It took just 30 seconds for a tornado to rip through a property and leave a Waikato couple with two empty sections and nowhere to live.
Dani and Chris Simpson had only just moved into their home at Island View, Waihi Beach, when the twister struck in February 2023 and tore the roof off.
They had bought the house so they had somewhere to live while they built their dream home on a bare section at 27 Tohora View, but the tornado ripped their plans to shreds.
“It was just so unexpected,” Dani told OneRoof. “It was like, ‘Now what? We are homeless again – what the heck?’”
They did a lot of soul-searching and decided to go with the quickest solution: they put their dream build at Tohora View on hold and switched to building something new on their Island View site.
The Island View house was meant to be a stopgap until it was destroyed by a tornado in a 2023. Photo / Supplied
The Simpsons moved into their new home at the end of last year and love it so much that they don’t want to move again. “We got to a point where we were like, ‘Actually, we are happy where we are.’”
This means the 768sqm section at 27 Tohora View is now surplus to requirements and for sale.
Dani told OneRoof that when the couple first moved from Hamilton to Waihi Beach in 2021, they couldn’t find any suitable houses, but they did love the views from 27 Tohora View.
“We walked onto the site and were like, ‘Oh my god, this is it,’” she said.
Finally making the call to sell after so many years had been tough.
“It’s bittersweet because we’ve got a lovely new home where we are, but at the same time, we fell in love with the views up on Tohoroa View. It blew our minds when we walked onto that site and just fell in love with it, but someone else will get the benefit of that,” Dani said.
The section has views of the Kaimai Range to the west and Slipper Island to the east. On a clear day, Mount Maunganui and White Island are also visible.
The 768sqm section at 27 Tohora View has one of the best views in the town. Photo / Supplied
The property is being sold with concept plans for a new home. Photo / Supplied
The Simpsons spent a lot of time designing a four-bedroom, two-level home to make the most of the views, and those plans are included in the sale.
“We spent quite a lot of time trying to work out the best use of the space,” Dani said.
The consent is sitting with council, so the new owner can easily make changes to it or go ahead with it exactly how it is.
Harcourts Waihi Beach agent Graeme Morrison said elevated sections in dress circle locations in the town were as “rare as hen’s teeth”. There were currently only two sections for sale in the subdivision, and this was the more superior of the two.
“It’s private and you can’t be built out.”
He said the property would suit someone who wanted to build a spectacular home. “A lot of the hard preliminary work has already been done.”