《澳大利亞房屋銷售 》第十季全13集 P8 - Selling.Houses.Australia.S10E09.Cobbitty.NSW.1080p.WEB-DL2.0.H.264.UMMU.NET

The following program is classified G. It is suitable for all audiences. It's staged to sell. I love a country cottage. Rarely am I stuck for words. Oozing character. You've given me some doozies in the past, but this is seriously. Gorgeous original features. I think all of this has to be replaced. And buckets of charm. It seems like the house is going to collapse. Unless we can save her, she's history. It's a pretty big job. Is it? So, can Charlie and Shana pull a rabbit out of the hat? That is makeover magic. Yeah. Ruby Kovac loves her local community. She's a songbird in the church choir. And a complete nut for the region's history. I am a history buff. I love family history in particular. And I love the lives of ordinary people. Home is the historic village of Cobberty, 90 minutes southwest of Sydney. It dates back to the early 1800s and is one of the first settlements in the region. I love Cobberty because of its connections to early white settlement in this area and the beautiful buildings. 15 years ago, she paid $350,000 for her own slice of Cobberty history in this 1880s cottage. I did take it on because I love the house, yes, and its history. So whilst it needed updating, it was... looked okay, just. Marie raised three sons here, but old houses come at a cost. She wanted to restore it, but just stopping the decay was a full-time job. It was hard work to maintain. It was never going to be as good as a modern standard of house while you didn't do a major amount of work to it, I think. Six months ago, she surrendered and with a heavy heart, bought a modern property and put the cottage up for auction. She wanted $820,000, but the highest offer was only $800,000. The offers I got, I didn't take because I couldn't quite emotionally cut myself off from it. Marie has got her heart invested in this place, but she has to learn to let go. Sorry. I didn't think that would happen. We've been gone a few months now, so I thought that I would have made the emotional break, but, yeah, no, not quite. For now, she's in a real fix. Marie bought before she sold. She's in a mountain of debt and has been stuck on the market for six months. It's probably not the most sensible financial move. Cobbedy should be an easy sell. 65 kilometres from Sydney, it's like a country town, but close enough to commute and benefit from Sydney's property boom. In the current market, her place should have sold months ago. I'm not sure why she's in this predicament. She's certainly in a nice area. Good-sized blocks. But this is a funny entrance. I can't even see the house. Chalit and Marie, this is a bit confusing because when I looked on the map, this isn't a road. That's a modern house there. It looks more like a villa complex. It does look a little bit like that if you don't know what's here. Yeah, because it was... It is a subdivision, isn't it? This was an orchard, though, and it is a small subdivision. And yours is the original house? Mine's the original farmhouse. OK. Do you know what my first reaction is? No.Guess. It's run down. I wouldn't know. I can't see it. This isn't the front of the property of the original house, is it? No, that's right. Where's that? The front of the house would be there. OK. It's through here, is it? It is, Andrew, yes. Well, I do love an old house. I must admit, coming around here now, it doesn't look in the best of condition. No, it doesn't look the best of condition. That's right. I can see the steps are stone, so I'm safe on those. That deck? The veranda's a little bit old and needs a bit of repair. Right. Would you like to lead in, Marie? Always let ladies go first on dodgy decks. This is a classic worker's cottage. There are three bedrooms off a central hallway. On the right is a living area with the kitchen, dining, a bathroom and laundry at the rear. Welcome to Paradise, Andrew. So, this is the living room in here. Oh, Marie, it's staged to sell. We've got furniture in here. We have. OK. It looks in really, really poor condition. But now I'm actually quite worried. Come on. The bedrooms aren't much better. Marie took all her furniture when she moved and what's left is a sorry sight. When did you last live in here? About two months ago. I was going to guess at 1975. How about over here? This is the other front room. Yes, Andrew. This is my bedroom. Right. I feel the floor's a bit unstable. Hmm. Right, OK. It's not very straight in place. Let's say it's adding character. Bedroom three is equally uninspiring. As for the bathroom... Oh, my God. You said it was safe. It's almost derelict. What on earth is this? This is a few floor