Riverside Living in the Heart of the Bay

 

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Sometimes life moves in circles: before I bought "Riverbend" at the end of 1993, I had bought a small riverside unit in the Bay as my pied-à-terre when I came down to the coast from Canberra.

 

An almost forgotten photo of my Unit 4 after I had rescued it from some terrible tenants and tried to rent it out as a furnished holiday-rental, but that was a mug's game too, with the income barely covering the body corporate levies and council rates. I sold it in 2003 for $365,000 at what was then the height of the market. The next owner sold it again in 2008 for $310,000, and it was last sold in 2018 for $430,000. Barely a raving financial success.

 

Then, after a sudden rush of blood to the head, I found myself to be the owner of "Riverbend", and I no longer needed the little riverside unit. I kept it as a rental but that was a mug's game, which I gave away in 2003 by selling it for $365,000. Even though the capital gains had barely kept up with inflation, I was presented with a tax bill of $55,640. Not much of an investment, but, of course, it had always been a lifestyle choice.

 

My previously owned Unit 4 is two doors to the right of the BLACKSHAW pointer

 

That was Unit 4 at 33 Clyde Street - click here - so when Unit 2 recently came up for sale, I was interested to have a look. Its current owners had bought it in 2021 for $531,000, and it is now for sale at between $650,000 - $665,000 (Why do agents advertise a price RANGE; do they really expect someone to pay more than the advertised bottom price?)

When I inspected it today, I was impressed with the improvements to both the inside of the unit and the maintenance of the whole 15-unit complex, and said that I would be interested in buying it for $600,000.

Something may come of it, or nothing may come of it. If I can buy it for $600,000, I'm back to where I started in 1992 when I bought the same unit two doors down as my coastal pied-à-terre. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, if you're interested in some riverside living in the heart of the Bay, you should contact Jessica Fisher at BLACKSHAW.

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

P.S. It's early Monday morning, just after 9 o'clock, and BLACKSHAW phoned: no, the owners won't accept $600,000! I'm sort of relieved as I always tend to get a bit carried away on the day (and I won't even tell you about my wedding day!) Anyway, I'm not quite ready yet to swap 10,000 of my BHP shares for yet another excursion into real estate. The Labor government's recent changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax have put a cloud over real estate as a form of investment, and the owners of Unit 2 may still rue the day when they rejected my offer.