EP. 1462 TALE OF THE SALE: 19 COUTTS CRESCENT, COLLAROY - SOLD!

A stunning example of European craftsmanship has changed hands in one of Collaroy's most sought-after streets. The recent $3.3 million sale of 19 Coutts Crescent reveals what savvy buyers are willing to pay for solid construction, versatile living spaces, and prime Northern Beaches positioning.

Built by a European bricklayer and his family in the 1970s, this double-brick home showcases exceptional workmanship that would cost a fortune to replicate today. We explore the charming details that captivated the new owners - from the impressive 21-metre frontage on a level block (a rarity in this street where many homes are built into the hillside), to the surprising discovery of a bone-dry basement complete with five wine barrels. The original wood-fired pizza oven and custom salami-making shed in the backyard speak to the home's European heritage and family-centered design.

While the interior remained largely original, requiring comprehensive renovation, the property's approved dual living configuration proved irresistible. With four bedrooms upstairs and a separate two-bedroom apartment downstairs, this versatile floor plan offers rental potential of approximately $2,000-$2,200 weekly or accommodates extended family living. The new owners recognized the value proposition immediately, appreciating how the home could evolve with their family's changing needs over time.

The quick two-week sale highlights the premium buyers place on quiet, family-friendly streets where properties rarely become available. Located just minutes from beaches, rock pools and shopping centres, yet offering the tranquility of a street where children can safely play outdoors, this property represents both current lifestyle value and future potential. With renovated homes in the area fetching upwards of $4 million, this transaction demonstrates the continuing appeal of solid, character-filled homes with good bones in premium locations.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tale of the sale for 19 Coutts.
Crescent Collaroy just sold for$3.3 million.
We're going to tell you thestory behind the board.
I'm the ringleader, so let's go.

(00:24):
Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Bids.
Hello, good morning.
Good morning sir.
How are you?

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Good, thank you Good.
We tracked down the man on theroad, the man responsible for
putting up the sold sticker, andwe're going to interview Bids.
This morning on Taylor, theSale for a property that's just
got such a good charm to it Areally good family home.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Very much Like it's one of those houses that's been
held on with family for a very,very, very long time.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
And it was a big decision for them to just pass
it on as well, and the best partwas it went to a different
family that will make this theirnext family home, so it was
very interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, and did they know that?
Did they sort of appreciatethat in and amongst the
negotiation?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, I think that was one of the factors as well,
because, since these buyers,since the first day, they came
multiple times first and, as Iwas telling them, this was built
by the dad and the two sons andthe daughter all lived in the
same house.
Everyone was there.
It kind of helped them as well,because they had sons and
daughters as well so.

(01:38):
I think they kind of saw thevision and it was not an average
house.
Best thing was double brickconcrete slabs Very hard to find
these days and will cost afortune to build as well let's
show you what you can get foryour money in colorado these
days.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
So 3.3 million dollars was the sole price.
Um talk us through it.
So the double brick exterioryes, double brick.
Massive frontage as well, almost21 meter of frontage, and uh
level level block, which was thebest bit and yeah, that's quite
unique in colorado because,particularly on coots crescent,

(02:16):
because half of the street is iselevated and almost built into
the side of the hill.
Um, yes, you do get some viewsfrom that you benefit from, from
being sort of built into theside of the hill.
Um, yes, you do get some viewsfrom that you benefit from from
being sort of built into therock and and and a little bit
higher.
But uh, all of the back gardensthey're all quite steep,
they're not, they're not levelwhere the flat side of the other
side of the street is very flatvery true, like even when going

(02:40):
through the street.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
For you know, uh, just to look at, to get my
knowledge good what's beenselling such a difference
between even house from acrossthe road?
Uh, because, as you mentioned,the lands are pretty steep so
they've had really good views,uh, but it'll be a steep
driveway and no back out.
Uh yeah, we had a bit of abalcony, not sure if you can see
, and yeah, it's all original,like uh, uh, very, very well

(03:03):
maintained, that's kind of theview you could see.
And yeah, it's all original,like very, very well maintained,
that's kind of the view youcould see.
The DIY lagoon, the DIY beach.
There's the waves coming up.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
But you have to really look, yeah, so lagoon
that side, and then you had sortof beach this side.
Best part is you can go onemore level up.
That was the best part.
That's true, true, but I lovethis European frontage.
Yes, you know very European,and the brickwork was phenomenal
.
I think he was a bricklayer bytrade, yeah.

(03:32):
But yeah, all, very, all, verysort of vintage, the old, the
old sort of steel, balcony,railwells, there've got the um
living room.
Now this is all virtualfurniture.
So how did that sort of work?
Because it was quite anoriginal property and actually
needed lots of work inside.
Some room didn't have carpet,so how did you sort of approach

(03:53):
that?

