- Steve Goodey is selling his Lower Hutt home to reinvest in higher-yield properties.
- He described the 1920s home as better for families than as an investment.
- Goodey plans to invest in student accommodation in Dunedin and properties in South Auckland.
Steve Goodey’s 1920s character home in Lower Hutt was the perfect family home – but as an investment property, it was severely lacking.
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The high-profile property coach lived at 120 Knights Road for over a decade with his family before moving out about nine years ago.
He then fell into the trap of becoming an accidental landlord and is now selling up to reinvest in a property with a higher yield.
“It’s a better home than an investment,” Goodey told OneRoof.
Property coach Steve Goodey is selling up to buy a better investment property. Photo / Supplied
He paid $409,550 for 120 Knights Road in 2003. The three-bedroom home was secure, in a good neighbourhood and close to schools and shops.
His children loved the house and weren’t keen on Goodey selling it after the family moved to a new home, but now that they are grown up, Goodey believes it’s ready for a new family to own.
The home has a modern kitchen, and Goodey repainted the exterior, recarpeted, replaced the vanities, did some landscaping and put in a new deck before listing it for sale with Professionals agent Shane Brockelbank.
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“A good family home isn’t always a great investment,” he said.
“The yield isn’t fantastic. It doesn’t have four income streams and a 9% net return.”
He planned to reinvest the proceeds from the sale in other parts of the country.
Student accommodation in Dunedin and houses in Invercargill were where the numbers stacked up for investors, he said. Another option was buying an older home with a granny flat on a larger section with potential to subdivide in one of the better-quality suburbs in South Auckland, such as Papakura, Manurewa or Ōtāhuhu.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom home has new carpet and light fittings, and is ready for a new family to move in. Photo / Supplied
New vanities were also installed in both bathrooms, the exterior of the house was repainted, and the deck was rebuilt. Photo / Supplied
“If you sit on that for five or 10 or 15 years, it’s going to pay itself off. And then you either do the development, turn it into 20 townhouses, or you sell it to a developer and let them do it, and just take a cut. That’s honestly where I see the real money to be. It’s not in buying a townhouse and hoping it goes up in value when there are 40 of them in the street,” he said.
“It might not necessarily be the property that you drive past and point out to your mates and be proud that you own it, but as long as it’s Healthy Homes-compliant and as long as it’s safe and it’s giving somebody a home, then it is a good viable asset and product.”
Goodey said that he was sad to sell 120 Knights Road, but he had to accept that the home no longer suited his stage of life.
“When you’re not in that age bracket anymore, then you don’t need that amazing family home anymore. Like if I move to Auckland and I buy something up there, I probably won’t buy anything bigger than two bedrooms. I just don’t need it.”
- 120 Knights Road, in Lower Hutt, is for sale, deadline closing April 8
