It’s a charming North Island cottage on the market at a South Island price. And the bonus is it comes with 2024sqm of land.
The 120-year-old, two-bedroom home at 14 Forward Street, in Ormondville, is looking for offers over $349,000, with listing agent Robynne Cload, from Property Brokers, saying she has first-home buyers firmly in her sights.
She said the property’s rural location meant buyers could get a foot on the property ladder for much less than what they might pay in nearby towns and cities. “Compared to prices in places Hastings, Napier, or Dannevirke, it’s a bargain,” she told OneRoof.
“You get value for money if you look in the smaller areas.”
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She added: “I’m targeting first-home buyers and people that just want a peaceful life. A tiny little lifestyle that might be a stepping stone to a larger one in the future. It’s a good size to try.”
Cload said she had received enquiries from first-home buyers within hours of listing the property. “This is an opportunity to buy a North Island property at South Island prices,” she said.
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She was pleased to say that no developers had shown interest in buying the property, despite the land size. “I kind of hope we don’t. I think that would be quite heartbreaking for the owners. But I just don’t see that happening."
14 Forward Street comes with fenced grounds, mature trees, a variety of sheds and 20 chickens and roosters.
A separate building on the property could be used as a guest room, office, or studio, Cload said.
Owners Bryan and Pauline Deadman have lived in the home for 33 years and are selling up to move to nearby Dannevirke for their retirement.
They told OneRoof they discovered the cottage while out on a drive. Bryan said it was just three minutes away from the house in which he was born and had previously belonged to his aunt.
The inside of the cottage is charming. Photo / Supplied
The property sits on 2024sqm of land. Photo / Supplied
When the couple moved in, they discovered they didn’t have sufficient space to have the whānau over for Christmas dinner. “There was only a lounge and dining room, and we were having 14 over for Christmas dinner. So, we took the wall out,” Bryan said. “It was an effort and a half to get a beam to go across it and get the studs out. They built them with bridge nails in those days.”
Bryan, a retired newspaper compositor, said the cottage was built in the late 1890s to service the railway. “When we took that wall out, we found an 1895 Napier Daily Telegraph and a New York Times from the same year,” he said.
When the Deadmans bought the property, they inherited a hydroponics growing operation from the previous owners, who had expanded the landholding in the 1970s. The growing method didn’t work out for the Deadmans and is now long gone. “We use the paddock section to graze our chooks instead,” he said. The property also has apple and plum trees and kiwifruit vines.
First-home buyers who want more than the quiet life, will be pleased to hear that Makotuku’s popular Black Dog Tavern reopened earlier this year. The tavern, which is five minutes’ walk from the property, is known for its motorcycle memorabilia, rustic farm equipment, and other “cool stuff”, new owner Brendon Wilson told Hawke’s Bay Today in March.
It had re-energised the community, Bryan said. “It’s really opened up the district and got people back together again.”
The home is on the fringes of historic Ormondville, a sleepy former railway town with more than one claim to fame. As well as its own Settlers Arms Tavern, keeping locals and visitors well-watered, the Port Motors building and the old railway station are drawcards for history buffs.
- 14 Forward Street, in Ormondville, Central Hawke’s Bay, is looking for offers over $349,000
