A lifestyle property damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle earlier this year is up for grabs following extensive repairs.
The house at 45 Jessep Road, in Meeanee, Hawke’s Bay, was one of hundreds impacted by the devastating storm that swept through the region in February.
Tens of thousands of residents went without power and water for days and a number of bridges were destroyed, including the Awatoto Bridge, which caused flood waters more than one metre deep to enter the Jessep Road home.
The retired owners, along with their friends, families and neighbours, immediately got to work stripping everything from the house before they quickly enlisted contractors to help rebuild it.
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The house was replumbed and rewired throughout and a new kitchen, new bathroom, a new fireplace, a new roof, new insulation, new spouting, double glazed windows were all installed.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Vaughan Wilson said the four-bedroom, one-bathroom home, which he is marketing with colleague John Holmes, felt like a brand-new house inside. “You wouldn’t tell from the inside that it’s a house from the 1970s,” he said.
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Even the new colour steel had dramatically changed its street appeal from the previous decramastic tiled roof.
The only thing remaining was the original blockwork, but this had also been repainted, he said.
Wilson said the couple had acted quickly to get their insurance pay-out and repairs done, and as a result it was believed to be one of the first – if not the first – remediated properties post-cyclone to be on the open market.
Other cyclone-damaged homes have sold in the region, but most of these have been bought off-market in an “as is, where is” condition, with the purchaser, often a professional builder, planning to carry out the remediation work themselves.
The owners of 45 Jessep Road had been planning to downsize for some time but the storm damage had “fast-tracked” their plans.
The risk of the property flooding again has been deemed low risk and the area has been marked as category one, which means repairs to its previous condition was all that was required to manage severe weather.
The home is almost brand-new on the inside with a new kitchen installed after the house was damaged in the floods. Photo / Supplied
The property would suit families wanting a lifestyle block near the city. Photo / Supplied
Wilson said the property would suit families wanting a lifestyle property close to town. There was also plenty of shedding on the 4.4-hectare section for people with toys and hobbies, he said.
No price indication is available, but Wilson said it would be “well above” the 2020 RV of $1.21 million.
Tremains Central Region general manager Stuart Christensen said houses that had been rebuilt after the flooding were only just starting to be completed now and it was possible that more would come on the market in the next few months.
Some homeowners were still waiting for the zones to change so the work could be carried out, he said.
Christensen said they had started hearing from owners wanting appraisals to get an idea of how much their revamped properties were now worth and it was likely some of these could be listed.
“There will be some that will just stay, and they will be happy to stay, but we are getting people reaching out to us to find out what their property will be worth once it is done up.”
Many of the impacted homes were lifestyle properties located in a range of areas including Meeanee, Puketapu and parts of Eskdale and Bay View.
The damage to the homes varied considerably and while some needed to almost be completely rebuilt, others just needed to be painted, he added.
“There was a number of properties affected by the cyclone, but the raft of the effect is from chalk and cheese really.”
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