Charlie Brendon-Cook knows that the rich are not like you and I. After seven years with Luxury Real Estate New Zealand (the name says it all), the Englishman has a list of the world’s rich (and private) property buyers at his fingertips.
Based in the Bay of Islands for over seven years (his second stint in the north, after a period immersed in upscale Sydney real estate), Brendon-Cook helps guide international buyers through buying and selling some of the top properties in the country. He has noticed the mix of buyers changing.
“There’s still a lot of international interest in New Zealand, but it’s now a lot of New Zealanders, ex-pats coming home,” he says. “Now that capital gains tax is off the table, people are much more comfortable investing their significant assets here, it’s not affecting their assets now.”
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The huge modern property he is currently marketing above Russell is typical of his deals: high spec name architecture, spectacular setting and supremely private buyers. While he can’t disclose even where the owners are based, like many of the Bay of Islands top end, they make the north their home during the summer months before moving on to their other base.
The over 600 sq m house was designed in 2012 by architect Ron Sang, known for his dramatic scale and clear vision. In this case, he made the most of the 2.6 hectare property’s spectacular location, curving the house from east to west to give every room commanding views from Opua, through to Russell and Waitangi and across the Black Rocks to Mataka station.
“The curves mean that every room makes the most of the sun,” says Brendon-Cook. “There’s morning at one end, afternoon at the other. The house faces north and was designed for passive solar gain, with concrete slab tied to reinforced concrete slab.”
Indeed, the house’s luxurious finishes – honed limestone tile floors, bespoke walnut joinery, marble in the bathroom, Miele and Liebherr appliances – belie some serious technical underpinning. There’s 450-litre solar water system, a 5,000-gallon water tank (with mains back up) and BioCycle sewerage system. The computerised electronics mean the whole home has integrated music system (including by the pool, electronic temperature, lighting, even blinds control but also allows remote access to security so wherever in the world they are, owners can monitor the home. 
Brendon-Cook says the house was designed in two zones, with the owners’ master suite on the upper living floor providing separation from the ground floor guest accommodation. The three double bedrooms, en-suited and with the cinema entertainment centre, open to the patios and pool area- and those views. The master bedroom is reached by a bridge over the atrium.
The house wows. Starting at the signature over-scaled lacquer front door (a Sang signature) and the curved steel and limestone open-tread staircase that allows glimpses of the view beyond the floor to ceiling glass. Everything is over-scaled to match the over-scale panorama (but there is lift for easy access too). Even the garage, at over 100 sq m, is the size of a small house.
The house is geared to entertaining, says Brendon-Cook with breezeways and fireplaces, but if holiday makers feel like eating out, Paihia is only three minutes’ drive away. The boating facilities at Opua are close.
“But it all feels like a world away,” he says. “It is rare to get a place like this, with so much privacy, that feels so remote, but it’s just minutes away from everything the Bay of Islands has to offer. This could easily make a year-round family home.”
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