The three-bedroom house at 13 Regent St, Belmont, sold for $835,000.
A Belmont home on a substantial corner block attracted plenty of interest from two bidders, but it was the buyers that didn’t show that surprised.
The 798sq m Regent St property was snapped up for $835,000 at an auction on Saturday, earning a $5000 bonus for the long-term investor that owned the property as a rental.
While two bidders contested the auction, there were several hoping the three-bedroom house might get passed in, while a whole group of buyers failed to show during the campaign, said selling agent Jason Barnett.
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“There were two parties bidding away and a couple of ones hoping that it would get passed in and they might have the chance to negotiate afterwards,” he said.
“There’s a little bit of that – people trying to see opportunity in uncertainty whereas I thought it was fairly priced for a corner block in a great spot.”
While the buyer was tight-lipped about the sale, Mr Barnett said the underbidder was a Sydney buyer participating online.
They hadn’t seen the property in person, relying on a video walk-through on Mr Barnett’s phone.
“They would have been looking at the price guide and the suburb and that would have been a good place to put some tenants in there,” he said.
The kitchen offers a dishwasher and electric cooking.
The bathroom is dated.
“It had been a rental property for the owners. They were looking more now at offloading rental properties and getting rid of the land taxes and all of those things.”
Mr Barnett said the buying group that failed to emerge during the campaign was first-home buyers, though the home did require some work.
“While it was a solid build, it was still getting ready for the next step where someone would have to renovate,” he said.
“The only surprise was there was not as many first-home buyers as I expected through the campaign.
The corner block offers redevelopment potential.
“I thought it would have really appealed just being so close to things, but the amount of work was probably too much.”
Mr Barnett said the unknowns of buying a house in need of a renovation was stopping some purchasers from taking the plunge.
The classic clinker brick house offers a bright living area, an updated kitchen with generous meal preparation area and a dedicated office space.
The corner position also opened redevelopment opportunities, which is apparently being taken across the road where a house was recently demolished.
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