An “as is where is” Christchurch property sold under the hammer for $410,000 this week - $67,500 more than it was nabbed for just over a year ago despite being in the same broken state.
It is one of several "as is where is" homes in the city that attracted a number of bidders this week – most who were looking to do them up and flip.
Nothing had been done to the Richmond property between it being bought it $342,500 in September 2021 and selling this week for $410,000, Bayleys listing agent Matthew Heazlewood said. There had been one off market sale between the two on market sales.
All five bidders on the Warden St property were traders wanting to fix and on sell it.
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The property was bought by a trader who repairs ‘as is where is’ properties and planned to revert it from its current two-unit layout back into a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home before reselling it.
The same trader had just sold a renovated five-bedroom, three-bathroom property on Seabrooke Drive in Spencerville. He paid $630,000 for it in February this year for $630,000 and after repairing and renovating it sold it for $962,500.
Heazlewood said it is not uncommon for traders to keep buying and selling “as is, where is” properties.
“I think a lot of people also flick it because obviously you don't get mainstream lending on these “as it, where is” properties. So, they have a private lender that gives them the money while it gets repaired and then once it’s repaired, they either have the choice of re-leverage and hold it or to sell it, and the easy option is just to sell it and pay a fee and tax and make your profit and it’s only a couple of months.”
Six bidders registered for the auction of this three-bedroom home on Petrie Street, in Richmond. Photo / Supplied
This five-bedroom home on Seabrooke Drive, in Spencerville, Christchurch, was flipped after a renovation and repair job. Photo / Supplied
A beautifully presented “as is where is” home on Petrie St in Richmond also resulted in fast and furious bidding at the same Bayleys auction.
Bayleys Christchurch salesperson Angela Webb said six people registered to bid on the property with the two phone buyers fighting it out until the end.
All but one of the bidders wanted to fix it up and flip it.
“That’s quite a high sale price for an as is where is property. So, it’s not insured, it’s not fixed and you can’t really get bank funding on it.”
The property had been renovated and described in its listing as being “perfectly liveable”, but did require some requires additional re-levelling work on the floors to be within the allowable tolerance to get insurance.
‘As is where is’ properties always generated a lot of interest and 52 parties had shown interest in it, she said.
“Once they are fixed-up and done-up they do sell really well on the market. If there’s a couple of hundred thousand dollars difference between what they are buying it for and what they are selling it for and they only have to put $50,000 into it to get it level or get it fixed there are profit margins in there still.”
This two-bedroom home on Ely Street, in Christchurch Central, attracted developers and land-bankers at a recent auction. Photo / Supplied
The risk they took, she said, was if it took six months and the market dropped during that time.
Webb said the latest auction results just showed the market is still good in Christchurch.
However rather than appealing to traders, an inner-city character home on Ely Street attracted developers and land bankers when it went to auction this week.
The property advertised as being “ripe for creative enhancement or development in inner-city Christchurch” sold under the hammer this week at Harcourts Grenadier’s auctions for $516,000 after two bidders went head-to-head for the property.
Harcourts Christchurch salesperson Jonny Nicholls said the two-bedroom townhouse market had slowed down, but anything priced sharply and where the owners are realistic seem to be getting anywhere between three to five bidders per property.
“It depends on the owner’s circumstances - these guys really wanted to sell and they got a good result with it.”
Nicholls said there is still strong demand for “as is, where is” properties because anything on good parcels of land are very desirable at the moment.