decorations to try and improve it. Right. Rarely am I stuck for words. I'm stuck for words. Marie might have tried to redeem a chronically inadequate floor, but I'm afraid she's only made it worse. At least the kitchen's an improvement. Oh, look, almost... almost a modern kitchen. It's quite serviceable. It has been very practical. Yeah. It just looks terrible cos it's so empty and, yeah. That's true. So this is just the laundry and the toilet you were talking about out here. And the pantry, yes. Oh, look at the old pantry. There's the laundry, the toilet and the shower. Oh, jeez, Marie, this... Look, if it wasn't for the history element, you know what essential piece of building kit you need for the property? A bulldozer. I'm not joking. The cottage is in such bad condition, it's almost beyond renovation. I hope the back garden lifts my spirits. It's 2,000 square metres, almost a paddock. Oh, this is beautiful. It is very beautiful. This is beautiful. This is what makes it a wonderful place to live. Yeah. There's the house hidden behind the hedge. It is, sadly. For me, it's a bit of a lost opportunity because you just cannot see it from any point of the house. An awkward subdivision has left the house cramped in the corner of the block, and any view you could see is blocked by the hedge. I really think Marie should have taken the first offer she got. I can see why Marie loves her house. It's full of hidden charm. The trouble is that charm is buried under a pile of problems. Then again, the house does fit the historic flavour of this gorgeous little town. Copperdy was once known as the Cow Pastures, as the original tenants were the wild cattle from the First Fleet. The village itself dates back to the early 1800s, and visitors and residents alike love its old-world charm. Marie's cottage is in the old part of town. It was the original homestead for a large orchard, which was subdivided in the 1950s. The area is full of historic buildings, but old homesteads are being bulldozed in favour of new builds. And according to agent Tanya Nowak, that's what buyers want. The problem is a lot of people appreciate the older home. However, they look at the old house and they just think, wow, it's too much work. A lot of our market at the moment prefer a newer style home. Yep, it's the cost of progress. As high prices in Sydney push buyers further out, they end up in places like this. This property was sold last year. Originally, it had a very tiny little cottage, a two-bedroom cottage on it. The older dwelling was recently removed. Oh, gosh, don't tell Marie. OK. And the owners had rented out the property for six months. During that time, they put their DA in to build a new house. What did it sell for? Yep, it sold in the low eights. In the low eights?Yes. Marie will be devastated if someone bulldozed her cottage, but thankfully there are still some buyers prepared to renovate an old house. This sold when? Last year. OK, and for...? Yeah, in the low eights. So it's a renovator, effectively, wasn't it? It definitely was, yes. That gives me hope. Now we just have to find a history-loving buyer brave enough to take on Marie's place. Coming up... You're way too overdressed for what you're about to see. Oh, God! No point dressing this up. She doesn't look keen. No. She's going to kill me. Seriously, what have you done to me? Marie Kovac is enchanted by the past. For the last 15 years, she's devoted herself to caring for her dilapidated cottage. The house itself was never easy to live in, but I love the character of the house and the style of the house. But maintaining the crumbling structure became too much. So six months ago, Marie put her historic home in Coverty, just outside Sydney, on the market. And there it stays, like a forgotten ornament on the shelf. I thought people would love the land and the view because really, I really wanted someone to buy it who would fix it. So far, most buyers want to bulldoze the place. Marie's already bought a new house, so she needs to sell. And we have to do something to save them both. Thankfully, the Coverty market is on our side. Demand here is healthy. The average sales time is just six weeks. The ripples of Sydney's property boom have seen the median price leap a whopping 36% in three years. And it's not just houses that have gone up. Land prices have gone through the roof too. This blocks the same size as Marie's and was sold as vacant land by agent Shane Brown. This sold for 565. Now, that was during last year. Approximately 18 months ago. But what would it get now, today's market, if it was still a vacant block of land? I think as a vacant block of land in today's market, it would fetch in the high 700,000. Really? OK. So