Dual-home Sunshine North property with subdivision nearly complete passes in at auction, but agents say buyers could unlock a $1.06m windfall with minimal final works.

A Sunshine North duplex passed in at auction on Saturday despite strong interest, but agents say the right buyer could unlock a six-figure windfall with just $15,000 worth of work.

The property at 44 Ford Ave offers two self-contained homes on a single title, with 95 per cent of subdivision work already signed off. Only water meter separation remains, paving the way for two individually sellable properties with an estimated combined value of $1.06m.

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With $800,000-$880,000 price hopes, the dual-dwelling set up attracted 18 inspection groups, 12 inquiries and six contract requests — but failed to meet reserve under the hammer.

The Agency Victoria’s Jim Christou said buyers were circling the opportunity to rent both units or live in one while selling the other.

“You’ve got two complete homes here, both with their own kitchen, bathroom, and living zones,” Mr Christou said.

Dual access from the front and side of the property enables separate use and flexibility for future owners or investors.

The second dwelling’s bathroom includes a shower, tub and retro tiling, with the structure in clean, original condition.

“The front is already leased for $450 a week, and the rear was kept vacant for the sale, but it could easily match that.

“That’s $900 a week, with the chance to split the titles and bank the equity later.”

Unit 1 features polished timber floors, a full-sized kitchen, and a lounge with split zones for dining and living.

The front home features polished floors, separate lounge and dining zones, and split-system cooling.

Unit 1’s kitchen includes gas cooking and generous cabinetry, with the home currently returning $450 per week on a flexible tenancy.

The rear home offers an equally spacious tiled layout, light-filled bedrooms, retro bathroom, and private backyard, ideal for multigenerational living, investors or resale.

“There’s real potential for equity growth here — whether you hold both, sell one, or flip them once subdivided,” Mr Christou said.

“And the owner’s already done all the hard work. You’re stepping in with the finish line in sight.”

The vacant rear unit showcases open-plan tiled living, a full kitchen and natural light, ready for immediate rental or resale.

A secure backyard with established fruit trees and lawn space offers added appeal for tenants or future redevelopment.

Mr Chirstou said Sunshine North’s low turnover made comparable sales difficult to find, but also reflected the area’s stability and appeal.

“It’s a tightly held suburb. Once people move in, they don’t leave — even renters,” he said.

“We actually had more traction on this last winter, which is unusual, but I can feel buyer confidence returning.”

The property remains available for private sale.

A functional kitchen with ample storage and gas cooking is at the heart of Unit 2’s family-sized layout.

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The post How this Sunshine North duplex could earn $1m appeared first on realestate.com.au.

Can and Han are devastated they got the the house they wanted least.

The Block is back and, this year, the devil will be in the detail.

For the first time in 20 seasons, every house on The Block is being built purely for the show. And every 365 sqm house has the same floor plan (meaning minor details like fittings and fixtures become major selling points).

Each house sits on a 2000 sqm block in the Victorian township of Daylesford.

Although identical inside, all five houses will have their own distinct exterior. Most notably, some have a gabled roof while others have flat tops.

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This meant the five teams had very clear ideas about which ones they wanted to renovate. So, who are the teams hoping to go big when they go home after renovating their homes in 2025?

Emma and Ben, from Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula, are high school sweethearts. Ben is a civil engineer. Emma is a woodwork and textiles teacher who also moonlights as a pole dancing instructor.

“It’s the best job in the world,” she smiles.

Emma and Ben from Victoria.

Robby and Mat from SA.

The only tools that South Australians Mat and Robby have been on are the scissors. Mat is a hairdresser and Robby is a barber. Robby is a new dad to baby son Brooks, while Matt is a former figure skating champ. The duo has been best mates for 15 years.

Alicia and Sonny hail from Queensland and have three children. He’s a plumber. She works in a dental clinic.

After a tearful goodbye to their kids — and promising not to embarrass them on national TV — the couple arrived in Daylesford to quickly clock they were “the old couple on site”.

West Australian couple Han and Can don’t just have names that sound alike, they look alike too. They met on a dating app and hit it off talking into the wee hours about their shared love of dogs and wine.

