With 20-plus renos under their belts, Mark and Kathy Fray know a fair bit about turning problem properties into investment gold. The North Auckland-based couple have investments up and down the country, but their most recent renovation has proved to be their favourite so far.

Located along the shoreline of the beautiful Hokianga Harbour, the 1970s, three-bedroom home had no issues with location. But inside was a different story.

A vestige of a time taste forgot, it had its original kitchen and bathroom, “vomitus” carpet (their daughter’s words), and a massive empty space downstairs, occupied by multitudinous spiders.

It had been on and off the market for five years when the Frays viewed it; starting in the $500,000s, the buy price had been heading southwards ever since.

Holiday rentals hadn’t been part of the Fray’s portfolio, but when Mark Fray suggested the idea to Kathy, she was excited. They spent several months looking around for a suitable property, deciding to focus on the Hokianga district as its prices were substantially lower than the east coast of the upper North Island.

They spotted the place early in 2019, and immediately saw potential beneath the spiders’ webs and general disrepair.

“They had replaced the joinery, which was great,” says Kathy. “And the tenant had tried their hardest to make a nice home out of it. We also realised there was a lot of potential downstairs, as it was the same size as the upstairs (110m2) and was just completely empty.”

After looking around for a few weeks, they returned to the place and decided to buy it. An offer of $370,000 was accepted, below the market valuation of $420,000, which pleased the bank.

“We knew we’d made $50,000 on it already,” says Kathy. Mark is a senior carpenter by trade, and has worked on all their renos, and was the main builder for this one as well. (“He did everything apart from GIBstopping and painting, which he doesn’t like,” says Kathy.)

Interior Makeover

The house was pretty sound, apart from a badly built balcony that needed to be replaced. But it needed a complete interior makeover, with carpet, walls, kitchen and bathroom all removed.

The upstairs kitchen had its original wooden cupboards and Formica bench.

This was replaced with a lovely U-shapedkitchen, with island bench, all from Trade Depot. It features a granite bench; it’s sleekly stylish and perfect for holiday entertaining.

The upstairs bathroom was also in need of a makeover, and some structural work on the wooden floors where the existing shower had been leaking. They purchased “the largest shower we could get” from Trade Depot as well as a new vanity unit, with the basin itself purchased separately.

Both the flooring and walls needed redoing, and this proved to be an enjoyable task. The putrid carpet was replaced with wood-effect click flooring upstairs and down. But the most satisfaction was derived from the bold paint choices that

Kathy made around both the interior and exterior of the home.

“With our trades, it’s all about neutral on-trend decor with a few special features. And with holds it’s all about robust decor decisions. But I had so much fun sorting this décor, I wanted it beachy seaside with some Kiwiana (without making it OTT tacky).”

She laughs when she remembers a phone call she got from Mark after he opened a tin of the paint she had chosen for the upstairs kitchen space.

“He said, ‘I just want to make sure this is the right colour . . . It’s baby blue.’ I answered, ‘Yep, that’s right, that’s the colour I chose’.”

She also made a bold decision for the exterior. Formerly an unattractive light beige, Kathy once again went to blue – this time navy teal.

“I wanted it to be really bold. I also used white shutters to break up the look of the place, so it didn’t look too monolithic.”

The downstairs space was completed renovated (formerly it just had concrete block floors and a bathroom that looked “straight out of a primary school from the 1970s,” says Kathy).

This involved popping in new walls, flooring and a kitchenette. There are now three bedrooms on each floor, and each floor can be rented out separately or as an entire house - sleeping 21 people.

Fortunately, there were no major unexpected dramas encountered during the build. As Mark is a senior carpenter, he is able to pick up any potential issues early and factor them into the equation.

“He always does a thorough prepurchase building inspection, so we knew the deck needed replacing, and we knew the upstairs shower had been leaking, so
bathroom flooring would need replacing.”

Head Versus Heart

The entire house can be rented out for $1,200 plus in the peak season, and Kathy has done the figures and ascertained that by renting out the place during school holidays and long weekends, they will be getting in the realm of $80,000 a year for it.

The house was valued post-build and came in at an impressive $695,000 (the reno itself cost around $150,000). But this is academic, as the couple plan to move up there for their retirement, possibly adding a small flat on to the existing property.

“We want to retire here,” says Kathy Fray. “We purchased as part of an unemotional investment strategy, but have fallen in love with the place.”

There’s a lot to love: it’s just around the corner from the Opononi pub, and beside the harbour where Opo the dolphin frolicked in the 1950s - it’s a quintessential Kiwi beach paradise.