there has been a real jump in the last year or two, hasn't there? Yes. The one I'm dealing with has a very small historic cottage on the land in need of total renovation. Would that be seen as an advantage or a disadvantage to the general market here? In the eyes of some buyers, it could be seen as a hindrance as far as the demolition costs. You know, negotiations with council and whatnot. Sometimes a vacant block of land could be a little more attractive. The good news is Marie's land value, particularly with that view, has got to be worth 700-plus. Remember, she wants to preserve this place. But is that possible? So from my point of view, is there any value if we could just make that little historic cottage habitable? I don't mean a full reno, so that people could see that they could renovate it and make it of use. Yes, I do. You do? Yes, I honestly do. I think if people walk into a home and they feel it is clean and well-presented, it just, and they feel they can live... Habitable, I think, would do at the moment. That's what I wanted to hear. So we'll try and preserve the cottage and make it livable. But there's pretty tough competition from new builds, some of which are designed to look historic, to fit with the area. It's not a historical home like yours. It's a replica weatherboard home. To me, it's got character. It's the kind of architecture I think we like to see in these towns, yes? Yes. We'll have a little look inside. Look, the veranda. Oh, very nice. No, it's like your bathroom floor should have been. That's exactly right. Yes, is this the look you were trying to create? It was, yes. You failed. I did? Yes, come on in. So we have living areas here, meals, kitchen. There are four bedrooms, two bathrooms. But the block size is only 1,000 square meters. Yes. So it's half the size of yours. Yes. Does it have a view? That's you. So come through here, you'll see that this is actually really rather lovely. Very classic-style kitchen. And then there's this other rather lovely sort of... It's a garden room, extra living room at the back. Very nice. Beautifully done. Right, so we've got study in there. Very nice. Then we go through to the bedrooms. And then we come in. And this at the front is obviously the master bedroom. And it does have an en-suite as well. Smallish room. Yes, they're not huge. Not huge, but the floors are quite straight. The floors are straight. You know, not too many gaps in the walls and things like that. True. There's the main bathroom. Nicely appointed, with no rubble or broken pavers on the floor. The whole place is beautifully presented. And while it might not have a view, it does have a manicured garden. Now you can see the back garden. Outdoor areas. There's the garage. There's the games room above. It's got a lot of property, all on 1,000 square meters. So what do you think it sold for last year? I would think somewhere around there. In the mid-800s. You're very good. 860. Interestingly enough, though, my research has told me something else. What's that? Because of the way the market has been recently, that if this was to be marketed, you know, all staged for sale, ready to go, potentially could be low mid-nines for it now. Gee. Yes. The market's gone up. Yes, the market has moved. I don't want to get Marie too excited, but if we can haul her historic hovel into the present and open up that view, we could get her 820 grand and save the cottage from the bulldozer. You're way too overdressed for what you're about to see. Oh, God. Those shoes are not suitable. Really that bad? I'm OK with the pebbles. I can do that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, there are pebbles outside. There's a part of the house where there are pebbles inside too. Pebbles inside? Yeah. OK, so you go first. Should I be scared? No. No, it won't take you long. Whoa. This is secure. Here we are. Will I actually fall through that? She doesn't look keen. No. At least it says welcome. Yes. Believe it or not, Shana has the easy job... Oh, whoa. ...because the tricky stuff is outside. For me, the main thing here is there is no street presence or curb appeal whatsoever. So, of course, now we've got beautiful facade. Could be. Could be beautiful facade facing service side of a 90s build, which isn't a great start, is it? No, it's not. You feel like you're sort of in a city, but you're not in a city. Yes, you're right. What you will like as a true gardening guru, the other side of that hedge is the rest of the land and there are views and it's just beautiful. OK. Do you want to have a little look? Oh, whoa. I better go and check on Shana before she spits the dummy and runs. Found the family bathroom, then. Seriously, what