A flood-affected house in New South Wales has been sold for $1.<\/p>\n
It is one of 11 houses sold at auction as part of a state government scheme to sell flooded homes for relocation on the far north coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Other houses were sold for $5, with the highest price reaching $8,500 at the Murwillumbah auction on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
First Nation Real Estate Murwillumbah principal Scott Reading said each time a house was sold, it was met with loud cheers and applause.<\/p>\n
“It was an excited mob, and there was disbelief that they could pick up such a good property for the prices they were going for,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Reading said nine out of the 11 sales went to local residents, some of whom had lived through the floods that damaged the houses.<\/p>\n
The buyers will cover the cost of relocating the homes to a safe location.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grand designs, bargain prices<\/p>\n
In a nation in the grip of a housing crisis, Mr Reading said the prices represented unbeatable value.<\/p>\n
“Most of them were in really good condition; some of them had even been renovated after the floods, so they are pretty much ready to move into,” he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some of the homes sold need work, and there are costs involved with relocation. (Supplied: First National Murwillumbah)<\/p>\n
“There was probably only one that needed work, but it was a beautiful iconic Queenslander home.”<\/p>\n
Jaya Roche and her partner, Cory, were not intending to buy a house, but called in to the auction out of interest.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jaya Roche and Cory, pictured with auctioneer Dave Eller, have bought their first house for $200. (Supplied: Jaya Roche)<\/p>\n
“We didn’t go in with the intention of buying anything, but when they were going for $5 and $1 we were like, why not? Let’s bid and see what happens \u2014 it was a spur of the moment [decision],” Ms Roche said.<\/p>\n
“It was pretty surreal \u2026 like, did we just buy a house?<\/p>\n
“I would have pictured us buying our first house and asking for a loan of $600,000 plus, not $200.”<\/p>\n
Feels like ‘home’<\/p>\n
The couple and their daughter, Mila, are no strangers to the home they purchased.<\/p>\n
They were renting the very same house, but lost everything when it was flooded in the 2022 NSW flood event.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jaya Roche and her family lost the contents of their rental home when it was flooded. (Supplied:Jaya Roche)<\/p>\n
Three months after the flood, they moved back into the house, and Ms Roche found out she was pregnant with their second child, Archie.<\/p>\n
But they were soon on the move again.<\/p>\n
“We got an email that the house had been sold to the Reconstruction Authority (RA), and we had 90 days to move out,” she said.<\/p>\n
But the house remained in their hearts.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jaya Roche fell in love with this fireplace when she rented the property. (Supplied: First National Real Estate Murwillumbah)<\/p>\n
“We just love the house, ever since we looked at it when we were looking for a rental,” Ms Roche said.<\/p>\n
“The character, [and] there’s a big, beautiful fireplace \u2014 I instantly fell in love with it.<\/p>\n
“It just feels like home for us, even though it was a rental.”<\/p>\n
Housing affordability redefined<\/p>\n
Kristie Clarke, executive director of the RA’s Northern Rivers Adaptation Division, said the buyback program was unique.<\/p>\n
“This has never been done anywhere in Australia and possibly even the world that I am aware of, through a state government buyback program, where homes have been offered to the community with no reserve,” she said.<\/p>\n
A $1 house may be a bargain, but there are still costs to remove and relocate the house.<\/p>\n
On its website, the NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA) estimated the average cost to relocate a home was between $80,000 and $140,000.<\/p>\n
Ms Clarke advised prospective buyers to do their due diligence, getting quotes and investigating the route of the relocation, access and site suitability.<\/p>\n
“Often relocation providers will need to cut the house in half, so it might be going on two trucks, so that increases the costs,” she said.<\/p>\n
There is also design, approvals, compliance, and site works to factor into the cost.<\/p>\n
More houses on offer<\/p>\n
On November 17, 10 more houses will go under the hammer at an auction at Lismore.<\/p>\n
“It’s an opportunity for people in the community to purchase a property for as little as $1,” Ms Clarke said.<\/p>\n
A further 24 homes will be released by the end of the year, with auctions scheduled for December.<\/p>\n
The RA had more than 700 properties being assessed to see if the houses were suitable for relocation.<\/p>\n
“We are really excited to see this program continuing until early next year,” Ms Clarke said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jaya Roche and her family once rented this house, but have now purchased it. (Supplied: First National Real Estate Murwillumbah)<\/p>\n
The excitement was contagious, as reality set in for new home owner Ms Roche.<\/p>\n
After living in the house through the flood, she believed the home coming back into their lives was poetic.<\/p>\n
“It feels like a very full-circle moment, the universe’s way of putting us back to where we were after everything that happened.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A flood-affected house in New South Wales has been sold for $1. It is one of 11 houses…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11756,64,63,162160,162163,7688,162162,44,121694,162161,19952],"class_list":{"0":"post-279854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-affordable-housing","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-cheapest-house","12":"tag-flood-affected-homes-sold","13":"tag-housing","14":"tag-low-house-price","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-nsw-reconstruction-authority","17":"tag-record-house-price","18":"tag-rental"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}