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.

But you don't get this...

in the city.

www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2024

Today we're in Napier with newlyweds Eddie and Liz.

After giving long-distance a go, they've decided it's time to find a house to call their own.

How do you guys go making decisions together?

Have you had a lot of, kind of, experience of, you know?

She suggests, and I say yes or no.

I've lined up three stunning properties for our couple to tour,

and hopefully one of them they'll be calling home.

But which one?

Today I'm with Liz and Eddie, who have just tied the knot,

and they're searching for their first home together.

Now, their wish list couldn't be simpler.

They just want a place to call their own.

After a long-distance relationship,

it's gonna be their first time living together under the same roof.

So what better place to search on this house hunting adventure

than the beautiful seaside city of Napier?

Let's find them a house.

- We meet about five, five and a half years ago, nearly six.

We got introduced to each other. The first night when we first met,

we both actually thought, nah, this is not gonna happen.

But after that night, we exchanged numbers,

and we sort of started chatting and realised we sort of had a bit more in common,

and we just sort of pursued it from there.

Our love has blossomed more, and we've decided to come to the Hawke's Bay.

- We're happy to do a little bit of work.

- Yeah. Liz would like a pool.

- I'd love a pool. Pool would be a― - It's not― It's not a must.

- Yeah, but pool would be awesome.

- Maybe if we had a bit of land that we could build a pool in.

That's cool. - Yeah.

- Budget, say 1.1...

to about 1.4. - Yeah.

- Located in the North Island of New Zealand,

this beautifully restored architectural town of Napier

is famous as one of the most complete collections of Art Deco buildings in the world.

Let's kick things off with our first house,

and it really is all about location, location, location.

Kia ora, guys. Eddie, how are you? - Good. How are you? - Hi!

- And Liz. Nice to meet you. - Hi. Nice to meet you, too.

- Hey, first of all, congratulations to the newlyweds!

Only a few months married. - Yes! - Thank you.

- And this leads us to what we're doing today, which is searching for your dream home here in Hawke's Bay.

Obviously, you know, this is your first home together.

It's gotta be just right. - Mm-hm.

- How do you guys go making decisions together?

Have you had a lot of, kind of, experience of, you know?

She suggests, and I say yes or no.

- Like, I've lived in other places, but Eddie's only ever lived in Auckland.

- Right, OK. Yeah. - So this is, like, major for him to come down here,

so, yeah, I do want him to have something that he loves.

- Make him comfortable. Make sure he's happy, yeah. - Yeah, yeah, totally.

He's made the journey, so, yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah.

- We'll get something nice for him.

- OK. Well, that sounds pretty good for you. - Exactly.

- Starting with this place right here. - Awesome.

- So, this is built in the '90s. It's a solid stucco home.

This is three bedrooms, but it does feel spacious, this one as well... - OK.

- ...once you get inside and have a look around.

How does that appeal to you so far?

- Not too bad. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Not too bad, yeah. - Yes, yeah. Yeah, it's good.

My dad's, like, a retired plumber... - OK.

- ...so he would absolutely keel over at the fact that it's a flat roof.

- Oh, the flat roof. - Yeah. So, um...

but, you know, I'll be open-minded and, yeah, go in and have a look,

but generally, the flat roof is...

- Shall we take a look around? - Yep. Perfect.

- Let's get inside. Come on in. - Thank you.

- OK, so, yeah, interesting little setup.

Large entranceway as you walk in.

Tiles all the way through into this sort of sitting area, dining and the kitchen.

You probably notice that nice bench seat over there.

That does have a view to the ocean ― just. You can see the ocean, which is nice.

- OK. - The kitchen, decent size without being huge,

but I think you'll be able to work in there, wouldn't you, Eddie?

- Ed? Oh, yeah, great! - Oh, awesome. Is Ed much of a chef?

- Is he the one, or...? - He's good on the barbecue.

But, I mean, I definitely like the kitchen being nice and open. - Yep.

