- An Auckland investor bought a freehold apartment for $553,500 within 20 minutes of reading about it.
- The Manuka Cove apartment had no outgoing costs, making it highly attractive to investors.
- City Sales received dozens of enquiries, with interest from as far as Queenstown, after the article.
A seasoned investor made a winning offer of $553,500 on a freehold apartment with no outgoing costs just 20 minutes after reading an article about it on OneRoof.
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The buyer beat competition from other interested parties who had also read the news story.
City Sales sales manager Scott Dunn said his phone rang hot when people learned there were no outgoing costs on the Manuka Cove apartment in Auckland’s Bayview.
“We got dozens of enquiries. Most were from Auckland, but we got people from as far away as Queenstown.”
Mostly Auckland investors were interested in the two-bedroom freehold apartment with a guaranteed income for the next nine years. Photo / Supplied
The two-bedroom terraced apartment was unique in that it was the designated building manager’s apartment so the body corporate paid the tenant’s rent of $30,000 a year plus all the unit’s outgoings, including the rates and body corporate fees, which total more than $8000 a year.
No outgoings were a big drawcard for investors, he said. While some were a bit wary about the claims, the agency had the paperwork to back it all up.
The 10-year lease had already been renewed by the body corporate last year and had nine years left to run.
“You’ve got that tenant locked in for the next nine years. If the building manager, for whatever reason, quit his job, then the body corporate would get a new building manager, and that person would become the new tenant.”
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Dunn had come across situations where the body corporate covered the building manager’s rent but not other expenses.
City Sales had previously worked with the buyer. He made a conditional offer of $553,500 almost immediately, which the owner accepted, despite being $45,500 below the asking price.
“He had 10 days to carry out his due diligence. But everything checked out so it went unconditional last week.”
Dunn said the apartment had been on the market with another agency before it was relisted with City Sales. The property was then on its books for about eight weeks until the OneRoof article ran, and interest suddenly poured in.
Dunn said it may have taken a bit longer to sell because of its price bracket. Freehold apartments priced between $500,000 and $700,000 were a harder sell because investors wanted something cheaper, he said.
“Five or 10 years ago, freehold investors were looking for something around that sort of price category, but now a lot of people who are cash buyers and freehold investors are looking for something cheaper.”
Another reason why the apartment may have been sitting on the market was its more unusual location, he said. Investors tended to look for freehold apartments in the CBD. “This one in Bayview on the North Shore was a little bit outside of that,” Dunn said.
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