Original subtitles

- 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.