- Is there a couple of chairs on the other side? So, yep. - Yep, that's right. Yep.

- You can sit there, have a glass of wine while Eddie's cooking dinner,

so, yeah, no, it seems cool, seems nice and sociable. - Yeah, OK.

So that's the kitchen, dining and sitting area.

Shall we head through to the lounge and have a look through there? - Yeah, sure.

- OK, so, this is the main living room. - Yeah.

- Fantastic flow here. Straight out on to that patio, sun-drenched patio at the moment.

I can see you spending all your time and summer just out there barbecuing.

There's clearly been some recent touch-ups. That paint job looks nice and new.

- New carpet's been put in fairly recently. - New carpet?

- Yeah! What do you think of the carpet? - Yeah, it's beautiful It's...

The carpet... I'd get very dizzy quite quickly.

We'll have to change it because it's quite... - Yep.

- What's the word? Hypnotic? - Yes.

Maybe after a couple of glasses of wine, I feel like you might be swaying a little bit.

- It is a busy pattern, and it's almost a Magic Eye puzzle, isn't it? - Yes.

- I feel like I'm gonna see a pirate ship coming out of it soon or something,

but I'm not going to look at that any more.

Right. I'm gonna leave you two alone for a little while, so have a good look around the place.

Check out the main bedroom. It's got an ensuite, which is always nice. - Perfect.

- I'll be outside. See you soon. - Cool. - Great. Thanks heaps.

- OK, so... main bedroom. - Could be a bit bigger, but it's all right.

- Yep. The window's nice. The greenery out there is, like, really beautiful.

I wonder how far that goes back.

- I like the door on the... for the bathroom. That's quite cool. - Yep.

Nice big cupboards, which is good. - Cupboards for you, yep.

- And I like the colour of the tiles...

- Yes. - ...in the ensuite is really nice.

- It's nice and modern. That's good. - Yeah.

- So, on a day like today, I mean, this backyard really comes into its own, right?

I mean, you can imagine summers out here on the patio.

Gorgeous out here, isn't it? - It is. It's nice. - It's really beautiful.

- So, a lot to like about this place. - Yes.

- We do need to talk about what it would be worth at the moment.

So, you know the market pretty well. What do you think it's worth? - Yes.

I was thinking...

maybe

1.15.

- OK. - I'm going about the 1.2.

- Yeah. Cool. Well, a little bit less than that probably at the moment.

Maybe around the 1 to 1.1,

so you're in the right ballpark. - OK. OK.

- So definitely within budget. - Oh, that's really good. Yep, that's really good.

The price was... really nice, yeah. - Price is actually not too bad, actually.

I quite liked it, and it was― We can actually have a little bit of money

to do the things we want to do. - Yeah.

- Don't go anywhere because after the break we tour our second property

that is simply breathtaking.

- Welcome back to our house hunt with newlyweds Eddie and Liz here in Napier.

We didn't get off to the best start with house number one.

How does that appeal to you so far?

- Not too bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, not too bad. - Yes. Yeah.

- But I've got a feeling this next one will be better suited to our couple.

All righty, you two, I'm keen to show you this one. Our second option of the day.

It's quite different from the first house that I brought you to.

This is a really modern home, so built in around 2010.

It's another three-bedroom house.

Energy efficient. You've got solar panels on the roof, double glazing being a modern home.

How does it look to you? - Yeah, I think it's really nice. - Yeah, looks nice.

- Love the colour. Love the double doors.

- Should we get inside and take a look around?

- Yeah. Sounds good. - Yeah. Cool. - Cool. Come on in.

Here it is. - Wow.

- Oh my goodness, this is beautiful! - I thought you might say that, yeah. - This is awesome.

- Was this what you were expecting when you're standing outside? - Oh, no!

- Absolutely breathtaking.

I love this. - This is cool. - Yeah.

Again, like, with indoor-outdoor flow being a consideration for something that you guys were after,

this is the ultimate example of that. - Yeah.

