Advertorial
We’ve all known for some time now that the house market in the Yass Valley is extremely competitive, with buyers struggling to get a foot in the local housing market.
Well, how about this for an opportunity… and the best part is, you can even choose the location yourself. Sydney based owners of a property in Bookham have recently built a new house on their property in the Yass Valley, with their existing 1960’s cottage set for the scrap pile if a buyer doesn’t come along.
But with a selling price of just $20,000, perspective buyers are licking their lips at the potential purchase of the cottage.
The fully self-sustainable cottage measuring in at 19 metres long and 12 metres wide, comes with a fully fitted kitchen, bathroom, four bedrooms, home office area, two living spaces, laundry, and is air-conditioned.
The cottage also features weathertex exterior cladding, a Colourbond corrugated iron roof, electric hot water system, 20,000 litre fibreglass tank with pressure pump, wood burner heating, and is carpeted throughout.
What’s the catch you ask? Well, the property at 200 Burrinjuck Road, Bookham, approximately 29 kilometres from Yass, isn’t for sale, just the 1960’s detached cottage, which will have to be transported off the property after purchase.
Owner and seller of the cottage, Andrew Elsegood, spoke to The Times about the cottage and why a perspective buyer should jump all over the opportunity.
“I thought it was a shame when Council said we had to demolish the existing
cottage when we built the new house beside it,” Elsegood said.
“We’ve just finished the new house on our property, so the cottage is supernumerary.
“I didn’t want to bulldoze a perfectly good house, so I thought that someone else should get the opportunity to live in it.
“The house was originally from the Snowy Mountains scheme. My father- in-law bought a couple of them and put them onto various properties that he had back in the ‘60’s.
“This is the only one that is remaining and has been maintained. We’ve ex- tended it a bit and have done the usual upkeep of a house that is 60 years old. We’ve done some renovations and up- dated it.
“I’d rather see it go to a decent home instead of being turned into rubble. I’d like to see it reused and moved.
“The overall condition of the house is very good. The pergolas on either end of it need repainting and there needs a few new decking boards, but the rest of the house has been maintained up to scratch for the 35-odd years that we’ve been living in there.”
Elsegood explained that the 1960’s cottage was transported onto their property in Bookham and can be transported off as well.
“I know that this cottage was trans- ported onto site in two parts. It was sawn down the middle and was put back together,” Elsegood continued. “It’s been a very nice, comfortable home for us, and I don’t want it to go to the tip. I had someone very interested in it, but unfortunately his financing fell through. He had the house valued at $240,000.
“Obviously, with relocation costs, you’d need the house movers, then a builder, plumber and electrician to put things back together they way that they are at present.
“All in all, I think for $20,000 the house would be a very good proposition for somebody to take away as it is, or to take the usable parts from it. It’s a good house at a very, very reasonable price.” With the current housing shortage and eye watering prices in the Yass Valley currently, it would present a good opportunity and a cheap solution for someone to get into the market.
“I know that there’s a critical shortage of housing in the Yass area currently. Just driving through town the other day, I saw every motel has got no vacancy signs on them, and they’ve been like that for months and months.
“Even if a local shearer contractor or wind farm contractor who has teams of workers picked it up, they’d be able to relocate it and use it, even just a short term.
“If somebody’s got a block of land that they can put it onto, it’s just a matter of getting the trucks in and pulling the re- cent additions off and putting them onto a truck, then taking away the two major portions of the house. It’s a rock-solid house.”
So, does this affordable 1960’s cottage take you by interest?
Tim Warren