– Ray White Epsom agent Richard Thode is selling the home he grew up in at 81 Meadowbank Road.
– The property features four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and garaging for six cars on a 1346sqm section.
– Thode credits his time at the house for sparking his love of entrepreneurship and property.
One of Auckland’s top real estate agents is selling the home he grew up in.
Ray White Epsom agent Richard Thode told OneRoof that when he found out that his former clients were selling 81 Meadowbank Road, he got in touch and told them he had to be their agent.
“I called them up and said, ‘I’m sorry, you’re actually going to have to allow me to appraise this. I have a lot of love for it, and a lot of knowledge’. And they said yes,” Thode said.
Thode says his late mother would be thrilled to see what 81 Meadowbank Road looks like now. Photo / Supplied
The double A-frame house is striking, and buyers are drawn to its pool and bush setting. Photo / Supplied
The agent, who sold 88 properties for over $230 million last financial year, told OneRoof that the double A-frame house was his family home during his final three years of high school.
“It was all the fun things with that home. It was surrounded by bush and it was the first house we had with a pool. I remember doing all sorts of naughty things as a teenager, having friends around and having good times,” he said.
“Those days we got our drivers licenses at 15, and we used to go around all the back streets doing all sorts of things. We had lots of fun times around the reserve.
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“I remember coming home from school, coming home to afternoon tea and Mum had baked marshmallow cake.”
Thode said he recognised a lot during his walk-through, and reckoned his late parent would have appreciated the improvements subsequent owners made. “Mum would be so thrilled.”
The original building has been expanded to 323sqm, and now boasts four bedrooms, three bathrooms, new flooring and garaging for six cars.
The bathrooms have been updated, as has the decor. Photo / Supplied
The living rooms and bedrooms have striking A-frame proportions and a bush outlook. Photo / Supplied
“The kitchen is different, but the flow to the pool is the same, the gravel entrance – it has a really good feel. The houses down the drive are the same,” Thode said.
“The bush Dad planted has grown up now, and his trees are standing tall. It’s like Titirangi but you’re so close to the city.”
The property, which sits on a 1346sqm section, has an RV of just over $2.3m and will be auctioned next month, although Thode declined to give a price indication.
He did credit his time at the house for sparking his lifetime love of entrepreneurship and property. His father Bill had founded the family’s Thode Blade and Saw 10 years earlier in the garage of another family home, and Thode worked in sales for the company until branching into property development and then real estate. His mum Yvonne loved property and masterminded much of the transformation of the 20 or so family homes they had over the years, he said.
Thode said his parents gave him garage workshop space for his first businesses – the workshop is still there, he was pleased to see – for him to breed budgies for sale, and, later buying and restoring bikes that he sold via Trade & Exchange.
“It’s in my blood. We moved 20 times as a family, but 81 Meadowbank was where I got into entrepreneurial sales,” he said.
– 81 Meadowbank Road, Meadowbank, Auckland, goes to auction on November 6