You'll need $10m just to get through the door

A mansion in Auckland’s blue-chip Herne Bay is on the market after a multi-million-dollar renovation – and the owners have never moved in.

But buyers with less than $10m budgets are unlikely to get a look in, according to Joe Telford, the Bayleys agent who is marketing the nearly 400sqm four-bedroom house on 2 Galatea Terrace.

The property has a set sale closing November 2, so he could not specify the likely price of the home, now renovations are finished.

“I've been telling people you have to have budgets upwards of $10m. This is unique, it’s a brand new home in Herne Bay.

“There’s a set sale date, but if someone came in and smashed it out of the park, we’d take it. We do say ‘unless sold prior’ in the advertising.”

Telford said that enquiry is already high, helped by a private open house held for the community that attracted 70 neighbours through.

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“It was a three- year renovation, an extensive rebuild. People have been gazing in as they walked by for all that time, they think this location is the best it can be.

“I explain to people that the fireplace and the front door are original, everything else is new. It is turnkey.

“But that’s what people’s appetite is – to get a turnkey place that they don’t have to do anything, but it has to be to a good standard.

The stunning property has a CV $7.5m and, according to OneRoof records, last changed hands three years ago for the same amount. Photo / Supplied

The home has been beautifully lit by a lighting architect. Photo / Supplied

“They’re very discerning at this level, people are quite hard on value. They look at places that are even ten years old and say, ‘it’ll cost us to re-do',” he said.

In an unusual move for this country, Telford had acted as a buyers’ agent for the American owners when they were house hunting three years ago.

“A buyer's agency is slightly unusual in New Zealand but is very typical in the States. They engaged me to find a property on their behalf as they couldn’t find anything on the market at the time,” he said, adding that the Galatea property was bought in an off-market deal as places on Galatea and Bella Vista Road, which run off Marine Parade, don’t come up very often.

OneRoof records show they paid $7.5m for the property at the end of 2020. Telford could not be drawn on what the renovations would have cost but agreed it would be in the multi-millions of dollars.

He is already fielding enquiries from overseas buyers.

“I deal with a few of their advisors, and they have already had a look. They’ve certainly been very quick to refer their people,” he said.

Another house he marketed in Freemans Bay, a smartly renovated three story villa on Picton Street, sold to a Singaporean buyer in June, after a deadline sale, for $4.8825m.

The kitchen has water views and comes with Wolf double ovens and range top, SubZero fridge, and two Miele dishwashers. Photo / Supplied

“Again, it was an extensive rebuild. People don’t want to have to do anything,” he said.

The virtual rebuild of the Galatea Terrace house included adding a garage and studio, pushing out the back deck to make a covered dining area, and extensive excavation to create a full ground floor. While there is room on the 817sqm site for a pool (an old one was removed), Telford said buyers are in two camps about needing one, especially if they have a beach house.

Architect Greg Jones designed the transformation to retain the character of the house from the street, including replicating the home’s distinctive circular fretwork from the front verandah on the newly extended back decks upstairs and down. Telford is particularly impressed by the lighting, designed by Dark Arts, and said all the systems for security and automation are new, as well as electrical, plumbing and heating.

Tapware was sourced from the States, flooring from the Netherlands, hardware from the UK while the meticulously replicated double glazed windows came from closer to home – a factory in Carterton.

The couple are selling because they have bought a farm in the Tasman area, after living in a lodge there during Covid lockdowns.

Telford earlier told OneRoof he had been along for every step of the renovation journey.

“This was never supposed to be a spec house or one to renovate and sell, it was always done for themselves. The people who have been through it and looked at it so far have all commented on the level of detail and that the quality is second to none.”

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