have you done to me? No. You've given me some doozies in the past, but this is seriously... OK. Time to appeal to her emotional side. So, mum and grown-up children, they've lived here a long time. They've bought another property, so the pressure's on. She has a lot of emotional attachment to it. But I kind of see that. It is a bit sad if it gets torn down, but we can't renovate it fully. We kind of got to make it look a bit more appealing so that somebody could be attracted enough to think, you know what? I want to retain that cottage. I think my main concern is that structurally, it's not good. No. And that's the thing. And we can make it look fantastic and have the character that you're talking about and someone fall in love with it. I still think people might think there's too much to do. That's a risk I think... I think might be worth taking. Now, I'm an optimist, but I think all of this has to be replaced. I'm certain all of this has to be replaced. Actually, not in bad condition, this. Just in the wrong place. I need a machete to get through this lot. Now, where's this view? He found the best bit of the block. It's nice, isn't it? Isn't it beautiful? I like the way that it's hidden by the hedge behind us. Yeah, now that's a major issue. So what I need to do is try and link the aspect from the cottage to that beautiful view somehow. That's a pretty big job. Is it? As long as you can see this view and get the feeling that this land is part of that, then that will suffice and do something with the deck. No, that's fine. We'll just get Shaina to check it. Just chuck some outdoor rugs on it or something like that. No one will ever notice. No. I might start my own range of candles. Oh, that Charlie, he's so enterprising. So, we've got a historical house. I know, I know. That needs to tempt buyers to take this project on. The kitchen and bathroom, I really can't do anything to unless I fully gut them. And I don't really know what I'm going to do with that floor in the bathroom yet. I've got a couple of options. I'll have to research. We've got lino and vinyl. So, put some flooring in there. And then, really, it's just a paint and a dress because I'm a bit nervous about opening walls and spaces. Charlie, really, it's about making the street presence look better. Yes. Getting biased to this facade and making this look relatively decent and opening up the aspects so that they can see. And it is a great block of land. OK. Yes? Yes. So, Winter, I can do all those things for you. Yes. But I need money to do them. Oh, yes, money. Probably about 65 to 70, no more. For once, the lion's share will go to Charlie. Shana will get the spare change. This deck's going to be the biggest. Yep. So, that's going to be... Depending on the frame, let's say it's completely shot because it is 25, 30 grand in itself. Wow. Because it wraps all the way around. There's painting all over the house. We'll clear all the front. We'll sort the carport out. And do the planting. Make that much nicer. Sort the carport out. Paint the house. That's a big one as well. And all through here, make it look lovely. 60,000 to 70,000 is a lot for someone with two mortgages. But Marie might think it's money well spent if it helps save the house. So, to start, we'll listen to some feedback from the recent open, which is here. Really, there's no street appeal at all to it. You know, you don't go by and say, oh, what a beautiful looking little house that is. To be honest, I didn't even know where to walk in from. I didn't know where was the front of the house or where was the side. It seems like the house is going to collapse. That's the strangest bathroom I've ever seen. Even the bathroom's like, one's got little stepping stones in it. You'd probably get dirty getting out of the shower rather than before you get in. It doesn't feel like 2,000 square metres. It actually feels like, you know, 500. And the aspect of the location isn't being utilised. OK, I'm wondering if we'll get any offers at all. I'd say 700, 750 maybe max. Maybe around 600, 650. You'd get less than 700. We would only purchase this property if we were going to knock it down. That was interesting feedback, wasn't it? We can't look at a renovation more of a minor modernisation and dressing up so that it becomes habitable again or perceived as habitable. If it is, then somebody might come along and go, you know what, it's worth restumping this and finishing off the renovation. You're going to have to spend some money on it. And I know that seems absolutely pointless because most people think it either needs bulldozing or it's a several hundred thousand dollar renovation. We just need to make it perceived as habitable