Beyonce boosts value of Brunswick home

A PENSIONER has discovered a celebrity link to a house can boost its value after Beyonce graced the porch of her home.

JEANETTE Meadows had no idea who Beyonce was a week ago.

But the Melbourne pensioner now has the US pop queen to thank for increasing the value of her rundown, century-old home.

The 80-year-old did not understand what all the fuss was about when the singer graced the porch of her Beith St home in Brunswick for a magazine shoot on Thursday.

She became even more dumbfounded when people started gathering outside her home and taking photos in the hours - and even days - after.

But real estate agents say Jeanette and husband Roy's new-found brush with stardom may have been a bonus when it comes to the housing market.

Barry Plant Brunswick director Greg Cusack said the Meadows' unrenovated home would usually fetch about $450,000 to $480,0000, but with the celebrity link it could skyrocket over half a million.

"If it ever went to sale, there'd definitely be a lot of interest in it," he said.

"I was conducting an appraisal on a house on the same street when it happened. Everyone was going absolutely berserk."

Biggin Scott director Russell Cambridge knows all too well how a famous connection to a house can boost the price under the hammer.

He was involved in the auctioning of the South Melbourne apartments as part of the hit renovation series The Block earlier this year.

He said the fact Beyonce had been at a house would be a great marketing tool.

But would-be buyers will have to sit tight, as the Meadows have no plans of moving.

"This is our home - we've been here since 1963," Mrs Meadows said.

Beyonce's outing in the trendy suburb north of the city would have almost gone unnoticed if not for passer-by Octavio De Lellis, who quickly snapped a picture of the secret photo shoot on his phone and put it on Twitter.

Within minutes it had been shared across all social media sites and fans dropped what they were doing and clogged the street in a bid to catch a glimpse of the star.

Mothers and fathers drove their teenage daughters to the house to take happy snaps and adult women turned to giggling schoolgirls as they too visited the street to touch the porch pole where their idol had stood.

"Is this the way she was standing?" one woman asked her friend who was taking her picture, ensuring she got the exact same shot as 32-year-old Beyonce.

"Oh my God! I can't believe she was here," another girl squealed.