The highly anticipated charity auction of 445 Mairehau Road (earthquake renovation project) was held on-site on Saturday, 8 October, with phenomenal success.
To share a bit of background, in late 2015 a builder and his wife came up with the idea to renovate an earthquake damaged house in Christchurch and give the profits to support the fight against human trafficking in Southeast Asia through Christchurch-born charity, Nvader.
Following the Christchurch earthquake, there was a significant number of houses that were either written off by insurance companies or had such extensive damage that the owners decided to sell “as is, where is”. Meaning that the buyer took on all the associated risk.
445 Mairehau Road was purchased and the couple project managed and renovated the home, rallying Christchurch businesses to provide materials and labour for little or no cost. Ray White Metro have agreed to sell the property through auction for no fee!
Fast forward to September 2016 and 445 Mairehau Road has been completely renovated and open for inspection! Sonya Pascoe and Racheal Milne from Ray White Metro marketed the property and the Salespeople hosted open homes three times a week till auction date.
Auction day was held on Saturday, 8 October, a beautiful sunny Christchurch morning. A good crowd of people arrived to raise money through selling this property that had been purchased as an “as is – uninsured” property. With the generous donations from 21 companies in Christchurch, and around 30 people including trades people and builders plus our own Ray White Metro team,the owners fully remediated the house and took it to auction. There were three bidders on the day who fought it out with the winning bid of $425,000, bringing the hammer down by Ray White Auctioneer, Owen Patterson. Ray White Metro Business Owner, Tony McPherson, donned an apron and Ray White bow tie to cook up a storm on the BBQ creating a very festive occasion. Certificates of appreciation were handed to the key businesses who had donated time and skill to enable this project to happen.
The sale proceeds of 445 Mairehau Road totalled $70,000, the entire sum was donated to Nvader. Nvader, a Christchurch-born charity, was established in 2012 and has an office in Thailand from which it conducts operations. As at the end of last year (2015) some 2,750 women and children have either been rescued or prevented from sex-trafficking since its first operation.
445 Mairehau Road Charity Auction is proudly supported by:
Ray White Metro, AON Insurance, Ready Lawn, Canterbury Landscape Supplies Ltd, Hirepool, Mitre 10 Mega, The Flooring Centre, Powell Fenwick, Terra Viva, ABC Signs, TG Interiors, GB Photography, Trade Me, Realestate.co.nz, The Press, PropertyPress, Trees For Canterbury, Quality Painting Enterprises, Trevor Thompson Electrical Contracting, Rob and Jenny Blakely