A geologist who once worked in the mines, Han is no stranger to gruelling hours. Can less so. She has worked in marketing and fashion and likes “balance and harmony”.

Taking one look at the lookalike blondes, the other teams assumed the pair are sisters rather than partners.

Sonny and Alicia from Qld.

Han and Can from WA.

The glamazon couple are not the only representatives from the West. Police officers and parents of two, Britt and Taz live in a dusty, outback town.

That means in a Block first, no applicants from NSW made the grade this year.

In good news, nobody must rough it in a tent this year.

Instead, the teams all get their own caravan to live in (including host Scott Cam) during the three-month build.

“They are the duck’s nuts,” Scotty tells them of their accommodation, (which provides yet another handy opportunity to plug a sponsor).

Mat decrees their caravan will be a “s**t-free zone” explaining that otherwise, the confined environment would become a “dungeon of stench.”

His decree falls on deaf ears though and

Britt and Taz from WA.

Robby’s bowel motions and night-time rumblings quickly become a regular plot point.

After touring their new digs, Scott reveals the first challenge will be a little different. The five teams will have to draw on all their creative skills and showmanship to create a float for Daylesford’s annual Chillout Festival, which is a celebration of the town’s LGBTIQ+ community.

Judges Shaynna Blaze, Marty Fox and Darren Palmer would decide whose float performance made the biggest, sparkliest impact to determine house selection order.

The event had special significance for some of the teams.

An emotional Can said: “We need to do the lesbians proud and make this big and amazing!”

“Having the chance to be out and proud means so much.

“For a lot of my teenage years I felt a lot of shame and insecurity around my sexuality. I have not professed that I have a girlfriend or that I am gay and I still hide it from certain people and in certain instances. So, to come on national TV is a big thing.”

The challenge was equally meaningful to Mat who explained: “High school was probably the toughest time of my life because I was a figure skating, gay boy at a private Catholic school with lesbians for parents, so s**t wasn’t f**king easy in the late 90s, I’ll put it that way.”

The boys were perhaps a little too eager to make an impact with their float. And Scotty had to step in to gently remind them The Block was a family show upon seeing them turning an inflatable hammer into a large male appendage with the addition of two strategically placed disco balls.

“My mum watches the show,” Scott warned.

Scott Cam steps in to confiscate Mat and Robby’s appendage and ensure The Block retains its family-friendly status.

The laid-back host wasn’t concerned about the boys’ wardrobe choices for the parade, assuring them the Block crew could find somewhere else to tuck the microphone pack when they stripped off their trousers and into budgie smugglers.

The cops stole the official Block sign for their float as well as Mat’s wardrobe choice, with Taz also donning a pair of tight-fitting swimwear for the parade.

Judging the parade gave Darren the perfect opportunity to get the guns out. Again. Meanwhile Shaynna was visibly delighted by the sight of Mat and Caz in their togs.

Darren Palmer takes what will likely be the first of many opportunities to get his guns out while Shaynna appreciates Mat’s budgie smugglers.

For Marty, it was business as usual with the eager real estate agent already focused on auction day.

“Unlike other seasons where we have been comparing apples with oranges, this season it’s apples with apples, with apples,” Marty explained. “So, it’s important you understand what style you are going to go for and what the buyer in the Daylesford market is looking for.”

The bedazzled Britt and Taz took out the win and chose House Three, distinguished by its timber frontage and pitched roof.

The other teams were stunned that Britt and Taz had chosen the property in the centre of the street rather than what all other teams agreed were the more prized locations at either end of the strip.

Emma and Ben came second and swooped on the dark and moody House One. Robby and Matt took the bookend property with House Five.

Robby and Mat get into the Daylesfor Pride spirit.

With all the pitched roofs gone, a devastated Han and Can grabbed House Two, leaving losers Alicia and Sonny with House Four.

“I hate it. It’s like letting go of my child,” Han moaned of missing out on their dream home (House One) and discovering their property had a retaining wall blighting their view.

Han decided to have a long cry in the bath while Can got to work on Google looking for silver linings to their flat roof.