again. I think 65, 70K. That much? That much. Well, if it helps the cottage stay there, which I think is really important. And if it does appeal to more people at that point, then that would make it probably very worthwhile. I think that's the only way you've got of any chance of getting a good price for your property. What that price will be, if it will be over eight? Possibly, definitely. All right. Can I have a slice of cake? Go for it. What won't be a piece of cake is the makeover. Up next. Saving history. Ripping down the past to give this cottage a future. It's magic. Actually, I really love it. Marie's house was destined for the bulldozer. Too dilapidated to attract a buyer, so we're on a mission to save it. And that means opening up the view and dialling up some country cottage charm. I need to turn this house into a home. I need to turn this house into a cute country cottage. But the first thing you see is a carport, so that's got to go. Then I'm going to come here and work on the veranda and put in a new front pathway to show buyers where the front door is. I'm doing this because the house sits sideways on the block. Removing the carport to reveal the building will help, but unfortunately, we're looking at the side of a house, not the front. So we'll put in a garden bed later to pretty it up. The other challenge is how to link the house to the view. Andrew wants me to rip out the hedge, but it has taken decades to grow. So I'm using a trick taken from grand English country gardens, a frame. We only have one window on the side of the house, which is the kitchen. So instead of removing it all, which would be too costly and take too much time, I'm simply going to cut a hole in the hedge to open a window up to make the most of the view. And just like a picture in a gallery, a frame will help draw the eye. That view is stunning. Now we have to make a room to match. The kitchen's probably the best room in the house, but it's a bit of a plain Jane. So we're adding some make-up to hide the flaws and enhance the features. This kitchen is a really good size, but it did have a few quirky elements. The overhead cabinet that we've now taken down, a little bit of patching to do on that, and then this great feature here that they've got a pipe going all the way through. So I'm just going to box it out, put a PowerPoint in, so you can use it for a microwave, a kettle or just dress it up. We're retaining the original cabinets, but adding warmth with timber benches. And that should be enough, because this reno isn't about fixing everything. It's about making the house livable and showing its potential so a buyer won't want to knock it down. If the kitchen was the best room in the house, the bathroom is the worst. Someone tried to make a pebble and resin floor, but it's more like a creek bed, so we're starting again. But this is pre-building code, so our options are limited. We have two major issues with this flooring. One,if we put in a proper substrate, we've got to reduce ceiling height, and it's not legal. And two,if we get a proper base, then we have to do drainage, waterproofing and fixed tiles, which we don't have in the budget. So what we're going to do is replace light with light with a non-fixed flooring, which is going to look a lot better than what it does now. Can't afford new fittings or cabinetry either, so we'll rejuvenate the vanity with a lick of paint and give the bath a touch of bling. More on that later. I'm not surprised Marie didn't tackle this room. It's a nightmare. And I think it's one of those things, unless you could do a proper renovation, you felt like you couldn't do anything. Exactly,and that's the point the whole place was at, that unless you really took it apart and started from the beginning, there was no point in just tweaking it again, because we'd already done that when we moved in 14 years ago. Well,are you handy with the paintbrush? I am. So all yours. Thanks,Shana. No worries. Love historic buildings. This deck would have been over 100 years old, and I'd hoped to preserve as much as possible. But sadly,that wasn't to be. My first impression of the deck frame wasn't too bad, but on closer inspection, alas,my optimism was not rewarded, and we have to replace the whole lot. I've got H4 posts that are in the ground, and I've gone for cypress for the bearers and joists. Our termites don't like cypress, and because this deck's going to be so low to the ground, it's the best timber to use. We're completely updating the front of the cottage and adjoining gardens to play up the heritage charm. Here,it's all about adding charm to this crumbling country cottage, and that starts with a new paint job. It's going to help