and bathroom in the original part of the house. McGrath, Geelong agent Will Ainsworth said the property was great entrylevel buying at that price range.
“To get into Geelong West, people are happy to buy some- thing of that calibre and live in it.”
But Mr Ainsworth said a number of builders and speculative renovators, including several architects, had looked at it.
The house is within the Pineville heritage precinct, though Mr Ainsworth said he believed the white painted brick section in the middle of the house would have to be retained.
“That’s the original part of the dwelling, which I’m pretty sure needs to remain there and people would need to renovate around it, or use that as a shell.
“When I first looked at it, I thought land value, that’s it,” Mr Ainsworth said.
“But people in Geelong West can create something out of nothing, and this is nothing.
“There’s been some architects that have looked at it and say they can do something with this. “I really do hope, for Geelong West’s sake, that someone does something really cool with it.”
Mr Ainsworth said tomorrow’s auction is sure set a high bar for land value, even if it sells at the bottom end of the price range. “I know we sold next door at number 15 for $1377sq m. So this one I’d say would exceed that — it could sell at $1500sq m, which is huge,” he said.
In comparison, a 3844sq m vacant block at 42-46 Britannia St sold to a local developer recently for $2.2 million, setting a land rate of $572sq m.