Newtown home beats reserve by $148K, might still be demolished

The four-bedroom house at 27 Mervyn St, Newtown, sold for $1.485m.

Sellers who took the advice to paint and polish their Newtown character home before putting it on the market after 35 years have been rewarded handsomely on auction day.

The four-bedroom California bungalow at 27 Mervyn St, Newtown, sold for $1.485m at Saturday’s auction as two bidders took control of proceeding off the back of a hot opening offer that knocked out other competition.

Barry Plant Geelong agent Kieron Hunter said the competition for the 708sq m property pushed the price $148,000 above the seller’s reserve.

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The four-bedroom house at 27 Mervyn St, Newtown, sold for $1.485m.

The four-bedroom house at 27 Mervyn St, Newtown, sold for $1.485m.

Two other potential bidders standing in the crowd kept their powder dry after the auction opened at $1.3m, he said.

Most of the buyers interest for the property was between $1.25m and $1.3m, he said, so when the auction opened at the top of that range, other bidders kept their hands in their pockets.

Mr Hunter said the location was the home’s clinching factor, but the seller did the best to present the property to the market.

“You’re basically 100 steps away from Pako,” he said.

“It’s a Californian bungalow, so obviously a character home. There’s the work we suggested and the vendor took on board to get it ready.

“There was about two months worth of just preparation, with sanding the floor, painting, new carpet, that sort of thing, just to make it more presentable. There’s no doubt that helps.”

After all that work, there’s still a chance the new owners could eventually knock the property over.

“The winning bidder is actually looking potentially in the future at just knocking it over,” he said.

“But there’s no doubt just being able to move in to that place and do nothing made the buyers so much more confident and comfortable.

The four-bedroom house at 27 Mervyn St, Newtown, sold for $1.485m.

The four-bedroom house at 27 Mervyn St, Newtown, sold for $1.485m.

The four-bedroom house at 27 Mervyn St, Newtown, sold for $1.485m.

“There had been a renovation there 20 years ago, so it was restumped, re-roofed, that sort of thing, so there was really nothing to worry about.”

The house offered four bedrooms and two living rooms, with the single bathroom being the only possible drawback, Mr Hunter said.

“You could easily delete a room, join two together and have a good master with a walk-in and ensuite and still have three bedrooms and two living areas.”

While presenting a house in its best possible light helped increase the value, going to that level and spending between $20,000 and $30,000 doesn’t work for every property, Mr Hunter said.

Areas with higher property prices give owners more wriggle room to avoid overcapitalising just before selling, he said.

Newtown has a $1.1m median house price, according to PropTrack data for sales over 12 months to June.

“It’s probably the seventh of eight home we’ve done in the past eight months where we have suggested they spend the extra $20,000 to $30,000 on getting it presented and it’s paid dividends.

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