- Erin MacDonald, intrigued by death from a young age, founded Mountain View Funeral Services.
- She transformed a 1940s villa into a tranquil funeral home with her family’s help.
- After nearly 20 years, MacDonald plans to sell, seeking the right buyer to continue her legacy.
Erin MacDonald has always been intrigued by death.
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When she was 16, she knocked on the door of a Rotorua funeral home, asking to be involved. She was told she was too young.
Several years later, with a nursing degree and time working in both the hospital’s operating theatre and mortuary under her belt, she returned to the same funeral home – this time as a staff member.
MacDonald told OneRoof that she had an interest in the industry from an early age. As a teenager, she consumed forensic crime books while her peers read romance stories.
But it was her time working at the Rotorua funeral home that made her realise she liked what the job entailed. “It wasn’t just the dead that I wanted to care for, it was the people who were grieving,” she said.
This encouraged her to follow her passion, ignited all those years ago as a teen, and she started making plans to set up her own business, Mountain View Funeral Services. Her vision was to direct it in a more relaxed style than the more traditional and clinical funeral businesses.
Mountain View Funeral Services owner Erin MacDonald: “If you visited me, you would feel it. You wouldn’t ever think that you were at a funeral home.” Photo / Stephen Parker
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom property still has a homely feel despite being run as a funeral home for the last 20 years. Photo / Supplied
First, MacDonald needed the right property. “I was just keeping my eyes open for something close enough to town but far away enough to feel private and secluded,” she said.
She first visited 1 Pukehangi Road with her dad, and they both saw its potential. The 1940s villa had been a residential facility, while the 9820sqm grounds were home to grazing horses. MacDonald paid $420,000 for it in September 2005.
While MacDonald was the only member of her family interested in running the funeral home, her parents, husband and brother all helped turn the section into a tranquil, secluded park-like space in which people could remember their loved ones.
“It was a long journey for my family to put the trees back on and mainly, kind of native type plantings to create what it is today,” she said.
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“My dad would come and help with lawns, and my mum would be gardening, so it’s a very special loved property. It’s been created with family love.”
MacDonald has been running Mountain View Funeral Services for almost 20 years and is now ready for a break. “Death is a 24/7 commitment, and I’ve been living that life since 1999. I’ve got grandchildren now, and these years ahead of me are actually really precious. I’ve dedicated my life to caring for the dead and those left behind for a long time, and I just want to relax.”
In her role as a funeral director and embalmer, she is even more aware than most of just how short life can be. “Often you hear of people retiring and then getting sick and dying, I don’t want to wait until I’m too old to enjoy the years I have left.”
MacDonald said she would only sell the home and the business to the right buyer.
MacDonald’s family spent a lot of time planting and landscaping the grounds. Photo / Supplied
“I love her [my home], and I will not sell her to just anybody, and if the right person doesn’t enter her life, then she will retire with me.”
MacDonald said the property itself had lots of potential and would be great as a three-bedroom, two-bathroom family home.
While some people might be put off by the fact that the house has been a funeral home, MacDonald said it had a warm and homely vibe. “If you visited me, you would feel it. You wouldn’t ever think that you were at a funeral home.”
Ray White listing agent Jodi Ratahi said the property had a lovely feel to it. “It’s like walking into someone’s home,” she said. “It just feels so peaceful and calm.”
The property has an RV of $1.17m, but Ratahi said the price expectation was north of that.
- 1 Pukehangi Road, in Pukehangi, Rotorua, is for sale, deadline closing April 7
