A good price is about $890,000. I would walk past $910,000.

• 7/35 Orpington Street is on offer pre-market through HMCH (Peter Vassilis) with a guide of $950,000 to $1,000,000 and an inspection Saturday 15 August at 10:30am. It is a 2 bed / 1 bath / 1 car first-floor unit of 73m2 internal in a 1965 walk-up block on a quiet, tree-lined Ashfield street.
• The apartment has been updated - renovated kitchen (modern white cabinetry, stone benchtops, glass tile splashback) and renovated shower room (walk-in shower, mint subway tile, teak floating vanity), timber floors through the living areas, ceiling fans and track lighting. Compact covered balcony (~3m2) off the living with a genuine leafy NE outlook onto monstera and mature trees, master with BIRs, separate WC and internal laundry. The block itself is 1965 walk-up brown brick, well maintained but dated on the exterior. Currently tenanted at $750 per week.
• A renovated 2/1/1 first-floor Ashfield unit of 73m2 with a NE aspect, tenanted at $750/w.
• 6/20 Orpington is the anchor. It sold for $905,000 in May 2026 and adjusts to about $867,000 today after 3 months on the Sydney index (quarter -4.18%). From there: essentially neutral on size (73 vs 72.5m2), plus a photo-verified reno premium (subject has a properly renovated kitchen and shower room, condition unknown at 6/20) of ~$15,000, plus a small NE aspect / leafy outlook premium (~$8,000). That lands 7/35 at around $890,000 today. On the same basis 3/5 Chandos reads $813,000 and 2/52-54 reads $863,000 - the twin at the top, the smaller adjacent street at the bottom, all consistent.
• The CoreLogic AVM sits at $854,000 to $1,000,000 (mid $930,000, High Confidence) - the fair mark of $890,000 sits inside that band, ~$40,000 below the mid. The mid has not fully priced the last quarter's softness on Sydney units (unit tier is on a -0.77% monthly trend, softer than the AVM's revaluation cadence).
• Against that, the vendor has owned since December 1996 (purchased for $152,000) and cancelled an auction campaign in November 2020 - there is no acquisition-price anchor forcing a target, and there is one prior failed campaign already. The unit is well tenanted at $750/w so holding cost is fine, but that also means they are not desperate. Sydney is COOL and the pre-market guide sits above the AVM mid AND above every same-street comp adjusted for time - the buyer's agent 'raised guide' you mentioned is real, and the numbers say don't chase it.
• A fair price to pay is around the $890,000 to $900,000 mark. $890,000 is a good price, $900,000 is at the top of the fair range, and anything above $940,000 starts feeling expensive against the comp evidence. I would open at $880,000 and be ready to walk past $910,000. At $890,000 the current $750/w rent gives you a 4.38% gross yield, which is strong for an inner-west 2-bed.