In the end, the 100-step climb didn’t put off buyers. Lowe & Co agent Jackie Farrell managed to sell the architectural gem on Owhiro Bay Parade in 18 days.
She told OneRoof she had almost 80 groups through the open homes for the three-bedroom house designed by Roger Walker.
“We definitely found people who were keen to make an offer,” she said. “The buyer brought his daughter through, and she absolutely loved it. It was a good result for the vendors.”
The house, which has an RV of $1.34 million and was seeking offers over $895,000, is perched on a hillside overlooking Ōwhiro Bay and boasts clear views across the Cook Strait and to the Kaikouras.
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The vendors had bought it sight unseen from Amsterdam in 2019 for $910,000 and had only just managed to move in before the Covid-19 pandemic struck and the country was in lockdown.
The quick sale stands in contrast to the sluggishness of the overall Wellington market, where the median days to sell in September jumped 45% year-on-year to 51 days.
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“Our tender strategy gives the vendor better results. Usually more offers,” Farrell told OneRoof.
“If you extend it too long, buyers drop off.”
While she declined to give the exact sale price she said it was more than $895,000.
The vendors, David and Frances Shoemack, told OneRoof earlier this month that the property had been the perfect home for their family during lockdown.
David said his colleagues in Amsterdam were surprised by the view. They thought the backdrop to his Zoom calls was a screensaver. “They thought it was a false background. They were like, ‘Show us what’s actually behind you’.”
The views across across Cook Strait and to the Kaikouras are jaw-dropping. Photo / Supplied
The property has an RV of $1.34m and sold for more than the asking price of $895,000. Photo / Supplied
Walker’s design was nautical in flavour. “Think lighthouse meets boat,” the listing said, adding that the house came with the “best plunge pool in the world” – i.e. the bay below.
The property certainly made an impression on the Shoemacks when they first moved in. The boys were three and five when the family arrived back in New Zealand and had only known life in Amsterdam.
They were shocked they had to climb 100 stairs to get to their home. “On the first day, they couldn’t even walk up the stairs,” Shoemack told OneRoof. “The little one asked, ‘Papa, could you carry me?’ I said, ‘OK, we’ll carry you today, but then we need to get strong’.”
The Shoemacks told OneRoof they were selling up because they wanted to be closer to their boys’ school and their jobs. “Frances and I both have quite big jobs. She’s in Aro Valley and I’m in Newtown. So we can both walk to work now within 15 minutes,” David said.
Ray White agent Ben Stevens said the Wellington market remained subdued, but there were signs of growth. REINZ figures for September showed an annual lift in the median sale price to $900,000, although sales were flat.
“It is definitely getting better. After the first OCR cut we saw a lift in activity. There were a lot of people sitting on the sidelines going, ‘Where’s the bottom ... oh maybe we’ve missed the bottom, we’ll jump in’. We’re now starting to enter our busy period.”
Stevens said pricing was one of the factors causing some properties to stay on the market for longer. “Everyone will tell you about a property that sold quickly. If the pricing is right, it will sell. But if you look at the whole market, if the property doesn’t sell in the first instance, it’s likely to stick around,” he told OneRoof. “Buyers know it’s a buyer’s market.”
He said the unease around jobs was not as acute as it had been at the start of the year. “A lot of the conversations we had with people back around March, April, May, June was all about ‘I’m unsure. We’re going through a restructure. I don’t know if I’m going to keep my job’.
“We’re a government town. If you’re not working for the government, you’re supplying a service to the government and that doesn’t help.” However, those people who worried about their job tenure earlier in the year had retained their jobs.
“It’s a bit of a grind [currently]. But if you have people turning up to your open homes, you’ve got the opportunities as a seller. If no one was turning up, you’ve got problems.”
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