- Real estate couple James Doole and Bryce Earwaker enlisted Bayleys agent Kellie Bissett to sell their Ti Point waterfront home.
- The couple bought the 2.2ha property for $8.6m and are seeking a larger country estate.
- The house features a complete renovation by Doole, including a cable car and gardens landscaped by Paul Bangay.
An Auckland real estate couple have called on an agent from a rival brand to help with the sale of their luxuriously renovated waterfront home.
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Barfoot & Thompson agent James Doole and his partner Bryce Earwaker, who used to run the Ray White franchise in Ponsonby, made the news when they bought their 2.2ha waterfront spread on Ti Point, in Matakana, two years ago for $8.6 million.
They had just missed out on a neighbouring spread that Bayleys agent Kellie Bissett had sold the year before.
The house was transformed with a new great room that has a lodge-like warmth. Photo / Supplied
The kitchen features a pink travertine, and has a scullery tucked to one side. Photo / Supplied
Now they have their sights set on a much larger country estate, and have called on Bissett to find a buyer for their Ti Point home.
“I really respect Kellie and the sales she’s achieved in the area, and I think we work really well together,” Doole told OneRoof.
“As I’m the owner, some buyers might like to work with Kellie rather than me. It’s working towards the same goal in the end, to sell the property.”
Bissett added: “I have known James for a few years now and we each bring our own style. Real estate can be very tough but is made easier with respectful relationships and shared vision.”
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Doole and Bissett are no strangers to high-end deals in the area.
Doole was previously the go-to interior designer for Auckland’s wealthy, and had collaborated with rich-lister Diane Foreman on several big projects, including the revamp of Foreman’s Omaha bach with husband Paul Henry.
He switched to real estate two years ago and one of his first big sales was of a luxury estate on Bishop Lane, in Matakana, for $13.25m. Since then he’s sold a cluster of waterfront properties in the area, all for between $7.168m and $10m.
Bissett herself has had a run of big sales, including two waterfront properties on Ti Point and Motuketekete Island.
Landscaping was done by Australian star Paul Bangay. Photo / Supplied
The master suite has sea and sunrise views. Photo / Supplied
Earwaker, whose real estate cred goes back to the 1980s, credits Doole with the complete makeover of their house and bush-clad property. The place has its own cable car down to the beach below, a hit with visiting nieces and nephews. The couple called on top Australian landscaper Paul Bangay to re-work the gardens and pool area.
Doole kept the footprint of the original house and garage but completely reworked the floor plan. The house and separate garage were re-roofed, and Doole opened up the great room for living, dining and kitchen with architectural ceilings, skylights and handcrafted wall panelling, oak floors and a striking pink travertine kitchen island.
The couple’s favourite spot is the wood fireplace, but they’ve also tucked in an office and scullery at one end of the huge space that opens to the deck and pool, with a media room at the other.
Earwaker told OneRoof that Ti Point had been on his radar for many years, calling it an ideal getaway. “I missed out on a property [in Ti Point] back in the 1990s but I never forgot it. So when James and I moved up from Karapiro, I didn’t want to move back into the city,” he said.
“We missed out on a couple of places before we got this one,” he said, adding that their hunt for a place with even more land means they have to sell 25 Ti Point Road so soon after the renovation.
Earwaker said that the finished house, with its covered verandas and pitched roof, looked like a Hawaiian resort. “The cool thing is the approach to the property, which is a drive through this fantastic native bush, a bit like Huka Lodge, and you come out and look straight out over the ocean.”
Earwaker said he was happy to be the client, as Doole did such a good job. “We just wanted to live in a calm, lodgey kind of [place]. It’s pretty relaxed and honestly, it’s like living the dream every day,” Doole said.
Earwaker added: “I’ve spent most of my life in public, so here you have privacy. No one can see you – you have this whole world to yourself and I love that. It’s been the best thing.”
Bissett said the two agents have enjoyed working together on Ti Point Road. “It has felt very natural collaborating to represent this beautiful home,” she said.
- 25 Ti Point Road, Ti Point, Auckland, is for sale by negotiation
