The Weekend Post - Real Estate
CHILDHOOD HOME RETURNS TO FAMILY FOLD
In a remarkable twist of fate, a buyer has snapped up the home he grew up in, and now begins a new chapter at the property with his young family
TWENTY-ONE years after Roy Owens left one of his childhood homes, the now father-of-three has made sure it is back in the family.
The sale of 34-36 Vico St settled this week, marking the start of a new chapter for Mr Owens and wife Melanie and their children, Aurora, 5, Chester, 3, and Denver, 8 months.
With an acre block at Goldsborough, the family was about to get started on building their dream home in the suburb when Mr Owens’ parents showed him an edition of the Weekend Post’s Real Estate liftout with the old family home featured.
“I was 12 years old when we moved and the memories I had as a kid made me want to buy the place when I saw it was for sale,” the diesel fitter said. “I spent seven years there between the ages of 5 and 12. Those memories were phenomenal, that area, the land – you still see kids out there today riding horses.
“We had a horse, we used to ride our pushbikes, we had a creek at the back and we would ride down to the other creek which would lead you to Goldsborough and the good swimming holes.
“(Wednesday) night was our first night there and I realised I had no reception and thought, ‘this is bad’. But I remembered we never had phones – I’d jump on my pushbike and ride 3-4km to my mate’s house to see if he was home and sometimes he wasn’t.”
The Owens children are taking to life in the four-bedroom, two-bathroom home set on nearly an acre and across the road from the area’s pony club.
“They haven’t got out of the pool. They’re loving the pool and the driveway – and the freedom,” Mr Owens said.
“The place we came from they couldn’t really ride out the front. My oldest woke up this morning to a big banana spider so she wasn’t a big fan of that, but we were in a tiny little house on a tiny little block in Riverstone Hills.
“My parents love it too. They’ll come down on