- A South Auckland home was auctioned less than 24 hours after it hit the market.
- Owners needed to sell to stop their lender from taking possession on Friday.
- The sale price exceeded their declared reserve of $600,000.
It would have been the worst 24 hours of their lives. But the stressed owners of a three-bedroom home on Hardie Street, in Auckland’s Mangere East, got a win when they needed it most.
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Their property sold under the hammer today for $866,000 – well above the declared reserve of $600,000.
The sale price ended the threat of foreclosure that had hung over them for some months and forced them unexpectedly to put their house on the market just 24 hours before.
It’s also a win for their agent, Ray White’s Bob Lemalu, who pulled off a miracle in an impossibly short time frame.
Immediately after the auction Lemalu spent time with the vendors and said they had “a lot of mixed emotions”.
“They were very, very emotional as well because it was their mum and dad’s home as well. But there was a lot of relief and elation. For me, it’s a win. If they are happy, I’m happy.”
He and his team headed to KFC where he shouted them a late lunch. “KFC is always a good way to celebrate.”
Ray White auctioneer Ted Ingram takes bids on the house. Photo / Supplied
The property had been renovated. Photo / Supplied
The recently renovated house attracted 43 registered bidders, including investors, traders, developers, and even a few families. There were 17 bids over four minutes at Ray White’s auction room in Papatoetoe including several unsuccessful knockout bids, including one which saw the price jump from $610,000 to $750,000.
While $866,000 is well below the property’s CV of $1.1 million, it gave the owners some much-needed financial breathing room.
The owners had hastily brought forward their plans to auction the home in January after learning that the finance company was going to foreclose on Friday.
They’d even declared on their listing they were willing to sell for as low as $600,000 to get a deal. “This owner has 1 DAY to BEAT THE BANK!,” the listing on OneRoof said.
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Lemalu told OneRoof yesterday that he got an urgent call from the vendors’ lawyer the at night telling him he needed to accelerate their plans. “Last night we got the call that it needed to go before Friday.”
Lemalu said the owners couldn’t keep up with their loan repayments because of higher interest rates. Their lender, however, had refused their request to refinance their loan one more month.
“Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the finances together to extend their loan. The lender is now saying they will take possession on Friday,” he said.
The agent’s team then scrambled to get the listing live yesterday afternoon. They arranged a photo shoot and then hit their phones to let their database know the house was up for grabs. “We are up against it,” he said, adding that more than 35 groups viewed the property during that time at both the three open homes and private viewings.
The agent had just a few hours to get photos for the listing up. Photo / Supplied
Lemalu said the $600,000 reserve would have been enough for the owners to repay the mortgage and cover costs, so the $866,000 final price was a godsend.
“They were staring down the barrel of breaking even, but there’s going to be a bit extra in their back pocket.”
Lemalu said that the recently renovated home was “pretty tidy”.
“It’s in good nick and there’s a double garage. Big yard, big section, good location. A family could easily suit that and also investors,” he said, adding that the rental appraisal was about $700 a week.
Lemalu said the owners had been worried the second-tier lender would sell the house for less than their total debt and chase them for any shortfall.
Listing and holding an auction within one day is certainly unusual. “The shortest I’ve had is two weeks,” Lemalu said.
He believed it was a success because everyone was drawn to the fact that they might be able to get a bargain given it had a low $600,000 reserve.
“I’m still getting calls now ... the phone was inundated. At one stage I just ended up throwing my hands up and telling people if you are interested, turn up to the auction room, register and away you go.”
Ray White Papatoetoe managing director and auctioneer Ted Ingram said the turnout had been great. “Real urgency will fill the room and that’s what happened.”
Ray White NZ head auctioneer Sam Steele said the turnaround was the quickest he had ever seen. He said there were plenty of properties that had their auctions brought forward after receiving offers within a day or two of appearing on the market, but there was usually a longer lead time to get to that point.
“Anything under a week is really fast, but certainly to do it in 24 hours is incredibly fast,” he said. “At this time of year, people are very keen to get deals done so it should work in [the vendors’] favour.”
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