Have you ever heard of the term “nail house”? Well, if you’ve seen the movie Up by Pixar Animation Studios, then you know exactly what we’re talking about.
Nail houses are those houses sticking out like a nail in wood that can’t be hammered down, because their owners are refusing to sell their property to developers.
The term was initially coined to refer to this kind of house in China, but it is now used worldwide.
You can also find them as holdouts.
Owners, just like Carl Fredricksen in the movie, hold on to their land and refuse to sell it sometimes because they consider the amount they are offered too low, and some others because they just don’t want to leave their property.
Like in the case of the Zammit family in Sydney, who have been holding onto their land and not succumbing to the temptation of easy money.
You see, their property is estimated to cost about $50 million, but the Zammits don’t care.
When they initially bought the property in the Ponds, a 30-minute drive away from Sydney’s CBD, it was a land of cottages and farms.
Every house was different, with its own special touch and character. Over the last few years, all their neighbors have sold their properties to development agencies, and constructors have built new homes that look the same.
Mom Diane told Daily Mail Australia that the place used to be “farmland dotted with little red brick homes and cottages”.
“Every home was unique and there was so much space – but not any more. It’s just not the same,” she added.
Today it’s not the same anymore. But they still don’t want to leave their home which almost looks like a castle on the massive property.
Indeed, the property is huge. It features a lush lawn and it has a 200-meter driveway, leading to the brick home with a triple garage.
It is estimated that 40 to 50 houses could be built on the land if the family decided to sell.
“Depending on how far you push the development plan, you’d be able to push anywhere from 40 to 50 properties on something like this, and when subdivided, a 300 square metre block would get a million dollars.” Ray White Quakers Hill agent Taylor Bredin told 7News.
Still, Bredin admires the family for not succumbing to the temptation of easy money.
The Zammit family is very private, and they do not reveal their plans for the future when it comes to selling the house at a higher price or not.
Similar cases of nail houses have made the news before, like a 108-year-old farmhouse in Seattle Washington, which was owned by Edith Macefield.
The woman refused to sell it, but she became friends with the construction chief, Barry Martin, and he became her heir when she passed away at 86 in 2008.
Today, the house is still there and looks just like the house from the Pixar movie.
So, what would you do if you were in a situation like these folks?
