Earlier in 2026, after 10 years of owning a place that brought them immense satisfaction, David Balcom and Peter Addis decided it was time to part with the Pouto Point beach house that had become their labour of love.
They first saw it in 2016.
“It was love at first sight. A calm day in late winter with the water still. We thought: ‘This is paradise,’” says David.
However, even in that moment, the hard work ahead was evident.
“From the beach all I could see was a massive hole in the roof, open to the weather. It had been vacant for several years, inhabited only by birds and possums. When we got closer, the hole turned out to be just a grubby big skylight. What a relief.”
Built in the 1970s and having been on the market for the previous 10 years, the two-storey, open-plan pine pole dwelling required considerable renovation.
“We came up every single weekend, doing as much as possible to make it liveable: new kitchen, bathroom, internal flooring,” says David, who recalls grouting slate tiles on the kitchen floor was the worst part.
“Slate is hard work. That did my hands in. That and falling into a hole while replacing the lounge floor. I fell and cracked all my ribs. Because it was raining and the damp was coming in, I had to carry on working with cracked ribs.”
Even so, David believes the result made all their hard work worthwhile.
“We aren’t the only ones who think so. Several others have stayed here and told us ‘This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.’”
David and Peter might not consider themselves conventionally ‘rich and famous’, but their beach house made them feel that way.
“The sounds of nature, the waves constantly lapping, the kākā, tūī and kererū, and the views across the harbour, it has so much to offer. For us it’s been literally the best, nothing I ever expected to be able to experience.”
Once they’d made the house cosy, they focused on landscaping.
“We’ve brought the gardens to a point where they are starting to mature. That is probably the hardest to leave,” says David.
Cindy Younger of PGG Wrightson Real Estate, Dargaville, marketed the property for David and Peter.“Because it’s such a special property, we decided to take it to auction. Online our advertising generated plenty of interest, with a much higher proportion of clicks through than usual. With national and international reach, the campaign attracted enquiry from the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom,” says Cindy.
On auction day, potential buyers participated remotely from Queenstown, while a conditional purchaser in the United States was waiting on the auction outcome. In the end, a neighbour placed the successful bid of $870,000.
Cindy says the result underlines Pouto Point’s appeal as one of Northland’s best-kept secrets and a front-row seat to nature.
“If you like Pouto, you love Pouto, and we only had to go a few metres to find someone who fitted that description completely,” she says.
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