12 Gresford Street

● Rare floorplan

Four bedrooms and two living areas. That is hard to find.

Four bedrooms, two separate living zones (a front living and a family room off the kitchen), a big central kitchen and a separate dining, all on one level. That mix is genuinely uncommon in this price bracket. Most homes we walk through in this band force a trade off, bedrooms or living space, rarely both. This one gives you both, plus a separate toilet and a huge rear garage and workshop.

That spare space is what creates the flex. We make the front right bedroom the master and add an ensuite, turn the oversized laundry into the main bathroom with a Euro laundry built in, and the front living stays as living. The other bedrooms stay where they are along the right hand side. You finish with four bedrooms, a master with ensuite, a main bathroom, two living zones and a big kitchen, and you have barely moved a wall.

Few layouts let you re-cut a home this cheaply. The bones are already in the right places, so the value here is in the configuration, not the construction. It is the main reason Gresford sits at the top of the list.

If we want to cap spend, we don't have to add the ensuite at all. We can leave the existing bathroom on the right where it is and just renovate it as the main bathroom, finishing as a tidy 4 bed, 1 bath. Same layout play, lower scope, money stays in your pocket.

Where it sits

This is a full renovation, not a cosmetic tidy up. Re-levelling, a new kitchen, two bathrooms, a roof restore and all new floors, plus a smart layout reconfiguration at the front that reuses plumbing already in place. Substantial work, which is exactly why the buy price has to leave room for it.

• Base reno budget: ~$85k. That is the figure we carry through the numbers below. Prudent ceiling is ~$104k if the stumps and roof run hot.
• Your DIY lowers this. You have already shown you can handle demo, brickwork and fit out yourself. Demo, landscaping, fencing, painting and flooring are all DIY-able and would push the return on the reno spend up. Your free window from late October lines up well for a hands on stint.
• Skip the master ensuite and the scope falls to roughly $61k to $78k, staying a 4 bed 1 bath on the converted laundry. We would only do that to cap spend. The master ensuite is the better value add.

What it costs to hold

Renovated and let on a single lease, borrowing 80 percent of the buy price. We do not have your actual rate or loan type, so this assumes about 6.75 percent interest only. Council rates are the actual Brimbank notice, the rest are estimates.

Before tax. On a freshly renovated home the depreciation plus the interest and holding costs are deductible against your income, so the after tax cost is materially lower, in the order of $7k to $10k a year depending on your marginal rate and the depreciation schedule. Swap in your real rate and loan type and the net moves with it. Each 0.25 percent on the rate is about $1,620 a year, roughly $31 a week, and a principal and interest loan costs more in cash but pays the loan down. Interest moves with the cash rate, currently 4.35 percent. Until the lease ends on 31 August 2026 you inherit the tenant at $2,250 a month (~$519/wk), so the hold runs softer until you renovate and re-let.

Equity position at completion. Where the buy price, the reno and the finished value land takes you from roughly breakeven on the downside to a solid equity gain in the base and strong cases. The bigger return sits in the hold: capital growth in a gentrifying pocket, plus the land optionality below.

The end value is an estimate and is fully dependent on the finish level we land. A sharper, more premium finish pushes the top of the range, a budget finish sits lower. It is not a comp backed number. Equity shown is finished value less all in cost, before the buyers advocacy fee, which forms part of your cost base. Holding costs, including interest on an 80 percent loan, are set out in the holding cost table above. All figures and projections here are indicative and will move as each variable is realised.

What a renovated home like this rents for, from current Sunshine North listings. The home is let now on a single fixed lease at $2,250 a month, about $519 a week, to one tenant, running to 31 August 2026. Renovated and re-let, the same house targets about $700 a week, kept conservative and dependent on the finish level we land. That is the uplift we are buying, around $181 a week or $9,400 a year, on top of the equity and the end value. The play here is end value, equity and rent, not a comparable sales pitch.

A fully renovated home with a master ensuite on a clean single lease targets ~$680 to $720 a week, which is where our ~$700 sits. We have kept it conservative and it moves with the finish level, a sharper finish pushes it higher. It is already conservative against the modern townhouse rents achieving $730 for fewer bedrooms.

The block is long and deep, with side driveway access already running to the rear and the back mostly given over to garage, shed and yard rather than living space. Down the track that may leave room for a granny flat or a small unit at the rear, subject to Brimbank council and a town planner. We would not assume anything more ambitious than that.

• A possible second income. A granny flat or small unit at the rear could add a modest second income later, or simply give you flexibility.
• No rush, no reliance. You bank the reno and the rent now. The rear is upside only, and it is never priced into the numbers above.

Indicative only. Any rear dwelling needs a town planner, a council pathway and its own budget, and would be scoped as a separate stage if and when you want to. It is room to move, not a commitment.

• You buy under finished value. Original stock here is low $800s at most, a renovated home is high $900s to low seven figures. The gap is your value add.
• The benchmark is already next door. A renovated home beside it removes a lot of the guesswork on the end product and the ceiling.
• Best block and floorplan we have seen for you. Most layouts force compromises. This one does not, and it adds the rear land optionality on top.
• Right pocket of the right suburb. Sunshine North is 12km from the city, gentrifying off a low base, anchored by the Sunshine transport hub and airport rail. Quiet street, good appeal, near schools and the Maribyrnong parklands.
• It fits your strategy. Sunshine North was a primary western target in your suburb report. This is that thesis turned into a specific, actionable buy.
• Multiple ways to win. Reno equity, rental uplift, suburb growth and a possible small second dwelling in reserve. You are not relying on any single lever.

• Stump cost is unknown until lifted. The $5k to $10k could move if packing is needed throughout. We confirm with a building inspection and a re-levelling quote before going unconditional.
• Reno overrun. Covered by a 12 percent contingency, your DIY buffer, and Sergio's reno lending option if we run the full scope.
• End value depends on the finish. It is an estimate, not a comp backed number, and a weaker finish lands lower. The downside case is roughly breakeven on equity, not a loss of capital, and rent carries you while you hold for growth.
• A rear dwelling is not guaranteed. Treated purely as upside, never priced into the base case. Confirmed with a planner before any reliance.
• Overpaying erodes the lot. Discipline on price is the single biggest lever. We hold the $820k ceiling and walk if it runs past.
• Sold subject to the lease. The home comes with a fixed lease to 31 August 2026 at $2,250 a month. You inherit the tenant and cannot start the reno until vacant possession at the end of August, unless we negotiate an early surrender. We build that into the settlement and reno timeline.
• No finance or building and pest conditions in the contract. As drafted it is unconditional on both. Before you sign, your conveyancer adds a finance clause and a building and pest clause, or we complete that due diligence first. Not negotiable.
• DCPO2 development levy. A development contribution is payable if you ever add a second dwelling or subdivide. It does not touch the house reno, but it is a real cost on the rear upside, on top of a planner and council.
• Soil covenant on title. A 1928 covenant restricts carting soil off the land except for building footings. It does not stop the reno or a sensible second dwelling, but any earthworks that export soil need care.