Subdividing a Full Site

Today we went over to Point England to check out a few open homes. The properties were all advertised around $400,000, which indicated they were big enough sites to chop up.  At the first one we got to, the agent promptly told us the section was Zoned 5 and therefore was not allowed to be subdivided. She claimed the whole street and the next street over, where the second property on our list was showing, were all Zoned 5.

She's wrong according to the Auckland City website. Surely she doesn't think the fibrelight clad 3 bedroom house on 677 square metres is worth the $439,000 price tag? No wonder, she was so quick to scratch out that figure and write $410,000 and say conspiratorially, "and that's highly negotiable."  

We didn't get in to see the others - it's so quiet, the Agents are packed up and gone before the open home time is over, or they didn't bother doing the open home at all. At one place, we pulled up with 10 minutes to spare, but the agent had already locked up and was collecting her signs from the ends of the street. She saw us sitting there, but drove on! How would the vendors feel if they knew the agents were making a token appearance, and or indicating that the house can be bought way under the asking price? The money the agent is so ready to give away is of course, their commission, that they no doubt said they'd get on top of the vendors desired price.

This property we missed out on seeing, had already been subdivided but was being sold with the 2 titles at $479,000. No work has been done on fencing off the back section. So, the 3 other properties that can be chopped up selling at $399,999, after the $20,000 (rough guess) needed to crosslease them, can look forward to asking in the high $400s. Doubt these prices will be realised in this market, however.

It was interesting to see the wide disparity in prices being asked for houses in Point England (which is barely distinguishable from Glen Innes in the streets back from the waterfront) and Otahuhu. We can't help feeling that the Point England places are over-priced, despite the many and varied new so-called 'traffic calming' interventions (huge roundabouts at intersections and paved and planted growths that grow out from the footpaths to put people off even driving down the street and to slow the traffic that has to drive there). These are apparently the result of an Auckland City Council study to reduce the number of road crashes in the area. As visitors to the area, it made it feel more shut off, enclosed, condusive to children playing softball in the middle of the street and well - ghettoish. Another, downfall is that it stops big trucks, with say a relocatable house on the back, from being able to come down the street - so there goes that idea.