People often ask me what it’s like shopping for real estate on the Chathams. They’re keen to know how often property comes on the market and what logistics are involved in building a home from the ground up.
A lot of land on the Chatham’s is in reserves managed by the Department of Conservation, iwi- or imi-owned, or is family land – meaning it has multiple owners. Family-owned land here usually sits vacant, housing only weka, wild pigs and cattle, and farming only gorse.
Land, and also homes, very rarely come up for sale here. Although in the last year, seven or eight sales have been made here, which is much higher than normal. It has been encouraging to see local families move from renting or living with family, to purchasing some of these homes and land – allowing them to put down roots, or simply upgrade.
We were lucky enough to purchase two acres of land here last year. At the time, it was our dream to build a big home, and it still is. However, our vision and plans have changed a hundred times over the last twelve months as our business, children and life in general all evolve and grow. We have managed to build a three-bay shed on the land already, to store our business gear and toys. Kenny did ninety per cent of the building work himself, and the kids and I helped out where we could.
We have explored all the options: tiny homes, transportable homes, shed homes. We have now settled on building using a kitset, but have no specific timeline – just in the next twelve to eighteen months, to keep me happy. It’s tough times for home-owners with mortgages, but things seem to be improving, even if it’s just ever so slightly. We are hoping to get over the line very soon, but we are currently at the mercy of the bank.
We are also working with the challenges of living on an island eight hundred kilometres from the mainland. Nothing is straightforward here, as I am sure our readers have already established. Luckily, we have a very understanding bank manager who has been very patient and helpful, despite the added layer of complexity of building on an island adds.
The cost of building a home here is sixty per cent higher than mainland New Zealand. This is mainly due to the excruciating cost of freight on all of your building materials, which are shipped in by boat. There is no nipping to Bunnings here! Often you will also be required to fly in all of your tradespeople for the job, accommodate them, and feed them two smokos and lunch every day. All of these extra expenses make for a costly build for a basic three-bedroom home of the sort we are after.
Despite all the challenges it will bring – and even though we aren’t sure the Chathams will be our home forever – we know that we always want to have our own slice of the island to hold on to and come back to – for both us and our kids. We will keep chipping away at building our Chatham Island dream, although I suspect it will be a long and difficult – not to mention costly! – process. I’m confident it will be totally worth it in the end. Watch this space!
This story appeared in our August Social Club newsletter.
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