Charity receives $800,000 from house sale

An international charity is to receive more than $800,000 from the sale of an Auckland home – bequeathed by a woman who devoted her life to working with some of society’s less fortunate…from Eskimo children through to long-serving inmates in New Zealand prisons.

It is the first property donation Oxfam New Zealand has ever received, and was made by charitable Samaritan Yvonne Knipe - a woman adored by her neighbours and respected by the scores of people she helped over the course of her life.

Yvonne died earlier this year – leaving her three bedroom villa in the trendy Auckland suburb of Ponsonby to Oxfam to sell and receive the benefits.

The home was sold at auction by Bayleys – making $830,000 in the process. Bayleys residential salespeople Karrin MacLeod and Amy Olsen were in charge of marketing the property, and knew it would involve a special kind of campaign.

“We approached all our suppliers, asking them how they could help Oxfam make the most of this sale,” says Karrin.

To her delight, and that of Oxfam’s, the suppliers agreed to work for a reduced rate, including the real estate agents, with some suppliers even donating their services for free. Among the companies which contributed were:

• Interior Concepts which dressed the property from head to toe at no cost.
• Art Associates which hung their stunning art works throughout the house at no cost.
• The New Zealand Herald which reduced their advertising costs by a considerable amount.
• Open2view which created the signage for a great price.
• Photographer Won Ho who took the photos at 25 percent of the cost.

Representatives from Oxfam gathered in the auction room and watched the bidding via closed-circuit television.

Partnerships manager for Oxfam New Zealand, Katherine Mason, said the charity was immensely impressed at how Bayleys pulled together the successful campaign – creating a fitting tribute to a woman who spent her early years biking across Europe, and lived to serve others.

“We hear so much commentary about the flat housing market, yet Bayleys did an outstanding job getting multiple bidders to the auction - which lead to rapid bidding from five different buyers - and ensuring Oxfam, and the new home owner, were winners on auction day,” says Ms Mason.

Oxfam New Zealand executive director Barry Coates added: “This gift is a tremendous act of generosity. Oxfam is thankful for the opportunity to channel these funds to communities that are living in extreme poverty. The sale of this property will bring life-saving benefits to many of them”.

Proceeds from the property will support Oxfam’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programme.