- A U-shaped house. Really, the whole focal point of this home

is this incredible courtyard right in the middle. - Yes.

- The wing down this way, all bedrooms,

and then you've got the living area over this side of the house

and a garage that I think you are gonna love as well,

so looking forward to showing you around there.

So, why don't we take a look through into the kitchen and living area?

- Great. - Cool. Yep. - Yep.

All right. So, yeah, this side of the house, it's all the communal living area, so large livingspace.

You've got your dining, kitchen ― nice-sized kitchen.

You've also got a walk-in pantry there as well, which is always handy.

- Yeah. It's beautiful. Yep. - It's beautiful. Yeah.

- Beautiful room, beautiful lounge. Nice place to hang out.

The wallpaper is incredible.

I love the wallpaper.

The wallpaper, I love the wallpaper.

- Yeah, I hear you. - I would wallpaper the whole house. - No, you wouldn't.

- I'm gonna give you guys a chance to have a good look around.

Make sure you do check out that garage. I reckon you are gonna absolutely love it.

- Will do. - And once you're done, I'll come and find you.

- Great. Thank you. - See you soon. - Cool. See you.

- Oh cool.

- I can tell that you... you would love this space, eh? - This is cool.

- The garage is awesome. - Yeah. Garage is already carpeted, which is awesome.

- Yeah. - That's cool. Makes it warmer.

This is cool. I like how they've done this.

- You've got your dartboard there, fridge.

- Dartboard, so I don't have to do much.

- Plenty of room. You could even put a pool table in here as well.

TV. - TV.

So I can be out here and you don't have to... I don't have to bother you.

Oh. That's good.

What did you think of the rest of the house?

- Very nice. I feel the bedrooms are maybe a little bit too small.

- Yeah. Yep. - But still very nice.

- The master bedroom was really nice. - That was nice.

- Close to the bathroom, but you could probably knock that...

- Put a door in to go into... into the, yeah. - ...wall out. Yeah, to make a...

an ensuite, but yeah. - Yeah.

- Nice how it comes out on to the... - On to the courtyard.

- ...into the courtyard, which is really nice. - That's nice, yeah.

- Gidday. - Howzit?

- I think it's quite a deceptively large back yard, this one.

I mean, again, from the street, you just have no idea that this space was here,

which is kind of the story of this house, really, isn't it?

- Yeah. Yeah, no, it's beautiful. - It is. It's really good.

- Lots of lawn. Plenty of room for the kids to run around. - Yep.

- You know, maybe a dog. Have you guys got a dog? Either of you?

- Yeah. I've got an old dog, so not much running. - An old dog. OK.

So running around might be... - Yeah, just walking.

- Just walking gently around the backyard.

So, before you move in, we've gotta find out how much it's gonna cost you.

What do you think this place is worth?

- I'm thinking, what with the double glazing, and it's a newer house,

solar panels,

I'd say about 1.3.

- Yeah, agree. I think this is gonna cost you 1.3.

- Cost you 1.3. - Yeah, it's gonna cost me― it's gonna cost me money.

- 1.3. - Well... - Yeah.

- I've got good news for you. A little bit less than that.

So, around the 1.1 to 1.2 mark. - Oh, that's good.

- Wow. - Wow, cool. - So it's a lot of house.

- Yeah, that's amazing. Yep. - Mm. - Yep.

- The price of the house for what it is― - I was actually quite surprised.

- Yeah. It's definitely worth the price.

So we could... We could definitely do that, couldn't we? - Worth the price. Yeah, we could.

- Well, that's just the second option.

I do have one more place that I'm really keen to show you guys,

so shall we hit the road? - Yep. - Great.

- After the break, I catch up with Bertie to hear more about this incredible place,

and I even get to take a tour of the town in a 1920s Austin convertible.

- While in Napier, I just had to make a pit stop ― pun intended ―

at Art Deco Car Tours and see Bertie

to hear about how this town was brought back to life in the 1930s.

