Arrowtowner wins top landlord award

An interior designer and project manager based at Arrowtown’s Millbrook Resort is officially one of New Zealand’s top two property investors.

At the recent NZ Property Investors Federation (NZPIF) conference in Christchurch, Isis Winter won the ‘Resene Renovator of the Year Award’ for transforming two "unappealing" Queenstown Airbnbs "into a winning investment and tourist favourites".

Winter, who’s renovated more than 20 houses, all in the North Island till now, bought two back-to-back houses in Kent St, on Queenstown Hill, last October.

Built in 1982, the stucco-style ‘pink palaces’, as they were known, had been infamous party houses, but were "very unappealing", Winter says, even though they had operated as Airbnbs.

She took over managing them, then, in the autumn offseason, gave them a whirlwind eight-week reno, similar to what you see in the reality TV series, The Block.

The four-bedroom and three-bedroom houses were completely refurbished and also brought up to healthy homes standard.

Airbnbs, Winter points out, don’t have to meet those standards, "but it’s the right thing to do".

Handling all the project management, she employed as her main contractors Kasteel Building, Apex Electric and Proscape Landscaping.

"I like doing it fast and cost-effective," she says.

"The timeframe was wild, and the change for the spend was big.

"Over the years I’ve managed to figure out what’s the biggest bang for your buck and what will provide the most value.

"We also added amenities, like the rear place has got a spa pool."

When she entered the NZPIF awards, she was also able to include rave reviews about the refurb from guests — she’s named the homes ‘The Gentleman’ and ‘The Top Shelf’.

"And then the financials that underpinned it all were strong."

Winter says in her field "you often work in silos by yourself, so you really don’t know if what you’re doing is any good".

She adds the judges’ feedback was the renovated houses looked like they came out of an interior design magazine.

NZPIF PR & advocacy manager Matt Ball notes they had record entries this year.

He says Winter "undertook an outstanding renovation project" and it was "a fantastic example of how property investors can improve housing stock and benefit the community while increasing the value and cashflow of their investment".

• Winter advises she’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes content and design tips on her Instagram page, @isis.winter