Couple Auctions Family Home for 1 Reserve

A couple from the small town of Westport, New Zealand are trying to turn the housing market on its head by listing their 6 bedroom historical home on local auction website Trade Me - under the beds category - with a reserve of $1.

Owners Wayne Saggers and Kathy Wahrlich said they were dead serious about selling their family home.

The guesthouse, known as the Stone House, has a government valuation of $300,000 ('s163;117,000) and is listed with a local real estate company at $370,000 ('s163;144,500). The couple put the house on Trade Me on Thursday night. It was listed as a queen sized bed with a free grand old home and guesthouse attached.

The auction closes on Saturday July 4 at 7.24am (BST). Mr Saggers said they had not been able to sleep since listing on Trade Me. We'sve been up since 4 o'sclock this morning. My partner'ss a nervous wreck.

So far 19 bids had been placed with a top bid of $10,220 ('s163;3,990).

The couple changed their phone number yesterday to avoid a flood of calls. Mr Saggers said the house had already been on the market for six months. Everybody who'ss put offers on it never had any finance. And we just got sick of waiting and waiting, so we decided to take the plunge. We'sre just getting to the stage where we want to get out so we thought, well, we'sll do it. You can either say big balls or stupid - or both.

The couple agreed it was a risk but said there was no turning back. If it [the price stayed at $20 we would have to sell it at $20. I think we are pretty honourable people and we would have to do it. So we'sve taken a gamble.

A share of the house is owned by Kathy'ss son, Eamon Hoolihan who is based in Edinburgh. Eamon only found out about the auction two days in when his mother emailed him the news on Saturday morning. It was quite a surprise, but with Mum you soon learn to expect the unexpected. Looking at the comments on the auction page I'sve also just discovered she'ss planning to buy a bus and travel around New Zealand. Some of the other comments there are quite entertaining, and the support from the public has been great.

As far as Mr Saggers was aware, it was the first time a house had been advertised under the Home and Living/Beds category, rather than Real Estate on Trade Me. He said listing the under beds ensured nationwide coverage. We couldn'st afford to get advertising to the extent that you would need it. Westport is a great place and it'ss poised for a big boom but nobody knows about it, so how do you get the news out there

Westport is a small town of 6,000 people, set on the coast and among some of New Zealand'ss most pristine rainforest. The guesthouse comes with a 1,012m2 freehold section and includes 6 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 3 toilets, double garage, sauna room set-up and off-street parking. It has been developed as a guesthouse and has a signed 6 month contract with a local mining company worth NZ $44,408 which guarantees income to the new owner. With a government valuation of only 's163;117,000 this is a great value lifestyle property and investment opportunity for people as fair afield as the UK and USA.

The auction can be viewed at http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Beds-bedroom-furniture/Beds/Queen/auction-226362368.htm or on the guesthouse blog http://www.westportaccommodation.org. Although Trade Me membership is limited to residents of NZ and Australia, interested parties from other countries may be able to place their bid through the current owners by contacting them on +64 27 327 0347.

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