- Bayleys agent Paula Halford sold her Auckland home in 12 days for $1.87m.
- Key strategies included building a deck, timing the market and setting a strategic price.
- Halford emphasised the importance of working with knowledgeable agents and tailoring marketing campaigns.
Knowing the tricks of the trade came in handy for Bayleys agent Paula Halford when she listed her Auckland home: She found a buyer within 12 days of the house hitting the market.
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Building a deck in advance, timing the local market and putting a price tag on the property on Inglewood Street, in Wai O Taiki Bay, resulted in a $1.87 million sale – less than $10,000 off the asking price.
It was a “phenomenally fast” campaign, Halford told OneRoof.
“We planned it and it worked how we wanted it to work,” she said.
Wai O Taiki Bay is between Glendowie and Glen Innes, and Halford said she had been keeping a keen eye on what had sold in the area, so knew when a couple of properties sold under the hammer that there had been underbidders.
The house had a good layout and was in a near-new state. Photo / Supplied
Agent and owner Paula Halford had added the deck before she listed the house. Photo / Supplied
“The person who bought my home had literally missed out on the house down the road.”
She said she bought the four-bedroom house off the developer, Creating Communities, around six years ago. It was still in excellent condition when she sold it. “You could tweak the gardens a bit, but apart from that, it was done. It had a really good floor plan and was a good family home.”
Halford said about 10 people came to the first open home, and she had an offer before the second. There were other interested parties and other agents were ringing about the property on behalf of their clients.
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The buyers had been looking at a nearby Glendowie property, which on paper was a better address, but Halford said they loved her house more.
There was good demand for homes in Wai O Taiki Bay, she said, describing the area as almost an Eastern Bays extension but at a more reasonable price point.
“If I could find my house closer to the bays, that would be my dream home. The house was great, and is in a suburb where you’re not paying exorbitant Eastern Bays prices; you’re getting a lot of value for money,” Halford told OneRoof.
Halford recently sold a two-bedroom unit on Patterson Avenue, in Auckland’s Mission Bay, for $1.305m. Photo / Supplied
“I just think it’s its own little niche pocket. It’s not Glendowie, it’s not GI, but it’s in there. It’s sort of up from the water. A lot of the houses have got beautiful water views over the Half Moon Bay side.”
The expense of building the deck at her house had been “100%” worth it, she said. “We knew that was going to be a selling point because that indoor outdoor flow is so important.”
She urged vendors to work with agents who not only know what to recommend, but monitor the market and know the best sales method.
“We went through ‘do we auction it?’ My concern was that there is still a bit of stock around, not a huge amount, but there is stock around. We moved on the back of a little bit of FOMO, because we knew there were under-bidders around looking for that type of home in that area.”
Having said that, the lead-up to going to market was probably six months of getting the house primed to go, and doing the all-important homework.
Halford, who listed the home with colleague Louise Stringer, said she tailored her marketing campaigns to the motivations of vendors so each case was different.
A recent listing on Patterson Avenue, in Auckland’s Mission Bay, had an auction campaign because the owners had bought another property, conditional on their home selling. “That was another campaign I worked hard to get the right price.”
The two-bedroom unit was beautifully presented and fetched $1.305m, she said.
Halford said people still looking should keep an eye on her listings over the next month or two for The Villas on Comins Crescent, in Mission Bay, a development of 10 beautifully spec homes with an infinity pool in the complex. “They are beautifully designed.”
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