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The ‘parlour’ of the home at <a href="https://zango.com.au/sale/19-thorpe-avenue-queanbeyan-nsw-2620-52377/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">19 Thorpe Avenue, Queanbeyan</a>, evokes images of a family sitting quietly together in 1897, listening to Strauss on a brand new gramophone.But the reality for this astonishing home is that the first family who lived here were most likely into U2 or The Spice Girls.<img alt="19-thorpe-avenue-queanbeyan-nsw-2620-52377-image-0-20220118024635176784-thumbnail-1920x1920-70.jpeg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="533" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/19-thorpe-avenue-queanbeyan-nsw-2620-52377-ima.width-800.jpg" width="800">Yes, that is a bullnose verandah with decorative balustrades. Yes, that is an octagonal feature window. And yes, that is a clawfoot bath in the bathroom. But while the house looks like a lovingly restored Victorian homestead, it was actually built by a family in the late 1990s.They bought the block and wanted to build a home that paid tribute to the history of Thorpe Avenue, an extension of Crawford Street, one of Queanbeyan’s first streets. Crawford Street is home to a plethora of heritage-listed buildings including the two-storey Benedict House (a former convent, built in 1886). It’s also the side street of Queanbeyan Public School (built in 1864). The Victorian replica at 19 Thorpe Avenue fits in beautifully.<img alt="19-thorpe-avenue-queanbeyan-nsw-2620-52377-image-0-20220118024634531299-crop-c0-5__0-5-1600x750-70.jpeg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="375" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/19-thorpe-avenue-queanbeyan-nsw-2620-52377-ima.width-800_4lRk9JE.jpg" width="800">“What you get with this property is a home that feels like a piece of Queanbeyan’s history, but actually has infrastructure that’s like new,” sales agent Stephen Thompson from LJ Hooker Manuka said.While the commitment to the Victorian era is mostly followed through in the interior of the house - ornate fireplaces and archways, plantation shutters and polished floorboards - touches of the 1990s are visible (terracotta floor tiles anyone?)<img alt="19-thorpe-avenue-queanbeyan-nsw-2620-52377-image-0-20220118024638414500-crop-c0-5__0-5-1600x750-70.jpeg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="375" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/19-thorpe-avenue-queanbeyan-nsw-2620-52377-ima.width-800_5WyM7DW.jpg" width="800">What lies behind the house on the long thin 1695 square metre block is impossible to pick from the street and rarely ever seen for sale in Queanbeyan (or Canberra, for that matter). It’s actual river frontage; a backyard that literally ends only to give way to the slow-flowing Queanbeyan River.<img alt="19-thorpe-avenue-queanbeyan-nsw-2620-52377-image-0-20220118024642158608-crop-c0-5__0-5-1600x750-70.jpeg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="375" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/19-thorpe-avenue-queanbeyan-nsw-2620-52377-ima.width-800_inwzJ6Y.jpg" width="800">The home comes with its own wooden staircase/dock - a mobile one - that the new owners can submerge into the water to swim or, as the current owners do, launch a canoe from. The block also features a full-size clay tennis court, a standalone retreat/home office building and outdoor spaces perfect for sipping tea, reading, and hosting friends.<img alt="19-thorpe-avenue-queanbeyan-nsw-2620-52377-image-0-20220118024635423826-crop-c0-5__0-5-1600x750-70.jpeg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="375" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/19-thorpe-avenue-queanbeyan-nsw-2620-52377-ima.width-800_PvoUMmO.jpg" width="800">Mr Thompson said people who’d been inspecting the property were “as eclectic as the home itself”.“We’ve had families with young children, couples with older children and older couples,” he said.The replica homestead is expected to sell for circa $1.7 million.19 Thorpe Avenue will be auctioned at 10am on Saturday 5 February 2022.

