We stayed at James' place for almost two weeks while visiting our daughter in Auckland. The house is nice and in a great location, and James is a great host. His communication was excellent and he responded to any questions we had right away. The house has been recently renovated and was very tastefully done. All the appliances are new and of good quality.
James' place worked for our trip, but there were a few issues for us. The bed in the second bedroom is so uncomfortable as to be unusable. After two nights we bought a mattress topper so that our adult daughter could sleep on it. Also, the kitchen lacks some basics to be able to cook a proper meal, such as a colander, measuring cups, oven mitts and trays for the oven, and enough cooking utensils.
Also, note that there is a construction project across the street that gets very noisy. Workers show up around 6:30am and start work at 7:00am.