‘Humiliated’ in the ‘nasty house’
Home is what you make it, Maryanne Macdonald says. She loves the smell of the magenta-coloured rose clinging to the wooden railing near the front door, and points to the blackberry bush she planted earlier this year.
But they are features a real estate agent didn’t see when she labelled Macdonald’s rented Waikato home ‘‘cheap and nasty’’ in a sale ad – comments Macdonald describes as mean and degrading.
The property sold for $365,000 last week.
Kevin Deane Real Estate agent Briony Ward’s for sale listing labelled the Eureka property under the heading ‘‘cheap cheap cheap and nasty’’, and described it as ‘‘the worst house on one of the best streets’’.
But one person’s eyesore or demolition job is another person’s home.
Macdonald has lived in the property on Hunter Rd for
13 years, and said the house had changed in that time.
She said she did a lot of work on the section when she first moved in, clearing rubbish from the yard and cleaning the inside of the house, as well as developing the garden.
But life circumstances, stress and health issues got in the way and when she found out the landlord intended to sell the property four years ago, she did not carry on the work.
She admitted the house had seen better days.
‘‘Of course all the work that you did, with the gardens and making it look really nice, you just sort of gave it up because you had invested in it quite a lot.’’
Macdonald said she had been happy to carry out most of this work without bothering the landlord, mainly contacting him for issues with the water pump and sewerage system.
But when the place went on the market, the real estate agent’s description of it as ‘‘cheap and nasty’’ made her unhappy.
Recently the ad’s title changed when the auction was brought forward. But the opening line maintained ‘‘you won’t find anything much cheaper than this or any worse’’.
It’s not an approach Macdonald likes.
‘‘It’s wrong how she’s gone about this, it’s very wrong,’’ Macdonald said.
‘‘The ad has brought so much degrading attention to us.
‘‘We’ve had people turn up laughing at us. I’ve felt humiliated.’’
Macdonald said she only found out two nights before the house went up for auction this month.
She had originally been given 42 days notice by the landlord in February, she said, but after speaking to the Tenancy Tribunal, realised she had 90 days notice and informed the landlord and agent of that.
She thought Ward had used the wording in the ad as a way to get a quick sell.
When contacted, Ward said she did not want to comment any further on the listing.
Macdonald said although not perfect, the house had been a stable home for her and her son for 13 years.
‘‘It’s a typical old farmhouse. If someone were to do it up it would look really, really cool.’’
‘‘It’s the nasty mouth rather than the nasty house,’’ Macdonald said.
Maryanne Macdonald ‘‘The ad has brought so much degrading attention to us’’