- A couple sold their Mangapai cottage for $270,000 after buying it for $930,000.
- The property was yellow-stickered after being damaged by a landslide and Cyclone Gabrielle.
- A young couple with links to earthmoving expertise purchased it despite the risks.
A heartbroken couple have finally sold their historic kauri cottage, which a landslide had damaged beyond repair.
Start your property search
The couple bought the lifestyle block on Panekaira Road, in Mangapai, in 2022 for $930,000, but a slip in December 2023 left them with no other option but to sell it in “as is, where is” condition.
The sole bidders at last week’s auction offered to buy the yellow-stickered property for $150,000. A lengthy negotiation ensued before the property was eventually announced on the market 86 minutes later and sold for $270,000.
The council yellow-stickered the property over concerns that further slips could compromise the 115-year-old kauri cottage. Photo / Supplied
Ray White listing agent Sandie Kirkman said the back and forth between the buyers and the sellers was “emotional”, adding that her clients were “very lucky” a young Northland couple with financial backing from their family and connections in the earthmoving industry had turned up at the auction to bid.
“They were the ideal purchasers because they can look at working with the earth. They had more knowledge than any other purchaser.”
Discover more:
- Invercargill's worst and cheapest: Fire-damaged house sells for $151,000
- Desperate vendor sells his 'hassle' home for $312,000
- 'Must sell': Is this New Zealand’s next Wild West town?
There had been six groups who had viewed the 1.22-hectare property during the marketing campaign, including three who returned for a second look.
Kirkman said most of the interested parties pulled out after getting expert advice. Geotech reports highlighted that the value of the property was in the house, not the land, and banks refused to lend.
The new owners are in the earthmoving industry and the “ideal buyers” to carry out the significant work needed to stabilise the land. Photo / Supplied
Kirkman said even the new owners were aware that there was a risk they might not be able to remediate the property enough to get the yellow sticker lifted.
“If earthmovers are looking at it from that perspective, you can see how it knocked out pretty much everybody else who didn’t have the expertise,” she said.
Kirkman said the sale was “bittersweet” for her clients, who had dreamed of retiring to a cottage by the sea.
The couple moved to Northland after purchasing the lifestyle property in June 2022, but just five months later the property was damaged in a landslide. It suffered even more problems when Cyclone Gabrielle struck in 2023.
The couple had to find somewhere else to live after the council issued a yellow sticker amid concerns that further land movement could compromise the 115-year-old house.
Kirkman told OneRoof last month that the couple was “heartbroken” and “traumatised”.
- Click here to find more properties for sale in Northland
