An inner-city Paddington home, that was rented by Airbnb and secretly transformed into the iconic cottage from the mega-hit BBC cartoon series Bluey for an exclusive weekend getaway for one family, has sold at auction for $1.845m, making more than $1m in eight years for the sellers.
Homeowner Emma Hoskin and Gower Property Group selling agent Chris Gower were forbidden from cashing in on the house’s global fame by linking the sale of the three-bedroom cottage with the Bluey brand in any way.
Early on in the sales campaign the BBC forced the removal of social media posts that linked the home with Bluey and auctioneer Justin Nickerson was under strict instructions not to mention the name.
“(There’s a) good sized yard for the dog or maybe even a family of dogs to call their own,” Mr Nickerson said before a crowd of 80, including at least one canine friend, in the backyard of 55 Charlotte St, Paddington.
Mr Gower said the campaign was 'like walking a tightrope' but when the hammer fell, the gag was lifted.
“Now we can talk about it and we found a buyer who doesn’t know a thing about Bluey,” Mr Gower said.
Mrs Hoskin said it had been an honour to be part of the Bluey campaign, despite not being able to talk about it after her family made the decision to sell the house and settle more permanently in northern New South Wales where they had been renting.
“I think that we did really well off the back of it regardless,” she said. “That sale price we are actually super grateful for. And it having been the Bluey house and having had that attention — people knew anyway.
“I guess there were maybe more eyes on it than it would have had.”
Fifteen bidders took the three-bedroom cottage to auction with an opening bid of $1.52m which was shouted from someone on the back deck.
Less than 10 minutes later that same voice conceded, there were ‘no more Bluey dollars’ and a young couple from Singapore who were returning home to be closer to family were being congratulated as the new owners.
“Well to you we say, Bingo _ sold,” Mr Nickerson said.
Mrs Hoskin originally bought the house in 2014 for $730,000.
