The affordability of Wonthella was the biggest drawcard for investors Shirley and Allan Hocking. "It was price first of all," says Shirley. "And then second of all because the blcoks are big and you can actually develop them.
The size of other blocks in Geraldton are the standard 600 to 800 square metres."
The couple bought two houses in Wonthella and after splitting the blocks by strata title, they built another house at the back of each property. "One was on a corner and both houses fronted the main street and on the other side we built a house behind the original house."
Shirley says the already existing houses on each block were at least 30 years old and both had to be renovated. All four homes have since been sold - two in the last financial year and the other two in the financial year prior to that.
The couple made "really good money" on the first two they sold from their first subdivision in Wonthella but Shirley says the second wasn't as good because they spent too much on the renovation of the existing house.
We had to do a lot to the first one to bring it up to standard because it was older but by the time we did the second one the price of doing things had gone up so much," she says.
The couple have bought land and built and sold properties in other areas of Gerladton but given the smaller blcok sizes were not able to subdivide. At the moment they just own their home in Mt Tarcoola.
Shirley belives there's good demand from buyers in Wonthella and she says they didn't have any trouble at all selling their properties. She says they would consider investing in Wonthella in the future but only if the right property came up.
"It seems to have goine quiet there now, everyone is sitting on their properties," she says. "There's really hardly anything for sale at the moment, everybody has got on the bandwagon."
While affordability is one of the major drawcards for Wonthella, Shirley says there are other benefits to the area. "It's got great shopping, it's very close to all the sporting facilities and it's close to town too," she says. "It's just got everything, it's great for young families."