- Former Māori rugby league player Mike Te Hira’s unfinished Laingholm home faces mortgagee sale.
- The three-bedroom property overlooks Manukau Harbour and the Waitākere Ranges on 1103sqm.
- Contracts collapsed and price expectations fell from about $700,000 to below $500,000.
The "unfinished masterpiece" of former New Zealand Māori rugby league player Mike Te Hira has been listed for mortgagee sale.
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Te Hira died before he could complete his dream home at 131 Victory Road, in the west Auckland suburb of Laingholm.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom home boasts clear views of Manukau Harbour and the Waitakere Ranges and was listed a year ago by Te Hira’s widow, Pam Carlsen.
The property attracted interest from builders and “all the right people”, but several contracts fell over, and the family’s price expectations dropped from around $700,000 to just under $500,000.
Goodwins real estate agent and Te Hira’s friend Redvers McCabe told OneRoof: “It is a bit of a sad story. We had it on the market for at least nine months.”
The views from the property are impressive. Photo / Supplied
The property still needs work to bring it up to scratch and is being sold with scaffolding and plastic wrapping in place. Photo / Supplied
McCabe is not involved in the mortgagee sale and can’t comment on the current state of the property, but told OneRoof last year that 131 Victory Road was going to be Te Hira’s dream home.
He said his friend bought the home in 1990, “and I guess you could say it’s the classic builder’s home”.
“Mike always had grand visions of the place, but he was busy running around with his family, and the house came last,” McCabe said.
“He battled cancer for probably about 30 years, and he never believed it would get him. But unfortunately, he ran out of time.”
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McCabe said he first met Te Hira in the 1980s, when they played league together, and that they had become great mates over the years.
“I first met Mike around 1982, playing at Glenora Rugby League. Mike was a promising player back then, and he went all the way through to the Māori Rugby League with the Kiwis.”
Te Hira’s mother, June Te Hira, was one of New Zealand’s greatest women athletes, representing her country in basketball, softball, and hockey, and went on to coach rugby in the 1950s and 1960s. His nephew, Lindsay Tait, also played for the Tall Blacks between 2003 and 2015.
McCabe told OneRoof last year that the views from the property were second to none. “I’ve been selling properties for 30 years, and even in my travels overseas, those views ... once you’re up there, it’s another world.”
131 Victory Road is listed with Barfoot & Thompson agent Ari Tidyman, who specialises in mortgagee sales. He declined to comment on the circumstances of the sale but agreed with McCabe that the views from the house were amazing.
The home, which sits on 1103sqm of land, has an RV of $770,000.
- 131 Victory Road, Laingholm, Auckland, goes to auction on September 2
