It's the real estate equivalent of battle of the bands.
The owner of a luxury Waiheke Island estate that has been on the market for six years has invited top agents from each of the big Auckland agencies to list the property in a bid to finally secure a sale.
And he’ll only pay commission to the agent who brings in the successful buyer.
David Parkinson, the British born-businessman who developed Te Rere Cove on Church Bay Rd with his wife Dee Crawford, is selling the property by auction on Friday October 19.
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He has taken charge of the process, choosing the listing photos, hiring a valuer and engaging a private auction house to run the auction, which will take place at the mansion.
More than a dozen agents are listing the property, including Matthew Smith, from Ray White; Clive Lonergan and Lisa Hopewell from Bayleys; Ollie, Andrew and Graham Wall, from Graham Wall Real Estate; George Erdos and Marnie Adams, from One Agency; Ross Hawkins, from Sotheby's; Neil Dayal, from Barfoot and Thompson; Charles Collins, Martin Dobson and Chelsea Nelson, from Kellands; and Karen McMahon, from Harcourts.
Parkinson first put Te Rere Cove to market six years ago, not long after it was built. He has listed it with many agents over the years, but this is the first time he has had them battling it out at the same time.
Erdos described the situation an "unusual". He said: "The vendor has taken charge of the sale, and has invited agents to list the property and to present their registered buyers at the auction."
Lonergan said that Parkinson had decided to take the property to auction this time around to shake things up.
"The estate has been on the market for six years now and during that time it has had five offers from overseas buyers, all of which have either been rejected by the Overseas Investment Office or withdrawn their offers in frustration at the high costs of submitting an application."
He said that Parkinson had chosen to list the property with multiple agencies because he didn't want to cut any buyers out. "He'll only pay commission to the agent with the successful buyer," he said.
Ollie Wall said that casting the net wide with a multiple agency approach would "building towards what we believe will be the highest value residential auction ever in New Zealand. We're very excited to see it play out on the day!"
Parkinson, formerly of Cartridge World in Britain, said he recently had the property valued by Andrew Buckley of Seagars "and it came out at $24 million, conservatively".
He told NZME last month that he had found the amount of time it was taking to sell the property hard "but not everyone has got $20m in the pocket, we appreciate."
The house was designed in an early New Zealand colonial style by Waiheke architectural designer Bryce Ardern. Parkinson said in 2011 that it was partly inspired by Kauri Cliffs, developed by American billionaire philanthropists Julian and the late Josie Robertson.
Commenting on the sale of Te Rere Cove Estate, a REINZ spokesperson said: “Auction is a very common, well accepted and successful method of sale for properties at all levels and has been proven over many decades. According to our latest figures, 22.5 percent of properties sold in Auckland were sold under the hammer. While it is not common, in this case the vendor has made the decision to invite multiple agencies to bring their buyers to the auction. We’re sure the agencies will work well together to produce a great result for the vendor, and we wish him well come auction day.”
