All language subtitles for Country.House.Hunters.New.Zealand.S02E16.720p.TVNZ.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN

- I'm on a hunt to help find everyday
Kiwis their perfect country house.

Things are a little different
out here in the country.

You still have the hustle and bustle.

Your neighbours can
sometimes be a bit noisy.

Time moves a little slower.

Captions were made with
the support of NZ On Air.

But you don't get this...

in the city.

www.able.co.nz
Copyright Able 2024

Katie, Laura and I are on the hunt
for a home with some personality

here in Paeroa.

It's Katie's first venture
into the real estate market,

and she's hoping for something
with a lot of character.

Now, Katie admits to being
a not-so-great decision-maker,

so she's got her trusty friend Laura,
aka camp mother, along for the ride

to help with any tough choices.
So, let's go.

We have got a really
fun one for you today.

Katie and her sidekick Laura
both love a lame joke,

so as far as I'm concerned,
that makes for good company.

- At that price,

maybe you could taste the rainbow.
- Yep, maybe.

Lame.

- Now Katie wants
something with character,

so I've kept that in mind with
what I've lined up for her to see.

But there's also some must-haves
that she's going to be checking for.

- This gonna be enough
for your clothes?

- Oh, I might have to...

use the spare room
as a closet.

I don't know if that's
gonna be big enough.

- Can we call it the wardroom?
- The wardroom?
Yeah, the walk-in wardroom.

- So join us as we try and
find Katie her first home in the
sweet little town of Paeroa.

- Kia ora, I'm Katie.
I live in Paeroa.

- And I'm Laura ― I'm Katie's
friend, and I'm down from Auckland
to help her house hunt today.

Yeah, I'm living with my parents,
so...

I really need to find a house.

- So, I met Katie in November 2020.

She very bravely joined us
for our annual beach hop trip.

And she came to our home
that we were staying in

to stay in a bunk room with six of
us. So, yeah, very brave.

- Yeah, brave, jumping in the
deep end with six other girls
that I had never met.

- But she's never looked back.
- Yeah, I've never looked back.

I've been friends with Laura and the
girls ― the girl gang, we call it ―
ever since. Laura's ourcamp mother,

so it was only apt that
I invited her along to help
me look at the houses.

Yeah, and I'm not very good
at making decisions, so...

I will be calling on a lot
of people to try and help
me make the decision here.

What I'm looking for in a house
is kind of that vintage aesthetic

between 1910s and 1950s, maybe some
fruit trees and an easy lawn to mow,

and just a nice, cosy space
that I can make my own.

- Paeroa is about an hour's drive
from Hamilton and is known as the

antique capital of New Zealand,
which fits in nicely with Katie's
favoured vintage aesthetic.

This is a really cute town that's
still within reach of the city,

and with plenty of nearby
natural beauty.

So let's kick off our house hunt
with this first option,

which is a bit on the smaller
side with just two bedrooms,

but I think the period features
and proximity to town gives
us something to work with.

Hey, how are ya? Katie?
- Good, thanks. Hi, Matt.

How are you?
- Nice to meet you. Hey, Laura.
- Laura, nice to meet you.

- Kia ora korua, who's ready
for a bit of house hunting here
in Paeroa today?

- We are!

- So, Katie, you are the
one searching for a home.

And, Laura, you're gonna be kind
of like the voice of reason,

someone to help out.
- That's me.

- OK, so you brought
your best mate along―

She's not the best
at making decisions.

- OK, so, Katie,
obviously we're in Paeroa.

You have a long history with Paeroa.
but you moved away for a wee while.
- Yep.

- Tell me about that story.
- Um, yeah, so after university,
I went over to Australia,

to the far north ―
hot North Queensland and...

so just worked on a charter boat
for a little bit,
did some hospitality work

and then missed my family
and friends so got homesick,

decided to come back.
- Nice.

Also it was too hot, so.

