- A Lake Ferry bach listed for $150,000-plus is attracting significant interest from New Zealand and Australia.
- Agent Amy Jaquiery has received offers over the asking price, with about 20 people viewing the property.
- The bach offers lake and sea views, and potential for Airbnb use or redevelopment.
One of New Zealand’s cheapest baches has only been on the market a week but is already raking in offers.
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Agent Amy Jaquiery, from Property Brokers, said she was fielding calls from around New Zealand and Australia about the one-bedroom 1960s property, which is advertised for $150,000-plus.
Buyers were making the trip to Lake Ferry, in South Wairarapa, to view the property, and those who couldn’t get there were sending friends or family members to check it out.
Lake Ferry is near the wineries of pricey Martinborough but the bach at 40A Lake Ferry Road has lake views from the window and sea views from the yard. It’s also half an hour or so from Ngawi, which is said to have the best fish and chips in New Zealand.
The Lake Ferry Road property boasts sea views from its window. Photo / Supplied
The agent says the property files are missing but the bach is legal. Photo / Supplied
Jaquiery told OneRoof that as of Monday about 20 people had been through the property. “They’re coming from everywhere. Sending family members, as well, if they can’t make it,” she said.
“People love it. It’s cute, it’s small, it’s a studio. There’s so much that could be done to and with it. A lot of people are looking at it to Airbnb it out, it’s such a cute little space.”
Someone could pull it down and build new, however.
Jaquiery said South Wairarapa District Council didn’t have files on the property. When asked if the bach was legal, she said: “The council has to assume it is because it lost the files. I think it was when it went from paper to digital, something must have got lost in the mix, but it seems to be a common theme at Lake Ferry.”
She said she had already received offers over the $150,000 price indication, and warned that anyone still thinking about buying should hurry.
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The owner had kept the price low because he had loved the bach so much and wanted to make sure the property would go to someone else who would love it, she said.
A genuine bargain, the property had still been well cared for. “The toilet was separated but it’s all been joined together now, so it’s got a laundry area, too, which is quite nice,” she said.
While there is no shop at Lake Ferry, there is a hotel and pub, which Jaquiery said was very popular.
Even cheaper than 40A Lake Ferry Road is a two-bedroom bach – with a long drop toilet – in Milton, Otago. It is looking for $129,000 and has just gone under contract.
Agent Chris Adams, from Be Real Estate, told OneRoof most of his inquiries had come from Auckland, and that was where the potential new owner hailed from.
6 Riverview Road, in Toko Mouth, Clutha, is for sale for $129,000 and is already under contract. Photo / Supplied
The property is cheap because it sits on leasehold land. Photo / Supplied
The crib was a bargain partly because it is on leasehold land owned by the council – if it hadn’t been leasehold he expected the price would have been much higher at $300,000 or $400,000.
Council leases in the area were generally tidy and while not common they were a good way to get hold of a nice crib, and this one is at the mouth of the Toko River and the sea.
“There’s about 50 of them down there and I think about 40 people actually live in the area because it’s so affordable.”
The nearest town is Milton, about 15 minutes up the road, and most of the cribs were owned by locals residing within a half-hour drive, he said.
“I got a lot of inquiry from the North Island, all over the show. A lot of it was more interest - they couldn’t believe you could get something for that.”
In Dunedin, Nick Beard, from Cutlers, has a bargain do-up property he is selling for the High Court, although he couldn’t give details around the sale.
The RV on 19 Tui Terrace, in Waipori, Clutha, is $155,000 but given the state of the property he wasn’t expecting that to be reached when it goes to auction on April 17.
19 Tui Terrace, in Waipori, Clutha, goes to auction on April 17. Photo / Supplied
The three-bedroom home needs work, but is salvageable, says the agent. Photo / Supplied
While the property needed a lot of work, it was redeemable. “Its floors and everything are quite even. It’s all on piles, so that’s a good thing about it, but someone’s going to need to rip out inside, gut it, and start again from the inside.”
Waipori comes under the Clutha District Council but is on the outskirts of Dunedin in the suburb of Outram.
“It’s a nice peaceful community out there in Waipori. If someone bought that you could actually have it as a home away from home.
“It would be a nice holiday home for someone that lived in the city in Dunedin. It’s about an hour away so it’s long enough to get away from things – you’re surrounded by bush and nature. It’s quite a unique setting out there.”
The property was part of the Waipori Falls community which operated a body corp system, where owners pay into the body corp and that helps pay for water, insurance and sewerage.
A run-down property for sale at 105 Edinburgh Street, in Waikouaiti, Dunedin. Photo / Supplied
He has had “heaps” of inquiry, mainly from out-of-towners from the North Island. “The market here is starting to pick up. The last few sales have gone to investors and I haven’t seen them in the market for three or four years, but tax deductibility is back in April and money is getting cheaper so they’re starting to see some returns now.”
Also on the outskirts of Dunedin, Alan Cooper, of Cutlers, has a likely demolition property in Waikouaiti, about half an hour from the city.
Advertised as a diamond in the rough, the house is so rough he expects it will be bowled, saying birds, possums and rats have been living there.
“I think we got 28 rats out of it at one stage. I should have affectionately named it the Rats Nest – that would have been appropriate,” he told OneRoof.
While the house was in poor condition, it was a great spot to build a new home. “It’s a wonderful building spot, no question about that. It’s got a great outlook. It’s a country sort of area.”
The property has an RV of $260,000 but Cooper said it would likely sell for less.
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