The $99K Flat in Frankston – And the Catch That Comes With It

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There’s a certain thrill in spotting a property bargain. And nothing grabs attention quite like a Melbourne unit selling for under $100,000.

That’s exactly what happened this month at 38/14 Sandpiper Place, Frankston, where a small studio unit quietly sold for $99,500. No big auction. No public campaign. Just a quiet sale, off-market, snapped up by a buyer who – by some reports – didn’t even inspect the property before making the deal.

And who could blame them? Frankston is on the rise, the beach is only minutes away, and the median unit price in the suburb now sits above $500,000.

But here’s the thing: there’s always a catch. And in cases like these, it usually starts with a simple question — why is it so cheap?

Let’s dig.

The Sandpiper Story

We don’t pretend to know the full backstory of the Sandpiper Place development. It appears to be a repurposed aged care facility, with small studio titles and shared services. The size is modest, around 23 square metres, and the layout is more in line with bedsit accommodation than a traditional apartment.

What we do know is that sales in this complex often include utilities within the owners corporation fees and may attract a particular kind of investor buyer – often chasing yield rather than liveability. That alone should prompt careful review of the title, any planning restrictions, and the rules of the owners corporation.

It’s one of those cases where the price tag makes sense once you understand what you're really buying.

The Ambassador – A Different Story Altogether

Whereas Sandpiper is a bit of an unknown, we know the Ambassador building very well – well enough that we’ve made the conscious decision not to act for purchasers or vendors in that building at all.

There’s just nothing we can say that’s both accurate and polite.

Over the years, we’ve seen too many issues: buyer disappointment, resale difficulties, and a constant churn of tenants and managers. And when a professional can’t say anything nice, we take the advice of our grandmothers and say nothing at all.

If a client asks about the Ambassador, our usual advice is to walk away – quietly and quickly.

Lessons for Buyers

Frankston is full of opportunity, but it’s also home to a few traps — properties that look like bargains but come with terms that limit who can live in them, how they can be financed, or how they can be resold.

If the price seems too good to be true, it usually is.

Our advice? Ask the hard questions:

  • What was the property originally used for?

  • Are there occupancy or planning restrictions?

  • Can you live in it, or can only someone else lease it?

  • Will a bank even lend on it?

  • Can you ever resell it to a mainstream buyer?

We’ve seen clients caught out by properties like these before. And we’ve helped many walk away before the damage is done.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch — and definitely no such thing as a $99K unit in coastal Melbourne without some strings attached.

You just have to dig deep enough to find them.

Victorian Property Settlements – Trusted for over 25 years by Victorian buyers and sellers.
Visit: www.victorianpropertysettlements.com.au