- Yeah, it's way too hot over there.
- - Missed the amazing weather in New Zealand

- So family brought you home; I know
you've got a nephew in Paeroa.

- Yes I do. Yep, nephew. My brother
and his wife and kids live here,
my parents live here, so, yep.

- So are you into the kind of the
beach hop rock-and-roll aesthetic,
is that right? Is that what

I'm picking up from you two?
- Yep, yep ― '40s, '50s, vintage
cars, dress, obviously.

- Yeah.
- Um, yeah.

- Katie's been looking for a while,
but I think, you know, the one thing

that's always come through is
that it's always a vintage home.

- Yeah.
- OK.

So, Laura, you've been helping Katie
out. How is she as a house hunter?

How would you describe her,
do you reckon?

- She's a bit erratic.
- So long as it's vintage, it's OK.

Six bedrooms and needs a new roof,
she's all for it.

- So you're kind of trying to keep a
lid on the enthusiasm and exuberance.

- Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah?

A bit more of a practical vibe.
- I think my parents would also
appreciate that, because ifmy dad

doesn't have to help me do up
a house... Um, yeah.

- But this is gonna be
your first time though,
so that's exciting, right?

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

So in terms of what you're
looking for, we've talked about
that vintage aesthetic.

Any other, kind of, must-haves?
I know easy care'd be good for you,
right?

- Yeah, low maintenance.
I would quite like some
fruit trees and nice gardens,

but obviously low maintenance,
space for a veggie garden.

- There's a lot of
great places here in Paeroa.
- Yeah.

- Especially in that vintage
kind of aesthetic as well.
- Yeah.

- And we're looking around
a budget of up to $600,000.

- Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah. Great.

Well, let me tell you about the first
place that I have lined up for ya.
You can see it's a brickand tile.

- Yep.
- A really classic-looking
home from the 1940s.

It's two-bedrooms, one-bathroom,
really easy care section for you.

Close to town, and a little
double carport thrown in as well.

- I actually know the person
over that way and the person over
that way and the other neighbour,

so would be quite convenient
having somewhere

that's, you know, in a neighbourhood
that I feel safe in already.

- Welcome in. So, it's a nice,
compact, cosy two-bedroom home.

It feels really warm as you
walk in and there's some really
nice character touches here.

Maybe not the
space for entertaining.

- But, I mean, I don't invite
that many friends over at once.

I'm not a rager, a partier, so...

- When I walked through the
front door, it just kind of felt
like a home. I don't know.

It just was quite warm and inviting.

- Yeah. Yeah, homey.
- Yeah, like Grandma's house.
- Yeah!

- Well, should we head through
to the kitchen? That's where all
good parties happen anyway.

- Yeah, this is true.
- So let's get in there.

- It's cute.
- Yeah, right?

So this is the kitchen. Pretty much
as it would have been in the '40s.

The only minor changes they've made
to it are a fresh lick of paint

and new flooring. Other than that,
you've got the original cupboards,

original stainless
steel kitchen bench.

- I mean, it doesn't have a lot of
space, but it doesn't really matter.

- Yeah.
- Perfect size for one.

- Yeah, perfect size for one. Yeah.

Can't fit an espresso machine
unfortunately, but I think I'll just
have to manage with a plunger.

- Yeah. Laura, from a practical
sense, obviously, with that hat on,

what are you thinking
as you look around?
- Yeah, I like it.

I think a lot of people from a
practical sense would say, 'Well,
it's an old kitchen', but Ithink

in these old homes, they ruin them
by putting new kitchens in, and
so it's nice to find the original.

- Right. Well, I'm gonna let you
guys have a look around the rest of

the house without me
getting in your way.

So once you're done, I'll be outside.
We can chat through the price.

- Perfect. Right, let's go.
- All right. See you in a bit.

- Oh, wow.
- How cute.

- What about this? This gonna be
enough for your clothes?

Ooh, I might have to... use the
spare room as a closet.

