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A great-grandmother is just one sale away from becoming a multi-millionaire after she placed the seven properties she owns in the same street on the market last week, including her personal 1870s heritage home.

With a median house price of $1.354 million in Croydon, 11km west of Sydney’s CBD, Matina Mottee’s two unit blocks, four houses and her own home, could fetch her more than $15 million, Daily Mail Australia estimated based on market value.

But the 84-year-old mother-of-four, grandmother-of-12 and great-grandmother has no price expectations for the sale of her properties and is only accepting expressions of interest to determine the value of her properties.

She has only humble plans following the sale, hoping to move into a home with a small garden and no staircase, and to take her usual annual holidays up the New South Wales coast and to see her relatives in Greece.

Matina Mottee, in front of her beloved 1870s heritage home, will soon be a millionaire after putting seven properties on the market

Croydon, 11km west of Sydney’s CBD, has a median house price of $1.354 million meaning Matina’s two unit blocks, four houses and her own home, could fetch her about $15 million based on an estimated market value

The 84-year-old has humble plans following the sale and simply wants to move into a home with a small garden and no staircase

Her heritage home includes a small heritage stone cottage built in the 1820s and believed to be the oldest house in the area

Mrs Mottee’s modest attitude is exactly what led her and her late husband Con – a former lawyer who started out by making £1000 a year – to start slowly acquiring the whopping 6,389 square metres of land, where each of the properties is located, in 1954.

‘Lawyers in those days didn’t make a lot of money, we were modest earners and my husband said to me ‘you know one day we’ll need to have something to retire on’ because you didn’t get a pension back then, or superannuation,’ Mrs Mottee said.

‘So he said “let’s buy an investment” and we fluked this with the house and the two blocks of flats with three big mortgages on the one property.’ 

The Mottees moved into the five-bedroom heritage home at 18A – which comes with a small heritage-listed stone cottage built in the 1820s and believed to be the oldest house in the area – and rented out the apartments at 18 and 18B.

Mrs Mottee and her husband Con (both pictured) bought the two unit blocks and her current house in 1954 when they were in their 20s

MATINA MOTTEE’S ONE-STREET PROPERTY PORTFOLIO

Number 16, 755 sqm: 1920’s full brick three bedroom plus study cottage with self contained one bedroom flat

Number 18, 610 sqm: Existing 1940’s full brick three storey block of units accommodating 6 x 2 bedroom units.

Number 18A, 2,097 sqm: Mrs Mottee’s current home, existing 1870’s five bedroom residence with detached 1820’s stone cottage, detached double lock-up garage with workshop and large in-ground pool.

Number 18B, 613 sqm: Existing 1940’s full brick three storey block of units accommodating 6 x 2 bedroom units.

Number 24, 771 sqm: Existing 1920’s full brick four bedroom cottage with single lock-up garage.

Number 26, 771 sqm: Existing 1920’s full brick three bedroom cottage.

Number 28, 772 sqm: Existing 1920’s weatherboard two bedroom cottage with single lock up garage.

TOTAL:  6389 sqm

As the houses around them went up for sale in the 60s and 70s, the couple also scooped up 16 (pictured), 24, 26 and 28

They then took down the fences separating them and renting them out: Number 26 (pictured) is a 1920’s full brick three bedroom cottage

As the houses around them went up for sale in the 60s and 70s, the couple also scooped up 16, 24, 26 and 28, taking down the fences that separated them and renting them out.

‘We bought the other houses to enlarge our backyard – it wasn’t that it was some great property potential – and then we took down the fence and made that all ours,’ Mrs Mottee, who is coy about how much she and her husband have spent building up their portfolio, said.

‘It just gave us more space for lots of cricket matches, football matches, [seven] weddings, 21st birthday parties, church and school functions and we’ve had lots of international guests and backpackers, so it has been very much a shared premises.

‘I’m never on my own, there’s always someone coming and going.’

Mrs Mottee cant remember how much she payed for each of the properties: Number 18B (pictured) is a 1940’s full brick three storey block of units accommodating 6 x 2 bedroom units

Each unit block is estimated to be worth $3 million: Number 18 (pictured) is also a1940’s full brick three storey block of units with 6 x 2 bedroom units

Number 28 (pictured) is a 1920’s weatherboard two bedroom cottage with single lock up garage on 772 square metres of land

Her last property, Number 24 was also built in the 1920’s, has four bedrooms and a single lock-up garage on 771 sqm

An eighth property, which is attached to the block she owns, was later sold to Mrs Mottee’s eldest son but was snapped up by her husband after he noticed a tree that reminded him of his village back in Greece.

