Bay pad cheapie no more at $3.6m
A Mt Maunganui beachfront holiday home owned by the same family for the past 80 years is for sale.
The two-bedroom Marine Parade home was bought by a Rotorua surgeon and his wife in 1940 for “fairly cheap” and now has a capital value of $3.68 million.
The 579sq m property will be auctioned on February 23.
Stanley and Elsie Wallis bought the land 80 years ago after many years of holidaying in Mt Maunganui.
It was later inherited by their daughter Ynys Fraser who had a “deep love” for the house. She died at age 103 last March, spending her final years enjoying swims at the beach across the road.
Her four children decided now was the right time to sell the Bay of Plenty house.
Ynys’ son Iain Fraser, 73, said it had been a “really hard decision” but accommodating everyone at the house was proving more difficult as the family grew.
He said Ynys had 14 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren who had
enjoyed many holidays at the house.
“It has just been a marvellous family place. You walk into it and everybody just relaxes.”
Iain said Ynys’ grandchildren were “very sad” about the sale, with many just starting to make memories there with their own children.
“It is a meeting place where they all go and share good times together. That side of it has been difficult for us.”
Ynys understood the house would be sold eventually and made a provision in her will for a “significant lump” of money from the house sale to be given to various Rotorua charities.
Stanley and wife Elsie had been renting baches there since the 1920s and soon “fell in love” with the area.
Stanley built the house as a place to holiday, with him and Elsie planning to live there during retirement.
Mt Maunganui realtor Sandra Power said it was an “iconic“home.
It was “extremely rare” for sites that had not been subdivided to come available on the Marine Parade block that was “so close” to downtown Mount, Pilot Bay and Mauao, she said.
She anticipated the buyer would either hold it as a land bank and use the house for holidays, build the “ultimate dream home” or a developer would create apartments.
A “blockbuster video” was created over four days as part of the listing with a helicopter hired to capture footage from the air, she said.
“Phenomenal listings require phenomenal marketing.”