An under-pressure homeowner is selling his “one-of-a-kind” bush house with a historic jail before the bank closes in and forces a mortgagee sale.
The “better than $450,000” price indication for the unique property, which sits at the back at the base of Te Aroha mountain and is entrenched in the town’s history, is less than half its $1.025 million RV.
Property Brokers listing agent Toni Swney said the “one of a kind” property at 2 Kotuku Street in Te Aroha, Matamata-Piako, had been owned by the vendor since 2018.
He fell in love with the private bush setting and lived in the home, while occasionally renting out the old Te Aroha jail house that used to hold convicts during the Waikato town’s gold mining era.
Start your property search
However, due to some sad circumstances the owner was now trying to sell it and beat the bank. “If it’s not sold it will end up going to mortgagee sale,” Swney said.
The listing reads: “Beat the bank and bag a bargain.”
Discover more:
- Commerce Commission killed our house sale - couple gutted after $4m deal pulled
- Neighbours fall in love with each other - so who sells first?
- Real estate boss selling Auckland home his wife transformed - ‘I just paid the bills’
The quirky property was previously owned by well known Te Aroha personality Maria Zeigler, who taught at the local high school and lived there with her husband for 20 years.
When Zeigler sold the home in 2009 to downsize, she wrote a letter to the new owner describing the history of the home. That letter was then passed on to the current owner.
In the letter, she shared how Lebanese man John Hannah and his wife Andrea bought an old mining cottage on the 1935sqm section spread over two titles at the foothills of Mount Te Aroha. The old cottage was missing the floor so they lived in a caravan and built their three-bedroom home in the 1980s.
According to Zeigler, money was tight so they used reclaimed materials from the mining cottage as well as picking up second-hand front and back church doors and a stained-glass window in the toilet are left over from when St Mark’s Anglican Church was renovated in 1925.
A shower and a toilet was added to the foyer of the two-cell kauri jail in the 1980s. Photo / Supplied
Hannah also picked up a job as the art and handiwork teacher at the local college to fund the renovation.
When the last jail had to be moved so the new Te Aroha Police Station which had its own holding cell could be built, Hannah picked the last one up in 1980.
The 124-year-old kauri jailhouse, which was one of 12 in the town, was craned onto the site near the domain. Graffiti on the walls indicated the last prisoner stayed in the small 5m by 3m cell with only a tiny, barred window near the ceiling as recently as 1975.
One of the cells was transformed into an art studio and a window was installed in the other so it could be used as a private guest room. The toilet and shower were also added to the foyer next to a heavily barred window.
Reclaimed materials from an old miner's cottage and a church were incorporated in the building of the house on Kotuku Street, in Te Aroha. Photo / Supplied
Several teachers have lived in the three-bedroom, one-bathroom house, which is on the foothill of Mount Te Aroha, over the years. Photo / Supplied
When Zeigler took over, she converted one of the cells into a bedroom adding two single beds and ran it as a bed and breakfast for a short time.
She told the NZ Herald in 2000 that she came up with the idea while her husband Franz visited family in Holland. The current owner also occasionally rented it out as guest accommodation.
Swney said while the property’s price point made it entry-level for first-home buyers, the property also had other potential because its setting, proximity to the town, the domain and Te Aroha Mineral Spas also made it a good option for an Airbnb.
- 2 Kotuku Street, in Te Aroha, Matamata-Piako, goes to auction on December 4
