The owners of a large Invercargill home on the market for just $1 are struggling to give it away.

The house is listed on TradeMe and has been on the market for six weeks but a buyer with some spare loose change has yet to take the plunge.

The biggest hurdle in selling the spacious three-bedroom home, with a classic rimu interior, is that it has to be moved to a new site.

That could cost the buyer anywhere up to $50,000, according to relocation experts.

The Tweed Street property is owned by The Greenvale Group Limited, which operates the neighbouring Rose Lodge Rest Home and Retirement Village.

Manager Janine Lovett said she’s had a “large amount of enquiries” this week.

“It’s a good solid home. Somebody will get a bargain,” she said.

“We’ve got some people interested who are now liaising with removal teams.

“It all comes down to whether their land is suitable for the house, which is quite big.”

Relocatable houses are especially popular in post-earthquake Canterbury, where housing resources are stretched and rent and property prices are soaring.

Richard Hutchinson of the Relocatable House Co said last week that the property could be shifted around the South Island easily.

There would be some challenges given it’s built from brick, with a stucco exterior and tile roof.

But an expert team could move it to a new base within 100km in a few days for $40,000-$50,000, Mr Hutchinson estimated.

Once on its new site, it would have to be re-insulated and given a new cladding.

“It looks like a nice, solid big house. Moving it wouldn’t be a problem,” he said.

But it will be a bargain for someone, said local real estate agent Daryl Spence.

“For $1, someone will want it,” he said.

“A dairy farmer or someone could want it on their farm to put their workers in.”

The house, on its site, would go for around $130,000 in its current state of disrepair, Mr Spence reckoned.

It has a government valuation (gv) of $144,000.

Ms Lovett said that once the house was gone, they could tidy up the site, and think about using it for future development.

– APNZ