Herne Bay: Who bought that house?

215 Jervois Road, Herne Bay.

Asking price: Above $1.5 million.

Sold for: $1.575 million.

Sold by: Andrea Bell Ritchie, Bayleys, ph 021 906 793.

The path up and over the hill from the southern Ponsonby-facing slopes to the northern sea-slopes of Herne Bay is a well-trodden one for families in the area.

Local resident and Bayleys real estate agent Andrea Bell-Ritchie, who has been selling in the area for 13 years, reckons once people are in the area they tend to move out only for a country lifestyle property or to downsize to the inner city when the nest empties out.

This was certainly the case for Nicole and Damien Horniss, who had lived in the Avenues for 14 years. In that time they'd had two boys, now 10 and 7, lived in Sydney for while, and knew they wanted to return to only this area.

"We'd had our eye out for over 18 months for a bigger property for the growing boys," says Nicole, "We wanted to stay with a villa, but wanted more room and more light."

They loved the character of this Jervois Road house (featured in Heraldhomes on July 23), with its original leadlight windows, tiles, roomy kitchen and careful renovation. It didn't have the fourth bedroom they'd hoped for, but they've spotted the potential for one in the roof space.

The family has a close community of friends in the area, which has the old fashioned air of freedom of children playing together, traipsing in and out of houses as if they were their own and all walking to the local school, Bayfield. The boys are planning to spread out in the large kid-friendly garden, which boasts a tree house and plenty of room for the tribe of neighbourhood children to run around.