A tired 1980s townhouse in Auckland's prized doubled grammar zone has been flipped, with the seller pocketing an impressive $350,000 in less than four months.
The three-bedroom home on Marewa Road in Greenlane passed in at auction last week at $1.46m after failing to reach reserve, but a few days later sold unconditionally for $1.5m.
The vendor originally purchased the tired property in November last year for $1.15m - well below its 2021 CV of $1.8 million.
The property was then given a complete makeover, with original kitchen, peeling patterned wallpaper, floral curtains, arched doorway and worn carpet and transformed it into a modern home.
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The finished product is a light airy space with a new kitchen and breakfast bar, white-painted walls, tiled bathrooms, roller blinds and plush new carpet.
The bright green font door has been switched to a more sedate white and the overgrown garden was ripped out and replaced with a cobbled area at the front and a deck off the master bedroom at the rear of the house.
Ray White Remuera listing agent Ben Ryken said it used to be speculators who were buying these older type of properties, but now it is genuine traders who are in the construction or trade industry and adding value to them.
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“It’s great, I think, that people are buying old properties that are in need of some TLC and doing them up and putting them back on the market for a new purchaser to buy,” he said. ”He’s really brought a property back to life from the 80s.”
The demand for renovated houses was higher than older ones due to the construction costs and fears around over-capitalising, Ryken said.
“We had 80 plus groups through during three weeks of marketing which is quite amazing in this market and multiple offers were presented. It just goes to show that if you have a renovated product that presents really well, you really get lots of people through the door.”
The new owners are a family who wanted to move across from a neighbouring suburb to be in the prized double grammar zone.
A house on Antrim Crescent in Otara was also flipped last week with the owner making a $160,000 profit. The dated property was purchased for $575,000 in December last year and after undergoing a full renovation resold for $735,000.
Ray White Manurewa listing agent Tom McCartney said there were a lot of costs involved. The renovation to the property alone was about $60,000 and then there was GST, tax, marketing, agent fees and staging. A lot of the renovators also used second-tier lenders whose interest rates are currently between 10% and 12%. “She’s a fair whack,” he said.
“The margins are really tight and they kind of have an end sale price they have to stick pretty closely to. There’s a lot of risk as well, if things do drag on a little bit and then the market moves down, and they can’t get their end price – if it’s out by 5% to 10% - then all of a sudden they’ve done the whole thing for free.”
While the owners tried to do some of the renovation themselves and managed the project, they often used tradespeople to do their specialist jobs such as painters, electricians and kitchen installers.
McCartney said first-home buyers prefer to buy renovated houses because the banks won’t lend them any extra money to replace the kitchen, carpet or paint.
“They know that if they do buy a property that needs a fair bit of work, they are going to have to save up for another two or three years as well as their mortgage repayments to actually be able to put in a new bathroom or kitchen. So, they are going to be living in it as it is for two to three years and sometimes the condition in some houses leaves a little bit to be desired.”
The Magic Makeover - Before and After
Before: The exterior and grounds of the three-bedroom home were shabby and in need of care. Photo / Supplied
After: The house and garden now looks smart and ready for family life. Photo / Supplied
Before: The kitchen was tired and dated. Photo / Supplied
After: The kitchen is bright and modern. Photo / Supplied
Before: The bathroom may have been all the rage in the 1980s but in 2022 it was well past its use-by date. Photo / Supplied
After: The bathroom was updated and reconfigured, with a space-saving shower replacing the bath. Photo / Supplied
Before: The living room, empty in the 2022 listing, was a blank canvas for the new owners. Photo / Supplied
After: The white colour scheme lightens up the room. Photo / Supplied
Before: The master bedroom needed saving. Photo / Supplied
After: The new-look bedroom suite. Photo / Supplied
Before: The walls in one of the secondary bedrooms were stained. Photo / Supplied
After: The new owners put their design stamp on the sleeping quarters. Photo / Supplied
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