Collette Dinnigan in virus lockdown as her Paddington terrace goes to auction
While former fashion designer Collette Dinnigan is in coronavirus lockdown at her Italian farmhouse with her husband Bradley Cocks, her Paddington two-bedroom cottage is up for auction.
NSW
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Former Australian fashion designer Collette Dinnigan will watch from afar as her Paddington terrace goes under the hammer on Saturday.
Quarantined in her 500-year-old farmhouse in Puglia in Italy’s south, Dinnigan will have her fingers crossed the two-bedroom cottage she bought from her brother, creative director Seamus Dinnigan in 2017, sells under the hammer.
Dinnigan and husband Bradley Cocks made the move to Italy more than five years ago and have been posting images of their beautiful lockdown surrounds and their face-masked escapades to buy groceries on Instagram this week.
Agent Michael Kirk of Bresic Whitney Estate Agents in Darlinghurst said the market has been very resilient up until now, but it is uncertain how long that will hold up. There are 746 properties set to go to auction across Sydney on Saturday.
“We sold 30 properties last week and 15 this week, so there are buyers out there and there is still interest in trading,” he said.
“But no one can predict what will happen moving forward.”
Despite that, he said there are three to four keen buyers on the Mary Place property, which is set to go to auction at 3pm today, or 5am Puglia time.
The small cottage is located in the popular Intersection hub of Paddington with the best designers boutiques close by. Period features can be found throughout the terrace, which dates to the mid-1800s, such as a marble fireplace and ornate ceilings.
The designer, who quit the fashion world in 2013 to concentrate on styling luxury homes, has had her fair share of property hits and misses over the years, the most recent being the loss of her beautiful south coast Airbnb property, Rosedale, which burnt down on New Year’s Eve.
Dinnigan has vowed to rebuild the cottage she bought in 2018 for $950,000 and was in the process of looking for an architect to help with the rebuild.
“We want to have designed a very modern house that will compliment the landscape,” Dinnigan told The Weekend Australian. “It needs to be sustainable, and use clean energy.
“We are in the process of doing research, but to be honest we are still a little shell-shocked.”
RENO QUEEN FLIPS HOUSE FOR PROFIT
The queen of renovation, Cherie Barber, has again put her money where her mouth is selling an investment property in Sydney’s west less than a week into its marketing campaign and securing a cool $290,000 in the process before renovation and building costs.
The founder of Renovating For Profit, who bought the Colyton property in 2016 for $580,000, flipped it for $870,000.
The pretty-as-a-picture three-bedroom single-storey home was built in 1975 and now also has a brand new two-bedroom granny flat with a separate entrance, which undoubtedly made it a drawcard for canny fellow investors.
Listing agent Paul Wallace of Property Central Penrith said the home, complete with white picket fence, timber floors and open plan living areas, attracted buyers due to the fact the renovations had been “well done” and it “presented perfectly.” The new owner will keep it as an investment property: the granny flat is already occupied by tenants paying around $400 a week and the main house has the potential to attract $500, making the combined $900 a week a 5.3 per cent yield for the new owner.
Barber is no stranger to the property game regularly buying and selling around Sydney. She recently bought the Lilyfield converted warehouse of comedian and radio presenter, Merrick Watts for $6 million. The one-time Oh Boy Candy Company lolly factory was transformed into a modern five-bedroom home with an internal garden and rooftop pool.
Before she bought that, Barber had to make room in her property portfolio, which she did by selling her Birchgrove investment property for $6.3 million in May last year. She had bought the Louisa Rd home for $4.05 million in 2014 netting her a healthy $2 million-plus profit.
And before that she offloaded an 1890s double-fronted cottage in Leichhardt that she bought in 2008 for $950,000, selling for $3.06 million in 2015 after transforming it into a modern five-bedroom home, tripling her money in seven years.