The Block couple Jess and Norm buy land in QLD to build house
They may have come last in last year’s series of The Block, but husband and wife team Jess and Norm have been spending their winnings wisely. They recently bought a block of land in Queensland, with plans to build on it next year, Jonathan Chancellor reveals.
NSW
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The Triple M breakfast radio personality Jess Eva and her builder husband Norm have bought in coastal Queensland. But it’s a building block with no expectations to move back anytime soon.
The couple, who are renting in Tennyson Point, came to national prominence as contestants on The Block Gatwick in St Kilda last year. Eva then made the switch from Triple M Brisbane to Sydney to co-host Moonman in the Morning with Lawrence Mooney, Chris Page and Gus Worland who announced midweek he was departing the crew.
Jess and Norm bought the 545sq m building block on Russell Island, southeast of Brisbane.
“We bought on Russell Island because we believe it is the best value land in the country,” Eva told me.
They plan to build in the next year or so and keep and rent the house.
“The end goal would be to move there in 15 to 20 years,” Eva added.
They paid $17,000, half of what it traded for in 2010.
The block is located not far from the ferry terminals on the biggest of the Southern Moreton Bay Islands.
“The commute to the mainland is around 20 minutes so it is very realistic to work in the city of Brisbane or Gold Coast and live on a peaceful island for far less cost.”
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The so-called millionaires row on Russell Island has building block prices at $350,000.
The family are content in Tennyson Point, where Jess and Norm are parents to two-year-old Matilda and five-year-old Fred.
“It has a great community feel,” Eva says.
It is a 15-minute commute to the Pyrmont studio at 4.30am.
The family have retained their prior abode at Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast, which cost $620,000 in 2016. They had owned a vacant building block nearby but sold it in 2016 for $384,000.
The couple’s apartment came last in the Block auction, but they still pocketed $209,000.
HORDENS BAG HISTORIC HOUSE
Tim Hordern and his wife Victoria spent $10.1 million at auction yesterday to buy a historic Bellevue Hill home.
Cliff Hall attracted seven registered bidders with the retail family scion fending off strong Chinese bidding.
The nomadic Horderns entered the bidding at $8.8m for the 1916 home that sold through Peter Starr at Raine & Horne in conjunction with Sotheby’s agent Harriet France. There were five bidders following the $7m opening offer.
The Horderns have been renting on Queen St, Woollahra since selling their previous $15.25m home on Edgecliff Rd.
They had previously lived elsewhere on Victoria Rd, selling in 2015 at $7m.
Cliff Hall was listed following the death of Rutti Excell who paid $770,000 in 1983. Hordern, a sixth generation descendant of Anthony Hordern, the famous Sydney retailer, started out at Peat Marwick Mitchell in the late 1970s, and then Equitlink, Westpac and Maple-Brown Abbott.
FOODIE DUO GET TASTE FOR BONDI
Sommelier Chris Morrison, group wine director at QT Hotels & Resort, and his wife, the food, hospitality and travel brand expert Jeanine Bribosia, have bought in Bondi for $3.8 million.
The three-level 1920s Bondi corner home, which underwent a full-scale renovation two years ago, failed to find a buyer last summer when it had a guide of $3.5-$3.7 million.
It was relisted to take advantage of the stronger market by restaurateur Marco Ambrosino, who runs Number 10 William in Paddington, and his wife Pina.
It has four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a courtyard garden on its 235sq m Birrell St parcel.
It was the home of chiropractor Kevin Du-Val and had featured on Channel 9’s Unreal Estate.
Du-Val had hosted parties over his long ownership, with guests including the original Village People and the late entertainer Peter Allen.
Jeremy Clinton of Raine
& Horne Double Bay secured the sale of the monochrome home, which drew 58,000 online views in 10 days.
Bribosia and Morrison are moving from Bellevue Hill, where they sold their 220sq m duplex ahead of its scheduled November auction. The three-bedroom unit had come with $2 million hopes. The upper-level duplex, in a block of two, cost $1.31 million in 2013.
Morrison, who spent six years leading the wine team at Guillaume at Bennelong, published his first book in 2017. This Is Not A Wine Guide was about how to create fun and memorable wine experiences at home.
BANKER LISTS MOSMAN HOME
Financial services company director, Patrick Allaway and wife Elizabeth are selling in Mosman. Allaway, who has recently taken on the role as Bank of Queensland chairman, paid $3.1 million for the property in 2017.
They’ve since renovated the 1920s semi, now with dark timber floorboards and a modern alfresco deck on its 385sq m parcel. It was their fourth Mosman abode, something of a bolthole from their Avalon Beach base.
In 2012 they sold their long-held Mosman trophy home to UBS merchant banker Matthew Grounds and his wife, Kimberly Simpson-Morgan, for $14.05m.
LJ Hooker Avnu agents Michael Coombs and Eliza Fitzpatrick have initial $3m hopes for the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home that goes to auction on November 23.
The Queensland bank recently recruited George Frazis as its new chief executive. He was formerly at St George Bank and Westpac.
SOLD AT WISE PRICE
The chief of technology at the global software giant WiseTech, Brett Shearer and his wife Bronwyn have sold their grand Stanmore residence, Manningham-Thorpe.
They secured a bullish $2.84 million with plans to upgrade nearby. They had extended to create a five bedroom home on the 582sq m Stanmore Rd property. The selling agents initially had $2.2m hopes for its mid-November auction, but raised them to $2.5m.
Shearer was at the company’s freight and logistics software division CargoWise when they bought the Victorian-era home in 2009 for $1m. The tech company has an $8.4 billion capitalisation on the ASX, down from its recent near $10bn, after being hit by a short seller report.