Bertie, I've spent a bit of time in Napier.

Every time I'm here, I'm just blown away.

There is no place in the world like Napier, is there?

- Absolutely not. It's beautiful. It's― it's a little... - Absolutely beautiful.

- ...snapshot in time. - It is, and it's obviously a tragic tale,

the reason why Napier has the look that it does have. - Oh, yes, indeed, yes.

- So, I mean, 1931. Tell me what happened.

- 3rd of February 1931 ― huge earthquake.

So, they had a look at the town and said, 'What can we do?'

They were going to abandon it originally, then somebody said, 'No, we won't.'

And amazingly, they got together, put two men in charge ― a lawyer and an engineer ―

and in two years, they built the town centre.

- And we get to enjoy the fruit of their labour all these years later. - Yep.

That's our little snapshot in time. 1931. - It's beautiful, isn't it?

- If someone doesn't know what Art Deco means―

- It's a period in time, and it's a style, OK, of fashion,

but architecture particularly, and it's basically geometric.

It's squares, ziggurats, that's that little shape. - Right.

- And circles. It's not that rounded feel, totally decorative like Victorian.

- They just don't make them like they used to, Bertie, do they? - They certainly don't.

- Why do we not have any sense of style any more?

Why can't we have some fun with our buildings?

- I'm not in the government. - I can't answer that.

Now, that car outside. - Yes?

- I mean, that's not just for show, is it?

So, what are some of your favourite examples around Napier of the Art Deco style?

- Well, we're in one at the moment, which is absolutely wonderful ― the National Tobacco Companybuilding.

Probably the ASB Bank, which was originally the Bank of New Zealand,

and the Daily Telegraph Building... - Right.

- ...which was our newspaper, but is now a real estate office.

- They're just so grand. You drive around, you walk around town,

and you're just struck by the magnificence of these buildings. - That's the best way to seeit.

- What a truly incredible way to see and hear all about this amazing town.

But now, I'd better get back to our house hunt with our newlyweds.

All righty, house number three.

I have been looking forward to showing you this one because it's such a great location.

We're in a really sought-after part of Taradale here,

and they don't come up all that often up on this location.

So, really, the views are spectacular.

Can't wait for you to see them. - Looks amazing from the outside.

It's definitely, yeah, a big house. - Looks good, yeah.

- So, yeah. And the area is really beautiful.

It's so nice driving up the street, so... - Yeah.

All right, shall we take a tour and have a look around?

- Let's go. - Perfect.

- Wow. - Yeah.

Really nice feel to this place as soon as you walk in, isn't there? - Beautiful.

- That entrance way. Stunning, right? That sweeping staircase. - It's incredible.

- But when you come in here, look at what you're presented with.

- That's awesome. - Yeah, it's incredible. It actually doesn't look real.

It's so beautiful. Yeah. - It looks like a picture.

- Absolutely beautiful on a day like today with that light.

Great little dining area here. Plenty of room.

Not the most modern kitchen, but easy to update that at some point

if you wanted to, but totally functional.

It's got new appliances in there at the moment.

Really spacious lounge in this house, so let's take a look, eh?

Yeah, it is a really nice space, this, this living room.

Obviously, that picture window just completely draws you in.

That view is spectacular from here.

Before you do see the outside, go have a look around.

There's two bedrooms downstairs, two bedrooms upstairs, and they're all really decent sized aswell.

So, once you've had a good look around, I'll be outside,

and we'll catch up about the price.

- Awesome. Cool. - See you soon. - All right. Thank you.

- Oh my goodness.

Again, a spectacular view. - Whoa. That's better than downstairs.

- Yeah, it is. - That's awesome.

- You can see, like, right out to the sea as well, which is incredible.

- Beautiful view.

- Best of Hawke's Bay, right here. - Wow!

- Look at that view. It's so good.

- Yeah, it's incredible cos you feel like you're out in the country, but still―

- Oh, it's so close to everything you need as well, isn't it? - Yep. Yeah. No, it's really lovely.

