8/19 Victoria Avenue,
Remuera
KEY POINTS:
When Jean McL Wallace sold her family home in Remuera's Burwood Crescent where she had lived for 60-odd years, the buyer let her have six months to find somewhere else to live.
Jean fancied the idea of a townhouse with a nice garden and in a safe area. But nothing took her eye and, a week before the six months was up, her real estate agent rang to say, "Look, I know you have to move by next week and that you really need a roof over your head. I think you should come and look at this apartment in Victoria Ave."
Jean explains: "The agent said it was nice, had good security, views, good people, and was within walking distance of the shops. I looked at it in the morning, rang my lawyer and bought it in the afternoon."
The apartment appealed as Jean says she was getting to a stage in life when it was time to think about where she would live "as getting older in Auckland is very expensive. And when you don't have children, you're on your own in old age.
"I had thought I might be here just a few months but I have been here six or seven years. I did buy another apartment in Kohimarama and did it up, but then decided I'm not a Kohi person, I'm a Remuera person, and I sold."
The 86-year-old is known as a bit of a character in the area, happy to share her sometimes strong but always well-researched views on such issues as the housing market and politics. Playing tennis until just a couple of years ago, she recently broke her wrist when she fell on a footpath. "A nice young man picked me up and a nice young woman took me to the doctor."
But that's not the reason Jean is selling; rather it's partly because she feels this apartment, with three bedrooms, is too big for her now. She's not going far though, shifting "a little bit" down Victoria Avenue into a smaller apartment, "across the road from John Banks". Perhaps someone should warn the Auckland mayor that his new neighbour is likely to give him some lively debates.
Jean's move frees up an apartment of the kind that buyers don't see too often on the market. With its generous size (195sq m) and solid construction, it outshines many of the newer, more compact apartments for sale.
There are 10 units in the concrete Ridgeview building, finished in roughcast, and set in a garden with lawns, camellias, hydrangeas, shrubs, daisies and rosemary. Jean's apartment is on the first floor on the north side, looking out over Remuera and the Orakei Basin, across to the harbour, Devonport, North Head and Rangitoto. There is a hallway as you enter her home, with one bedroom, toilet, bathroom and laundry off to the right. Off to the left are the second bedroom, living and dining rooms, kitchen and main bedroom, all running off the hallway. A balcony is accessed from the living area, and the rooms on this side capture the sunlight, and enjoy those wonderful sea views. Jean says the beauty of the apartment, built in the 1970s, is that it is "large with three double bedrooms and masses of storage space".
Open home viewers have commented that it feels more like a home than an apartment - they like its old-fashioned character and that it is solid. Some say they would update the kitchen and bathroom but are impressed by the apartment's size.
Agents visualise it appealing to an older market but have also had interest from younger age groups.