Ye olde Queanbeyan homestead actually built in the late 1990s

I remember the day we bought our van at Tomakin – man, I felt like I’d made it.I had a four-beddy in suburbia and now I had a cosy little 1950s van with annex so close to the ocean I could fall asleep to the sound of the waves. We’d landed a caravan park with direct beach access, a resort-style pool and its own cafe, providing the chips for hot chip sangers. Bliss.But two years later, we hung up a &#x27;for sale&#x27; sign on the verandah. Having a van was a bit of a double-edged sword to be honest, so if you’re thinking about buying one, here are the pros and cons.<h2 data-block-key="afisb">Pro: You don’t have to check out at 10am.</h2><img alt="IMG_6082.jpeg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="600" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/IMG_6082.width-800.jpg" width="800">With your own caravan, you can literally stay all day. In fact, we often stayed till 8pm on a Sunday night and drove up the Clyde late to avoid long weekend traffic. Checking out at 10am – especially when you’re a little under the weather from a big night before – is the stuff of nightmares. As is drying and dressing the kids out of the back of the car after a beach swim because you’ve had to pack up and check out early.<h2 data-block-key="42n55">Con: You can’t afford to holiday anywhere else.</h2>When we had a caravan, I spent a lot of time thinking ‘Jeez, we could have gone to Fiji for the money we’ve spent this year’. Our fees were around $7000 annually – gasp – or around $140 a week. It was a lot. The van itself cost $7,500 and we filled it with around $1,000 worth of new furniture. Spending that much money on fees meant we didn&#x27;t have the money to go anywhere else: domestically or internationally.<h2 data-block-key="45fb">Pro: The community.</h2><img alt="IMG_6064.jpeg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="1066" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/IMG_6064.width-800.jpg" width="800">On the very first Friday night we owned the van, we were so excited we drove to Tomakin after work and arrived in the pitch dark. We had no idea how to switch the power on for lights. Our neighbours from the caravan next door, Chris and Heidi, came to the rescue – lighting the way with a torch. We’ve been close friends since: both at the coast, and at home in Canberra. Their kids are now best friends with our kids. Our teenagers absolutely adored #vanparklife, with other kids their own age, scooters, street cricket, and swims at the pool and beach. It’s probably the biggest reason we kept our van and continued paying the fees.<h2 data-block-key="fs6ip">Con: You have another house to clean.</h2>You know how you can just walk out of a hotel or an apartment after holidaying and head home? That ain’t so with a caravan. Owning another – much smaller – house means you need to clean it inside and out almost every time you visit. Spending the Australia Day long weekend cleaning up a mice infestation in our coastal haven was the final straw for me, and the &#x27;for sale&#x27; sign went up.<h2 data-block-key="2f2rq">Pro: You can decide at 4pm Friday to go away for the weekend.</h2><img alt="IMG_6075.jpeg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="1066" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/IMG_6075.width-800.jpg" width="800">No need to book, no need to make sure there’s money on the credit card. But, if you have kids who play weekend sport, the reality is you’ll only use the van in school holidays. That’s $7,000 a year for a place you’re only using about 12 weeks of the year. Worth it?The verdict: If you’re the kind of person who likes holidaying in the exact same place every single holiday and weekend, and you’re a natural cleaner, go for it. If not, save your money for an annual overseas trip.If you&#x27;re after something a little bigger than a caravan, <a href="https://zango.com.au/sale/south-coast-region-nsw/?order_by=-created" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here&#x27;s our round-up of houses for sale on the south coast</a> right now.

Having a caravan on the south coast - worth it or no?