I don't know if it's gonna be
big enough, but that's OK.

- Can we call it the wardroom?
- The wardroom? Yeah.
The walk-in wardroom, yeah.

- The dressing room.
- The dressing room. Um, yeah.

I mean, the main room―
the main room's quite spacious.

- So we had a good chance
to look around the house?

How are we feeling about it now?
- Oh, it's great. Yeah, love it.

- Excellent. I thought you'd like the
backyard as well because it's pretty
easy care. It's reallysimple ―

all you'd have to do is run
the lawnmower over it every
weekend or so ― pretty easy.

- Although I'm not looking
forward to the hedges.

- Ah, you can get someone in for
that. Laura will come around, right?
- Mm, yeah, sure

Redheads are made
for outdoor work, Matt.

- The outside space is great.

Lots of fruit trees, lots of space
to create veggie gardens.

- Look, if you are liking it,
I guess the next thing we should
talk about is what it's worth.

What are you thinking
the price might be?

- Um, kind of, maybe low-to-mid
500s. Like 520, 530?

- I think it could be a bit higher
then that. It's quite a big section.

- Oh. Yeah.
- Manageable,
but on the larger side.

Practical Laura's kind of
hitting that on the nose there.

- So it's within budget though ―
it would be more around the 550 mark.

- Oh, yeah. That's still affordable.
- Starting at around 550, I think.

- It's a little higher than
what I was expecting, the price,

but it's still within budget, so...

- Yeah. And I think the price
gives you a little bit more
to do whatever you need to do.

There's always something that needs
doing when you move into a home.

So, yeah.
- Yeah.

- That is just the first house, so
before we get too carried away, let's
head out to house number two, eh?

- Sweet, let's go.
- Cool. Come on out.

Coming up ―
we've got a real wild card.

It's not gonna be everyone's cup
of tea, but I know that Katie
can handle a bit of character

and quirkiness, so let's see if this
one could be the perfect fit.

I'm in Paeroa
with Katie and Laura.

Now, Katie is looking to enter the
property market, and she's brought

along her trusted friend to make sure
she doesn't do anything reckless.

We've seen one home already,
which I really think targeted Katie's
wish list for period features.

But will this next option
take the lead?

There's plenty of character, but
there are some interesting things

going on inside. Let's see what
Katie and Laura make of this one.

Katie, Laura ― house number two. This
one is a 1920s character cottage.

It's a small house,
I'll give you that.

Right now, it's a 300m2 section,
So small section and a 60m2 home.

So if a huge open plan house
is what you're after, we won't be
finding it here. Is that OK?

- Yeah, that's fine. As long as
there's room for my clothes, it's...

Yeah, not a problem.
- Yeah. It's a quirky little
house, this one.

I'm gonna call it the rainbow
house for obvious reasons,
once you get inside.

- It's interesting. It's colourful.
Yeah. I like the shape.

Yeah. So it's small, compact.

But that's not an issue. Yeah.

- I think it's going to be one of
those ones where you just have to
think of what you could do toit.

It's gonna be a potential rather than
the finished product at the moment.
- Yeah.

- We got imagination.
- And I mean― Yeah.

Bonus is it's like, 30 seconds
to work, so.

- 30 second walk to work?
- Yeah.

- There you go.
- I could see it.
- Location, location.

- Shall we head inside and
take a look around?
- OK, cool. Let's have a look.

- OK.
- Wow.

Yeah, wow.

So I think we should probably
address the elephant in the room,

which is a pink elephant
in this case.

So there's a lot going on in
this house, and you're gonna
see that as you walk through.

But if that's not your style, look
past that because you could make
this place your own really easily.

You got some nice character touches ―
the ceiling, fireplace with that
vintage fire guard thereas well.

Love those windows. How are you
feeling as you walk into this place?
- Taste the rainbow, really.

It's nothing that, like, a little
lick of paint wouldn't fix.

