Former Sydney 'drug den' once littered with needles sells for $1.73m
A property in northwest Sydney that was littered with syringes and reportedly attracted former criminals has sold for $1.73 million.
A forensic clean-up team needed two days to remove at least 150 needles from the Epping address but that didn’t prevent the winning bidders from spending more than $400,000 above the reserve price.
An almost 300-strong crowd turned up to the Chesterfield Road address on auction day, including several police officers who used barricades to control the onlookers and ensure the event was trouble free.
Before the clean-up the three bedroom home “resembled a hoarders house,” Realtor Kate Seehusen from NNW Property told Yahoo News.
“It looked like an atomic bomb had hit it,” she said.
The seller of the property allegedly used it to home parolees and neighbours reportedly said a rise in petty crime followed when he took over the property from his late mother.
The majority of the onlookers were concerned locals who told reporters from the Sunday Telegraph they were fed up with constantly calling police to the address and were eager to get back their peaceful neighbourhood.
One anxious neighbour said he was one of the 42 people registered to bid on the former ‘drug den’ “just in case” it didn’t sell.
Red Truck Removals and Storage needed a team of eight people to clear the home of 15 years of junk that the owner had been living in.
Ms Seehusen told Yahoo News she “couldn’t even walk through the corridors before the clean up, it was filled with dirty clothes and syringes”.
The winning bidders of the home will take ownership in six weeks and aren’t deterred by its colourful past.
“They plan to restore it, it will be stunning once they finish”. Ms Seehusen said.
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