A huge property hidden up the back of Oxley broke the suburb record this week - but who was lucky enough to buy it?It turns out a real estate agent, who heads up his own boutique real estate agency, now owns the keys to the six-bedroom home, three-bedroom home at <a href="https://zango.com.au/sale/27-nunan-crescent-oxley-act-2903-49900/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">27 Nunan Street</a>. His outstanding negotiation skills likely played a part in outbidding five other registered bidders, including a couple from Melbourne who were keen to move to Canberra’s deep south.<img alt="27-nunan-crescent-oxley-act-2903-49900-image-0-20211202224714743627-thumbnail-1920x1920-70.jpeg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="533" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/27-nunan-crescent-oxley-act-2903-49900-image-0.width-800.jpg" width="800">At a sale price of $1.511m, the home on Nunan Street now holds the suburb record, previously held by a house on Schonell Street which sold in May for $1.33m.The Nunan Street property’s huge 1890 square metre block, a reserve “literally over the back fence” and the U-shaped floor plan of the home were features that pushed the price to a record level, according to agent <a href="https://zango.com.au/agents/cameron-6/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cameron Whitnall of Ray White</a>.<img alt="27-nunan-crescent-oxley-act-2903-49900-image-0-20211202224716385309-thumbnail-1920x1920-70.jpeg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="533" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/27-nunan-crescent-oxley-act-2903-49900-image-0.width-800_ib3ZJP2.jpg" width="800">“We had a lot of big families and blended families interested because of the segregated floor plan,” Cameron said.“Kids don’t tend to leave home these days, so it provided those separated areas for parents, and then the kids.“We were quietly confident we’d get to the reserve but weren’t expecting a suburb record.”The Oxley house wasn’t the only home breaking records in Canberra in the lead-up to Christmas.In Gungahlin, a stunning executive home on the outskirts of Canberra, in Throsby, sold for a record $2,001,000 at auction on 27 November 2021. The home is located at <a href="https://zango.com.au/sale/47-shingleback-street-throsby-act-2914-49989/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">47 Shingleback Street</a> and was sold by <a href="https://zango.com.au/agents/theo-koutsikamanis-2/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Theo Koutsikamanis</a> and <a href="https://zango.com.au/agents/sam-griffiths/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sam Griffiths</a> of Bastion Property Group.<img alt="47-shingleback-street-throsby-act-2914-49989-image-0-20211202051644496612-thumbnail-1920x1920-70.jpeg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="533" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/47-shingleback-street-throsby-act-2914-49989-i.width-800.jpg" width="800">Meanwhile, nine minutes away in Moncrieff, a three-bedroom property recently broke the record for a townhouse in the suburb, with a sale price of $763,250. It was the fourth sale in the same complex for New Door Properties’ <a href="https://zango.com.au/agents/yash-sethi/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Yash Sethi</a>, who said the price of properties in the same complex at 1 Bon Scott Crescent “continues to rise week after week”.<img alt="42-1-bon-scott-crescent-moncrieff-act-2914-49840-image-0-20211124060143432365-thumbnail-1920x1920-70.jpeg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="532" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/42-1-bon-scott-crescent-moncrieff-act-2914-498.width-800.jpg" width="800">The record-breaking townhouse was purchased by two first home buyers, a couple who plan to stay and raise a family in the townhouse.“They loved the outdoor space and the fact that even though it’s a townhouse it gives the feel of a house,” Yash said.“As well, the location is beautiful.“For first home buyers, they had a good budget.”

Who is the proud owner of this record-breaking $1.5m home in Oxley?