protect the house against the elements and give it a new lease of life. Right now,the old girl looks a bit sickly, so we're putting the color back in her country cheeks. The body of the house is a gray suitably named antique silver with contrasting arctic cotton trims, and the warmth in the gray is brought out by the golden tones of the cypress pine decking. The lack of a defined entrance was always an issue for this cottage, but I have a simple solution. To show buyers where the front door is, I'm going to put in a pebble path. Now,for us to do this whole area, it'll just be too much. I don't have the sun for grass, so I'm going to go for crushed granite with a nice seating area. I've just defined it with a simple brick edge that we found on site. It will give the house a pleasant outlook, and the new design has Marie singing our praises. But it is missing one thing, privacy. To frame our new pathway, I'm using layered planting. We've got a low level of gardenia, which steps up to these great camellias. Now,these are screening the neighbors and making this whole area feel more secluded and private. A country cottage needs to feel warm and cozy, and one way to do this is with your wall color. When you're selling a house, having colors like this are just a bit too interesting, but you can still create interest with neutrals. It's just about tone and shade and how you layer it and using a contrast trim. So on this wall, I'm using a color called Classified. It's sort of a warm putty color that works with this traditional look I'm going for. We're using the same color in the hall and bedrooms for continuity and making it pop with contrasting white trims. In the bathroom, it's the opposite rule. Painting the tin walls white to match the vanity will help hide the floors. That's what I love about paint. You can hide or feature almost anything. This gas heater is killing the character of this room, so we can't afford to replace it. I'm taking it out, painting the inside of it pot-bellied black and just dressing it. When you have a feature like this, you must enhance it when you're selling. The black in the fireplace will contrast beautifully with the light walls, so it really stands out. And I'll paint the kitchen recess black to match. Removing the carport has really opened up this side of the house, but it's left us with another problem. Where to park the car? We're building a new spot right on the boundary. I would have liked to put a carport over it, but it's too close to the neighbors, so council won't allow it. I thought it was important to have a spot for parking, and I've done that with pebbles. We put down this plastic mat there first so all the pebbles don't just end up in the driveway. It helps to reinforce it, and the rest of the space is turned to lawn. This gives a nice open feeling and really plays on the country cottage charm. It's all about capturing the buyer's imagination. An expansive lawn is something you'd expect from a rural block, as is a cute cottage facade. And that's coming along nicely. With the carport gone, this garden bed has become the first thing you see when you turn up at the house, so it has to be a real feature. I want to formalize it, so I put a buxus hedge in front, and then I'm going for hydrangeas behind. Now I selected these because they go perfectly with the crape myrtles. They're also a white flower, but also the dark green and the white really stand out against the new paint job. The color of the leaves against the gray is magic. Actually, I really love it. It's amazing what color can do to make something pop and look totally different. Completely different. And you know, you've got these white, lovely white crape myrtles through here as well. So again, it ties the white with the trims, the color of the hydrangeas, and then formal hedge along the front as well. Fantastic. So, yeah. And to make sure buyers find the front door, let's smack them right between the eyes. I'm painting the door bright red. This fits in perfectly with the new colors, and also it's going to attract people when they come around the path. It doesn't look particularly red now, but you can see by the color in the tin what I'm aiming for. The cottage is starting to change from old chrome to preserved beauty. But the age and quirks of this house force my hand with the bathroom flooring. We've lost the pebbles and created a usable concrete floor. These clipped-together plastic tiles have a slim profile, leaving just enough ceiling height to make this a legal room. They're a great temporary solution until someone does a major reno. And because they're a little bit different, I've created drama in the color scheme. I just put a black