Ins and outs of a Riverview house sale, August 2004

Ins and outs of a house sale, originally published in Sun Herald August 2004

52 Kallaroo Rd
Riverview
Sold for $1,420,000
The house: An original 1948 double brick bungalow on 689 square metres of waterfront reserve land with filtered river views.
The agent Scott Henry of Holgate First National Real Estate says: “this was a very original house in a nice position that sold by private treaty. There were two interested parties and once the bidding was over, the other party came back and offered $5000 more, but Mrs Campbell didn’t want to take the offer because she was happy to see it in the hands of a local family”.

The seller
Mrs Nihla Campbell
The house has been in the family since Mrs Campbell’s parents built it in 1948. Mrs Campbell has lived across the road from the house since 1950.
“There are a lot of emotions and special feelings about that home, so it’s been difficult to sell it. Even though another person offered more, I thought it was right to sell it to the local family. I had given my word and told the agent to accept their offer and I couldn’t go back on my word.
“It was a war service estate around here and my dad went to two wars and built this house in 1948. My husband had also been in the war and after we had problems building in another area, we chose to build on the block across the road. This was wild country and we had to clear the land. My husband was no handyman but my father did a lot of work on both houses. He quarried the sandstone and built all the driveways and paths.
“In those days there was a shortage of materials and you had to scrounge what you could. A bath was a luxury, if you could find one. It took us just over a year to build our house because it was hard to find bricks, tiles and things like that.
“It’s very happy little corner of the world. There are still a few of us that have been here since the 1950s, although not as many as there used to be. There was a great sense of community spirit after the war. A lot of the children knew one another and we were like the original pioneers of the area.
“All four of my children grew up here, and they lived across the road from their grandparents. That was why it was so emotional to sell the house, because the children got to know my mother very well. She passed away in 1986 and then family members used the house. Soon, no-one wanted to use the house and it is a problem to rent them out so it was time to sell.”

The buyers
Peter and Sue Grantham, and their sons Jordan, Daniel and Christian
The Lane Cove family were looking to upgrade to a waterfront property close to St Ignatius Riverview College.
“We had been looking to buy a waterfront property in the area for about six months. We thought it would take at least another six months of looking but when this one came up, we knew we had to have it. It’s a very light house with filtered views through the trees to Tambourine Bay. We wanted to be near the water because it’s nice to wake up to a view and looking at the water is a good way to end the day. We also thought a waterfront would have better capital appreciation in the long term than a non-waterfront property.
“We moved to Lane Cove from the eastern suburbs eleven years ago. This is very different to the concrete jungle of the east. It’s very leafy and quite picturesque. Riverview is just next door to Lane Cove and we knew we couldn’t leave this area because our boys go to school year and Jordon has been accepted into St Ignatius’ College from next year.
“The new house is less than 200 metres from St Ignatius, so there will be no need to drive him to school. Hopefully the other boys will go to St Ignatius as well. I think Riverview will be very similar to Lane Cove with a nice villagey atmosphere. It’s a good place for families and we have made a lot of friends in the area.
“The new house is very basic as it is now. There are only three small bedrooms and it’s very original. We plan to renovate or knock it over and build something from new. We have renovated and built a house before, but this time we will pay someone else to do it for us. We don’t really want to go through all that pain again, but we need a house with at least four bedrooms so that the kids can all have their own rooms.
“We have started talking to architects and the council, but we haven’t decided what we will do to the house yet. In the meantime, we will stay in our house in Lane Cove until Riverview is ready to move into.”


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Ins and outs of a house sale, originally published in Sun Herald August 2004 52 Kallaroo Rd Riverview Sold for $1,420,000 The house: An original 1948 double brick bungalow on 689 square metres of waterfront reserve land with filtered river views. The agent Scott Henry of Holgate First National Real Estate says: “this was a very original house in a nice position that sold by private treaty. There were two interested parties and once the bidding was over, the other party came back and offered $5000 more, but Mrs Campbell didn’t want to take the offer because she was happy to see it in the hands of a local family”. The seller Mrs Nihla Campbell The house has been in the family since Mrs Campbell’s parents built it in 1948. Mrs Campbell has lived across the road from the house since 1950. “There are a lot of emotions and special feelings about that home, so it’s been difficult to sell it. Even though another person offered more, I thought it was right to sell it to the local family. I had given my word and told the agent to accept their offer and I couldn’t go back on my word. “It was a war service estate around here and my dad went to two wars and built this house in 1948. My husband had also been in the war and after we had problems building in another area, we chose to build on the block across the road. This was wild country and we had to clear the land. My husband was no handyman but my father did a lot of work on both houses. He quarried the sandstone and built all the driveways and paths. “In those days there was a shortage of materials and you had to scrounge what you could. A bath was a luxury, if you could find one. It took us just over a year to build our house because it was hard to find bricks, tiles and things like that. “It’s very happy little corner of the world. There are still a few of us that have been here since the 1950s, although not as many as there used to be. There was a great sense of community spirit after the war. A lot of the children knew one another and we were like the original pioneers of the area. “All four of my children grew up here, and they lived across the road from their grandparents. That was why it was so emotional to sell the house, because the children got to know my mother very well. She passed away in 1986 and then family members used the house. Soon, no-one wanted to use the house and it is a problem to rent them out so it was time to sell.” The buyers Peter and Sue Grantham, and their sons Jordan, Daniel and Christian The Lane Cove family were looking to upgrade to a waterfront property close to St Ignatius Riverview College. “We had been looking to buy a waterfront property in the area for about six months. We thought it would take at least another six months of looking but when this one came up, we knew we had to have it. It’s a very light house with filtered views through the trees to Tambourine Bay. We wanted to be near the water because it’s nice to wake up to a view and looking at the water is a good way to end the day. We also thought a waterfront would have better capital appreciation in the long term than a non-waterfront property. “We moved to Lane Cove from the eastern suburbs eleven years ago. This is very different to the concrete jungle of the east. It’s very leafy and quite picturesque. Riverview is just next door to Lane Cove and we knew we couldn’t leave this area because our boys go to school year and Jordon has been accepted into St Ignatius’ College from next year. “The new house is less than 200 metres from St Ignatius, so there will be no need to drive him to school. Hopefully the other boys will go to St Ignatius as well. I think Riverview will be very similar to Lane Cove with a nice villagey atmosphere. It’s a good place for families and we have made a lot of friends in the area. “The new house is very basic as it is now. There are only three small bedrooms and it’s very original. We plan to renovate or knock it over and build something from new. We have renovated and built a house before, but this time we will pay someone else to do it for us. We don’t really want to go through all that pain again, but we need a house with at least four bedrooms so that the kids can all have their own rooms. “We have started talking to architects and the council, but we haven’t decided what we will do to the house yet. In the meantime, we will stay in our house in Lane Cove until Riverview is ready to move into.”