A “runty” hut in the middle of bush in Waipu has sold for well over CV, leaving many other would-be buyers disappointed.
Listing agent James Alexander, from Ray White, told OneRoof he’d never had so much interest in a listing before.
The rundown bush cabin can only be accessed by foot and is set amidst 48.7 hectares of “unusable” bush.
The CV was $285,000 but the sale price was north of $500,000, and the new owner was over the moon.
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“We sold it to a Danish guy who wants to keep it in one whole title. He was besotted by it.
“It was a good price. It is a success because a lot of things are selling on CV or below; this sold for above, which is good because it creates a bit of confidence.”
The cabin was not for everyone – there was no driveway and no parking, just a “footpath through the bush to get to it, so for it to get above CV was great”, said Alexander.
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The building had been vandalised and was in a dilapidated state, but the new owner, who had New Zealand residency, plans to use it as an escape and do the hut up.
“He saw all those acres and acres of native bush. He walked through the bush and down to the river and as soon as he saw that stony bottom river and saw how clear it was and how wide it was and deep he thought, ‘You know what, this is quite something’.
The cabin itself was just 58sqm: “It’s like an original tiny house before tiny houses were invented,” Alexander told OneRoof.
“When I told him he’d got it, he just couldn’t believe it. He said, ‘You’ve just made my day, I cannot believe it. I wanted it so badly’.
“He said ‘I’m going to preserve it, I’m going to look after it, I’m not going to subdivide it, I’m going to keep it as is because it’s pristine and that’s how it should be’. So he likes the sheer nature of it.”
The A-frame cabin, with its green roof, is well camouflaged. Photo / Supplied
The inside of the cabin is simple and rustic. Photo / Supplied
The new owner was the right person for the property, Alexander said.
“He’s going to use it as a weekend retreat. He could just fall off the face of the earth and forget about the world and sit in there and read books and walk down to the river and take in the sunshine and go for a swim in the summer and just chill out.”
Alexander marketed the cabin as “the lost world”, saying in the listing copy it had a Jurassic feel as it was set in a valley of pristine and unspoilt bush wilderness.
He told OneRoof in April it offered absolute seclusion. “If you wanted to be a naturalist, this is the place to be one.”
The cabin dates back to 1910 and was on the market for the first time in 50 years.
Once owned by a lawyer, one of the attractions was that while the building was abandoned and neglected it was legal, and though it did not have running water it was still connected to the mains power.
“Tonnes” of people went to have a look and there were tonnes of ideas about what to do with it.
“People had grand ideas like making a little sanctuary where they would put little glamping spots in the bush and put little tracks through it and make it like an adventure,” Alexander said.
“Then there were people that just needed something, any kind of property, to live in and they didn’t mind doing it up but they didn’t have much money.”
On the market for $989,000 is this two-bedroom "bach" at 97 Palmer Road, in Waipu. Photo / Supplied
A lot of people liked the charm of going back in time, and Alexander said while in the middle of the bush, the cabin was still only 15 minutes from unspoilt Uretiti Beach at Waipu.
“Uretiti beach is like the Mediterranean with no people, so you’re only 15 minutes away from that so you could be in the middle of nowhere like Timbuktu yet you’re still 15 minutes away from a beach that feels like the Mediterranean with no people.”
Alexander has a listing looking out to Uretiti beach which he described as a polished version of the bush hut and which he said could be a good option for some of those who missed out on the cabin.
The two-bedroom property on Palmer Road has an asking price of $989,000, which is under the $1.15m CV, and has over 23 hectares of land, of which about 70-80% is bush.
“But it has got pasture and it’s got tremendous wide panoramic views. It’s also got two consented buildings on it which are near-new, and this one is selling for below CV so the people that missed out on the other one can go for this one.”
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