"What people are realising is that a house might have a crack through the foundation but otherwise b

Real estate agents say they are seeing a growing number of sales where property owners have taken a cash settlement from their insurance company for the rebuild of their quake-damaged home and are then selling their property for the value of the land only.
"Ultimately if it [the house] has to be demolished, it will at the new owner's cost but quite often they are habitable. What an insurance company deems as uneconomic to repair may, with some remedial work, be fine for the next few years, after which it can be redeveloped. And, of course, in the interim they [the investors] can get quite a good return by renting travel deals to australia it."
Examples of such properties currently on the market include a 660sq m hillside section in Sumner that has an asking price of just $225,000. A house - which has a capital value for rating purposes of $256,000 - comes with the land but it has been written off by the owner's insurers.
travel deals to australia In Avondale two two-bedroom townhouses for which the owners have been paid out by their insurance companies, are being offered for sale "as is where is". One is being marketed travel deals to australia at $149,000, which is $137,000 less than its rateable value of $286,000 while the other is being offered travel deals to australia by negotiation over $145,000. Before the quakes it had a rateable value of $277,000.
Real estate agent Phil Jones, of Ray White, is selling both the Avondale properties and has already secured offers on them. He has found demand from investors for "as is where is" properties and is looking for more.
"This particular market is driven by investors because you have to have cash because the banks won't loan on them," Jones said. There were some risks to buying such properties but the potential returns were significant if the houses could be rented out.
Mike Pero, of Mike Pero Real Estate, said he was aware of a number of sales in the eastern suburbs of properties where the houses had been written off by the insurance companies and then sold on with full disclosure.
"What people are realising is that a house might have a crack through the foundation travel deals to australia but otherwise be fine as long as we don't get another quake. Why shouldn't they take the risk of paying $250,000 for the land when they can get a free house that would cost them another travel deals to australia $300,000 to $400,000?
"It's a wee bit like buying a car that has been written off because the chassis is bent. As far as the insurance company is concerned it's not the way it was and the owner deserves a new one [car], but you can take it to an engineer and get it straightened and for all intents and purposes it will be OK. I have no problems with that as long as the buyer is aware.