Sydney auctions: Family of bold renovators splashes out for home wrecked in hailstorm
A hazardous house in Sydney’s north trashed by hail has sold to a family of bold renovators, but they have their work cut out for them with an interior that needs to be seen to be believed.
A hazardous Neutral Bay semi ravaged in a brutal hailstorm three years ago and later abandoned has changed hands at auction for $1.76m.
The house on Rawson St with collapsed ceilings and fraying walls sold to a family of renovators, who beat out eight other bidders.
Onlookers described the home’s condition as “overwhelming”.
The hailstorm had peppered the roof with holes, allowing subsequent rain to pour into the house and wreck the furniture, walls and ceilings.
A mould infestation soon took hold, turning the house into a hazard.
The deteriorating condition encouraged long-term owners, who had lived happily at the two-bedroom house since 1979, to vacate.
They moved to the Southern Highlands but left much of their furniture behind.
By the time the home was being prepared for sale this year, it was uninhabitable and could not be inspected without high duty masks and hazmat suits. The entire backyard and one side of the home was a jungle of untamed vines and creepers that needed to be cut back.
Agent Rodd Marr of Mosman First National said simply going through the home and assessing the damage was “confronting”.
“They had left some of their furniture under a blue tarpaulin, but there was so much rain over the summer that 12 inches of water was pooled in there. It looked like a kids’ swimming pool,” Mr Marr said.
Clearing out the property of its water-clogged contents was an intensive job, Mr Marr added.
“We filled nine skips with damaged clothes, electronics and furniture,” he said.
“The old terracotta roof tiles had to be replaced to make the house watertight again. The whole place was damp. The walls had to be chlorine scrubbed and we ran extraction fans for months.
“I’ve seen a lot of mess in houses over the years but this was heartbreaking.”
The family who purchased the property said they intended to do a renovation within the footprint of the original floorplan. They have done renovation projects in the past.
Mum Cath said the ownership would be split three ways between her and daughters Lucinda and Maddi.
She said she was not perturbed by rising building costs and tradie shortages: “We were hoping it would weigh on the competition’s minds but it wasn’t an issue for us.”
There were other standout results on the north shore on Saturday. A Roseville house given an extravagant makeover sold for $8.45m at auction – the priciest auction sale in the country this week.
Bidding for the Roseville Ave house opened at $7m and quickly advanced to $8m. DiJones auctioneer Josh Larsen then called it on the market, declaring bidders were “playing for keeps”.
The sellers purchased the home in 2015 for $3.9m. Most of their changes were cosmetic. The original structure was largely intact.
Originally published as Sydney auctions: Family of bold renovators splashes out for home wrecked in hailstorm