Have you thought about owning a home but don’t know how to go about it? This is a great opportunity to find out all the things Home Buyers need to know. Learn about: The Welcome Home First Steps workshops from Housing new Zealand take you through the following seven modules about the house buying process: Is home [...]
With more than 140 blog posts under my belt, sometimes the desire to write articles that are interesting, relevant, and fresh is hindered by a touch of writers block. I am constantly mulling over subjects and in my mind, piecing together drafts which I file away for future use when the need to push into [...]
There are plenty of buyer checklists around, but I thought I’d take a moment and compose a basic list of the good and bad bits of housing in each of the building decades in NZ. This is definitely not an exhaustive list and I would love your input if there are things left off the [...]
Every era of housing has their strengths and weak points in terms of building materials and construction. For homes built in the late 1970′s and into the 1980′s, it is important to check the plumbing system. During this period, the first polybutylene plumbing was introduced. One of the brands that has been highlighted to be [...]
The seasonally adjusted number of new houses authorised in February, excluding apartments, has fallen 7.8% from January, the lowest level for two years, according to Statistics New Zealand. The seasonally adjusted number of new houses authorised in February, excluding apartments, has fallen 7.8% from January, the lowest level for two years, according to Statistics New [...]
I have just happened upon a cool website. It is based in the states but uses google maps to score your home in terms of walkability to amenities. What is your home’s walk score??? Use this walkscore to sell oyur home to buyers! http://www.walkscore.com/ And if you want to do more than walk to the [...]
Having spent over a year writing blogs via the realestate.co.nz website and having clocked up 79 posts with unique visits now heading firmly toward 10,000, my stream of fresh ideas for posts that are relevant, insightful and original has waned to a trickle. In an effort to find topical subjects, I turned to the analytics [...]
Where does an agent/licensee draw the line between wanting to please and fulfill their obligation to their Vendor, and the need to provide information and protect their purchaser in a transaction? I certainly don’t have the definitive answer to this question and would love input from industry players and home buyers and sellers. If you [...]
Sale by Tender – As a buyer, doesn’t that word make you cringe? Do you have the irresistible urge to tell the agent that you hate tenders? Do you avoid visiting the homes that are selling by tender? Do you put a big red line through the advertising in the Property Press that mentions the [...]
Security, pride of ownership, a chance to save…..there are many reasons why most New Zealanders choose to own their own home. You’ll find that there are few countries where it is simpler and more affordable to own your own home than New Zealand. The following are 10 steps to lead you to owning a place [...]
As an agent, I sometimes inwardly cringe when some of these questions are asked, but as a buyer, it is always good to ask direct questions if you want direct answers! Before deciding on whether to offer or what price to offer – here are five questions you should consider asking: 1.How did the vendor [...]
Does your home’s Rating Valuation represent real value?? And what is market value anyway? Market Value is the most probable amount that a willing and informed buyer will pay and a willing and informed seller will accept for a property in a competitive and open market under all conditions requisite to a fair sale, the [...]
Do I have to pay a deposit? Where does it go once it is paid? What happens when the home you are selling goes unconditional and yet doesn’t settle or the vendor pulls out of the deal at the last minute even though the contract is unconditional and a deposit paid. This nzherald article got [...]
Having spent over a year writing blogs via the realestate.co.nz website and having clocked up 79 posts with unique visits now heading firmly toward 10,000, my stream of fresh ideas for posts that are relevant, insightful and original has waned to a trickle. In an effort to find topical subjects, I turned to the analytics [...]
I wouldn’t usually cut and paste word for word as I realise it is bad form, but I felt that this ruling was so important as a guide (or not!) for our industry that I decided to make an exception this once in case any of my colleagues missed the news. Having used the BEO [...]
