Wellington wind: For-sale home wrecked by falling trees

A Porirua man is “devastated” after a property he put up for sale was wrecked by falling trees during the extreme weather that battered the Wellington region.

John Holmes told the Herald he and his partner were trying to sell their Titahi Bay home as part of their move to Australia.

Yesterday’s destructive weather toppled two large trees on his property, crushing his outdoor studio, shed, spa and fence, and breaking windows in his house.

Ironically, Holmes is currently off work because a tree fell on his leg and injured him in an incident unrelated to this week’s weather bomb.

The 64-year-old had a buyer lined up to purchase his home and the sale was meant to become unconditional this week.

He said he feels “devastated” and is afraid the buyer will pull out or that the property will be sold for less than what he hoped for.

A "huge" macrocarpa tree crushed much of Holmes' backyard.

Holmes bought his house 15 years ago for about $390,000 and described it as a “fixer-upper”.

It was being sold for $600,000.

“It was a bit low, to be honest, but I’m wanting to move to Australia, so I wanted to get rid of it, basically,” he said.

The house has three bedrooms, a bathroom and a rumpus room.

Holmes had built a deck that had “lovely views over the sea” and added a spa pool, a studio and a shed on it.

What Holmes' deck looked like before it was destroyed by a falling tree.

The deck was built around an 80-year-old macrocarpa tree that he described as “one of the biggest trees in Titahi Bay” and was also close to a large pine tree.

“It only had to hang in for another week,” he lamented.

When both trees fell, they destroyed much of Holmes’ outdoor area as well as the fences of five neighbouring houses.

A few weeks ago, Holmes and his partner moved to Coolgardie, a small town in Western Australia, so they were not able to check on their house themselves after the storm.

He said his real estate agent had been helpful and had taped up the broken windows for them.

A friend of the couple’s was staying in the house but wasn’t home when the trees fell.

A large pine tree which crashed into Holmes' home and broke some windows.

Holmes said he was still paying off the mortgage on his home and was keen to sell it to tie up his loose ends in New Zealand.

He was waiting for his insurance provider to send a property assessor to check out the damages, and knew he would have to pay an excess of $5000.

“I have no idea how much it is going to cost, it looks expensive,” he said.

“Just removing the trees themselves is going to be a mission because they are so big.”

“Any prospective buyers out there can have a lot of free firewood, I’m estimating thousands of dollars’ worth,” he joked.

Holmes confirmed his new home is in the middle of the Australian desert and has no large trees looming nearby.

Janhavi Gosavi is a Wellington-based journalist for the New Zealand Herald who covers news in the capital.