- An Auckland bungalow featured on Love It Or List It sold for $1.045m after getting no bids at auction.
- Barfoot & Thompson agent Brigid O'Connor said it was under contract within a week.
- The buyers, planning to start a family, were attracted to the renovations and location.
An Auckland bungalow that recently featured on Love It Or List It New Zealand has been snapped up by a young couple after passing in at auction with zero bids last month.
Start your property search
A sharp asking price of $1.045 million immediately improved the property’s fortunes, with Barfoot & Thompson listing agent Brigid O’Connor telling OneRoof it was “under contract pretty quickly, in fact, I think within the first week”.
“There’s always a pool of people that will wait to see what happens in an auction and then come out of the woodwork afterwards,” she said.
Vendors Erin and Christian Jensen with Love It Or List It hosts Paul Glover and Alex Walls. Photo / TVNZ
The designer kitchen, complete with Bosch appliances, is a "showstopper", says the listing agent. Photo / Supplied
O’Connor was unable to disclose the sale price of the three-bedroom home on Koromiko Street, in New Lynn, but said her clients were pleased with the result. “The vendors can now do what they need to do. Everyone’s happy.”
The agent said the buyers were keen to start a family and were “attracted to all the sorts of things that the original owners were attracted to, and they can’t wait to get started”.
She revealed that the couple had not caught the house’s appearance on Love It Or List It New Zealand in August, but they did like the renovations.
Discover more:
- Global media boss's former Devonport home snapped up for secret sum
- Mount beach estate linked to Miss NZ contest for sale with RV of over $20m
- Grand Designs NZ mansion for sale: it blew the budget and pushed couple to the edge
“They hadn’t seen the house on the show, but there were a couple of other character homes on the market around a similar time. They were pretty keen on the area as well.”
O’Connor added: “Pretty much everyone who came through commented on how lovely the renovated area was.”
The vendors, Erin and Christian, told OneRoof in September that they had called on Love It or List It New Zealand’s hosts, designer Alex Walls and real estate agent Paul Glover, to help them out of the property hole they found themselves in after six years of fruitless renovations.
Walls’ clever makeover won them over, and at the end of the hit TVNZ show, they declared they would “love it”.
The house was snapped quickly after getting a sharp asking price. Photo / Supplied
However, in the two years since filming took place, the couple and their two children outgrew their bungalow, and they decided to “list it”.
Erin told OneRoof that she was a huge fan of the Australian version of the show and decided to submit the house for the show. She got a call back from the producers the same day. “I love Love It Or List It Australia, but at the time I did not know it was Alex [Walls] was going to be the designer for New Zealand, so that was really exciting.”
Walls’ makeover in the show took less than an hour, but the actual renovation work took months. Erin and her family moved in with her parents while Walls and her building crew reworked their house. They didn’t move back in until Christmas 2023.
The couple, who bought the bungalow in late 2018 for $875,000, hit the jackpot when Walls and the show’s producers beefed up their $55,000 renovation budget with $10,000 of engineered wood flooring and Bosch appliances, courtesy of the show’s sponsors.
Erin said Walls was amazing. “She asks you what colours you like and takes into consideration your style, they talk to you about what walls they are going to take down, but you do not know the actual design detailing.
“Most of it is a surprise. You just don’t know the colours and everything, so it is exciting when you see it.”
Erin, an artist and a “crazy DIY” addict, said that the couple quickly added their maximalist style to Walls’ efforts, bringing back their art and collections when they moved back in.
“But the open plan has been so good, especially being able to see the kids while you cook. The light coming in is so cool,” Erin said.
“The colours just make our art pop, the tongue and groove and the tiles in the kitchen and front porch are just so unique and beautiful. There is so much storage; we had nothing before.”
Erin said she was going to miss the appliances, although they will take the fridge with them to their new place.
Walls’ own home, which she built with her engineer husband, sold under the hammer in September for $3.35m – double its RV.
- Click here to find more properties for sale in Auckland
