Hidden storybook home finds a buyer after 364 days on the market near Geelong
A storybook home in a little known rural pocket of Geelong has found a buyer after a year on the market.
A five-bedroom home in a little known rural pocket on the outskirts of Geelong has found a buyer after a year on the market.
Spring Gales at 210 Wandana Drive, Wandana Heights, occupies a 6.07ha pocket in the Barrabool Hills that’s almost cut off from the wider world by the Geelong Ring Road.
HF Richardson Newtown agent Matt Poustie said the property had drawn plenty of interest during the campaign but the niche prospects of the location meant getting a buyer across the line was a more difficult task than first expected.
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Records show the property sold for $3.25m in a deal finalised in late October.
It spent 364 days on the market after it was initially listed with a $3.9m to $4.29m price guide.
“It’s a beautiful house. It was built in the late 1980s, and most people just felt it was probably time for a refresh to really take advantage of what the vendors have done 30 years ago.
Mr Poustie said the buyers were in the building industry, so were perfectly place to put their own stamp on the property.
“Foot traffic through inspections have been excellent. We had a lot of repeat inspections as well. And I’d say 95 per cent of our buyers were Geelong based and looking to move into the country,” he said.
“I think if it had have been a Ceres or Barrabool postcode, it would have been a different story because it’s a lot more known to people.
“When our vendors had purchased the property, the highway wasn’t there so there was a direct connection through to Highton.
“Nowadays there’s only a handful of properties on that side of the highway, under the overpass,” he said.
“But you get the best of living in the countryside while being within residential limits, which is pretty amazing,” Mr Poustie said.
Geelong couple Jamie and Liz Roydhouse said they wouldn’t change a thing when they spoke to the Advertiser after first listing the home for sale, almost 40 years after a local architect and ABJ Builders helped bring their storybook vision to life.
The central open-plan living zone remains the hub of daily life and is home to the vendors’ favourite feature, a Barrabool sandstone open fireplace that the family loves to gather around.
The swimming pool, spa, sauna, tennis court and underground cellar completed the lifestyle package.
Mr Roydhouse said there was no water, electricity or trees when the family first bought the property in the mid-1980s and it relied on a generator for the first 18 months after moving in.
New owners will get to enjoy the privacy and abundant wildlife that comes with the 2500-3000 trees the family set about planting before the house was built, as well as vegetable gardens, an orchard and three main paddocks.
Originally published as Hidden storybook home finds a buyer after 364 days on the market near Geelong