An award-winning agent who recently got around $8 million for a luxury house in Auckland’s eastern beaches told OneRoof the secret of his success.
“I’m not precious on a listing. I’m not one of those agents that’s, dare I say it, too good for a million-dollar listing,” said Ray White’s Richard Thode.
Clearly that view has paid off. Thode has just been recognised as New Zealand’s top salesperson for the Ray White group (and number three worldwide) after selling more than 70 properties in the company’s financial year – more than $205m worth of properties.
“I just love the fact that I had the opportunity to be able to sell some property for $1m or $1.5m.
Start your property search
“I’m very respectful of the fact that I’m there to do the same job that I would do for a $5m listing. What we do is exactly the same,” he said, adding that his team sells between five and 10 properties a month.
He told OneRoof that his sale in July of an architect-designed three-bedroom house on Brookfield Street, in St Heliers, fetched just below its CV of $8.3m.
Discover more:
- Construction duo’s supersize resort up for grabs - but will it break records?
- Homeowners at famous nudist beach rave about the view ... no, not that view
- House-hunting for diplomats: I had one property turned down because of sniper fears
It does not beat his top sale for this year, a villa on Remuera’s exclusive Victoria Avenue, which sold in March for $11.915m. He told OneRoof at the time that the buyer had been looking for over a year for just the right property.
The Brookfield Street house received four or five offers when it was for sale by a set date in May this year, but Thode said that despite negotiations carrying on with the final two buyers, they could not make it work. It was only after receiving a second pair of offers that the deal was done in July, with the buyer coming via another agent in the area.
Ray White Epsom agent Richard Thode: "At this end of the market, we’re not seeing too many buyers who need to sell." Photo / Supplied
Also sold in August was a five-bedroom house in Westbourne Road, Remuera, that had a CV of $4.85m . Photo / Supplied
“It’s a massive sale, a standout for St Heliers. There’s only one other that has sold for more this year,” he said, referring to an apartment in The Sonata that went for $8.2m in February.
Thode said that buyers who missed out on Brookfield Street were still hunting, albeit with a very precise list. The house had attracted over 60 groups of buyers, he said.
“It is very property dependent.
“At this end of the market, we’re not seeing too many buyers who need to sell. People have got that sort of money, so it’s more about ticking all the boxes,” he said, adding that while the property’s position, elevation and views were incredible, at only three bedrooms the house was pitched as an apartment alternative rather than a big family home (although the two-storied stone and glass house clocked in at 439sqm and had garaging for four cars.)
Thode said that when they built 14 years ago, the owners had installed a lift and a self-contained bedroom suite that could accommodate a caregiver, intending this to see them through their final years. But they are now moving to a retirement village.
Ray White agent Richard Thode sold a villa on Victoria Avenue, Remuera, for just under $12m earlier this year. Photo / Supplied
“It is a standout property, the vendors built it for themselves and spared no expense.”
However, Thode said so far this spring it was the $1m to $1.5m, up to $2m homes that were seeing the strongest resurgence in interest from both first-home and next-move buyers.
But in the higher price bracket, houses from the $3m to $5m price point, the agent said there was very little stock but a lot of buyers looking with that budget.
“Then there’s actually not much available at $7m and then it jumps to $10m and there’s quite a few [listings],” he said. This month he sold an updated five-bedroom house on Westbourne Road, Remuera, that had been on the market for only a month. The price was not disclosed, but the property had a CV of $4.85m.
Thode said he has a $10m listing coming to market in October, a brand-new Brent Hulena-designed house on Arney Road.
“We’re seeing some really nice listings coming in for Remuera. We’ve got a great property on Remuera Road, it’s like an apartment-slash-townhouse, you can drive into the apartment garage as opposed to driving into the apartment.”
- Click here to find more properties for sale in Auckland
