A South Auckland home that went to auction with a reserve of just $1 has sold under the hammer for $420,000.
Listing agent Tasreet Dhatt, from Harcourts, had described the two-bedroom house on Moncrieff Avenue, in Clendon Park, as being in poor state state but its condition didn’t deter buyers, with a total of 32 bidders registering for the auction.
“The $1 reserve showed that we were serious, we’re not here to muck around, we’re here to sell,” he said.
Bidding in the auction, called by Aaron Davis, started at $50,000 before jumping to $75,000 and then immediately to $300,000. Dhatt estimated 10 bidders were still putting their hands up at that price level, with just two duking it out for the final $40,000, which went up in increments of $1000.
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“They were all traders, keen to get their hands on their next project,” he said.
“The vendors are super-happy. Once we crossed that $400,000 [mark] a lot of pressure and tension for them went off.”
The unfinished kitchen and living room. Photo / Supplied
The owners of 17 years of the Moncrieff Avenue house were using it to store their stuff. Photo / Supplied
Photos of the listing showed holes in the ceiling, a semi-completed bathroom and kitchen with cabinets missing and raw flooring. Several of the rooms have parts of the ceiling missing or patched, while a rear carport is piled with old tyres, a van and trailer, and junk.
Dhatt added that they considered anything over $400,000 a win, since they’d failed to sell the property two years ago when they had been asking for offers over $399,000. They no longer lived there and in the last two years had been using the property to store stuff.
The buyer was brought in by Harcourts colleagues Alex Dunn and Ammy Multani. Multani said their investor client was always on the lookout for do-up properties around the $400,000 to $500,000 price point.
“He’ll spend about $100,000 on the do-up and put renters in. In the current market, a done up two-bedroom would get $500 to $550 per week, so that’s a really good yield.
“But you have to have the $100,000 cash to do that, of course,” he said.
Dhatt said in a crowded market, the $1 reserve strategy helped bring in the buyers, if vendors trust the process.
In fact, Dunn and Multani are bringing a property to the market themselves with a $1 reserve.
Another two-bedroom house, this one with a brand-new renovation, at 20B Middlemore Road, in Otahuhu, is being auctioned on April 4 with a $1 reserve. Photo / Supplied
The agents’ marketing is frank about the two-bedroom house on 20B Middlemore Road, Otahuhu, being sold after just completing a renovation.
“Our owners’ intentions cannot be clearer, after completing a renovation on this family home our owner finds themselves in ‘a spot of bother’,” the advertisement said.
“This very well could be the best buy of 2024, take advantage of this seller’s misfortune,” it continued, adding that the owner had intended to live in the place.
The house, with ranch-sliders to a new deck and tidy backyard, is opposite Kings’ College teachers’ residence and would appeal to school or Middlemore Hospital staff. It was bought by the owner’s father, now deceased, about eight years ago for $540,000 and now has a CV of $810,000, pre-renovation.
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