A run-down cottage on the outskirts of Whangamatā is one of the cheapest properties to sell in the town in four years after fetching $495,000 in a heated auction last week.
The new owner of the tired-looking cottage on Tairua Road had missed out on buying the neighbouring orchard at auction just minutes earlier and went on to bid for the smaller cottage instead.
The properties, which are about 10 minutes from Whangamatā’s township, had been owned by the same family but not been lived in for several years and were being sold “as is, where is”.
Bidding for the cottage on a 2001sqm section opened at $260,0000 rising in mainly $10,000 increments before lowering to smaller $1000 bids at the tail end of Thursday’s auction. Bayleys auctioneer Stephen Shale said the auction suddenly heated up once he announced it on the market at $405,000 with two bidders making a whopping 53 bids.
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“It took off to about $470,000 really quickly.”
The cottage eventually sold under the hammer for $495,000, making it the second cheapest property to have sold in the town in the last three and a half years.
“I think everybody is really happy. Certainly our result was better than our feedback on the house.”
The cheapest property to sell was a property on Rangituia Street on a 1001sqm section that sold for $485,000 in July 2020, according to OneRoof-Valocity records.
The two-bedroom, one-bathroom cottage was in poor condition and hadn't been lived in for some time. Photo / Supplied
Motorists remembered the orchard on Tairua Road from when they would pop in and buy a bag of fruit or an ice cream from its shop. Photo / Supplied
The bidder who won the cottage had missed out on buying a 1940s four-bedroom, one-bathroom home with a neglected orchard on a 5.2929ha section.
He had been one of three people also bidding on the orchard about 20 minutes earlier. That auction opened at $580,000, paused for negotiation at $790,000 and sold under the hammer for $850,000, which was well below its RV of $1.58 million. It last changed hands for $440,000 in 1998, OneRoof records show.
The section had hundreds of fruit trees including plums, apples, mandarins, and avocados on it but, according to the listing, needed work to bring it back to maximum yield.
Bayleys listing agent Dale Sholson said a lot of people remembered the property from when it was run for more than 20 years as a thriving orchard until it closed about six years ago. They would stop for an ice cream and pick up a bag of fruit, he said.
“There was a lot of interest in it and we just had to let people know it was on the market.”
The 1940s four-bedroom, one-bathroom home had been tenanted but was also ripe for renovation. Photo / Supplied
As well as a four-bedroom, one-bathroom do-up, it had a separate double garage, two large modern sheds, and another dwelling that had been the retail shop.
Sholson said both properties attracted a wide mix of buyers including Beach Hop attendees drawn to the fact there was plenty of room to store lots of cars on the land either in the existing shedding or to build new ones.
Both purchasers were from out of town, he said, and the new owners of the orchard appeared to be planning to keep it as a food source, while the cottage was going to be renovated and used as a holiday home.
Sholson said both properties were in really poor condition and needed a lot of work done to them. The orchard property had been tenanted, but the cottage was vacant.
He said properties in the town closer to the beach and cafes tended to fetch a slightly higher price than those that were more rural.
- Click here to find more properties for sale in Whangamatā
