Chippies nail reno buy
Ready to roll up sleeves in Herne Hill
Having trades under your belt is proving an advantage for first-home buyers seeking to resurrect timber homes in Geelong’s inner suburbs.
A couple of chippies landed a renovator in Herne Hill’s Heytesbury St, paying $600,000 at auction on Saturday.
The purchase came a week after another chippie bought a hoarders house in nearby Geelong West for $480,000.
The house at 31 Heytesbury
St needs wo , but the buyers were able to spot what was needed and knew with their trade skills they would be able to handle the work.
Bidding opened at $450,000 for the three-bedroom house on a 458sq m block.
It took some time and interest from three bidders before Jellis Craig Geelong agent Marcus Falconer said the property had passed the reserve as the price reached $542,000.
That’s when the eventual buyers struck, with their father taking the initiative with a series of strong bids to eventually move the price beyond the underbidders’ range.
Mr Falconer said it was an honest home.
“What you see is what you get – three bedrooms, one bathroom, off-street parking for multiple cars, depending on how you wanted to configure it,” he said.
“Certainly (it’s) in need some work, absolutely no question about that.
“Whether you fully renovate it, whether you knock down and rebuild, there is the plethora of options in front of you.
“Most people have been considering it as a home, somewhere to settle. Rip up the carpets, a coat of paint, polish the floorboards and it’s a perfectly liveable home.”
The house has built-in wardrobes in each bedroom, an original eat-in kitchen and adjoining laundry and bathroom.
A carport at the side of the house leads to a steel single garage and one-room bungalow in the paved back yard. There has been plenty of work going on in the street, with new an updated homes opposite and an extension underway next door.
The buyers saw the property as a chance to get into the market.
“We’re two chippies, so we just want to figure out how fast we want to do it, but we’re going to do it up a bit,” the buyer said.
“You can see some stuff that puts you off, but I guess that’s how you get it a bit cheaper.”