The teams now have $20,000 to renovate their first room, a bathroom. With all the plumbing already in place, everybody will be using the same bathroom layout leaving the teams to distinguish themselves via their finishes.

And it will be a case of first in, first served because nobody is allowed to have the same, tiles, fittings and fixtures.

As usual, Scott urged the teams to hold some cash in reserve for landscaping week.

And there’s an added incentive to budgeting well this season. Every week, the team who is best at balancing their books will be gifted a $10,000 bonus.

“That’s a massive incentive because, even if you don’t win the room or finish you could still come out with $10,000,” Can said.

It’s all smiles as the cast of The Block 2025 meet on the Daylesford site.

Crunching the numbers, Sonny said the new cash bonus meant there was up to $50,000 up for grabs every week (if you factored in bonuses for perfect scores as well as room wins).

Mat and Robby saw the additional prize money as a means to fund a wine cellar. If they can scrape together the cash to do it, the pair believe a cellar could be the thing that sets them apart from their neighbours.

It also meant asking a very sun smart foreman Dan, if they could follow the fine Aussie tradition started by Dale Kerrigan on The Castle to dig a hole.

Understanding that it was a big risk, Mat mused: “If we spend money on a cellar and don’t win anything, we could end up with a very big hole.”

Han gives a preview of how she’ll be handling setbacks this season.

Although they’ve never renovated anything before, Mat and Robby have decided on a contemporary country look for their bathroom, with lots of dark timber finishes.

Unfortunately, Alicia and Sonny had a similar brown aesthetic, prompting some friendly rivalry over fittings.

Melburnians Emma and Ben — who have done the rounds of the kitchen with renovations — have gone for a mid-century modern vibe, with lots of green tones to reflect their surrounds.

Britt and Taz liked a “modern and organic” look and so have chosen bathroom tiles in soft pinks and natural-coloured stones.

Can was hamstrung by Han’s desire to micromanage all her decisions. Eventually, after some input from Han via phone, Can went with floor-to-ceiling tiles and with a green feature wall.

“In an ideal world we would be shopping together, always,” Can explained.

The post The Block 2025 Episode 1 recap: NSW snubbed with no applicants deemed good enough appeared first on realestate.com.au.

We’ve rounded up all five days of Cara Ameer’s advice on working with high-end, high-profile, high-stakes clients from the worlds of sports and entertainment.

The Block host Shelley Craft has seen her share of shocking moments, but some of the biggest surprises have occurred a long way from the cameras.

The Block’s horror track record at picking suburbs for its high-profile flips has sparked warnings would-be renovators could risk vast sums of money following their lead.

New analysis of median prices in the year leading up to the show’s auction days for the past 17 seasons shows homes in seven of the suburbs were losing money months before contestants picked up a paint brush or emotionally abused their partner.

In ten of those seasons, the show’s selected suburb was significantly outperformed by the wider Melbourne or Sydney market, depending where it was located.

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And it appears their latest destination in Daylesford is on track to join the list of money-losing suburb choices.

Latest figures show the suburb’s $818,000 median has dropped $72,000 in the 12 months to the end of June.

On Phillip Island last year, price records show that in the 12 months it took the show to go from buying its Cowes site to hosting the auctions in November, the median house price had tumbled $35,000 (4.5 per cent) to $750,000.

And by the time the show’s Hampton East auctions were held in November 2023, the local median price had dropped more than $100,000 — despite the figures used to calculate that median including The Block’s sales.

Rich lister Adrian Portelli sold 22 Charming St, Hampton East, for a $1m loss last year after buying it off The Block in 2023.

Adrian Portelli is also now selling the Phillip Island homes he bought from the show last year. Picture: Supplied/Instagram.

One of the homes purchased by high profile billionaire Adrian Portelli has already gone on to sell for a more than $1m loss.

Median price reductions typically reflect a reduction in the majority of home prices in an area, including higher-end offerings like those on The Block.

The reality renovation show has also been criticised for over renovating to the point where homes are sold far below what the updates would cost, as well as for its impossible time frames and unrealistic auction results.

