37 Florence St, a Sad Tale of Woe

Florence St puts me in mind of Florence Nightingale, who had quite a bit to do with dormitory style beds in hospitals wings. I think the tenants who lived at this address took the word association game a little too literally.

Ah, 37 Florence St! You looked so good in the photos! Nowhere on the Domain ad does it say anything about the photos being from years ago - in fact, the last time it was sold. When we rocked up to the open house, there were three agents standing in the front yard, all looking very worried. One welcomed us in, another told us that the photos were not really how the place looked. They had had tenants, who were still there (another thing not mentioned in the description), and they had apparently really let the place go. Ok, ok, we thought, not to worry.

You never saw a place so different from the photos. Walking in, we were surprised to see that each of the 3 bedrooms had 4 bunk beds lined up, creating an instant dormitory for 12 people living in a small family home with one bathroom. The place was a real mess. Whoever signed the lease must have been making a packet. Say the home was rented out for $400 a week or so. Charge each tenant $50 and you're still making $200 a week. One of the tenants had made the mistake of staying in the living room while the open house was on, and tried not to make eye contact while strangers streamed in staring at the state of the place.

However, the place did have good bones, even if it was quite rundown. They were asking $650,000+, and as we left the property the third agent assured us we'd have to get in quick, because they already had an offer of $675,000. The property finally sold for the minimum asking price, $650,000. As a first home buyer with not much experience, the longer I look the more jaded I become about what agents say. There are nice agents, and rude agents - all sorts of personalities you have to deal with - but I wonder how many agents just make up offers to try and lure buyers into offering more? Shady...

Lewisham, 17 Denison St

Denison St in Lewisham is a great street. But 17 Denison is a tiny tiny 2 bedroom terrace, and they're asking over $650,000. You practically have to sidle to get from one end to the other. A nearby 2 bedroom terrace on Victoria St on the Lewisham border, which is an even better street in my view, just parallel to Denison, recently sold for $659,000, and I thought that was already pricey - and it was much bigger, with more space and storage, and a nice quiet backyard. You could swing a cat in every room, nay, two cats! A tiger! Often venders and agents seem to just go with how many bedrooms a property has for comparison, but all bedrooms really aren't created equal. 

17 Denison has bedrooms sized: 2.3 x 3.7 and 3.1 x 3.6

The Victoria St Terrace: 4.0 x 3.7 and 4.8 x 3.7

I really wish there was some standard way to compare properties rather than having all this speculation raising up prices. Don't be fooled buyers, and above all, stand your ground!