Real estate on the Coast has turned into UN-real estate — it is going ballistic.
The problem is, if you sell, where the hell do you go? I am certainly happy here and feel blessed for having a better half smart enough to command me in all things property.
I was reminded how blessed we are the other day on my walk when I saw a sign on a fence from a family home that had sold recently. It said: “Wurtulla since 1986, thanks for the memories.” I thought it was really nice and it got me thinking.
Firstly, some Robinson family property strategies knocked back some skin in the game at Kawana in the early ’60s for 500 pounds with a comment, “Who would live there? Bloody sand flies and a swamp.”
In the early ’70s, we sold a fully furnished house on a quarter-acre (0.1ha) 300 metres from Picnic Point for $5000. Then sold 49 acres (nearly 20ha), house, shed, tractor and all machinery with 11 acres (4.4ha) of pineapples for 15K and we threw in the shares to Golden Circle — wow! But in reality, both those sales were just circumstances.
Read more opinion and join an independent local news revolution by subscribing to our free SCN daily news feed: Go to SUBSCRIBE at top of this article to register
Thankfully, old mate took over when we moved to Wurtulla in ’84. She bought the block of land for 17K and the wonderful Blanck family, with the help of my footy mates, built a split-face block house there for 23K – so, 40K all up, all supervised and designed by old mate.
We had some wonderful years there, one house block and a park off Currimundi Lake.
In 1998, we decided to venture across the Nicklin Way near the beach with 220K being our absolute ceiling. She found a place we loved but they wanted 250. The agent said to put an offer and deposit down for 220 and we were a good chance. They told us to bugger off, so old mate got the deposit back and we started looking elsewhere.
Weeks later, I was having breakfast and the phone rings. She answers and I hear, “No, 220. That’s all we will pay.” I intervene and ask what she’s on about and she tells me they wanted $222,000 on the house we liked, but she wasn’t budging.
Now, in our now 37 years of marriage, this may be the only time she has ever listened to me when I told her to wake up to herself and pay the two grand. We certainly have had our two grand’s worth and, like that family that just sold, we thank Wurtulla for the memories that are still happening with our grandkids.