Depreciation schedules calculated for the last season of The Block by quantity surveyors BMT showed all of the homes would eventually allow an investor to claim more than $4m in tax deductions as the value of the materials and fixtures added during the renovation declined.

The highest price paid was $3.3m, but the rest sold for less than $3m, indicating the properties were overcapitalised by close to $1m.

With another season commencing, property, building and renovation experts have advised anyone inspired by the reality TV program to watch Grand Designs or to head to social media or YouTube for a dose of renovation before starting their own attempt.

4/27 Darling St, South Yarra, sold on The Block for $2.29m but has subsequently changed hands for $2.2m.

5/164 Ingles St, Port Melbourne, sold on The block for $2.59m and later for just $1.98m.

Prominent buyer’s agent Cate Bakos said after more than a decade, only picking 60 per cent of suburbs where values rose wasn’t a good strike rate, and in many instances it should have been clear they wouldn’t perform well.

Ms Bakos said more recent choices to centre the show in regional Victorian townships including Phillip Island and this year’s season in Daylesford had gone against wider trends of the state’s regional holiday home hotspots’ values facing a protracted down turn — and anyone looking for a flip should consider similar areas with caution.

“Buying near the peak for the regional areas is a bit silly,” Ms Bakos said.

“We had crazy growth during Covid, so I wouldn’t have chosen regions as a location for The Block.”

The prominent buyer’s agent said it was important those considering a renovation while watching this season should be very conscious that the homes were heavily overcapitalised, and warned their auctions were unrealistic.

43 Cameron St, Richmond, has had a rollercoaster ride since it was sold on The Block for $1.038m in 2013. In 2018 it made $1.5m, but in 2023 it changed hands for $1.45m.

“I would argue that it’s all questionable,” Ms Bakos said.

“Watch Grand Designs — that’s a better insight, I think, than The Block into what can go wrong.”

Real Estate Institute of Australia president Leanne Pilkington said anyone getting ideas of flipping homes from The Block needed to remember “the whole purpose is to entertain”.

While the show did face additional challenges with the need to find a site where at least five similar properties could be worked on by contestants, Ms Pilkington said others needed to “be much more discerning”.

She added that building industry members she knew couldn’t watch the show without “getting very frustrated with it”.

Despite this, Ms Pilkington said those looking for a bit of inspiration and the latest trends could potentially draw on features and advice from the judges in the reveal episodes.

Her advice for picking a winning area to consider flipping a home in was to focus on homes closer to the median house price, those near public transport and key amenities such as hospitals and major shopping centres.

The Block hosts Shelley Craft and Scott Cam on the construction site at The Oslo. It was one of the few seasons in which the show’s selected suburb, St Kilda, outperformed the wider Melbourne market. Picture: Channel 9.

Not all of The Block’s properties underperform. 46E Regent St, Elsternwick, sold for $3.007m on The Block, and has subsequently climbed to a $3.55m sale in 2021.

“And it’s absolutely better to go for a middle of the road property,” Ms Pilkington said.

Property Developer Network founder Rob Flux has been helping amateur property developers and flippers, tackling similar sized projects to The Block, for a number of years.

Mr Flux said he had gone up against The Block’s producers as a prospective buyer for a property in the past, and had been told their offer for it was about $2m above his own.

“They are overpaying in all departments,” he said.

“And, I don’t know if it is by design or by coincidence, but they are going into areas that aren’t growing, and sometimes where the market is going down.”

While this might help them find properties that suit their needs, Mr Flux said it was not ideal.

However, he noted the bigger risk was following their approach to renovations.

“Despite the fact that it’s called reality TV, there’s nothing real about it,” Mr Flux said.

“It’s extremely rare for anyone to live on site and work for eight weeks.”

The Blocktagon season set in South Yarra during 2015 was a good choice for the show, with the suburb’s median unit price achieving similar growth (5.4 per cent) to wider Melbourne.

225 McGeorge Rd, Gisborne, has just hit the market with a $4.3m sale price that would put it comfortably above the $3.9m it sold for on The Block in 2022.

