Block Blog Exclusive: Marty Fox reveals which original house he thinks had the most potential and spills on his judging style

At the very first room reveal, we learned that Marty Fox is not someone who pulls punches.

The savvy real estate expert was extremely forthright as he took on his new judging role, on the 2023 season of The Block.

Always at front of mind is the market. Personal opinions aside, Marty views every room with the buyer in mind, and with fifteen years of experience, including selling multiple Block houses at auction, Marty knows exactly what the Melbourne market is seeking.

How our Blockheads will respond to his honesty and insight, however, remains to be seen…

In this exclusive blog for 9Entertainment, Marty gives us an insight into his judging approach, as well as reveals which original house he believes had the most real estate potential.

Read his entry below:

[The first judging last week] represented exactly how I wanted to be a judge on the show, which was firm but fair. Say it as it is, but with a bit of reasoning behind why. I want these guys to sell these homes and make as much money as possible!

But they also need to realise that when you’re dealing with buyers for fifteen years, day in, day out and you have sold thousands of properties, you tend to have a [solid] understanding as to what those buyers will want and from a marketing perspective, what’s really going to resonate.

Frankly, I’m not there to say what I [personally] like… and look, don’t get me wrong, there are weeks where I do give my personal opinion! But when it comes to the buyers, I’m representing the information that I’ve been able to collate over that fifteen year timeframe. So hopefully [the contestants are] getting some value.

I never left on a Sunday afternoon and felt that I didn’t put it all on the table. And that was something really important to me. One of my pillars as a person is, if I do something I will give it 100% – ever since I was a kid, [I’ve been like that.] Leave knowing you couldn’t have done it any better.

I’m always reflecting and self–assessing and making sure that if I’m making mistakes (and mistakes are very healthy), why they occurred and how to improve and build on that.

If you haven’t got a plan, then it’s very hard to get to your destination. It’s a really solid addition to this series that these guys were given their plans. They’re given the end result. That is reality when you’re renovating in the real world – you start with an end in mind and you work towards that. I love that that’s what’s happening. I think it’s relevant and realistic.

Winning rooms gives you cash, it gives you sponsorship, it gives you inclusions and that’s great. But at the end of the day, you may actually the lose The Block and win the most amount of rooms. So, the winner really is who comes up on Auction Day.

[When it comes to which original home had the most potential], there are only two homes that have that northern orientation and that’s House 4 and House 5. I think a northern oriented block in Melbourne is very important.

[Then there are really lovely elements internally that will be revealed where Houses 1, 2 and 3 create a big emotional connection.] And that’s important to me so, on paper, I’m in House 4 and 5, but then emotionally, I like Houses 1, 2 and 3 based on [that.] For me, orientation is really big – and how the indoors and outdoors work together.

No matter what price point a buyer is at, they’ll always want space relevant to their budget. I like when people walk into a room [and it just feels great.] Planning your floorplan helps with that. You can have a small room, but [make it feel] very spacious and I think House 1 really nailed that [in the first Room Reveal.]

It was a relatively small room, it wasn’t a perfect rectangle, it was fairly narrow and long. But it just worked, because it felt spacious even though it wasn’t.

So, to me, the number one thing is definitely space. [Natural light is also so important. I’ve also] never heard anyone walk into the room and say ‘I love how dark it is!’ People want natural light, they want to feel uplifted.

This article was originally published by Nine.com.au. Reproduced with permission.

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