Everyone needs good neighbours
Agood home is more than the bricks and mortar, it’s about neighbourhood and neighbours, too. So when Rohan and Fiona returned to Auckland four years ago after a stint in Christchurch, they bought the house over the road from their old place.
“When we lived at number 22 we’d seen the house when it was being built - it was just a bit of front lawn. It was done by GJ Gardner so we knew it was a good build,” says Rohan, adding that it had brick bottom and plaster upper floor.
23A Fancourt Street had the best of both worlds for the family - a gate to the park in one direction, but St Johns Road with transport and shops for their two teenagers just a minute away. The kids can take the bus to the city, St Lukes, Mission Bay or Sylvia Park, and the train station, Meadowbank Primary and Selwyn College are within walking distance.
After years of renovating old houses, Fiona and Rohan were delighted to have a well insulated home with good heating that needed no maintenance. The yard is big enough for a bit of lawn for labradoodle Lulu as well patios for dining and a spa pool (a must-have addition after they’d left a house with a pool).
The floor plan is cleverly arranged with two living areas wrapped around the kitchen and dining hub - great for teens and adults to have their own entertaining spaces. “It’s really good living space for teens. They have friends in one area, we have the other. We’ve been in the street for 15 years, so we know lots of people.”
Rohan says that everything opens out to the garden in the summer, but in winter the house is good to “hunker down in”. The carpeted garage often turns into the teen rumpus room, while the ground floor bedroom with its own entrance is used as an office.
Rohan says they are moving to fulfil a promise to move closer to the beach for the kids. Sale: Auction September 30
Contact: Steve Hood, Barfoot & Thompson, 021 911 606