A derelict home in Wellington, barely visible it is so overgrown, with mouldy, rotting walls and floors, is on the market and advertised as a property unlike any other.
The Tawa property has a rateable value of $860,00 with a land value of $690,000.
Derelict house for sale in Tawa, Wellington with $860,000 RV
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The 933sq m of land at 17 Romney Square is zoned for medium-density residential and “ripe for redevelopment”.
The elderly owner moved out of the house a few years ago due to ill health and is described as a private individual. He has owned it since 1978.
The home, built in the 1940s, is barely visible because it has become overgrown with trees and foliage.
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It has been described as being in extremely poor and potentially dangerous condition. An interior photo of the remnants of a kitchen shows peeling walls, mould and piles of rubbish.
“The vendor makes no warranties as to the safety and the structural soundness of the dwelling and the property is being sold ‘as is, where is’,” the listing said.
For safety reasons, prospective buyers must organise restricted and supervised access to look at the property.
“Grab your hard hat and safety boots,” the listing said.
Ray White real estate agents John Callum and Mark Logan are tasked with selling the property.
Logan said the land could accommodate multiple homes in a new development.
It was a property for buyers with experience in big projects, he said.
“With tough times, you’ve got builders and building companies that haven’t got much work on but they’ve got staff who have been loyal to them for a long time so they’ll want to keep them busy and keep them employed so they might find a project to employ their staff - that could be a buyer for this type of property.”
The buyer was unlikely to be a first-home buyer, Logan said.
“The bank wouldn’t lend them any money. Secondly, they’re not going to get insurance and if you can’t get insurance, the bank won’t lend to you anyway. So to buy it you’d have to have all the cash in the bank.”
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Earlier this year, a million-dollar dump too dangerous to step inside was listed in the Wellington suburb of Northland, OneRoof reported.
The abandoned home at 4 Puketiro Ave has million-dollar views but was on the market for sale at much less than that.
The listing called on buyers to detonate or develop the crumbling four-bedroom concrete home. Tommy’s agent Ramon Kane told OneRoof a brand new home on the 445sq m site could fetch over $2.5 million.
The current property has a 2021 RV of $1.06m (only $10,000 of it is the improvement value) but was seeking inquiries over $795,000.
Kane said the house and its former resident had been the talk of the neighbourhood “for years”.
Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.
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