Instead, he advised a more practical approach starting with understanding what was missing but likely to soon be in demand in an area, working out what buyers would pay for it and then calculating if there could still be a profit — factoring in a buffer in case the market doesn’t rise.

“Then, if the market goes in your direction and it works well, you will double your profits,” Mr Flux said.

Caitlin Hamston and her partner Scott have flipped or built four properties across Melbourne’s inner west over the past nine years.

On two occasions they’ve lived in the homes during the renovations, a process they wouldn’t recommend for anyone with kids.

While they stick to areas they know, they will even give these a miss if conditions aren’t right.

Elsternwick was one of the show’s more successful seasons, with the suburb recording substantive growth at 16.5 per cent in the year ahead of auctions and homes like 46B Regent St going on to sell for almost $200,000 more just a year later.

Couple Caitlin Hamston and Scott McCallum in one of their property flips. Picture: Rob Leeson.

“If it was going backwards, we would avoid it,” Ms Hamston said.

Her advice for would-be renovators was to find areas where prices look likely to rise, pick streets with a good feel to them, then look for blocks that don’t have constraints that would impact extensions or a new home build.

Ms Hamston also advised against getting caught up with luxury finishes, and to look for affordable alternatives wherever possible.

“Otherwise, it defeats the whole purpose if you are trying to renovate and sell for a profit,” she said.

She also advised against expecting to complete renovations quickly, with her and her partner’s typically taking two years to turn over each of their four builds to date.

While Ms Hamston does own a building company, which has made their work easier, she said they had been noticing trades were becoming easier to engage in the past few months.

Along with interest rate reductions helping to limit holding costs for loan repayments, she said now could be an opportune time to consider trying a renovation project.

Expert Advice For Flipping Properties

– Focus on areas you know with good amenities, schools and transport;

– Work out what housing an area is missing, who will buy it and what they will pay;

– Calculate a budget based on what buyers are likely to pay;

– Aim to be selling a home close to the suburb’s median price, to ensure the most potential buyers;

– Expect to make mistakes and budget for them;

– Consider potentially hidden holding costs including land tax, interest rate repayments and energy bills for the site;

– Budget for realistic time lines to complete work;

– Don’t assume that lots of other people doing a particular type of home flip or development in an area means they are making a profit, check your own numbers;

– Look for areas with high street appeal, then look for homes or blocks without easements or issues that could hamper your plans to renovate;

– Get good trades around you that are reliable;

– Consider higher cost improvements such as updating the facade and even adding a pool, if there is advice it will help boost a sale;

– Avoid properties with low-return repairs needed, such as those that require underpinning;

– Explore YouTube channels and even social media for advice from qualified builders and trades, not ‘reality’ TV;

– Don’t rush into things;

– Try engaging with local community property development networking events;

Sources: Property Developer Network’s Rob Flux, Buyer’s advocate Cate Bakos, serial flipper Caitlin Hamston

THE BLOCK SUBURBS’ TRACK RECORD

Daylesford, 2025 (The Block auction to be held November)

Median house price 2025 (June): $818,000

Median house price 2024 (June): $890,000

12-month change: -$72,000 (-8.1%)

Melbourne average change: -$1106 (-1.3%)

Phillip Island, 2024 (November)

Median house price 2024: $750,000

Median house price 2023: $785,000

12-month change: -$35,000 (-4.5%)

Melbourne average: $0 (0%)

Hampton East, 2023 (November)

Median house price 2023: $1,437,500

Median house price 2022: $1.55m

12-month change: -$112,500 (-7.3%)

Melbourne average: -$30,000 (-3.3%)

Inside 22 Carming St, Hampton East, which was sold on The Block in 2023.

Gisborne, 2022 (November)

Median unit price 2022: $1.2m

Median unit price 2021:$935,000

12-month change: $265,000 (28.3%)

Melbourne average change: $43,000 (5%)

Hampton, 2021 (November)

Median unit price 2021: $2.33m

Median unit price 2020: $1.903m

12-month change: $430,000 (22.4%)

Melbourne average change: $111,000 (14.8%)

Brighton, 2020 (November)

Median house price 2020: $2.71m

Median house price 2019: $2.545m

12-month change: $165,000 (6.5%)

Melbourne average change: $26,000 (3.6%)

St Kilda, 2019 (November)

Median unit price 2019: $528,809

Median unit price 2018: $514,000

12-month change: $14,809 (2.9%)

Melbourne average change: -$20,000 (-3.5%)

The Block auction in 2024, with Adrian Portelli and Danny Wallis among the bidders. Pictures: Channel 9.

