- A multi-award-winning home in Horsham Downs is expected to set a new price record for the area.
- The 545sqm house features five bedrooms, a heated pool and extensive landscaping.
- The owners are selling to reinvest, citing a change in family priorities and financial goals.
A multi-award-winning home that started life as a simple sketch on a blank sheet of paper is tipped to set a new house price record.
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Lugtons listing agent Richard Hartles told OneRoof that 23 Sullivan Road, in Horsham Downs, just north of Hamilton, was “absolutely the nicest home” he’d seen in the Waikato.
“If you tried to rebuild Sullivan right now, there’s not a chance you could buy the land and do the pool and the solar and irrigation – there's not a chance you could do it for under $5 million – not even close,” he said.
He expects the house will beat the sale price record in Horsham Downs of $4.21 million, set four years ago by a large five-bedroom home on a 5239sqm section.
The large open-plan kitchen, dining and living area with high ceilings and plenty of glass is the family’s favourite part of the home. Photo / Supplied
The luxurious kitchen includes a 4.3m polished granite island bench. Photo / Supplied
Hartles said the house at 23 Sullivan Road was 545sqm and sat on nearly 1.6ha, standout qualities in the current market. The owners had paid so much attention to detail, he said, from the smart Control4 system, to the clever layout and the heated pool.
“It’s one of the first homes where I’m like this has everything. As a father of three boys, it is one of the first homes I’ve been to where I was like, ‘Yes, this is it’, and I go to loads of homes, and they just don’t have everything,” he said. “It’s like a compound.”
Hartles said the property was already attracting a range of interest including people looking to downsize from farms to business owners and even sports stars.
The vendors, who asked not be named, paid $850,000 for the section in 2018 according to OneRoof records. They then commissioned Renee Woods to design the house, which won awards at the 2021 Registered Master Builders House of the Year contest.
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They told OneRoof that they had waited years for the right piece of farmland to come up for sale. “We had our eye on it for a long time and finally heard from the real estate agent that it was finally coming up for auction, so there was basically no way we were going to miss out on it,” one of the owners said.
They wanted to give their kids a place where they could live the “barefoot Kiwi dream” but still be close to the city.
The owner told OneRoof that she drew a simple outline of the family’s forever home and gave it to Woods to bring to life. “I sort of drew up a sketch on a piece of refill, and said this is what we want, and they sort of tarted it up a bit.”
The result was a five-bedroom, three-bathroom home with four living areas, four-car garaging and a gymnasium. The large windows and the high stud ceilings give the home a light, airy feel, and there’s indoor-outdoor access from the master and kids’ bedrooms.
The expansive property includes a turfed tennis court and inground heated swimming pool. Photo / Supplied
A cycle path on the Te Awa River Ride sits between the home and the Waikato River. Photo / Supplied
The oversized kitchen with a 4.3m polished granite island bench and living area with large windows and high ceilings became “The Great Room” because of how big and tall it was. It also fast became the hub of the home and their favourite place to chill, she said.
They also added some unique touches, including a study with glass walls next to the living and kitchen area for their children to do homework while they were nearby.
“Life is busy. I didn’t want them going into their rooms to do homework when I’ve been away from them all day anyway. We quite like them being close to us, doing their homework while I’m cooking dinner.”
Tucked away on the other side of the living room is an impressive see-through wine cellar, which they installed simply because she enjoyed wine.
A huge amount of landscaping was carried out to turn the former paddocks into a large, mowable backyard with plenty of room for the kids to kick a football or run around.
“We are a sporty family, so there was always going to be a tennis court and a swimming pool. And architecturally, you want everything to line up in nice lines.”
She added: “I feel like they are all really simple ideas. Nothing is wow. But when you put it together, it is pretty nice. It does feel like a resort. It is definitely a pinch me; this is really beautiful. It has just got a really lovely feng shui about it.”
The vendor said they were selling up after a change in the family’s priorities. “We had a financial epiphany and were like, ‘We are too young to have set up like this so quickly’. We would like to reinvest. We are looking at another business opportunity, even a farm, and we just thought it is a really big asset sitting there not making anything.”
She added: “The kids just want to go surfing every weekend at the beach. They play a lot of sport, so we are just not here really. We want to retire in 10 years, so we need to be a bit more financially savvy.”
- 23 Sullivan Road, in Horsham Downs, Waikato, is for sale by negotiation