floor down, just a little waterproof one. It just means when your vanity and your bath's in there, it's really just going to stand out. So because it's black, it means you won't notice it. That'd be nice, wouldn't it? It would be nice. Such a feature before. Now, a lot of people poo-poo vinyl flooring, but it's come a long way since the old lino. In the hall and kitchen, we're laying a quality wood effect in walnut to match the original floors. It's soft underfoot and a great economical option. Love this house because of its history, so I wanted to celebrate that with my choice of decor. Done. Thank you. I've opted for light neutral pieces, mostly small, with a few large feature items. It's a little bit eclectic to reflect the home's history, but we also need some pizzazz. The main objective for this makeover was to make sure everything I put in the house made it feel characterful. So it was all about the selection of the furniture and the decorator items. I wanted to take it to the next level, so I've gone French provincial, but also with some Louis pieces and a little bit of country. These are quite fussy, so in contrast, the window dressings are classic simplicity. To let the detail of the architecture come to the fore. Remember my bathroom surprise? For the cost of a can of silver spray, I've brought a little bling to Marie's old bath. Considering this was a bathroom, I thought we should have bulldozed. Just these few simple changes have made such a big difference. Painting the vanity, new handles, spraying the feet of the bath, keeping the beautiful tapware, and then painting the walls. To me now, I think someone actually would want to have a shower in here. In every country cottage, the kitchen is the destination for family and friends, and this is now the place to be. All it's taken is a few simple tweaks to take this from a tired, modern kitchen to a country one. Change the door handles, new timber benchtop, sink, a tap, some walnut flooring, and now I have a purpose for the original fireplace. I really think we've rewritten history here and brought this old home back to life. But for Marie, it must be a bittersweet moment. You are attached to this house as much as I keep saying, how did you live here? Because I'm walking up and down each bedroom going, oh,my goodness. What's it going to mean to you to finally sell it? I think possibly it's taken me this long to disconnect from it enough to be able to sell it really. So I've had some offers and I could have sold it. I do think it's worth more than what I was offered, and I'm hoping now that time has elapsed, my emotional connection has disappeared and it's now really beautiful. Somebody will come here and live in it instead of wanting to knock it down immediately and might get some more life. And while some would say Marie should have taken the 800 grand and saved herself the expense of a makeover, I say good on her for giving this old girl a second chance. Coming up. Isn't that beautiful? It's incredible. We've turned back the clock. Look at this. Oh,beautiful. But is it enough to turn on the buyers? This is quick. Culberty is a gorgeous historical town, and that's what Marie loved about this place when she bought a little slice of it. But her cottage was the worst house on the street. So have Charlie and Shana brought it up to scratch. Despite the rain, I'd say the future is looking a whole lot brighter. Oh,look at that. Wow,it's amazing. Even in the rain, I would say that looks a little bit more magical. It does. It's open. It's very pretty. I'm very concerned about the curb appeal of coming up this drive. Is that enough to get people to come in? I think so. Yeah,you can actually see and appreciate it as a cottage. I mean,we've lost the carport. No one was gonna keep that carport long term, were they? I think the facade is more important than the carport. It is. Well,shall we have a look inside? Yeah. Wow. Isn't that beautiful? Incredible. This gorgeous old cottage was always a hidden gem. But Charlie has unveiled its glory. The smart new facade welcomes buyers to step inside, while the once overgrown garden oozes cottage charm. It's gone from knockdown to knockout. Look at this. Let's get rid of that. Yes,just pop that down there. Hello,how are you? Nice to see you. How are you? Tina,how are you? Nice to see you. Couldn't miss your place,could we? No,because it's so lovely. Makes a lot of difference. The entrance now is just charming. And the history is oozing out of every little square meter. Looks lovely. Beautiful. Keeping his fingers crossed,let's go inside. Shall we? After you,Tania. I'm bracing myself here. Let's hope it's not the only thing that needs bracing. No bracing