Cute Coburg pad has first-home buyers frothing

So many first-home buyers battled for the keys to a cute Coburg townhouse it took a moment to count them all.

The renovated two-bedroom pad at 6/11 Methven St fetched about $80,000 more than reserve with its $732,500 sale price after young buyers and investors battled it out.

Ray White Coburg agent Yash Akpinar said seven bidders put their hands up at the auction after 10 registered to participate, with first-home buyers the dominant force.

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“It was so popular because it’s right next to Sydney Rd and right next to the train line as well — walking distance to everything,” he said.

“Two-bedroom traditional living as well, with the bedrooms upstairs, people like that around here, and it has a really beautiful courtyard for a two-bedroom townhouse as well.”

Mr Akpinar said first-home buyers renting in East Melbourne won the keys with their father bidding on their behalf, with the underbidder also a first-home buyer.

“It’s going well overall,” he noted of the local market.

“These two, three-bedroom townhouses, there’s a lot of demand, first-home buyers seem to be coming out of the woodwork now and getting a bit more confidence in market, it’s going very well.”

Seller Cindy said she and her husband Ben bought the property in 2010 when they were “just starting out” in their early 30s and they now needed a larger place.

“Our intention was to stay here temporarily and then upgrade to something bigger … we had our daughter, Imogen, who is five now,” she said.

“Because my husband is Aussie, a trampoline is essential to him growing up and he feels like our daughter would miss out on that part of childhood memories.”

Cindy said they had loved the quiet location in a no-through road with lots of trees.

“We’re going to miss it. We took everything for granted and thought we needed something bigger and better now, but when we actually started looking we realised apart from it being too small it’s perfect,” she said.

“When we first bought it the bathroom and the kitchen were pretty outdated, we ripped that all out, and renovated mostly ourselves, with electrician and plumbing professionals.”

The family was planning on staying in the same area and waiting to buy once they had sold so they knew their budget.

They will have a good amount to play with after the $650,000 reserve and $580,000-$630,000 quoted range were topped.

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Originally published as Cute Coburg pad has first-home buyers frothing

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