South Auckland fixer-upper for sale with $1 reserve

A three-bedroom fixer-upper in South Auckland is to be sold at auction with a $1 reserve.

The owners of 14 Landette Road, in Manurewa, are betting their retirement plans on the risky sales move working, and so far interest in the property suggests a good result

Ray White Manurewa office manager Tom Rawson says the listing for 14 Landette Road has gained a lot of attention since going live on Wednesday.

“We’ve had three offers in the first 24 hours. We’ve had an offer of $3 on Instagram, had people saying ‘I will give you a dollar for it now’, we had offers in the $400s and $500s. It gets people excited,” he says.

Despite the offers, the campaign for the home will run until July 22, when the house goes to auction.

OneRoof data shows 14 Landette Road has a 2017 ratings valuation of $530,000, and that it last sold in 2002 for $140,500.

Rawson says the owners would take a dollar if it’s all their Manurewa investment property gets but the agent is confident it’ll sell for way more than that under the hammer.

“The South Auckland market has been good and it will sell for how much it will sell. But you can’t just go from having the busiest month ever to a property selling for one dollar,” he says.

The agents marketing the home, Pat Lapalapa and Stephen Tuck, say dollar reserve will likely attract the attention of investors, first-home buyers’ and do-up enthusiasts.

Lapalapa says: “Judging by recent sales and housing market statistics, the owners know they got security. People would be crazy not to bid above a dollar."

Set on a 600sqm freehold section, the house is close to a supermarket, public transport, Finlayson Park School and Manurewa Intermediate.

According to real estate agents in South Auckland, fierce investor activity is driving the real estate market there, with do-up homes selling quickly.

Adam Thomson, director of Ray White Manukau, recently told OneRoof: “There seems to be so many people either wanting to invest or get into property. We can’t really keep up with listings. If anyone’s looking at selling it hasn’t been a better time for us in the last years.”

While activity is across the price range, there’s a lot of interest in the $600,000 to $700,000 market, and do-ups are proving popular with speculators who upgrade and rent them out.

He said his office had sold a do-up in Manurewa for $591,000 and a bigger piece of land and a house in Papatoetoe for $1.2 million.

“It’s really spread out evenly across the market which we don’t always see. In the past when we’ve had market change we’ve had quite a lot of activity in a certain part but at the moment we’re seeing it spread.”