Do-up house on small plot goes on market for $629,000

Reporter·NZ Herald·

27 Oct, 2014 04:00 PM3 mins to read

The Milford house's owner and inhabitant for the past 30 years, Bill Chamberlain, also owns a property maintenance business.

A do-up North Shore property with basic facilities, exposed plywood floor panels and an overgrown yard strewn with junk is for sale for $629,000 - $269,000 above its capital valuation.

The 70sq m three-bedroom, two-bathroom fibre-cement unit in Milford sits on a small, 140sq m section.

Marketed on Trade Me as a "cute little home" with "no wasted space" and a "very practical floor plan", it's shown in photos with bare and grimy plywood floors, dirty wallpaper and a weathered exterior including makeshift-looking PVC roofing.

The bathrooms appear mouldy, with damaged walls and exposed wooden boards in some places, and amateur murals decorate other walls throughout the house.

Current owner Bill Chamberlain, 50, said he bought the family house in 1984 and was selling up to take advantage of Auckland's booming property market.

"We have been here for 30 years and have had a mortgage on the house and the house needs repairs and I can't afford to do both," he said.

"It's not a case of what it's worth. If people don't want to buy this they need to spend $1 million on something else because there is nothing else out there."

Mr Chamberlain, who owns a property maintenance business, said the house was appealing because it was not on a cross-lease title and was close to Westlake Boys' and Girls' High Schools, Takapuna Normal Intermediate and Forrest Hill Primary.

He planned to shift to Whangaparaoa, where larger houses were cheaper.

Barfoot & Thompson agent Michael Zhou said the property had attracted considerable interest and hopeful buyers intended to live in the dwelling.

"We should achieve a sale soon. They are looking to buy a family home. They would upgrade [the house] before they moved in."

Mr Zhou said the price was right for the market.

"The CV is irrelevant ... Two-bedroom units in this area will be at least $600,000, and this is a standalone one."

The median sale price of houses sold on the North Shore was $773,000 last month, up from $751,500 in August and $715,000 in September 2013, according to Real Estate Institute of New Zealand figures.

Early this month, a ramshackle home at 2 Leighton St in Grey Lynn fetched $1.075 million at auction.

The late 1800s two-bedroom cottage was touted as "the worst-condition house in the best suburb" and had rotting floorboards, nicotine-caked walls and mouldy roofing.

It had a capital valuation of $690,000 and was bought by builders Simon Watson, Thomas Rowe and Rhys Hancock.