1. Flipping Out in Bellevue Hill: It’s Cosmetic, But It Works Damn Well


    9 Drumalbyn Road today (above) and at the time of its 2010 sale (below).
     

    9 Drumalbyn Road, formerly one of the most humble of homes on one of Sydney’s least humble of streets, is now showing off its refreshed self and hoping it can command a million dollar profit for the owners. The inter-war home at the northern end of Drumalbyn Road sold to the current owners in Apr 2010 for $5m. In the last 2 years, the owners added an attic bedroom, a double-car garage (where a car port formerly stood), tore down a wall between the kitchen and living room, rendered the brick exterior, and added decking around the pool at the back. Chuck in recessed lighting galore and a well-staged interior that seems to offer more inter-war period features than ever originally existed and we have ourselves a good ole’fashioned flip! The home is listed through DiJones agents Victoria Morish and Susanna Anderson with $6m+ expectations. Considering the owners put in at least $500k into the renovation, $6m+ seems low. 


    The home today (above) and at the time of its 2010 sale (below).

    There is a strong precedence for big ticket sales on this section of Drumalbyn Road recently. On the same side of the road as #9, slightly larger neigbhours at #15 and #17 sold in a post-renovated state for $9.5m and $9.85m, respectively, within the past two years (#17 being a stunning Art Deco design that fits nicely into the Radical Terrace’s Top 10 favourite Sydney homes). Bigger ticket homes rest across the street, most notably 22-24 Drumalbyn Road which commanded $16.5m when it sold in 2005. Ironically, and likely to the dismay of Bellevue Hill property purists, Drumalbyn Road’s biggest sale was actually at #75 which sold for $20m in May 2010, despite being surrounded by apartment blocks on the less desirable southern end of the road.


    Decking everywhere today! And nowhere to be seen in 2010…

    ——


    Simple, but beautiful. Today (above) and 2010 (below).

    The listing: 9 Drumalbyn Road, Bellevue Hill

    Click below for a floor plan comparison and more images of 9 Drumalbyn Road’s transformation!

    Read More

  2. Tzannes-Designed Terrace in Paddington to Auction for $3m+

    Hot in the heels of another impressive Paddington terrace listing, Jane Schumann and Gary Sands of Di Jones have scored another mullet house terrace listing designed by Sydney starchitect Alex Tzannes. The Paddington home sits north of Oxford Street on the desirable, if hodge-podge, Hopewell Street. The home sold in 1998 for $590k and in the early-2000s the owners enlisted Tzannes Architects to transform the house and take advantage of the rear lane access to add a garage and a light-filled rear extension. The home was completed in 2004 and subsequently won a bevy of awards for the architect’s work. The 3-bedroom home is to auction for $3m+ sometime soon.

    The listing: 26 Hopewell Street, Paddington

  3. A Radical Terrace in Paddington Soon to Auction for $1.6m+

    A terrace designed by architect Richard Archer of Archer & Wright in 1999 is currently on the market in Paddington going to auction later this month with expectations of $1.6m+. The stunning re-build morphed a derelict terrace (purchased for $247k in 1993) into an ideal bachelor’s mullet house with soaring ceilings, indoor-outdoor functionality, and a highly valuable car spot in the historic core of Paddington that is tough on parking, even by local standards. The home sold post-renovation in 2000 for $800k. 

    According to the architects: 

    “The creation of a strong angled axis to the interior planning allowed the careful removal of small zones of floor plate to bring light and verticality to the home, imbuing it with a dramatic sense of scale…A delicate counterpoint is established throughout this space between the natural textures of the original sandstone walls and the glossy tiled feature panels that plunge into the reflecting pond, the unfilled travertine terraces and the spare detailing of the custom designed joinery.”

    Jane Schumann and Gary Sands of Di Jones have the listing: 28 Little Comber Street, Paddington

  4. Radical Roundup: New & Notable This Week

    VICTORIA

    MT ELIZA - Lorien, Mt Eliza’s clifftop property that aims to set the bar for mid-1990s modern architecture (and fails miserably) now comes with an official asking price after fluffing around the listings for 2 months with “expressions of interest” not yielding the desired results. $7.5m is the price; James Crowder and Deb Ketting-Olivier of James Crowder Community Real Estate are the listing agents; 2 Tintagel Court is the address; and here’s the listing. 

    ——-

    MOONEE PONDS - Well this may re-set the Moonee Ponds/Essendon market. A well-located but otherwise thoroughly average fixer-upper hit the market for $2mil. 13 Athol Street is listed through Joel Reynolds and Noel Kenny of Brad Teal Real Estate.

