It’s been two years since Helen and Greg Lay sold their family home in Hauraki on Auckland’s North Shore, and the journey to their new home has been a truly family affair.
In 2021, the couple looked to downsize to a lock-up-and-leave property in the same area, which would free them up to spend more time in their second home at Mangawhai, while keeping them close to their family.
At the same time, their daughter Jess Ryder and her husband Tom sold their home, bought a section in Hauraki, and began searching for a relocatable villa to place on it. Having moved and reworked other villas over the years, they knew what was involved.
One day, Tom, a commercial construction operations manager, spotted a 1910 villa on a site under development, a few
