‘I feel like the whole of Australia is interested’: Inside the $415k country cottage reeling buyers in

A humble home in the sort after NSW town of Orange has attracted widespread interest for its historic charm and affordable price tag.

The two-bedroom house on 21 Autumn Street has captivated the market, so much so that the selling agent cancelled the open home to manage the flood of inquiries from prospective buyers.

Co-owners of the new restaurant planned for Heritage House chat about their plans.

“I feel like the whole of Australia is interested, we’ve had that many inquiries,” said listing agent Chris Tyack of Blowes Real Estate.

“While I was at the house, someone who drove up from Sydney that morning just pulled up and said ‘Can I have a look?’.”

He said the $415,000 house is “is certainly our most popular listing at the moment”.

Among those who have inquired about the 510-square-metre property are young people looking to buy their first home, Sydneysiders and people who work in the heritage industry.

Mr Tyack said the house was built in the late 1890s and has been owned by the same family for around 90 years.

The current owner told the agent she remembers moving into the house when she was just six years old - she’s now in her nineties.

Right side of the tracks

With its age, the house will require some modernisation, but Mr Tyack said “it’ll come up a treat” once it’s renovated.

While west Orange is typically favoured by Orange residents, Mr Tyack said the east of the city is the “oldest” part of town and has become an increasingly sought-after area.

“Unfortunately a lot of people say you should be on the western side of the rail line, but I don’t agree with that,” he said.

“There’s been some very high sales in the area, so it would be a good little investment.

History to be revealed

The exterior of the home features an English cross bond pattern on the brick facade, which indicates it may have been built with bricks from the old Orange brickworks plant.

In one of the rooms, the house still has an original gas connection, with a butterfly tap, as well as a copper boiler in the back shed for washing clothes.

“It does need a lot of work inside ... it has some issues in the walls with rising damp because of the age of the house,” Mr Tyack said.

“But it’s quite a unique opportunity ... a cute little place ... with big, wide floorboards. I pulled up the carpet to have a look at the actual floorboards and they’re very wide - 155mm wide.”

The back of the block has a channel that is part of the designated flood zone in Orange, which may result in some restrictions for buyers wanting to extend the house.

“You can still do extensions on it, you just have to adhere to a few rules when you’re building,” Mr Tyack said.