- An elaborate shipping container home in Ōhaupō has sold after a 16-month wait.
- The unique property, which attracted two offers, sold for $2.055m.
- The buyers, a young family, were drawn to the home’s unique features and scenic views.
An elaborate shipping container home that made international headlines and accrued thousands of Facebook followers has finally found a buyer after a 16-month wait.
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And vendors Esther and Warwick Sargisson are pleased the right family appeared for their much-loved lifestyle property on Ranby Road, in Ōhaupō, Waikato.
Lugtons listing agent Grant Paterson said a “little bit of patience” had been needed to find the right buyer. The unique home was first listed on OneRoof in March last year and sold for $2.055 million.
The home was constructed using two sets of six shipping containers that were connected by a large symmetrical staircase. Photo / Supplied
The successful buyers already lived on a lifestyle block in the Waikato and were looking for the next step up for their young family.
It was taken off the market for a few months before being relisted with Paterson in November last year. The vendors ended up with two offers, but one was from an overseas buyer who was unable to sort out all the details in time.
“It has been a bit of a journey, but it is obviously with a smaller buyer pool anyway and this particular property was a bit more unique, so it was always going to be a bit of a patience game.”
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The buyers loved the property’s unique qualities and its aspect, including the views of Lake Rotomanuka to the south and farmland to the north. “They were really taken by the views and the peacefulness of it,” Paterson told OneRoof.
The five-bedroom, three-bathroom container home had some impressive features, including the floor-to-ceiling windows, massive glass fire-station door that opened the entire side of the house to the outdoors, and the large symmetrical staircase, which was a demolition find.
There was also a pool made from concrete and timber and a separate two-bedroom cottage, which had been rented out to provide additional income.
The large open-plan living has a high ceiling and includes a kitchen made from stainless steel and shipping container offcuts. Photo / Supplied
The slightly elevated property has views of Lake Rotomanuka on one side and farmland on the other. Photo / Supplied
The Sargissons bought the property in 2021 for $1.8m after reading a profile of the home in a newspaper. They told OneRoof in March last year that they were smitten as soon as they stepped inside, and they moved in with their daughter and two grandchildren soon after.
The family has enjoyed living there, but decided to sell to be closer to the grandchildren’s schools and activities in Hamilton.
Warwick Sargisson told OneRoof that selling the property had been “a long, slow slog”.
They would miss the home, but were looking forward to having more time for travel and other hobbies. They had gone unconditional on a property in Flagstaff this week, with Paterson helping them with the move. Both properties settle on the same day, so they can move out of one and straight into the other.
The house in rural Waikato was built by David Wade using 12 containers and took two years to complete. Photo / Supplied
The containers were craned into place, then a roof span added to create an atrium living space. Photo / Supplied
“It’s all come together nicely,” Warwick said.
The container home was a passion project of Waikato man David Wade, who in 2016 set himself an ambitious goal to build a house from large shipping containers.
His creation, believed to be the only one of its kind in Australasia, was inspired by the container houses built by architect and artist Adam Kalkin in the United States.
Wade, an engineer by trade, stacked two sets of six containers on top of each other and joined them with a massive atrium, which is 8m high at its tallest point. Upstairs are the bedrooms and bathrooms, all made from containers. The build took around two years.
A Facebook page, Ōhaupō Container House, dedicated to the house was set up and now has 6900 followers. The unusual building also caught the attention of local and international media and was voted the top container home by an international publication in 2020.
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