Kiwi-Indian Aman Gulia and David Findlay from Harcourts have ended a three-year wait for a church in the southern Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe to sell its land, with a deal close to $20 million.
The 31-year-old from Haryana, recently named Harcourts’ top-selling agent in Auckland and northern region, also stars in an upcoming reality show on New Zealand’s high-end property market.
Aman and David are making big moves in what has traditionally been a tricky playing field of the $15m+ market, both in high-end properties and development spaces.
“We were surprised to see interest from nearly 50 buyers for a deal that would ultimately require around $50 million to achieve completion, including buying the land and then developing homes,” Findlay says.
Aman Gulia with David Findlay from JK Realty Group based out of Mt Albert. (Supplied photo)
The Pacific Islanders Samoan Presbyterian Church owns the property in question at Wyllie Road in Papatoetoe. It was listed for sale back in October 2021, and despite very large interest from buyers it couldn’t sell.
“The church wanted to sell to the right person, it wasn’t just about the price,” says Gulia,
The church has only 300 parishioners from 43 Samoan families and its representative says they wanted to utilise the land to fill the housing shortage in the southern suburb.
The construction company that bought the land hasn’t been named yet, but it plans to build around 100 homes on the piece of land. A church and a community facility is planned on the remaining portion.
Gulia and Findlay have other similar deals currently, one of them being 520 Great South Road, Papakura, a three-hectare site with RC for 101 residential titles. The feedback they have received so far is $20m and currently have a few buyers off-market.
Gulia is the first Kiwi-Indian set to feature in ‘Rich Listers’, a real estate reality show that captures the drama and rivalry among top-selling agents in New Zealand’s high-end property market.
The show’s producers say they picked Aman because of his rather short yet remarkable journey in the industry. He became a full-time agent in 2020, and in about three years he made some big sales, including a few that set industry records.
"My journey was quite unexpected and unplanned,” Aman says. “I arrived in New Zealand in 2011 with no real plan or direction, but quickly pursued a mechanical engineering degree at Manukau Institute of Technology."
In the year 2021-22, Aman was reportedly the 11th top-selling Harcourts agent globally, and is said to have achieved $150 million in sales in what was his first full year as a real estate agent.
He says his engineering degree brought him closer to the property market. "Before I knew it, I had done a subdivision and made some money. I loved that process and wanted to help others, so before I knew it, I was speaking to people about development and subdivision and then got told I should sell as an agent.”
Aman’s attitude and ambition got him the role in the second season of Rich Listers, say the producers of the show that has yet to be aired. The first season launched on the Bravo television network, but media partners for the second edition have yet to be announced.
Before immersing in the property market as an agent, Aman managed a company that helped people subdivide their properties, a time when he bought his first house, in Massey.
He says the experience intrigued him so much he decided to enroll in a professional course and become a sales agent.
Now, Aman is passionate about helping Aucklanders achieve their real estate dreams, no matter how large or small.
“There are a lot of Kiwi-Indians out there doing amazing things in the real estate space. I'm just so privileged to be able to help on that journey”.
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