A four-bedroom flat in a troubled development on the edge of Auckland’s Mount Albert will be auctioned at the end of the month with a $1 reserve.
But the agents are telling some buyers not to go anywhere near the property.
The apartment at 41/125 Carrington Road in a former student housing complex on the edge of the Unitec campus is riddled with problems, say City Sales manager Scott Dunn and the agent marketing the property, James Mairs.
“I don’t want to see any first-home buyers or inexperienced investors at this auction,” Dunn told OneRoof.
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“People need to come and check this out before bidding.”
“Leasehold. Vacant. Abandoned. Our Seller has had enough,” says Mairs’ advertising, adding that the body corporate documents make for complicated reading and buyers need to get independent advice.
“First-home buyers – swipe left please,” it concludes.
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The agent is also handing out a nearly six-page disclosure document from a Crockers Body Corporate Management manager which points out that the last three years of body corporate accounts have not been audited, that there is no long-term maintenance plan for the blocks of 43 apartments and that, most worryingly, the owners’ committee has not responded to requests asking if the property has weathertightness or earthquake issues or any land defects.
“That’s most unusual,” says Dunn. “I’ve not seen anything like this for many years, well before Covid.”
The apartment blocks at 125 Carrington Road have complicated issues with the body corporate and are mostly vacant, agents say. Photo / Supplied
But he sees an upside. “We specialise in complicated sales like this, so I am confident we will achieve what the vendor has asked of us. Regardless of how complex this investment is, someone is going to get a screaming bargain here.”
Mairs says that since students left the complex during Covid, most of the apartments have remained empty although during Covid, many of the units were used for social housing as part of the government’s assistance programme. These are now being tidied up, repaired and, where necessary, being de-contaminated for meth.
“I’m told this is not one of the meth ones. It’s in nice condition, although it hasn’t been refurbished. It is plaster, so we recommend buyers do their own due diligence,” he says. The listing photos do not show the interior of the flat, which is currently unoccupied.
The lease is part of the Ngāti Whātua holdings, Mairs says, and is due for renewal in 2025.
"It was rented for $625 per week a few years ago, so I would say [today's rental] is perhaps between $650 and $800," said Mairs.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrakei, Marutūāhu and Waiohua-Tāmaki have partnered with developers Ockham to build a new multi-billion-dollar "village within a city" at the other end of Carrington Road. When it is finished, the 40 new apartment buildings with more than 3000 units will form a nearly 40-hectare new suburb called Maungārongo.
An unoccupied two-bedroom house on 1/37 Fitzroy Street, Papatoetoe, is billed as the "worst house, best street, must sell". Photo / Supplied
Dunn and Mairs expect there to be buyers for the $1 reserve auction.
“Probably an experienced investor, someone who can see the upside. It’s highly complicated and people really need to do their research,” says Mairs.
“We don’t know what it’s worth, that’s why we could only put a $1 reserve.”
The marketing tactic has worked.
Last month an inner-city studio apartment marketed by City Sales with a $5000 reserve sold under the hammer for $36,500 after fierce bidding from four bidders. It too was leasehold, with an annual leasehold of $11,150.
In April this year, a brand-new two-bedroom property in Manurewa, one of a six-house terrace, marketed by Ray White agent Sunny Sareen with a $1 reserve, fetched $641,200 under the hammer. It too had strict confidentiality clauses, so only bidders who had read and understood the terms were eligible to bid, and other homes in the complex had sold for between $800,000 and $930,000.
In Papatoetoe, Ray White agent Bob Lemalu, with colleague Lana Tatupu, is bringing a “worst house in the best street” property to auction with a $1 reserve.
The owners of the two-bedroom house with a cross-lease half share of a 867sqm section on 1/37 Fitzroy Street, Papatoetoe, have already left the country, and Lemalu makes no bones about the state of the home and the work involved.
“Here’s a real opportunity for a savvy investor to invest and profit,” his advertisement says, adding that although the photos might paint a grim picture – there is barely a kitchen, the bathroom is a mess, graffiti decorates the living room walls and the yard has waist-high weeds – buyers need to “come to view with your own eyes.
“This two-bedroom dwelling in a great location offers more of a challenge on the surface. You need to see and view for yourself to make your own assessment,” the advertisement says.
The house has a CV of $540,000 and records show it last sold in 1991 for $39,000.
Lemalu, with colleague Gin Tonumalii, also has a somewhat tidier three-bedroom house on a big 875sqm site at 34 McLean Avenue, Papatoetoe, with an urgent sale. It joins Ray White Manukau’s mega-auction of nearly 60 properties on July 25.
The agents’ pitch on this urgent sale is that the owners “need to progress with their urgent plans”. While the advertisement talks about the home’s potential for family living, the listing photos show waste and storm water plans that suggest the property, zoned for suburban density and close to Middlemore hospital and train stations, would also appeal to developers. It has a CV of $1.15 million.
“This property must be sold to allow the vendors to carry on with their next plan,” Lemalu’s advertising says.
- 41/215 Carrington Road, Mount Albert, goes to auction July 26
