ROSEMARY ABBOTT | Culture
CALCIUM RICH
Auckland real estate agent Dean Casey, 36, has confirmed that despite visible mould and sagging floors, a crumbling 1970s Auckland home he’s currently selling still has what really matters in today’s market: good bones.
Casey, who is asking $1.3 million for the three-bedroom Mt Roskill property, assured potential buyers that the house’s structural integrity should be judged less by what can be seen, and more by what can be imagined.
“Look, you’ve got to see past the cosmetic stuff,” Casey said, gesturing toward a window that no longer shuts and a deck that dips slightly toward the neighbour’s fence. “Yes, the roof leaks. Yes, the wiring predates colour television. But underneath all that? Good bones.”
According to the listing, those bones include original timber framing, a concrete foundation that is “still mostly present,” and an unmistakable sense of character that Casey believes modern homes simply can’t replicate.
“They just don’t build them like this anymore,” he added, carefully stepping over a loose floorboard. “Mainly because the council would never allow it.”
The home, built in 1974 features what Casey describes as a “generous open-plan layout,” largely due to the removal of several internal walls by previous owners in a desperate attempt to become more modern.
Buyers at this weekend’s open home were encouraged to ignore the faint smell of damp and instead focus on the property’s “potential.”
“Once you knock down the kitchen, the bathroom, the laundry, probably the roof, and redo the piles, you’ve got something really special here,” Casey said. “The key thing is the bones of the house are solid and calcium rich.”
Asked whether the phrase good bones had become something of a reflex among agents, Casey rejected the suggestion.
“At the end of the day,” he said, locking the door behind another open home, “you’re not buying a house. You’re buying bones. And for $1.3 million, these are very good ones.”
More to come.