- Exactly.
- It's quite cute. It's very quaint.

Again, it's quite small, but I don't
need a lot of space; it's just me.

So, yeah.

I quite liked, yeah, the border
print on― around the wallpaper.

Yeah, and the little
lights in the lounge.

Yeah, living room-lounge.
- The colourful ones?
- Yeah, the pink―

Pink speckly lights, yeah.
Kind of got a little bit of an
art deco feel to them.

- The word 'vintage' is something
that we've thrown around a lot.

So that's clearly something
that you're looking for.

You've probably seen a lot
of houses of an age like this.
- Mm-hm.

- You're not afraid of
a fixer-upper, are you?

- As long as it's not too much work,
yeah. Yeah, I don't mind.

I can always get friends and family
in to help, have a working bee.
- Exactly.

And Laura's saying that's a
hard no from her, apparently.

Maybe other friends.

These nails don't do hard work.

- Yeah, I'm sure a working bee
couldn't be too hard to put together.
- Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah. You might need it on
this place, but I think, honestly,

once you, you see past what's
currently the interior design,

I think you could really
make this place your own.
- Yeah.

- I'll let you guys take a look
around the rest of the house.

Keep an open mind, and just think
about what youcoulddo to it.
- Yep.

- And look out for some interesting
features, like the floor in
the kitchen and the bathroom.

Just some other little things for you
to look at as you walk around.

I'll see you soon. OK?
- All right. Can't wait to see it.

- Interesting.
- Love the floors.

It's kind of not really...

Thought the house is '20s.
It's not really '20s lino,

It's kind of like
'80s, '70s kind of lino.

- I feel like the last owner worked
in the hardware store, and they had

all the leftover paint and
whatever lino didn't sell.

- I do actually really like
the original coal fireplace.

With a lick of white paint or black
paint, that would look really cool.

And the bath was very interesting
as well, with the custom cut-out.

I think I would definitely throw a
lick of paint on probably all of the
rooms.

- And maybe that floor as well.
- And rip up the floor
in the kitchen.

Yeah, and put in a new bath.
Definitely love a bath,

So can't have one that's got a big
hole in the side of it.

Yeah, there's a lot of positives
and there are a few negatives, but

those are things
that we can work with.

- So what do you think
this one's worth?

- Um, maybe low fours.
400 to 420, 430 maybe?

- Yep. And, you know, with work
being so close, you could be saving

- all that money on petrol too.
- Yeah, true.

- You know?
- Yep.

- At that price, maybe you
could taste the rainbow.

Yep, maybe.

Lame.

- Easy care backyard.

- Very.
- Just a bit of lawn to mow,
and that's pretty much it.

You could do anything out here,
though, couldn't you?

Chuck a couple of fruit trees in,
a bit of a veggie garden.

It's really a blank canvas for you.

- I can definitely see some raised
gardens out here, and there's
a garden shed, which is great.

- There you go.

Where do you think this one sits?

In terms of your budget,
you've got 600 to play with.

- I'm thinking it's probably, like,
between 400 and 430 maybe. Yeah.
- Yeah, it's quite a small section.

Needs a bit of maintenance.
- Yeah.

So you put that extra bit
of budget into redoing, painting.
- Yeah.

Yeah, you're on the right track ―
it would be low fours.
- Yeah.

I mean, the price is great for what
it is. Like, it's affordable

and we'll put quite a bit of that
money into doing the renovations,

that leftover money.
- And for being this close
to town I think, as well,

that's a good price for it.

Fix that clawfoot bath.

- Yeah, it needs a new bath, eh?
- Yeah, I'd say it probably
needs a full bath.

- Why don't we swing past the
bath shop on the way to house number
three and see what we canfind?

- OK.
- All right, let's go do that.

Don't go anywhere because up next,
I'm off to an animal farm for some
horsing around and some quackery.

While in Paeroa,
I wanted to find out what it's like

to be a local in this
sleepy little town.

