Wade Hobbs with children, Jack 6, and Isla 4, at their family home in Kedron. Picture: Lachie Millard
Wade and Natalia Hobbs paid $575,000 in 2015 for a Kedron property best described as a “red brick box” with a brown sunroom and green stripes.
Nearly a decade later, the couple is taking their meticulously renovated family home to auction amid a shifting property landscape.
While latest PropTrack data reveals Greater Brisbane is showing its first signs of cooling, with house values in Kedron dipping 2.4 per cent over the past quarter to a median of $1.53m, the Hobbs family has already locked in big gains.
Short-term losses aside, Kedron houses are still up 19.4 per cent year-on-year, and the couple’s labour-of-love has transformed their 1970s-built property into a modern family haven located near schools, shops and public transport.
Before kids, Mr Hobbs spent every weekend working on renovating the home. Picture: Lachie Millard
Marketed by Ray White Wilston agent Holly Bowden, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home on a 541 sqm lot goes under the hammer on August 1.
The family wasn’t looking to relocate, having spent years slowly “chipping away” at upgrading the home as time permitted between their busy working lives and kids’ schedules. But when an opportunity that was simply too good to pass up arose to purchase their next property in the same area, everything changed.
“Then it was panic mode to get our house finished and ready for sale,” Mr Hobbs joked.
23 Achilles St, Kedron goes to auction on August 1
An east-facing entertaining deck has a built-in barbecue
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His work on the home started with weekends spent on the tools with a crew of friends and family, beginning with the kitchen and bathrooms and culminating in an expansive rear entertaining deck.
“You get so incredibly attached to a home when you’ve poured your own hard work into it,” Ms Hobbs said.
“Every corner of this house has a story. We’ve loved the versatility of the brick, and we designed it so a young family or professional couple could just move straight in and enjoy everything we worked so hard to build.”
Mr Hobbs admitted to feeling some hesitation around the timing of testing a transitioningh market.
Every corner has a story, Ms Hobbs said
Light-filled upstairs living spaces with beautiful hardwood timber floors
“Obviously, reading the headlines there’s been some slowing, so it makes us a bit more nervous,” he said.
“But we put our trust in Holly that she will do the right things to get the result we need.”
Ms Hobbs said their quiet cul-de-sac had provided an idyllic backdrop for their children, Jack, 6, and Isla, 4, to join in on street cricket and learn to ride bikes.
“The only reason we are selling is because we need a bigger block of land for the kids as they grow, but we refuse to leave Kedron,” Ms Hobbs said.
“We absolutely love this community.”
Two multipurpose rooms downstairs hold dual-living potential
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