‘The reason we bought that house was because there was a lovely oak tree, and everyone who came in [to the street] after us were cutting down all the trees along there,’ she said.

‘My husband tried negotiating for 10 years to buy that tree – he just wanted to buy that piece of land with the tree and they wouldn’t sell it to him.

‘They said if you want it you have to buy the house, so we bought the house to get the oak tree. Nobody believes us, but its gospel truth.’

After more than 60 years in her self-made village, the great-grandmother admits: ‘It’s time to move on, I can’t manage the stairs’.

But it’s her home of 60 years at 18A, where she raised her four children, that Mrs Mottee will have the most trouble parting with

Pictured in 1874 after it was just built, the  five bedroom residence now has detached double lock-up garage with workshop and large in-ground pool

Pictured in 1914 with the stone cottage on the left, the house has gone through two past refurbishments and numerous renovations at the hands of the Mottees during their 60 years in the house

£5 per lot deposit: The ancient ‘for sale’ sign just after her home (bottom left) was sold

The 84-year-old had a recent skin graft on her shin and is awaiting a knee operation, making climbing the staircase a daily struggle.

But the difficulty of managing the numerous properties and her own huge heritage home, which is lined with vintage wallpaper and filled with dozens of photos of her enormous family, has also led Mrs Mottee to sell.

The 2097 square metre space requires a daily gardener and has gone through two past refurbishments and numerous renovations during the couple’s 60 years in the house.

Wallpaper was hand steamed off the walls over weeks, a pool and veranda were added and the kitchen was rebuilt twice.

Mrs Mottee says she simply doesn’t have the energy for a third round of restoration.

After more than 60 years in her self-made village, the great-grandmother admits: ‘it’s time to move on, I can’t manage the stairs’

The difficulty of managing the numerous properties and her own huge heritage home, which is filled with dozens of photos of her enormous family, has led Mrs Mottee to suddenly sell

The mother-of-four, grandmother-of-12 and great-grandmother is also awaiting a knee operation and can no longer manage the stairs

‘We bought the other houses to enlarge our backyard – it wasn’t that it was some great property potential,’ Mrs Mottee said

‘The most difficult part was in the early days… it was a bit intimidating when we bought it, I was 23 and he was 25, but we had no guidance so we made mistakes,’ she said.

‘All the fireplaces were painted white and we didn’t know they were marble until we cleaned it back.’

It’s no surprise that the properties have already attracted the attention of various developers and builders, according to her estate agent and the director of Residential Site Sales, Stuart Cox.

‘There’s a lot of interest from one-line buyers that can see the upside in buying it up as one lot, doing a huge uplift and renovation on each one –potentially even building another house at the back of the heritage one as the land is so large that you can do a subdivision – and selling them off individually,’ Mr Cox told Daily Mail Australia.

‘There are a lot of builders looking at buying 24, 26 and 28, to live in one and rent the other two out. 

‘With the unit blocks, lots of investors are looking at that because there’s no strata yet, so once they renovate and set up strata they can subdivide and sell them individually.

The backyard of her enormous home: The properties have already attracted the attention of various developers and builders

All seven properties are on a 6389 square metre plot of land, with 2,097 square metre taken up by Mrs Mottee’s house

‘It just gave us more space for lots of cricket matches, football matches, [seven] weddings, 21st birthday parties, church and school functions and we’ve had lots of international guests and backpackers, so it has been very much a shared premises,’ the great-grandmother said

Due to the unique nature of the properties, which are all connected, Mrs Mottee is only taking expressions of interest and allowing the market to determine the value of the homes rather than selling them outright or auctioning them off.

The median house price for a three, four and five bedroom home in Croydon is currently $1.354 million and a median unit price is $651,000. 

With this in mind, and Mr Cox’s estimate that each of Mrs Mottee’s unit blocks will sell for $3 million and her home is worth at least $2.5 million due to its heritage listing and land size, the great-grandmother could make at least $15 million for the seven properties, based on market value.

But Mrs Mottee says she simply hopes her much loved property goes to someone who will ‘enjoy it as much as we have’ and with her family all nearby, promises she won’t be moving too far away. 

Director of Residential Site Sales, Stuart Cox, estimate that each of Mrs Mottee’s unit blocks will sell for $3 million and that her home is worth at least $2.5 million, meaning the great-grandmother could make at least $15 million for the seven properties, based on market value

Due to the unique nature of the properties, which are all connected, Mrs Mottee is only taking expressions of interest and allowing the market to determine the value of the homes rather than selling them outright or auctioning them off

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