A neglected and overgrown property that hadn’t been lived in since its owner died more than two years ago has sold under the hammer for $781,000 – less than half its CV of $1.575 million.
The auction for the 1950s three-bedroom, one-bathroom weatherboard home on Claude Street, in Hillpark, Auckland, opened at $700,000, was announced on the market at $777,000 and sold for $781,000.
The deceased estate was snapped up last week by TV renovation winner and property trader Jono Frankle, who fought off two other bidders. A total of 13 bids were made before the hammer fell.
Frankle said he saw potential in the dated three-bedroom, one-bathroom property, which he believed many home buyers might have struggled to see in its current state.
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“It really is a homeowner’s home but it was yuck inside, and in such a state that it [looked like] too much work.”
Frankle, who won the first season of Our First Home in 2015 and has carried out more than a dozen flips in South Auckland, negotiated favourable terms including getting access to the site before settlement.
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Within days of winning last Wednesday’s auction, a team of builders had stripped the walls back to the frames. The worn carpet now fills a skip on the property.
A digger had also arrived onsite ready to attack the overgrown garden, which had previously been tended to by the late owner who was a retired landscaper. OneRoof records show he paid $84,000 for the home in 1984 and owned it since.
However, no work had been carried out to the property for several years with the listing photos showing trees growing up through the deck.
The 1950s home hadn't been lived in for at least two years. Photo / Supplied
Frankle estimated the property would take up to three months to transform and cost $150,000.
The project budget was slightly higher than his usual flips because he was planning a higher-spec renovation that would appeal to a second-home buyer or family.
The original home was split over two levels, but Frankle had already identified how a fourth bedroom could be accommodated in the existing layout.
Once the 1482sqm property has been renovated and the garden tamed, he said it would be a really amazing family home.
“As you drive up it’s like driving into this forest and it just has this awesome feel. It’s cool.”
Ray White Manukau co-owner Tom Rawson said the property had been marketed as if someone had walked out.
The owner’s children who had inherited it lived in Australia and had not been able to do anything to it before putting it up for sale.
“They flew in, caught up with the agents and then flew back and they handled everything in between.”
The shower and vanity are being ripped out and replaced with modern fittings and fixtures. Photo / Supplied
The siblings were thrilled with the outcome and the sale price had far exceeded their expectations.
“The owners reached out afterward and were ecstatic with the process and the agents involved [Tom McCartney and Mark Innes] going the extra mile given the circumstances of having a property that hadn’t been lived in for a couple of years.”
Rawson said Hillpark was a sought-after area with homeowners especially as it had some covenants protecting it against developments.
“Homeowners love it and it’s real easy commuting north from there because there’s an on-ramp and off-ramp.” It was also on the doorstep of the Auckland Botanical Gardens and Nathan Homestead.
Frankle has carried out a number of house flips in South Auckland in the past two years that he does up with first-home buyers in mind. A property on Redcrest Avenue, in Redhill, Papakura, that he paid $495,000 for in November 2023 sold in March for $630,000, while a unit on Woolfield Road, in Papatoetoe, which he paid $700,000 for in October last year sold last month for an undisclosed price.
Meanwhile, a four-bedroom home at 25 Eccles Place, in Otara, which he bought for $700,000 in October 2023 is still looking for a new owner and is being sold by deadline sale.
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