They say you should buy the worst house in the best street and, in a brutally honest marketing campaign, Belle Property Townsville Principal Sean Breitkreutz said he’s got a home that meets that description perfectly.
In an extremely blunt listing description for 7 Corveth St, Thuringowa Central, Mr Breitkreutz said the property was “surrounded by stunning homes that are beautifully maintained” but that “I have no doubt the neighbours can’t wait to see this site transformed”.
Similarly, in a Facebook walkthrough, he describes the three-bedroom home as “the absolute worst house I’ve ever listed in my career,” while describing the roof as “barely hanging on”, the kitchen as “rank” and the carpet as “lumpy”.
“If only you could smell what I’m spelling right now,” Mr Breitkreutz said as he walked through the dilapidated home.
“(You) almost need a hazmat suit.”
Owned by the State Government, Mr Breitkreutz said the property would be sold in a mortgagee public auction on February 10.
He said he received permission to market the property in brutally frank way and that with a property such as this, honest was the best policy.
“The house, obviously, is not a good one,” Mr Breitkreutz said.
“It is a really, really good street, it’s just that the house, unfortunately, has been left in such a state.”
But Mr Breitkreutz said the video had garnered a lot of attention and his phone had been ringing hot with interest from buyers looking to either flip the home or knock it down and rebuild.
“I’ve had about a million phone calls about it this morning,” he said.
While the home is run down and filthy, there are some positives about the property, including a 667sq m block, only one bordering neighbour and parkland behind the backyard.
“Everything around it would sell for about $500,000,” Mr Breitkreutz said.
“Then you’ve got this one and it will be lucky to make $200,000.”
Mr Breitkreutz said at that price, the property was a bargain.
“When you try looking for land in Thuringowa Central or in Kirwan… there’s like one 400sq m parcel on Golf Links Drive, which is $169,000 and then there’s one on Ross River Rd that they want $250,000 for,” he said.
“So even just the land value (of this property) is probably around the $200,000 mark.
“I wanted to paint a worse picture than what it really was, so if people got there, they wouldn’t be surprised and they might just go, ‘You know what? This is workable’.”
