A two-bedroom home for sale on Auckland’s North Shore has been billed as “rough as guts”, but the listing’s frank admission of the property’s shortcomings has not put off buyers keen to snap up a bargain.
The house at 2 Frizell Street, in Beach Haven, goes to auction on July 4 with a declared reserve of $350,000 – $600,000 below its 2021 CV.
Listing photos show the 1980s house in a poor state, highlighting a rickety back porch and wall boards stripped back to their raw state, a kitchen with a basic sink and not much else.
Listing agent Charlie Brothers, of Ray White, said first-home buyers – some with financial and DIY help from mum and dad – had expressed interest in the property but he thought it would more than likely be picked up by an investor or tradie.
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“Some people have no idea about the renovation costs, they’re just wanting to have a go. I’ve heard some of them quote figures of $60,000 or $75,000, some people are saying $200,000 to do it up. The figures are all over the place, but it depends how far you’d want to take the renovation,” he said.
Brothers said there was an upside to a do-up: a tidy three-bedroom house across the road on a similar cross-lease site fetched $950,000 earlier this month, while last year a four-bedroom house on the same cross-lease site went for just over $1 million.
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“I’m just saying you do your homework and then the auction will tell you what other people think it’s worth. Where else do you get that privilege?”
Ray White Manukau co-owner Tom Rawson said that properties like this were attracting people back to the market. “In a do-up, the renovator buys themselves a job and then gets a profit at the end. We’ve got another do-up at 31 Sterling Avenue, in Manurewa, going to auction this week and it’s already got 10 people interested," he said.
“People are buying these do-ups now, they’re still popular, because at these prices the margin between a do-up and an already done place is much more."
The four-bedroom weatherboard house on Sterling Ave has been semi-stripped back to wallboard, with an original 1960s kitchen and basic bathroom, but it has a large 703sqm section with zoning for suburban density and is close to schools and transport. It has a CV of $920,000, with just $20,000 of that the value of the house and improvements.
The kitchen in the Beach Haven house is basic and the walls have been stripped back. Photo / Supplied
Another fixer-upper at 31 Sterling Avenue, Manurewa, already has 10 people interested in it. Photo / Supplied
Bargains can be had for apartments too.
In the city, a landlord quitting his investment holdings has taken the plunge and announced a $5000 reserve on a one-bedroom studio apartment in the Grand Central apartments in Auckland’s former railway station which goes under the hammer on Wednesday.
City Sales agent Iona Rodrigues who is marketing the property at 331/ 26 Te Taou Crescent, said that the vendor has owned the apartment in the heritage building for over 20 years, and it is run by a rental management company that is not a student accommodation provider.
She has had interest from one person who is considering living in the 30sqm apartment, but most of the interested buyers are investors. With an annual leasehold of $11,150 which includes body corporate and ground rent, council rates of $1200 a year and weekly rental of $350, Rodrigues said the sums add up to a very tidy net rental return – if the property sells for around its reserve.
City Sales sales manager Scott Dunn said it’s been five years since he’s seen such a low reserve on these apartments. “We sold an identical apartment, with a carpark, for $30,000 two weeks ago. But while there’s been lots of enquiry, it’s leasehold and we’re selling in a tough market,” he said.
“An auction shows everyone the vendor has serious motivation. We’re getting 85% clearance rates at auction, we’ve not seen it like that for a long time.
“It shows that anyone who is selling in this market is really keen to sell.”
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