The new Tolich home in Herne Bay. Photo / Supplied
The new Tolich home in Herne Bay. Photo / Supplied
Whenuapai land sale better than Lotto.
Antun and Deanna Tolich have just won the Auckland property market lottery.
Twenty years ago they bought a 4ha lifestyle block in Whenuapai's Brigham Creek Rd for $285,000. This month they sold it for $7 million.
The couple and their children will leave the property, which has a capital value of $3.22 million - $2.96 million of which is the land - and an annual rates bill of $7717, early next year.
They have gone unconditional on a $3.7 million, four-bedroom Herne Bay home that boasts views of Waitemata Harbour and riparian access to Cox's Bay.
Antun Tolich imagined being a granddad on his slice of West Auckland paradise, which includes a three-bedroom house the couple built 18 years ago.
He grew chestnut and olive trees and had four kids. It wasn't easy. There were shelterbelts to plant, land to maintain and bills to pay. In 1995 the mortgage felt huge, Tolich told the Herald on Sunday. "We'd just got married and considered it a huge mortgage. I definitely can't complain. Overall it has been about a 2500 per cent increase, about 30 per cent a year."
Their good fortune was bittersweet. The family's main reason for selling was to be closer to Tolich's mother, who is unwell.
She and Tolich's father have lived in Herne Bay for more than 50 years but Tolich couldn't afford to buy there in 1995.
Twenty years ago Antun and Deanna Tolich bought this lifestyle block in Whenuapai's Brigham Creek Rd for $285,000. Photo / Supplied
He always knew there would be capital gain in the Whenuapai property, but the true potential only became apparent when the Northwestern motorway was extended and development of the new Westgate town centre began, Tolich said.
"When we bought it, we didn't consider it. But for the past eight years we've seen things creep up closer and closer.
"It was almost inevitable that at some stage we weren't going to be there looking after olives and raising grandchildren."
Despite a windfall larger than many Lotto winners, the couple plan to keep working.
They have four children, aged 7, 15, 17 and 18, and Tolich owns the electrical installation and maintenance company Control Contract.
His wife works as a teacher's aide at Kristin School, after a long stint as a stay-at-home mum.
"I'm only 47. There is a lot of other business to be done. After so many years at home Deanna is loving dealing with adults. Going to work is something we both enjoy."
The couple lived through tough financial times, Tolich said.
Control Contracts was affected by the collapse of property group Mainzeal and other companies. In 2012, an attempt was made to put the company into liquidation, but they fought it and eventually settled their debts, he said.
"Sometimes you can't throw in the towel. We're certainly in a stronger position now. This has gone a long way to setting us up for a very long time."
Tolich said the Whenuapai property, zoned future urban, was sold to a New Zealand-based Chinese man who "has a track record of developments around Auckland".
Colliers International sold the property and the company's West Auckland sales and leasing broker, Craig Smith, said since the introduction of the proposed Unitary Plan, Auckland's northwest had unprecedented increases in land value.
"A wave of property owners, who originally bought land for lifestyle purposes, are taking advantage of the hot market and cashing up and moving out before they're surrounded by development. In some cases, in as little as two years, property prices in the area have doubled."
Harcourts sales consultant Sue Noonan, who has sold properties in Whenuapai for 17 years, said 4ha properties would have been lucky to snare $2 million as little as three years ago.
"It's all to do with the motorway connections. We have two beautiful new schools, we've got the new big mall, stage one has opened. All of a sudden, the west has become a very attractive place to be concentrating on development."
