Quiet cul-de-sac, easy living
A cheeky comment revealed just how much Stella liked the New Plymouth townhouse at 1/16 Sandel Rise when she first viewed it.
“This looks like my place ... why isn’t my furniture in here?” she joked to the real estate agent showing her the property.
Stella and her late husband Eric had looked at many options to downsize from their larger city home. He left this viewing to Stella, and had just one condition for her to keep in mind: “No internal gutters!”
Thankfully, this townhouse had conventional guttering, and when he came back with her the next day to see it himself, he liked it also. That was 14 years ago and the couple enjoyed many good times here after they moved in. “It’s a nice home to live in,” Stella says.
First impressions count for Stella including the street in which a home is built. When she drove into cul-de-sac Sandel Rise in Merrilands, she liked what she saw. “It was a nice, clean cul-de-sac.”
The street was well-presented then, and still is, with modern, tidy houses framed in attractive landscaping - all of which indicated that they had owners who made sure their homes and grounds were well-maintained and complemented the appeal of this location.
The townhouse at 1/16 was just what Stella and Eric wanted in a retirement downsize from their four-bedroom family home. It gave them a low-maintenance Summit Stone brick exterior, and a generous 140sqm floor plan that encompassed two double bedrooms, sunny open-plan living areas, and an internal-access garage. The grounds proved to be easy-care, with convenient raised garden beds front and back, and just a border of lawn down the side and along the back of the house.
“There were no steps here, and we loved eveything being so close.”
A Merrilands setting has always been popular with prospective buyers in the city, but Stella and Eric found this location had extra appeal.
There’s a walkway at the end of the culde-sac that takes you up to the top of the neighbourhood to a lookout where you can admire a view up the Waiwahakaiho River valley. A pathway from the end of adjacent Kennedy Place leads between properties there to Mangorei Rd and the convenience of the shops in the Merrilands Shopping Centre.
“There’s the supermarket, Stumble Inn, the dentist, hairdresser, bookshop, chemist, and fish and chips,” Stella says.
The couple settled in here very quickly and appreciated the community feel of Sandel Rise. “The neighbours are absolutely fantastic. They will do anything for you at any time.”
Stella notes the improvements to the townhouse during her time here that should increase its appeal to prospective buyers today.
Those improvements include quality double-glazed joinery throughout the house, a concertina awning that extends out over the front door to create a sheltered sitting area, and heat pumps in the living are and the master bedroom. “The double glazing is the best thing we could ever have done ... it’s made a huge difference,” Stella says.
The improvements complement the original features of the home that Stella and Eric appreciated so quickly - the light and airy kitchen and dining area that welcomes the early sun in the morning, the adjacent lounge that enjoys the afternoon sun and traps it in the front conservatory, and the two bedrooms behind the living areas that also benefit from the sun’s warmth in the afternoon. The master bedroom at the back corner of the townhouse has a great view south to the graceful slopes of Taranaki.
A generous laundry and storage area is the walk-through link to the single garage, which has a door opening out to the slice of back lawn where there’s the bonus of a large garden shed.
Harcourts consultant Greer Thomas is marketing the property for Stella, and says
Advertising feature there is a good demand in the city for properties like this. “Especially in this location, with the easy access to Merrilands shopping. This is ideal for downsizing, just as Stella and Eric did.”