When you first chat to <a href="https://zango.com.au/agencies/luton-weston-creek-molonglo-valley/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Luton Property’s</a> Real Estate Agent <a href="https://zango.com.au/agents/josh-wilson/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Josh Wilson</a>, you immediately get the sense that you are catching up with an old school mate: the conversation flows, time seems to disappear, and you find yourself constantly asking follow-up questions. It is not until Josh starts opening up about his life before real estate that you realise he has had a career one could only dream of.Before selling some of Canberra’s finest property, Josh made a career out of travelling the world and capturing some of life’s most important moments on camera. He spent 23 years as a cameraman for various Australian media outlets and reported on major international events, from the Sydney and London Olympics, to the conflict in Iraq - but it was perhaps going to the White House (not once but twice) and meeting former President Barack Obama that is a key highlight in Josh’s career.“With Obama, what you see on camera is what you get with him behind closed doors.&quot; Josh adds. &quot;He is really charismatic and easy to talk to.&quot;<img alt="Josh Wilson" class="richtext-image full-width" height="793" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/Screen_Shot_2021-04-25_at_1.43.19_pm.width-800.png" width="800">Now residing in Canberra and working as a real estate agent with <a href="https://zango.com.au/agencies/luton-weston-creek-molonglo-valley/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Luton Weston Creek and Molonglo Valley</a>, Josh has left his whirlwind media career behind and reignited his passion for housing and the Canberra community he knows all too well.“I was born in Canberra and have a connection to the place,” he says. “I built a house when I was 25 and have always had an interest in housing.”<img alt="Josh Wilson" class="richtext-image full-width" height="791" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/Screen_Shot_2021-04-25_at_1.37.43_pm.width-800.png" width="800">Communicating with people and dealing with highly stressful situations is second nature to Josh.“In my previous job I had to deal with stressful situations, which leads itself to a similar situation of dealing with people who are selling a house,” he says. “Selling a house is arguably one of the post stressful situations one can go through and I know how to stay calm and relate to people who are going through it.”<img alt="Josh Wilson" class="richtext-image full-width" height="298" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/Screen_Shot_2021-04-25_at_1.37.34_pm.width-800.png" width="580">Josh notes that while his life as a cameraman and real estate agent are different in some respects, at the core of it, both jobs fuel his passion for helping people. &quot;When it comes to buying a home, it is such a big decision in peoples lives and a joyous occasion that I am lucky to be involved with.” Josh continues. “It is so nice to see people genuinely happy about finding their new home.”<img alt="Josh Wilson" class="richtext-image full-width" height="794" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/Screen_Shot_2021-04-25_at_1.48.33_pm.width-800.png" width="800">When asked about a memorable sale, Josh did not hesitate to tell the story of a couple downsizing in <a href="https://zango.com.au/research/suburb/rivett-act-2611/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rivett</a>, whose house was appraised for between $900,000-$950,000 in November last year and sold at auction in February this year for $1.2 million. “The former owners were over the moon and we were all absolutely ecstatic.&quot; <img alt="josh_wilson_10_downing_st.png" class="richtext-image left" height="505" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/josh_wilson_10_downing_st.width-500.png" width="500">Reflecting on his colleagues at Luton Property, you can tell from the urgency in his voice that Josh is eager to tell anyone and everyone how deeply grateful he is for their mentoring. “I’ve been so fortunate to be surrounded by some of the best in the industry.” Josh adds. “They are all a wealth of knowledge and have been so generous with their time.”<img alt="Josh Wilson" class="richtext-image full-width" height="808" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/Screen_Shot_2021-04-25_at_1.49.09_pm.width-800.png" width="800">Specialising in Canberra’s southern suburbs of <a href="https://zango.com.au/research/suburb/wright-act-2611/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wright</a> and <a href="https://zango.com.au/research/suburb/coombs-act-2611/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Coombs</a>, Josh adds that he signed seven new listings last month, which was the busiest month he has ever had. “It’s been a pretty crazy ride,&quot; he says.Josh currently has a four-bedroom house at <a href="https://zango.com.au/sale/35-ulysses-circuit-wright-act-2611-40623/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">35 Ulysses Circuit</a> in Wright that is inundated with interest.<img alt="35 Ulysses Circuit WRIGHT, ACT 2611" class="richtext-image full-width" height="528" src="https://d2t3vhau9g43uy.cloudfront.net/media/images/Screen_Shot_2021-04-25_at_1.52.41_pm.width-800.png" width="800">“We have had 28 groups through the first open home and 18 just last week,” he says. “It’s such a nice family home and the owners are lovely to work with.”While Josh may have a new job title, he remains at the heart of momentous events in people’s lives, and I have a good feeling that he will continue to be part of such special moments for a very long time.

4 news articles with tag news_1

Ye olde Queanbeyan homestead actually built in the late 1990s

Having a caravan on the south coast - worth it or no?

Who is the proud owner of this record-breaking $1.5m home in Oxley?

Capturing The Story Behind Luton Property’s Josh Wilson