01 House for sale

Although not being interested in buying a house at all, I got lured into viewing an "as is where is" for sale, earthquake damaged house in Christchurch in October 2015.

The house, however, intrigued and fascinated me from the minute I walked in and I could connect to it easily.
There was something funny and majestic and sassy about it, a wee bit mystical if you like and I loved the craftsmanship it was built with.
It's an Oamaru stone house, built and owned by a stone mason.
It is only a small house but with its tin pressed ceilings and Rimu joinery it all looked still quite authentic.
On top of the earthquake damage there obviously had been a severe lack of maintenance and there were signs of borer damage.
Thoughts about restoring it were triggered; I got involved but was I going to be able to buy it?.
Its location was the only downside to me; a house like this wants to be located at a large open space in nature.

The house was to be sold "as is where is' which basically means that serious structural issues are to be expected.
Building and Geotech reports were provided and, in my opinion, herein some unfortunate mistakes had been made by the assessing engineers.
The earthquake damaged house was assessed as if it were a timber framed house and the fact that the roots of a large, 100 year old nut tree in front of the house had reinforced the soft TC3 soil on one side was overlooked.
Once the wrong path was chosen for its reinstatement strategy it became inevitable that the house was going to be a total-loss.
It is a pity since in my view the house actually had performed remarkably well in the earthquakes.
My conclusion fed my sympathy for this wee house even more.

Banks do not mortgage "as is where is" properties and I was not able to put in a reasonable offer at the auction.
The house got sold but I was not ready to let it go just yet.
The house was telling me a story and, assuming that my research could be of any kind of service to the new owners, I kept tuning into it.
Once word went around that the new owners were going to have the house demolished I felt gutted.
This house is too beautiful to be dumped as landfill at Lyttleton Harbour.

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