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Tip-top spot for Pip as Molong set to pop
By Peter Holmes
Jumbled owner Pip Brett and her builder husband Nick Luelf have bought a bank.
The couple has paid in the mid-$400,000 range for the old Commonwealth Bank in Molong.
The property includes the 89-square-metre bank, and a 178-square-metre attached residence.
Brett told The Orange News Examiner that it was an "impulse" buy after she fell for the 1930-built property.
"We didn't have the kids for a weekend," she said, explaining why they had inspected the site.
"We don't really know what we'll do with it, but Molong is really up and coming, I think it could be the next MIllthorpe.
"It needs renovating, and the options are endless. It could be a commercial space or a beautiful home. It has a lot of potential."
She said the property was built in the same year her grandmother was born.
"It's beautifully built, and has beautiful features.
"There are some gorgeous buildings in Molong - it's so cute, it just needs one fabulous restaurant and it would go bonkers."
James Thompson, the agent who sold the property, said 48 parties had viewed the former bank, and eight contracts were issued.
He said that up until the 1980s bank managers in regional areas would often be provided with a residence attached to the bank.
He said stripping the bank facilities - such as bespoke data cabling - out of the property would "take a lot of doing".
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"It needs a fairly solid renovation, but the rooms are good-sized and there are pressed metal ceilings," Thompson said.
He said he felt Molong was ripe for more growth, and that 65 percent of his enquiries came from east of Bathurst.
"With work from home, people from the Blue Mountains, Western Sydney and [other parts] of Sydney are looking at Bathurst and Orange and the prices are ridiculous, so they look at other places like Blayney, Molong and Cowra."
He said the "true locals" in town probably wouldn't be overjoyed with the idea of Molong expanding, "but once it starts, it starts".
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