Speaker 2 (03:54):
well, uh, pretty much half the buyers that walked in
like we had a very good pricepoint as well, and half the
buyer that walked in kind ofraised their hand saying, nah,
this is too much work for us.
They would appreciate thelocation, the size of the block,
everything was perfect.
And since it was a full doublebrick house for some people,
locked down, rebuild was costingtoo much money and these guys

(04:17):
pretty much they were.
They came through the veryinitial phase of their campaign,
even off market, and they hadthe Nick and the vision to do
all the work.
It kind of worked well.
They had some experience doingsome work and best part was, I
think, what really sold them aswe went under the house.
So there's an actual spaceunder the house we can actually

(04:41):
stand up and is three yeah, sotechnically three levels, and
there are 5 wine barrels in thebasement.
Uh, yeah and uh best part was itwas all concrete and it was
bone dry, that's very hard forunder the house to be that good

(05:02):
and that usable uh and I thinkthe buyers just knew that, how
good the build was, uh andeverything.
So I you know those were a fewother things.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
It also had this like salami-making shed in the back.
This little thing here.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yes, I had a very good chat with the owner, so
they gave me almost an hour tourof the whole house giving me
backstories of everything.
So that was built by the dad aswell, because they had a big
family so they could easily fit20 people in there.
And uh, they initially movedfrom europe and back home they
used to have like an indoor, uh,indoor wooden wood fire oven.

(05:43):
Uh they couldn't do it in thehouse, so they, their dad, built
it in the shed at the back.
This is it.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
It's a fully functioning yeah, wood fire
pizza oh good, and oh, there yougo, there you go, you can see
it okay so there's the pizzaoven and and um, obviously, that
furniture's just been digitallyput in, but it gives you a
sense of space, um, I do thinkit's really important to note,
though, that the virtualfurniture in this case worked
well, because they're such bigrooms the proportions were

(06:09):
massive that if you were to goand furnish this place with real
furniture, it would be likestyling, um, an original sort of
really an original house and,and they're very contrasting
styles, and we've seen it happenbefore, and sometimes it just
doesn't look right.
But to style a home of thissize, you'd be spending probably
about fifteen thousand dollars,like huge amounts of money big

(06:32):
money, big, big money.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
I think virtual friends did well, because in old
homes every bedrooms are very,very good size.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, yeah, Original bathrooms as well.
So I think was there a generalconsensus as to how much a
renovation would cost.
What were people saying?

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yes, definitely we knew going into the campaign was
quite obvious and we didn'tquite hide it as well.
Like it was original 70s builthome that needed work, like it
was within the family they hadcustomized for their own needs.
I had like four bedroomupstairs and two bedroom
downstairs, with second livingand kitchen as well.
So it was a very, very uniquehome and it was one buyer and

(07:14):
you know they just came in,absolutely loved it and, you
know, got it for a very goodprice and owners were happy.
They were happy, uh, justpretty much from one good family
to a different one.
So it was a very nice, seamlesstransaction yeah, yeah, totally
.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
this is actually the downstairs level, so with the
photos, so you're now looking atlike a two bedroom
self-contained space, had itsown living area, its own dining
area and a second kitchen.
That's all approved, so thatwas quite handy.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Like even from an investor's perspective, you
could get roughly $2,000 to$2,200 rent from one property
because you could have oneupstairs and second downstairs
yeah yeah, that's separateentrance.
Yeah, it's a very, very good soit's a good floor plan.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
Um, yeah, great floor plan.
And yeah and and that's what thebuyer's intentions are you know
, to use that downstairs areafor their, for children, or have
it self-contained and then liveupstairs.
It's nice, it's versatile floorplan like that, because if then
kids move out or they want tomove into the two bedroom, you
can rent upstairs.
You're going to get longevityout of your purchase.

(08:25):
A lot of people buy big homes,use it for the purpose they
initially buy it for, and thenthey find themselves stuck with
such a big property and they'relike what do we do with it?

Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yes, that's very true and I think these guys because
they had their sons anddaughters living very close by
this was perfect for them.
For investors, this did makesense with good rental return.
But when someone has nowemotionally invested for
investor, then the returndoesn't make sense because you
have to buy very well to makeyour money.

(08:58):
And this was, I think, a verygood buy, even at we sold it for
3.3 million.
I think that was a very goodbuy, yeah it was a very good
result 3.3 million.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
how long on the market?

Speaker 2 (09:11):
I think it's two weeks overall.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Two weeks pretty quick.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, two weeks, 14 days was pretty good.
The the open home ran very longbecause it was a, as you saw,
it was a big floor plan.
Uh, people needed time to uhtime to grasp how much there is.
And even these buyers, everyopen home they would come
because they would say everytime they come to open home they
would see something different.
Uh yeah it was such a big houseand it was funny.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
I remember being there once and and, uh, you open
the front door for one personand then, as you're about to
leave, someone else walks inbecause they're just popping by.
It's like, it's like that kindof neighborhood you got.
You got people walking by andnothing ever comes up for sale
there, particularly this, thissolid sort of double brick home
that everyone wants to get theirfoot into, the uh, you know a

(10:01):
great street.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
So it was funny and there's a great location as well
, because I would just be out inthe street chatting with buyers
after the open and as we'rechatting, you know, barely any
cars pass by such a quiet street, like kids could just run
around in the street and itwould still be safe.
But yet you're so close toeverything like you're a minute
drive to the beach, all the rockpools, shopping centers, like

(10:24):
it's so close to everything Ithink it was really really good
purchase and uh anyone I thinkselling in that street uh would
make a lot of money at thisstage because the original house
3.3, a finished product there,I think, sounds for Formula Plus
upwards of four.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
There you go.
There's the upshot.
Have a good day vids.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Thank you thank you, billy, great having you.