- Great location. Great house. - It is awesome.

- Is it a great price? What do you think? - Oh dear.

- 1.4? - What?

Oh no. I'm gonna say...

1.2.

- I'm coming in under both of your guesses. - Oh!

- Around the 1 to 1.1 again.

- Oh, that's incredible.

- I was amazed with the price. - Yeah!

- Being up here with a view like that, the size of the house.

- And again, we'd have money leftover that we could...

- Do... wanna do with the house. - Do the things that we wanted to do. Yep.

Go on a holiday or something? - It goes― goes on the garage.

- OK. - Goes on the garage

- Hey, well, I'll let you guys go away and have a― have a think.

Obviously, big decision to make.

Let's get back together again, maybe...

maybe we'll grab a wine given we are in wine country and see how you went.

- After giving our newlyweds some time to think about the three spectacular properties

that we toured, I hear there's some good news.

So, it's back to Napier I go to meet up with Eddie and Liz

to hear what this good news is.

Kia ora, you two. This is a good deal. - Gidday.

- You bring the glasses, I bring the wine. How about that? - Thank you!

- Hey, it's nice to catch up with you two again.

It's been a while since I saw you. You had a lot of thinking to do.

- Big decisions. - Huge decisions!

Before we find out which way you're going, though,

let's just, you know, chat through those ones that we did look at.

Because I love that first house up on the hill, really close to Ahuriri,

so a really great location. - Yes.

Yeah, the location was amazing. - Location was appealing to us, yeah. Really good.

- And the hills around it, it was beautiful. Peaceful.

- Even being close to the road, it was actually quite a quiet road.

- Yeah. - It was actually quite nice.

- And then house number two, we got on the road and headed along to...

that fantastic spot, house number two.

Really modern home. - Yeah.

- Again, walk through that door, and all of a sudden, presented with this...

- That was amazing. Yeah. - It was good. It was amazing. It was, it was really nice.

- Yeah. - Like, everything in the house was....

It was perfect. You can just move in and just live.

- All right, so the second house, great. - Yes.

- Third house we looked at ― amazing views up on the hill. - Yes.

- Elevated section just looking out... It's just a beautiful vista.

And four bedrooms as well. The biggest of the three houses we looked at.

Yeah. So what did you like about that one?

- The views. - The views. - Yeah, yeah.

- How can you not? - Yeah. - Yeah.

The layout was really good as well. Probably...

yeah, maybe a little bit big for what we wanted

because really it is only gonna be the two of us there. - Two of us.

- And half the time probably just one of you as well...

- Yeah, one here. Yeah, yeah. - ...while you're away on the road.

- So he'd be romping around in a big house. - By myself.

Skate, skate around the house.

- So... - Spoilt for choice, really.

- Well, I was gonna say, obviously one of them took your fancy, though,

because I hear that an offer has been made. - Yes.

- Yes. - Yep. - So it's an exciting time.

Put me out of my suspense. Come on, guys, time to...

- No, I'm gonna leave it till next series. - ...reveal the decision!

I've been waiting to hear this. Which way are you going?

- We're gonna go with three. - Yeah.

- House number three, awesome.

That was such a beautiful house. - Amazing, yes.

- As soon as we walked in, eh? That entranceway, that sweeping staircase,

straight into the lounge, and then, boom, that view. - Yeah.

- I can totally understand why you'd go that way. - Yeah.

- Finally, you're gonna have a place of your own,

and I reckon that's cause for celebration, so, Eddie, Liz, congratulations.

Good luck. Hopefully your offer's accepted, and... - Cheers.

- ...congrats on your new life in Hawke's Bay.

- Awesome. Cheers. - Thank you.

- Oh, yeah. Nice local drop, too.

And I'm pleased to announce that their offer has been accepted.

I'm so happy for our newlyweds, Eddie and Liz,

and I wish them all the very best.

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