required. It is unrecognizable. This is gorgeous. Isn't it gorgeous? Incredible styling. Cosy and inviting. It beckons you to sit and stay a while. Someone could actually live in here very comfortably right now. Absolutely. And the really important rooms are out there. Okay. A kitchen and a bathroom,correct? Yeah. I don't know what we can do in three days with the budget we had for those. Hang on. This almost looks like a usable kitchen. It's a great kitchen. The cabinets are the same,aren't they? They are,yes. Bench top's new. Yes. Handles are new. Yeah. Sink's new. Tap's new. Cooktop's new. Yeah. It's lovely. It's great. I can see a family using this no problem at all. Yeah. It's a lovely family kitchen,Andrew. It is. Country kitchen. Country kitchen indeed. And now this country kitchen even has a view. Hang on. Something I've only just noticed. Did you... I've definitely noticed. It's the first thing I noticed when I walked in is how open and beautiful the outlook is. That's better. I can see the land. I can see what this property is all about. That's the key. The one place that's left is the... Bathroom. Okay. Are you ready? Yes,I'm ready. It's got loads of character. That's for sure. It's gorgeous. Do you know what that is,Tanya? That is makeover magic. Yeah. Oh,definitely. All that is is a cover over floor. Yeah. That would have cost hardly anything to do. And the result is... It speaks for itself. It's incredible. See? Makeover magic. Shana has cast a spell in the bedrooms too. From dive to divine with little more than paint and furniture. Looks lovely,doesn't it? The colours are beautiful. The lines are beautiful. The character,that's for sure. It even looks like a bedroom that somebody could actually sleep in. It does. It's gorgeous. Wow. Absolutely stunning. Bedroom that's usable. Not only habitable, but a picture of timeless elegance. This tatty time capsule is now a character-filled home. But is it enough to entice a buyer and give this piece of history a future? So have we created that niche in the market? Most definitely. The house presents well. It's bright. It's clean. It's a space that people can actually live in now which will open up the market a lot more. So of course, that leads to the all-important question. Value guides at the moment for this place for Marie. Our problem before was people would walk into this house and they just didn't see it as a livable home. So that just devalued the property. So therefore, I believe the property now presents so well that possibly we would be able to get a lot more than that somewhere in the eights. How does that sit with you? That's fantastic. Okay. Do you want to think about that? No. Charlie and Shana have done an amazing job. I wanted livable. They've given me to die for. Hopefully, buyers of all kinds will be fighting over it. Well, the real estate sun broke out a lot faster than I thought. Within days of the renovation, Tanya and Marie call me back with some exciting news. Hello. How are you? Hello. Lovely to see you again. Only left five minutes ago. Come on. Tell me what's going on. Please come in. Thank you. This is exciting. Hello. How are you? Nice to see you again. Good to see you. Sit down then, shall we? Please sit down. Wow. Come on. Reveal all. Well, it was very exciting, Andrew. I've seen the board, so I clearly know what's going on. This is quick. Pretty much the next day, we had a buyer interest. Next day after I left? Yes, that's right. So how about photographs, floor plans, advertising, opens, not neat, not neat. I haven't had any. No. Tanya's son was out the front. That's the only advertising and there's been no open house. Wow. Good old-fashioned real estate then. People you already had on your books? Yes. People on our database that were looking in property. And the buyer was from where? So the buyer's local. Yes. Living in the area. And they had been through the property six months ago. Do you think the fact that it's habitable, rentable is what helped just get the deal over the line? Definitely, yes. That is absolutely... I'm very, very pleased for you. Now, please tell me it was over $800,000. It did go for over $800,000, Andrew. How much over $800,000? It went for $835,000. Oh, good. I'm pleased. Good. That's a decent figure. You've not cracked the eights before. That's a good selling sum. So life's better for you? Absolutely. So dinner on you then, yeah? And the best news of all, the buyer's an investor. So the cottage will be rented out and, with a bit of luck, will be here for many more years to come. What an incredible result. This house was sold before it was even listed. This could be one of the quickest sales in Selling Houses Australia history.