Flipper pockets $350K in just four months after makeover of 80s ugly duckling nets $1.5m, All things property, under OneRoof

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.

Start your property search

Find your dream home today.

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.

- From derelict to stunner: St Marys Bay mansion that broke the bank sold for $11.5m

- Ponsonby on the cheap: The ad said ignore the $2.35m CV, they bought it for $1m less

“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

The fully-renovated townhouse on Marewa Road sold for <img.5m. Photo / Supplied