    ——-

    COLLINGWOOD - A substantial mixed-use warehouse conversion hit the market for $2.6m this week. The interiors are in fine commercial condition, but would require some tweaks if the structure is to be converted to pure residential use. It’s situated in a quirky laneway refurbishment in a convenient south Collingwood location. Anthony Gallichio and James Weir of Leasing Melbourne and Anderson Residential have the listing: 7/21 Northumberland Street, Collingwood

    ——-

    SOUTH AUSTRALIA

    MEDINDIE - It looks like we have a property loser in the blue-chip Adelaide suburb of Medindie. The Neo-Georgian 49 Dutton Terrace last sold only one year ago for $2.35m, making it one of the 10 most expensive sales for the suburb. Now, listing agent Richard Hayward of Bernard Booth is asking $2.1m. Dutton Terrace, alongside Robe Terrace and The Avenue, is one of Medindie’s most expensive streets. The listing: 49 Dutton Terrace, Medindie

    UPDATE: According to reader ‘Edwardian’: “In respect of 49 Dutton Terrace Medindie, it was the neighbour who purchased the property for $2.35m when the property was on land of 1,238sqm. They hived off the backyard to make a tennis court for their neighbouring property and have put 49 Dutton Terrace Medindie back on the market for $2.1m now sited on only 659sqm. Should be on the market for some time yet.”

    Thanks for the scoop! I guess it’s not a property loser but a case of tennis tetris!

    ——-

    NEW SOUTH WALES

    BYRON BAY - The going rate for a 796sqm block of land across the street from the sand in Byron Bay? $7.5m! That’s $9,400/sqm. Yikes. Byron Bay Property Sales has the listing: 23 Marine Parade, Byron Bay

    ——-

    DARLING POINT - 9 Sutherland Crescent, a long-term listing that’s floated around the market for quite sometime with ambiguous price hopes, now comes with a price tag: $10m. The four-bedroom 1930s Streamline Moderne/Art Deco harbourfront has epic renovation potential (thanks to a functional floor plan) and sits on a large and desirable 1,087sqm chunk of land. On the downside? The entrance from the street is neither level nor easy. It last traded for $2.5m in the early 90s. Brad Pillinger of Pillinger has the listing: 9 Sutherland Crescent, Darling Point

    ——-

    DRUMMOYNE - A block of five 2-bedroom apartments on the Drummoyne waterfront listed for “over $5.75m”. That’s about $1.15m for each apartment. A big price for this not-quite-Inner West suburb. The only past rental we could dig up online is a $595/week rental back in 2010. That yield doesn’t bode well for the price agent Sarah Tanner of McGrath Inner West has placed on the property. Then again, the price takes into consideration the potential this property provides: a waterfront pool, mini tennis court, and direct access to a sandy beach; all rare features on the Sydney waterfront. The listing: 70A St Georges Crescent, Drummoyne

    ——-

    SURRY HILLS - The 15th floor penthouse of the Ivy apartment block on Bourke Street off Taylor Square listed this week with $5m+ expectations. The two-floor, 3-bedroom abode comes with stunning views in most directions and 2 valuable car spots. The Radical Terrace can not confirm the off-the-plan sales price for the home, but it appears renovations occurred on the interior. Matt Towner of Unique Estates has the listing: 1501/417 Bourke St, Surry Hills

    ——-

    COOGEE - Di Jones has branched out from its usual market dominance of Paddington/Woollahra to score this Coogee trophy listing. Resting pretty on the far eastern end of Allison Road, the renovated home has dead-on views looking over Coogee beach to the south and east. The home at 349 Alison Road was acquired in Jan 2010 for $1.845m, then completely rebuilt. It’s now listed with $6m+ expectations. If that price is achieved when the property goes to auction, it will be flirting with the most expensive sales in Coogee (but likely falling short of what the Radical Terrace believes is the current record holder: 1 Major St which sold for $6.9m in late 2010). Lorraine Crawford and Andrew Stewart have the listing: 349 Alison Road, Coogee

    ——-

  5. 1830s Double Bay Gothic Transformation Still Wants $6m

    Mort’s Cottage, one of Double Bay’s earliest intact homes, has re-emerged on the market after a several month absence. Last sold in Apr 2005 for $3.02m, the home underwent a $300k renovation and addition under the design of Thomas Jacobsen Architects. Not surprising given the historic nature of the property, the Woollara Council took over a year to approve the Development Application. And then, shortly after the glassy modern addition was completed (hello, mullet house!), the house emerged on the market through Di Jones agents Jane Schumann and Gary Sands in late 2011. A few months after the initial listing, Susan Wellings at SMH’s Domain reported in Dec 2011:

    “The owners of Mort’s Cottage (circa 1835) have unexpectedly found a property they adore, so they’re eager to sell their own historic five-bedroom, three-bathroom sandstone home - one of Double Bay’s earliest - on a level block just 200 metres to the harbour foreshore. As a result, they’re reducing their asking price from $6.5 million to offers above $5.5 million for the house…”

    Well, we’re not sure if the home’s owners ended up purchasing that “property they adore” anyways, but Mort’s Cottage is back on the market, this time with pricing indications that appear more optimistic than in December.