St Kilda, 2018 (October)

Median unit price 2018: $525,000

Median unit price 2017: $542,500

12-month change: -$17,500 (-3.2%)

Melbourne average change: $21,200 (3.9%)

Elsternwick, 2017 (October)

Median house price 2017: $1.87m

Median house price 2016: $1.605m

12-month change: $265,000 (16.5%)

Melbourne average change: $25,000 (4.8%)

Port Melbourne, 2016 (November)

Median unit price 2016: $643,750

Median unit price 2015: $652,500

12-month change: -$8750 (-1.3%)

Melbourne average change: $20,000 (4%)

South Yarra, 2015 (November)

Median unit price 2015: $590,000

Median unit price 2014: $560,000

12-month change: $30,000 (5.4%)

Melbourne average change: $26,500 (5.5%)

South Yarra, 2015 (April)

Median unit price 2015: $577,800

Median unit price 2014: $552,000

12-month change: $25,800 (4.7%)

Melbourne average change: $18,100 (3.9%)

The Block’s Blocktagon season properties in South Yarra benefited from impressive city views.

Prahran, 2014 (October)

Median unit price 2014: $504,000

Median unit price 2013: $522,500

12-month change: -$18,500 (-3.4%)

Melbourne average change: $27,000 (6%)

Albert Park, 2014 (April)

Median unit price 2014: $701,000

Median unit price 2013: $430,000

12-month change: $271,000 (63%)

Melbourne average change: $29,627 (6.8%)

South Melbourne, 2013 (July)

Median unit price 2013: $511,000

Median unit price 2012: $535,000

12-month change: -$24,000 (-4.5%)

Melbourne average change: $40,000 (9.2%)

Bondi, 2013 (March)

Median house price 2013: $1,567,500

Median house price 2012: $1,247,500

12-month change: $320,000 (25%)

Sydney average change: $42,000 (7.4%)

South Melbourne, 2012 (July)

Median house price 2012: $894,500

Median house price 2011: $985,000

12-month change: -$90,500 (-9.2%)

Melbourne average change: -$15,000 (-3%)

Richmond, 2011 (August)

Median house price 2011: $845,000

Median house price 2010: $805,000

12-month change: $40,000 (5%)

Melbourne average change: $35,000 (7.6%)

Source: PropTrack Suburb Trends

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The post The Block dud suburbs revealed: Shock data shows reno risks appeared first on realestate.com.au.

Go Mortgage‘s majority owner and CEO Michael Isaacs have parted ways, sources told HousingWire this week.

Staff at the Ohio-based retail lender were told on Monday that Isaacs’ tenure was over, and that majority owner Jordan Hansell had named himself as interim CEO. The departure was a mutual decision, with Hansell and President Andrew Paganos running company operations, sources said.

A search for a permanent CEO replacement is underway with an executive search firm, multiple sources told HousingWire. Isaacs did not return requests for comment.

A spokesperson for Go said the lender does not comment on personnel matters but that the company is “fully committed to serving our borrowers and advancing our strategic goals.”

“We’re extremely pleased with the progress we’ve made, particularly in this challenging mortgage environment, and we attribute this success to our unparalleled team at GO.”

Sources at the company said Hansell, the former CEO of NetJets and a backer of multiple Columbus, Ohio, businesses through Tradepost Partners, didn’t always see eye to eye with Isaacs on operational matters.

The sources described Hansell as a “shrewd businessman” who is “not at all a mortgage guy,” while Isaacs is a more of “traditional” mortgage executive who brought over a number of staffers from Fairway Home Mortgage.

Per Modex data, Go Mortgage has averaged about $45 million in mortgages over the past 12 months and has 79 producing loan officers, below historical averages.