Belmont home’s $200k premium, despite $40k broken slab

The three-bedroom house at 16 Fisher Ave, Belmont, sold for $635,500 at auction, despite the property having a structural fault in the foundation.

Two bidders have splashed more than $200,000 above the reserve price for a Belmont home despite a massive structural fault that risks turning it into a money pit.

The three-bedroom house at 16 Fisher Ave, Belmont, was listed with $400,000 to $440,000 price expectations as Hayeswinckle Geelong agent Kin Sawhney declaring a crack in the concrete slab would need to be rectified.

Mr Sawhney said estimates for calling in tradies to fix the crack itself would cost between $30,000 and $40,000.

But he said it was the untold damage that would come after repairing the foundation that became the key factor to list the property for its land value alone.

“We had crazy competition there. The reserve was at $430,000 and the owners were more than happy to get that amount. But then it went absolutely bonkers with the competition,” Mr Sawhney said.

The $635,000 sale price was around the price estimate Mr Sawhney said he would have listed the property for had not had any structural defects.

It was a long battle between two buyers that lasted 45 minutes, he said.

“They’re saying that they’re going to keep the property, probably do some work and keep it as a rental for four, five or six years and then maybe demolish it and put down some units there.

“They basically bought it as a medium to long-term plan, rather than a short flip.”

Mr Sawhney said the result was another sign of the focus property investors were having on Geelong as the region emerges from a two-year downturn in the market.

“I think anything up to $650,000 on the market is getting a lot of traction with investors,” he said.

“Obviously this was not supposed to go for this price, but anything below $500,000 the investors just come in and buy pretty much anything right now.”

Mr Sawhney said he was upfront in declaring the issues with the home for new owners.

“The owners had quotes to fix it up for anywhere between $30,000 to $40,000,” he said.

“We were explaining to buyers that this is just the cost to fix the concrete.

“Obviously when that is fixed, it’s going to lead to problems with your windows, your floors, your carpet and all these other things to spend money to fix as well.

“And we can’t estimate how much that is, because we don’t know what extent is going to happen”

Belmont has a median house price of $689,500, according to PropTrack data.

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