    The cottage itself was constructed in 1839 (not 1835 as indicated by the property’s site, 1835 was when the property was first subdivided and sold). It took its present name of ‘Mort’s Cottage’ from Thomas Mort who occupied the house beginning in 1848. However, 38 Ocean Avenue also took the following names over the course of its 175-year history:

    • Lillian c.1883
    • Posendorf c.1895
    • Namoi c.1916
    The home is considered to be of “Victorian Rustic Gothic Style” (considering the home was built after Victoria’s reign began in 1837, we won’t deride that piece of historical commentary) and has some kinship to another featured property built 30 years later - Glen Rhoda. Although we can’t find any historical imagery to back this claim, we presume the “gingerbread” wooden gables were an addition in the second-half of the nineteenth century and not around at the time of construction. 

  6. ‘Family Friendly’ Terrace on the Woollahra Side of Jersey Road Lists in Mid-$2mils

    Jersey Road is a sacred locale in Eastern Suburbs real estate. Once named ‘Point Piper Street’ and serving as the main path from South Head Rd (now Oxford St) to Point Piper Estate in Darling Point (see 1858 Point Piper Estate parcel map when it was first divided and 1878 Sands Directory map below), the road now holds a far more important and unique honour: it is, undoubtedly, a Paddington aesthetic that lives on the road - with rows of uniform Victorian terrace houses, however the east side of the road scores an ever-so-desirable Woollahra 2025 address. Thus makes a “half-and-half” - where one side of the street holds one suburb address and post code, the other side another. These are fun testing grounds for the relative prestige of a suburb name. Back on Jersey Rd, the slightly better-endowed (architecturally speaking, that is) Woollahra side of the road has the added bonus of scoring a quartet of late Victoiran detached villas (numbers 17, 19, 21, and 23), a handful of oddly idiosyncratic one-off terraces (weatherboards and all!), and the handsome church-turned-condos at number 109, anchoring Jersey Road firmly as a particularly beautiful Sydney streetscape.

    (Fun fact: the alleyway behind Jersey Road - ‘Point Piper Ln’ - is, of course, named after its original big brother road.)

    So resting pretty on the east side of the road - next to the quartet of villas and with easy access to Oxford Street - number 9 emerged on the market this past week. Jane Schumann and Gary Sands at Di Jones landed the by-the-book Victorian terrace listing and rightly flaunt the terraces ‘family friendly’ qualities. And by ‘family friendly’ qualities we mean the terrace functions well as a kindergarten art classroom, at least if the listing photos indicate anything. But seriously, couldn’t they have taken some of these pictures down?  The 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 1-car spot (the magical 3:2:1 terrace ratio!) and is looking for mid-$2mils. The home last sold for $1.5m back in September 2002, and comps speak well for high prices in this micro-neighbourhood seeing that Oyama, one of the four villas, sold for more than $7m earlier this month.

    Now for some finger painting (and a really big tree)… 

    The listing: 9 Jersey Rd, Woollahra

  7. Woollahra Mansion ‘Orama’ Sells Off-Market for ~$7m

    Remember Mandolong House, one of the Radical Terrace’s favourites spreads in Mosman that sold for $18m earlier this year? Well, Margie Blok is reporting (and we’re hoping she’s not just jumping the gun on us again) that Jersey Road’s ‘Orama’ has sold to the Roberts-Thompson family that decamped from Mandolong House after they enlisted Smart Design Studios in a stunning renovation. Considering Orama, on the Woollahra side of Jersey Rd in a prestigious pocket of friendly Georgian manor homes, is in need of some TLC (see below), we’re expecting a hefty renovation. The home last sold for $6.06m in July 2006. The Radical Terrace is expecting some serious rehabilitation and we’re eager to find out if the Roberts-Thompson clan enlists Smart Design Studio again or if they go for the Tanner Architects DA-approved designs that came with the house sale. The below photos are from the retired 2006 listing that Di Jones still has floating around on the web. 