I caught up with Emma and Joel,

plus little Eddie, to learn
about why they ended up moving
back after some time away.

So Joel, Emma, tell me a little bit
about the reasons why you moved

from Invercargill to Paeroa recently.

- It's got these big
wide open spaces, farms all
around us, nature walks.

We're pretty close to the beach.
It's just got a lot going for it.

- And obviously with little Eddie
running around now, you've got some

amazing places to visit, like
Bullswool Heritage Farm right here.

He must love a place
like this, right?

- Yeah, he's pretty into it.
Yeah, there's heaps of things
for kids to do here.

- And not just kids, eh? I think
I've actually been quite interested
in some of the history

that you can see here.
- Yeah, very interesting.

So they've got quite a few little
museums dotted around the site

talking about that kauri history,
logging, but also machinery,

farming goods. Like, good having
a good nosey around. Something
for me to have a look at as well.

- Was Eddie's future something
you were thinking about
when you made the move here?

- Yeah, definitely.
There's so much nature around,

so I really wanted that to
be a big part of his life.

And, yeah, nice quiet streets so we
can ride a bike to a friend's place

in the future and not
have to worry too much.

Super nice neighbours
who made us feel welcome.

Like, the day we moved in, we met,
like, five people from the street.

- You know, if people were looking
at moving somewhere like Paeroa, what
do you think they get out of it?

What do you say to people
who are thinking of moving to
a town like Paeroa?

- It's a really nice community.

It's in the middle of lots of
different things, lots of really
cool places close by.

Family-friendly. Yeah.

- Why haven't they moved already?
- Affordable. Yeah.

- OK, so here's where
things get interesting.

Before we made it to the final
property, Katie confessed that

she'd already started discussions
with the vendor for one of the
first two houses.

So I guess the only question now is,
did she go for house number one

or house number two?

Katie, Laura ― nice to be back in
Paeroa and a reason to celebrate.

Apparently you've actually made an
offer and the offer's been accepted.

- Correct.
So congratulations.
- Thank you.

- Let's just talk through
those houses. We really liked
that first one, didn't we?

- Yeah. Like, the aesthetic was
great. Lots of original features.

- Great backyard.
- Could be a nice first home.

- Yeah.
- Yeah. What did you like
about that one, Laura?

- Um...

I could see Katie there, and maybe
that was the way that the current
homeowner already had itstyled,

but I think it's the right size
for her.

- In the second house we looked at,
we dubbed it the rainbow house.
- Yep.

- A lot of colour.
- Very bright.

- Yeah.

- Loved, again, the original
kind of feel to it.

Loved the first look. It was a
really cute cottage-style house.

Small lawns, low maintenance.
- Easy care.

- Yep. Had a garden shed,
room for raised gardens.
- Yeah.

- Like, love the wallpaper.
- And I know you liked
the price tag, Laura.

- I did like the price tag.
And the clawfoot bath,
I think also was rather a feature.

Yeah, the step-in―

Easy step-in clawfoot bath.
- Easy access clawfoot bath, yeah.

- So you've obviously
made a big decision.

I know that Laura was a confidant and
helped you out making the decision.

- Yep, made the big step.
- What way did you go, though?

Which one have you purchased?

- I went for number one.
- And you got it. This is it.

You're about to move in.
This is fantastic.

- Yep, first homeowner. Yeah.
- I think this causes
for celebration.

We've got cups of tea, we probably
should get some bubbles after this.
- Yeah, I think so.

- All right. Is it back
to your place for a party?
- Yep, yep.

- Let's go.
- No furniture, but...

- Well, talk about striking
while the iron's hot.

Katie was obviously really eager to
get the keys for house number one,

and I'm so glad to tell you
that she managed to snag it.

I know she'll settle in really
nicely, and with a bit of luck,

she might even talk Laura
into helping trim those hedges.

Captions by Kitty Wasasala.
Edited by Stacey Spary.