Twenty years ago they paid $200,000 for their Mount Maunganui holiday home - and yesterday they paid it an emotional farewell as it went under the hammer for a cool $4 million.
Through tears, the Matamata couple, who did not wish to be named, recounted the wonderful family holidays they had spent at the cottage, at 30 The Mall in Pilot Bay.
"If the new owners have as much enjoyment as we have had, they couldn't ask for more," one said.
"It is a fantastic home."
The 736sq m property has a cute two-bedroom home and was the first of eight properties to go under the hammer at Eves auction rooms, where it was standing-room only for about 200 people.
The cottage is one of just three original homes remaining along the prime piece of Pilot Bay waterfront - a small piece of harbour frontage that auctioneer Gil Beadle described as among the rarest and most special anywhere in the world.
Bidding began at $3 million and rose in $100,000 steps until finally the property sold for $4,050,000.
The buyer, a Bay of Plenty woman who would not be named, had been waiting for some time to buy a property on The Mall.
She was excited at finally realising her dream and said she intended to keep the property as a holiday home.
The $4 million-plus price tag made the cottage the most expensive property to sell at Pilot Bay and the second highest in the Mount's high-density zone behind the record $6 million for 31 Marine Parade.
The Mall property has potential for a seven-unit development.
Built in the 1930s, the cottage became known as "the doctor's house" as the home of Mount Maunganui general practitioner Dr Don Meredith in the 1960s.
Mount GP Dr Max Neate recalled that, as a young doctor at Tauranga Hospital, he would phone Dr Meredith to check if wind and tide were good for scalloping.
Dr Meredith would pop out the door of the cottage and report back on the conditions.
"He was our Pilot Bay weather master," said Dr Neate.
Retired GP Dr Alan White remembered visiting the cottage to be assessed for his pilot's medical by Dr Meredith in 1972.
When Dr Meredith sold the cottage in 1984 to the Matamata couple for $200,000, it was the talk of the town.
No one could believe it fetched such a high price.
Eves agent Greg Russell said the property had attracted keen interest from individuals and developers, mainly from the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.
The final price reflected the value of the location and market, he said.
"It's fantastic - $4 million is a hell of a lot of money for 736sq m of sand, sun and a view," Mr Russell said.
Pilot Bay home goes under the hammer for $4million
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