Off-Market Buying in one of Brunswick’s Best Streets

A really special repeat client engaged our services to help him buy a suitable investment. Given he had exposure to the outer east and the inner north-west already, we strategically formulated a plan to target the inner north to complement his portfolio with a period property featuring a right of way. Why the right of way? Because his trade qualification meant that he could add value down the track with a clever renovation or extension, and a right of way can make this all the more viable.

Our search band included Thornbury, Coburg, Coburg North and Preston.

Once his strategy document was completed, we set up the online searches and notified the local agents in these areas. His inspections commenced and while we fielded some interesting properties, we hadn’t really identified one which was scoring highly enough to deem purchase-worthy in the first fortnight of his search.

The third week however proved more rewarding.

We received his excited inspection report on a potential property in Coburg we’d sent him to. It was a pretty Victorian in a great street. TICK. Our next move was to commence due-diligence on the property for our client, however between his positive report back to us and our further due-diligence of the property, we also received a notification of an off-market period Victorian in arguably one of Brunswick’s top five streets for a sub-$700K purchase price. With just hours to act, we were informed that we could inspect that very afternoon but there was another builder-buyer who had not only inspected already but was commencing his due diligence and was prepared to make an offer that day.

Was he telling the truth? Quite likely; we knew this agent and had only experienced good dealings with him. And if we ignored his update and took longer than the day, we may have lost the property to the other builder.

A day of high-intensity due diligence prevailed. Our conveyancer was contactable by text message while on her family holiday in Bali, and the agent could accommodate a building inspection for us.

We met at the local Edinburgh Castle Hotel to sign up contracts with an offer of $680,000 and it was the short walking distance between this iconic corner and the property itself which made me further appreciate the location and proximity to vibrant Sydney Road.

This cute little Victorian house on an idyllic long block with right of way was not just positioned in one of the most perfectly uniform array of Victorians I’ve seen in this suburb, but it had a right of way which stretched all the way through to De Carle St and made a walk to bustling Sydney Road a three minute hike.

While the property will respond well to a renovation and most definitely needs some love and attention, it will rent in it’s current state for an appraised $450pw.

Our client trusted our guidance, acted quickly and allowed us to engage other professionals at lightning speed. These moves will reward him for a long time, as now he can look forward to the capital growth his exciting purchase will deliver for decades to come.

What could have been a reality for him in Coburg was traded for this exciting opportunity in Brunswick – a higher land-value, higher-yielding proposition which ordinarily may not have been in his sights.

Photos sourced from prior campaign on REA.