House For Sale

House for sale in Newlands/Coburg

Ten years ago, as newbie renters from Northcote, we bought our first home in Coburg. And what a blessing living in Coburg – in particular Newlands – has been.  Our family has enmeshed ourselves into one of the most rock-solid communities you could ask for.

We are now hoping someone from the Newlands or associated community will want to make our house their own and enjoy the convenience, surrounds and neighbourhood we’ve come to love.

It’s been a wonderful home for us, with plenty of good times, especially in the big backyard, which has seen its fair share of BBQs, kids’ birthday parties and grown-up gatherings. So it’s a regretful sale, but personal circumstances have dictated that it’s time to move on.

There’s a lot to love about our house. For starters:

The location. It’s less than 10 minutes’ walk to the Merri Creek, where we have spent a lot of relaxing time over the years. Yet it’s also within 10km of the CBD.

Public transport: There’s lots of options nearby. There’s two bus stops just a minute away, or it’s just a 10-minute walk to the Gilbert Road tramline (the #11 takes you straight to Brunswick Street on its way to the city then Docklands), or a 15-minute walk to the tram at the top of Nicholson Street (the #1, which takes you down Lygon and Swanston Streets, all the way to South Melbourne beach).

Shopping: If you don’t want to walk 15 minutes to the Woolworths up the road at Coburg Hill, we’ve also got the great little Newlands shops just a two-minute walk away, which include a milk bar/grocer (it’s been a lifesaver for last-minute cooking ingredients) and excellent pizza and fish & chip shops (SO good on a Friday night).

Pre-schools/schools: For young families, there’s a wonderful crèche/kindergarten just a three-minute walk away, Barry Beckett Children’s Centre. Just as close is the brilliant Newlands Pre-school (next to the Newlands shops). As for primary schools, there’s Newlands Primary and West Preston both a 15-minute walk away, and others such as Reservoir West, Bell and Coburg North just a 5-10-minute drive away. And 15 minutes’ walk away is Coburg High.

The house. What first drew us to it, apart from the fact it’s unique in the area, is that it’s enormous! It’s two-storey and has two bathrooms (one upstairs, one downstairs), two toilets and four double bedrooms – three upstairs, one downstairs – all with built-in robes. There’s a massive lounge room, adjacent dining room and kitchen, all with polished Tasmanian oak floorboards. When we moved in we took up the carpet from the lounge, dining, corridor and study nook, but kept the carpet in all the bedrooms and on the stairs; you can of course choose to keep it, replace it, or unify the look with floorboards throughout. The walls have also been freshly painted and the downstairs toilet and laundry are newly tiled.

Other interior features include a vestibule, an attic (with attic ladder), ducted gas heating, cooling and ceiling fans.

Outside there’s also plenty of space. There’s a deep front yard with a secure fence and front gate that opens to a side driveway that leads to a garage and a side gate. Through there you’ll find a huge backyard with lawn, a deluxe cubby, garden sheds, a veggie patch, native trees, a fish pond and a bountiful lemon tree. There’s also two 5000-lt water tanks – one out back, one in front – neither of which have ever been empty despite frequent use. They’ve really helped to keep the water bills down. As for electricity bills, they’ve been kept low since we had solar roof panels installed - 12 x 200W PV west-facing solar panels with 4.2Kw Growatt inverter (MTL).

Opposite our house, across from a strip of Crown land and a little driveway, is a little row of single-storey commission units that are populated by some of the loveliest people you could meet, such as Nick in the top unit, who always has a wave hello for you, and Fernandez a few doors down, an amazing and generous gardener from East Timor who shares the constant vegies he produces from his little front yard with the other residents. They’re a gorgeous little community themselves and we’ll miss living near them.  We hope whoever buys our house will enjoy getting to know them as much as we have.

Any queries, call Jo on 0416 156 566 or have a look at the house’s listing here for inspection times.