Hi, it’s Adrian Bo here and I’m at Brook Street. In front of a very popular building known as The Dunes. Now I’ve personally sold the most properties in Brook Street, Coogee in recorded history. In fact, I’ve just been told that since records have been kept, that I’ve personally sold the most properties out of any agent in Australia in the postcodes of 2031, 2034, and 2035. So that’s Coogee, Clovelly, Randwick, South Coogee, and Maroubra. Now, if you want to get the best price for your property, you need to let me know because many agents are just using standard marketing campaigns, where I’m adding an additional layer, which has to do with social and digital marketing. Now, I have managed to master the algorithm for FB and Insta. Two years ago, I travelled to the United States of America to look at buyer interests and also buyer activity. So basically I’ve studied where the buyers are coming from, and what they’re interested in, and what their next move will be. So if you are looking to find more about that, please let me know. And if you list your property with me, I will put your campaign and your property through that social media process, which has allowed me in the last 110 days to sell over $50 million worth of real estate, all for record prices. Now, back at Brook Street here, There’s only three streets in Coogee that run the full length of the entire suburb from the North to the South end of Coogee. Now, they include Arden Street, Mount Street and also here on Brook Street. Now that’s without any interruption from the North to the South. Now Coogee has made the headlines twice in the last week, firstly for the announcement of a rainbow walkway which is going to be installed in the curved steps at the beach in advance of the Mardi Gras festival in February next year. Now RCC are considering either using temporary pavement paint or outdoor non-slip vinyl cut into the shape of a rainbow.

The postcodes of 2031 and 2034 have a huge LGBTQ community, many of them are my very close clients. So I think it’s a terrific initiative. Also, on the back of the State of Origin disaster, it appears the Queensland cane toad has headed down south with a sighting reported in Coogee. In case you don’t know, cane toads carry a very poisonous liquid in their glands that can seriously harm animals, mostly dogs. The initial sighting was on Mount Street but the good news for everyone, just so you can feel safe, is that the toad was apprehended after several days of hunting, finally being cornered on Mount Street between Alison Road and Bream Street. Now, back to Book Street, which has become one of the battle grounds between heritage conservationists and developers. This can be a very divisive issue as interpretation of what is worthy of Heritage conservation and what isn’t. And also, it can be somewhat subjective, yet affect the value of the property in question by many millions of dollars in many cases. That said, I’m a very strong believer in maintaining our culture and historic architecture that’s very significant and prolific around Coogee. So a couple of years ago, RCC launched a study of a row of 10 inter-war houses on Dudley Street, Edgecumbe Avenue and Brook Street which occupy a total of five and a half thousand square metres of land. Now, the properties had all been part of an original subdivision in 1915 called the Edgcumbe Estate, sold via auction on Saturday, December 4, 1915. Now as an auctioneer for 30 years, wouldn’t I have loved to have being calling those numbers some 100 years ago. At the time, it was actually in conjunction with Richardson & Wrench Real Estate and Spring & Cooper. Now Richardson & Wrench Real Estate is still very much in business today.

In fact, it was where I commenced my real estate career 31 years ago in 1989 in the Maroubra office as a leasing clerk. This culminated in a planning proposal of a new heritage conservation area. At the time two different heritage studies, reflecting conflicting views, for and against the conservation area. In fact, amongst the 10 properties are some residential flats, the original study was undertaken due to a development application to demolish two of the properties and turn them into blocks of flats, which shows you how timing can impact development and value. Brook Street has a number of properties that are considered significant. You’ve got the Edwardian style semis built around 1915 which is between 90 and 100 Brook Street. You’ve got the Federation house, “Hebburn”, which is at 113 Brook Street built in 1912, and then you’ve got St. Nicolas Rectory at 123 Brook Street and that was built in 1907. In fact, in the streets surrounding Brook Street there are many others, particularly on Dudley Street, where there is already an established heritage conservation area. Now over the 31 years I’ve been selling properties in Coogee and the surrounding Eastern suburbs, I’ve had a lot of sales on Brook Street, including most recent 7 at 137 Brook Street, which I sold in April for $1.171 million. Now that was 58% more than it was bought for 10 years ago. And also recently 3 at 136 Brook Street. Interestingly, despite the heritage conservation, there are 457 units on Brook Street, 12 townhouses, 121 houses. Now, 65% are all owner occupied. A massive 46% of these owner occupiers have lived in their homes for over 10 years and the average owner occupier has lived on Brook Street for 11 years and 9 months, which is a lot more than the average Eastern suburb. So I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s wrap. Keep an eye out for those cane toads in case they make their way back. Enjoy the beautiful streetscapes of Coogee, and always remember, your home is worth more with Adrian Bo.