– An Auckland family’s $200,000 renovation led to their house selling for $1.74 million.
– Twenty bidders competed for the Albany home, which sold $350,000 above its RV.
– The quality renovation and location in a good school zone drove high interest and bidding.
An Auckland family’s $200,000 house renovation paid off handsomely when an investor paid almost $350,000 above RV at a heated auction last week.
Ray White listing agent Andy Liu told OneRoof that his clients were “over the moon” after their four-bedroom house on Bushlands Park Drive, in Albany, sold under the hammer for $1.74 million.
Twenty registered bidders competed against each other on the lawn of the Bushlands Park Drive home, hoping to walk away with the keys to one of the few move-in-ready homes on the market in the suburb.
The extensive renovation included a new kitchen, two new bathrooms and new flooring throughout. Photo / Supplied
The auction kicked off with a bid of $1.275m, with the property announced on the market more than $300,000 later. The bidding continued over another $100,000, with the hammer coming down in favour of an Auckland investor looking to add to his portfolio.
His willingness to spend was too much for the two home buyers left competing against towards the end of the auction.
Liu said his clients had owned the house for almost 30 years and had decided to renovate inside and out first instead of bringing it to market in a tired state.
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They spent $200,000 upgrading the kitchen and bathrooms, putting in new flooring and repainting the entire house. A heat pump and an HRV system were installed and it was re-landscaped.
Liu said the large spend paid off because everyone who viewed the house loved the results.
He believed this was the main reason this property had sold at auction amongst a flurry of bids, while just weeks earlier, a nearby property had passed in.
A three-bedroom, two-bathroom home on Mandica Place also sold for more than $300,000 above its RV at auction. Photo / Supplied
“The quality of the renovation stood out to a lot of the buyers. They wanted to move into a good school zone and a good location without having to pick up a paintbrush.”
Some 250 groups viewed the property during the four-week marketing campaign (in the current market, a good number is 40 groups).
“I think the vendors were over the moon. It was above what they were hoping for.”
The number of groups through its doors and the huge number of registered bidders was not only a standout result for Albany, but the entire North Shore, Liu said.
Harcourts national auction manager Shane Cortese, who operates on the North Shore, agreed there was increased demand for quality homes in prized school zones right now.
He cited the recent sale of a three-bedroom house on Mandica Place, in Sunnynook, which is zoned for Rangitoto College and Westlake Boys and Girls High.
The property, which was listed with Harcourts agent David Umarov, attracted a huge amount of interest and sold under the hammer for $1.477m – well above its RV of $1.1m.
Cortese said there were eight registered bidders, seven of whom put their hands up. “There was a huge crowd there, and plenty of spirited bidding. I think 42 different agents inspected the property.”