A “bleeding” property owner who bravely put his newly renovated South Auckland house up for auction with a $1 reserve has sold it for $701,000.
The new owner had already missed out on several auctions so made dozens of quick-fire bids to secure their first investment property for well under its CV of $890,000.
Bidding for the two-bedroom, one-bathroom house on Middlemore Road, in Otahuhu, got down to $500 bids at one point with the three remaining bidders all desperately trying to secure the home.
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Harcourts salesperson Alex Dunn said there were nine registered bidders for the property who were a mix of first and second-home buyers, and investors.
“The main thing was the opportunity – a fully renovated home at a $1 reserve doesn’t come around that often so that’s another good thing. We’ve had a few dollar reserves now for fully do-up properties, but this property you could just move in straight away.”
It was also just across from Kings College and close to Middlemore Hospital and the train station.
Dunn told OneRoof at the time of listing the property that the vendor couldn’t afford to keep holding the property so had decided to auction it off with a $1 reserve to help the property stand out in a cluttered market and let the buyers decide what they wanted to pay for it.
He had earlier tried to sell the property privately with no luck.
The property is move-in ready with everything done including new flooring and a new kitchen. Photo / Supplied
The listing for the Middlemore Road property had the headline “owner bleeding” and went on to describe him as being in a “spot of bother”. “This very well could be the best buy of 2024, take advantage of this seller’s misfortune,” the listing said.
The seller had inherited the property from his father and had spent between $60,000 and $70,000 carrying out extensive renovations on it.
Those renovations included replacing the bathroom, kitchen, installing new flooring and insulation and repainting the entire home.
Dunn said it was a serious gamble that had paid off for the seller and he could now move on.
“He was very happy.”
He said it was one of several emotions the seller had been feeling, given that he was selling a property with links to his father and had been in the family for some time.
And despite the increase in $1 reserve auctions in recent months, Dunn said they still worked and were a true indication of what the market was willing to pay.
“It takes the question out of the buyers’ mind about where the vendor’s expectation is.”
The same risky move paid off for another vendor last month who took his three-bedroom brick and tile South Auckland home to auction with no reserve.
The house on Carisbrook Crescent, in Papakura, was eventually bought by a young family for $827,000 after competitive bidding. The sale price was just under the property’s 2021 CV of $850,000.
Meanwhile, an absentee owner who paid $640,000 for a two-bedroom apartment in Manukau three years ago is also prepared to take a massive hit when he sells it at a $1 reserve auction at Ray White Manukau next week.
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