A run-down neglected house in South Auckland, with a court order that it must be sold, has been snapped up at auction for $501,000 after an intense bidding war.
The owners of the three-bedroom, one-bathroom weatherboard home on Short Street in Papakura had been separated for almost a decade before a judge eventually intervened and ordered them to sell the house.
The vendor lived out of town and her ex had been living in the property until he was evicted several months ago.
Harcourts auctioneer Aaron Davis told the packed auction room that the vendor had set a realistic reserve because she wanted it gone.
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The property needed the works – the builder, plumber and electrician – but the good news, he added, was that the weeds were free. “You just have to come and pick your own.”
Bidding started at $100,000 before quickly jumping to $200,000 and then $300,000. It then slowed with the seven active bidders pushing the price up in increments of between $10,000 and $30,000.
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It was announced on the market at $450,000, but the bidding continued with just two buyers left to battle it out in mainly small $1000 bids. The hammer eventually went down on $501,000 after more than 30 bids were placed.
Harcourts listing agent Alex Dunn said the auction result “absolutely exceeded” the vendor’s expectations and she was just pleased to be able to move on.
“She was in tears on the phone with me before. She’s so pleased. It means that she can carry on with her life, it’s sort of a milestone and the end is near for them – going through the court system has just been years and years so she’s really, really pleased.”
Dunn said all but one of the 17 registered parties were investors and the new owner planned to stop it from leaking, renovate it to a healthy homes standard and then rent it out.
He put the huge interest in the property down to people thinking they were going to get a deal.
There were holes in the walls and ceiling and a leak in the roof. Photo / Supplied
“It’s a court-ordered sale, they are knowing it’s 100% going to sell, it’s just a matter of where is it going to sell and what level is it going to sell. So, you’ve got to be in the room to get a deal, you’ve got to be in it to win it kind of thing.”
Dunn told OneRoof at the time of listing the property that it was in a “really rough condition”, had not been well maintained and had been full of rubbish.
“We’ve taken five skip bins of stuff away. The house is in poor condition. It’s got holes in the wall. there are holes in the ceiling. Most likely some leaks from what we can see.” They later confirmed there was definitely a leak in the roof over the kitchen.
Dunn had expected it to sell well below the CV of $630,000 and the sale price was $125,000 less.
However, the Short Street property was still one of, if not, the cheapest three-bedroom freehold property he was aware of in Papakura that had been sold in the last few years.
Divorce lawyer Jeremy Sutton earlier told OneRoof that a court-ordered sale would be a “last-resort situation” where one party was occupying the property and refused to move out.
These types of forced sales were uncommon, he said, and in most cases the parties ended up agreeing without having the court intervene in relation to a sale because of the length of time and cost of getting a court order. It took on average nine to 12 months or longer to get a court order through the Family Court.
For orders for sale to happen in the Family Court they must relate to relationship property, whereas the High Court would precede over orders for sale where the property is jointly-owned such as brothers who had fallen out or acquaintances.
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