Retiree hoping to sell to young family

An Auckland retiree is selling his beloved home — complete with appliances, tins of paint and crockery — and aims to help a first home buyer get into the market.

Barry Milne raised his family in the Birkdale home and would like to see someone else do the same.

“You see a lot of good places where the developers get them first,” he said.

“I thought instead, there might be a young family that I could help get started.”

The property features a single garage, fireplace and garden shed.

Milne’s late wife was a keen gar- dener and the backyard has plenty of flowering bushes, fruit trees and a veggie patch.

“We have always called it a ‘livedin house’. It’s comfortable and welcoming,” he said.

“I hung on to the place but I can’t look after it now. I have finally bitten the bullet and said ‘ righto, let’s go’.”

Milne has just celebrated his 84th birthday and said that he didn’t need to make a large profit as he was moving into a retirement home.

“It needs a bit of work. I would like to see a first-home buyer come in and get a nice property to live in,” he said.

Ray White agent Tatjana Day said the three-bedroom, one-bathroom 675sq m property with pool was bought by Milne 47 years ago.

“The vendor is genuinely wanting to help someone into the market before he goes into a retirement village,” Day said.

While Day said they couldn’t legally vet the buyers, potential buyers were writing personal letters about their situations and it would be up to Milne to make the final decision.

“It’s what we’re encouraging, but it’s not something we can guarantee,” Day said.

All offers are invited to be presented, before a cut-off at 5pm on March 6, 2017, unless sold prior.