It required a huge amount of renovation work, however, that didn't discourage buyers from lining up to buy a 1920s-era weatherboard cottage in Islington.
Described by Colliers Residential Newcastle listing agent Anthony Merlo as "not for the faint-hearted", the property at 3 Norfolk Avenue was hotly contested at auction despite its dilapidated state.
Listed with a guide of $785,000, the two-bedroom, one-bathroom deceased estate has two street frontages and a former shopfront.
The auction drew 10 registered bidders, with six actively engaged in hard-fought bidding.
After an initial bid of $700,000, the gavel dropped some 21 bids later at $905,000 to Kyle Roddenby and Wyan McAllister of Newcastle ceramics business, Clay Canoe.
The buyers, who recently sold their home in Merewether, plan to renovate the property with modest alterations by Jason Elsley from Derive Architecture.
"The property will provide their home and a studio/gallery operation for the promotion of their popular modernistic ceramics business," Mr Merlo said.
The property was owned by the late Peter Berry, a local artist renowned for his pencil sketches and pastel artworks.
Mr Merlo said it was quite poetic the home had passed from one artist to another.
The listing drew around 60 parties through the property during the auction campaign.
CoreLogic records show the property was last sold in 2002 for $205,000.
Set on a 290 square metre block, the floorplan comprised a lounge and dining area, two large bedrooms and an additional living or home office space.
It was one of two houses auctioned in Islington at the weekend.
Spillane Property's listing of a five-bedroom, three-bathroom house at 29 Power Street drew one of the biggest auction results of the week.
Set on 234 square metres, the period home was last sold in 2009 for $200,000, however, it had undergone major works after the original single-level cottage was lifted to be transformed into a two-storey home.
The auction only had one bidder and began with an opening bid of $1.75 million before it was sold after negotiations for $1.85 million.
It is the second-highest price paid for a residential property in the suburb.
"It is an iconic home in Islington and the neighbours were interested to see how it went at auction because they had all watched the process of the home being lifted up during Covid and renovated," Spillane property's Patrick Skinner said.
"It had heated concrete floors, a beautiful kitchen and they had thought of everything.
"It is at the top of the market for Islington, but it had a lot of eyes on the property throughout the campaign and a lot of enquiry."
There were 25 auctions scheduled across Newcastle and Lake Macquarie in the week ending July 28.
According to CoreLogic's preliminary results, auctions in the region recorded a clearance rate of 88.2 per cent.
Crawford Real Estate's Phil Swan oversaw another big auction result with the sale of 8 Bushlands Close in New Lambton Heights.
The five-bedroom house on 1254 square metres fetched $1.74 million.
Harcourts Newcastle agent Luke Wilson's listing of a renovated three-bedroom art deco era home at 5 Central Street in New Lambton sold for $1.205 million at auction.
CoreLogic records show the property sold five years earlier for $553,000.
In Hamilton East, a classic three-bedroom brick home on a 515 square metre block in its original condition at 49 Hebburn Street fetched $1.32 million at auction with Steve Dorman at Dowling Property Group.
