Rustic 1800s Brisbane cottage sells at auction to young couple

A farm cottage straight from the 1800s has sold to an excited young couple at auction in Wooloowin.

The cottage at 31 Wride Street was built in about 1889 and served as a guest house for the owners who lived in a larger homestead next door.

Since then, the land around it was carved up and other houses were built, but both properties remain in mostly original condition.

The cottage featured raw boards on the outside, intentionally left bare to give the home an authentic feel.

The vendors, a mother and daughter who lived there for 15 years, furnished the home with antique homewares to keep the period look. 

“The reason they bought the house was for its country cottage style and they’ve kept that style for the duration that they’ve lived here,” Ray White Ascot agent Alexander Shean said. 

Bidding started at $620,000, then climbed due to a back and forth between a young man and phone bidder. The young man closed bidding with $725,000, which was below reserve.

It took 20 minutes of negotiations to close the sale and the winning bidder upped his price to $760,000 to place the home on the market.

“It was quite a lengthy negotiation there with the buyer,” auctioneer Adam Downes said. “At the end of the day, both parties were really happy with the price the buyer got and also that the seller got.”

No further bids were placed. The man, who didn’t wish to be named, told Domain, “I’m very happy.”

“I’m just going to live here with my wife for the time being, just get settled in.”

The young couple had just sold their apartment in Teneriffe and were upgrading to a family home.

Not long after the Wooloowin sale, a huge renovated Queenslander in Hendra sold at auction in front of a big crowd.

The four bedroom home at 61 Goodwood Street drew 10 registered bidders.

It sold under the hammer for $3.15 million, which auctioneer Phil Parker said was close to the suburb record of $3.5 million, set last week.

In Ashgrove, another Queenslander was up for auction, this time drawing seven registered bidders.

The luxury four-bedroom, four-bathroom home at 19 Girraween Grove was almost completely rebuilt over the past 12 months and had drawn significant interest, SPACE Property principal Judi O’Dea said.

“That house is an outstanding family home in the right address, and sits on 966 square metres of precious land,” she said.

Ms O’Dea said the auction saw competitive bidding, but fizzled as it approached $2 million. “The last bid was $1.8 million but we were looking for a little bit more,” she said, noting post-auction competition was surprisingly strong.

“When I walked out of the office, I saw two of the bidders standing outside the office waiting for me,” Ms O’Dea said, adding she would “strongly advise” any interested parties to contact her office if they were still willing to buy the property.