  8. Paddington’s Elizabeth St Sell-Off

    Three properties on Elizabeth St between Underwood and Paddington Streets are currently on the market. This stretch of Elizabeth St sits nicely in what has consistently been a top-performing pocket of Paddington. However, with the slump of Paddington’s Oxford Street and the exodus of upscale retailers from Elizabeth St between Oxford and Underwood Streets, does that make a residential acquisition here more appealing (quieter?) or more risky? As you’ll see with the comps, prices on this block have been quite stagnant the last 5 years. Regardless of Paddington’s future, we know one thing that holds each of the featured properties back: NO CAR PARKING. And fighting with Grand Nash patrons and the spillover of Oxford Street shoppers is no pretty sight. 

    The most gracious of properties on the market is the 9m-wide sandstone-fronted 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom abode at 24 Elizabeth. Listed by Ben Collier and Andrew Hacket of McGrath, the owners are looking in the mid-$3m’s. The home last traded for $3.2m in Oct 2007, not much of a capital gain there. Pictured above and below.

    Immediately across the street, and comprising part of a rare row of three-storey terrace houses, we find 41 Elizabeth Street. Featuring Harbour Bridge views from its upper level, the 4-bedroom home is asking $1.695m and is listed through Mark Daley and Georgia Cleary of BradfieldCleary. The three-storey row of terraces has solid comps. Number 39 sold for $1.73m in Nov 2010, 45 sold for $1.625m in Feb 2008 and 51 sold for $1.676m in Nov 2011. Number 41 itself last sold for $1.56m in Jan 2009 and little seems to have been done since that date. Pictured below.

    And finally we have 34 Elizabeth Street, listed with $1.5m expectations through Di Jones agents John Anderson and Rohan Aalders. It’s the most “average” of terraces with the prototypical 3-bedroom floorplan and layout. Similar sized neighbour number 32 sold for $1.23m in Nov 2007. Pictured below.

  9. Head-to-Head: Rose Bay or Centennial Park? 27 versus 28

    Today we pit two homes head-to-head. Both 27 Kent Street and 28 Lang Road front wide-open green expanses (Royal Sydney Golf Club and Centennial Park), both sit on large holdings (1296 square metres, 1028 square metres), both feature Arts & Crafts/Federation architecture, and both are seeking hefty prices ($8m+, $5.75m+). But surely one is better than the other! Is the Rose Bay $8m abode ‘Lynton’ $2.5m nicer than 28 Lang Road? Let’s break it down:

    27 Kent Road, ‘Lynton’, listed by Alison Coopes of Alison Coopes
    The Good: Last sold for $8m in 2007, so you’re not paying the price of a house flip; Kent Road is a quiet cul-de-sac of high-end mansions and apartment blocks and walking distance to the ferry
    The Bad: It will require a solid few million bucks to be comparable to other mansions in the RB (it needs a pool, a landscaping overhaul, and a major interior refresh)

    28 Lang Road, ‘Tongkah’, listed by Louise Snowden and Catherine Dixon of Di Jones
    The Good: Period detailing is prime, the flooplan flows well, and the refined backyard pool leaves little wanting; not to mention Lang Road is one of the best examples of a unified Federation residential street in the Eastern Suburbs
    The Bad: Lang Road is loud. Really, really loud. And busy.

    What does the Radical say? Although the Rose Bay manse offers more upside, the Centennial Park abode rubs us the right way. Tongkah it is (and we’ll change the name once we buy it).  Plus, I think voting for Lyndon would, in some way, encourage Alison Coopes to continue to butcher the English language with his grammatically incorrect and entirely hyperbolic property descriptions.

  10. Price Chopping in Woollahra for $3.4m+ $2.95m Terrace A former featured property in Woollahra is chopping it’s price from $3.4m down to the sub-$3m price of $2.95. I guess the gilt-edged interiors (and noisy Ocean Road location?) are acting as a deterrent to buyers? Gary Sands and Susanna Anderson of Di Jones have the 3-bedroom terrace listing at 13 Ocean Street. And it’s entering a pretty buyer-friendly pricing for the post code 2025. We’ll be keeping our eyes on this property.  The comps: Attached (and slightly smaller) next door neighbour, 15 Ocean Street, sold for $1.7m back in October 2002.

    Price Chopping in Woollahra for $3.4m+ $2.95m Terrace

    A former featured property in Woollahra is chopping it’s price from $3.4m down to the sub-$3m price of $2.95. I guess the gilt-edged interiors (and noisy Ocean Road location?) are acting as a deterrent to buyers? Gary Sands and Susanna Anderson of Di Jones have the 3-bedroom terrace listing at 13 Ocean Street. And it’s entering a pretty buyer-friendly pricing for the post code 2025. We’ll be keeping our eyes on this property. 

    The comps: Attached (and slightly smaller) next door neighbour, 15 Ocean Street, sold for $1.7m back in October 2002.

    Pin It