A Hawke’s Bay lifestyle property that was damaged in the storm after flood waters ripped through it during Cyclone Gabrielle has sold for well above land value but below RV.
The large lifestyle property in Puketapu had been stripped back and put on the market for sale last year in an ‘as is, where is’ condition, while another remediated property in Meeanee managed to sell for more than its rateable value.
Property Broker listing agent Avram Deitch was unable to reveal the exact sale price of the Swamp Road home, adding it was “well above the land value” of $790,000 but below the rateable value of $2.042 million.
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The owners told news media last month that they had considered reinstating the property, but ultimately made the decision to sell the four-bedroom, three-bathroom homes as is and move on for the sake of their children. The designer property was listed last October.
The project has instead been picked up by a property investor who planned to carry out the extensive work which included a new kitchen, checking and clean it before reinstalling it, rewiring and new gib plasterboard before on-selling it. Other buyers had been interested but had to walk away from the process after insurance companies and banks refused to help, Deitch said.
The home’s interior has been stripped back to its frames leaving the impressive David Trubridge light fittings dangling from the ceiling as some of the only remaining fittings left. The 12m inground pool remains too.
The Swamp Road lifestyle property needed rewiring and a complete fit-out including a kitchen and internal walls. Photo / Supplied
“There were people in cash positions, but they weren’t in cash positions at the level they needed to be. That’s not to say that they were trying to only get a deal, that’s just to say that certain people had cash and could only spend up to a certain amount and if the owners were willing to part with it at that level then they were willing to jump in and do it as a project.”
Under the council’s classification the Puketapu home was in a category 1 zone, which meant all that was required was for it to be repaired to its previous state and could be lived in.
However, Deitch said the council and insurance companies seemed to be on different pages because one was telling people the houses were insurable but when the purchaser went to get insurance it was a different story.
“There’s an opportunity that the region could rebuild faster and people could get into things that they otherwise couldn’t but they hit roadblocks with the insurance companies and that led to roadblocks with the banks.”
A smaller lifestyle property, also on Swamp Road, which had been stripped of everything inside has sold for $620,000 – below its land value of $740,000 and less than half its $1.388m RV.
A property on King Road, Meeanee, sold for above its RV after being rebuilt and redecorated. Photo / Supplied
The King Road home has been rebuilt to a high standard and was like brand new. Photo / Supplied
Bayleys listing agent Kris August said the new owners were cash buyers who had been renting locally while the right property came up. They planned to carry out as much of the renovation themselves and would call on tradespeople where needed.
However, Deitch said the recent sale of the larger Swamp Road lifestyle property showed that ‘as is, where is’ properties could sell for above land value.
He believed this was due partly due to the calibre of the property and because he wasn’t prepared to compromise.
“In an instance like this sometimes the end result might be land value, but we weren’t willing to just stop there. We needed to be able to continue to drive and push for the absolute best and in this instance we managed to get it.”
Deitch expected more ‘as, where is’ homes to come on the market, especially because several had now sold and people could see what they were worth in the market.
Property Brokers salesperson Hayley Crosse said there was also demand for properties that had been remediated and put back on the market.
A four-bedroom, two-bathroom property on a 2063sqm section on King Road, in Meeanee, that sustained significant flooding during Cyclone Gabrielle underwent an impressive rebuild and sold within two months of being listed.
Crosse could not reveal the exact sale price until after settlement, but confirmed it was significantly above its $1.09m RV.
She believed it managed to get a good price because of the quality of the rebuild, its beautiful presentation and close proximity to town.
“The builder had done a splendid job doing it – there were no shortcuts ... From a buyer’s point of view it was a brand-new house inside and it was presented beautifully and I think that helped.”
While some people were risk-adverse to buying a property that had been damaged in the storm despite being reclassified category one, others had no issue with it at all, she said. The purchaser was an out-of-town buyer.
Last year, a lifestyle property on Jessep Road, in Meeanee, was the first remediated property to hit the market last year and sold for $1.525m in November after multiple offers were made.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Vaughan Wilson earlier told OneRoof that most people looking at the property had not been put off by the fact that it had undergone flood repairs.
“It was good to see that the market was well received to what had happened. We only had a couple of people come in and find out what had happened and turn around and walk out. Everyone else thought it was a great property and it did work, or it didn’t work for other reasons, and it ended up having multiple offers on the day.”
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