RachelG12

I'll be needing the name of both your agent and you solicitor very soon

Happy New Year to you all

Rach & James xx

chris the property man

Wow...that's some pretty harsh comments regarding Real Estate Agents.

No doubt that all of the comments are true with regards to some Agents, but you simply cannot put all of us (yes, I am one) in the same category of lying, scum of the earth! We are human, and as with all walks of life, there is good and bad. As a buyer or seller, it is your responsibility to find one that you can trust and believe. I would suggest going off recommendation.

I always do the best for my client/customer with the knowledge that at the end of the day my reputation is everything. A good reputation takes ages to make but can be lost very quickly.

I am based in East Auckland, and even though the population of Auckland is huge compared to the rest of NZ, it is still a very small place and evryone knows everyone, or at least knows someone that knows everyone...you know what I mean..2 degrees of separation.

We do get paid well for what we do but we also work very hard...saturdays and sundays, late nights, on call pretty much 24/7. So, please, try not to tar us all with the same brush. I perform my job to the very best of my ability, with integrity and professionalism...can everbody say the same??

Anyway, as I said, I am based in East Auckland (Howick/Pakuranga area) - if anyone would like any help or advice (and I don't just mean stuff that will earn me a commission!) or just a chat about the Real Estate industry over here, I am more than happy to oblige.

Anybody looking at moving over here, I would seriously suggest that you rent for the first few months first - get a feel for the area etc, before you make that big decision to buy. Buying without seeing is not a good idea, in my humble experience.

Soap box put away now.

Chris.

Snap Shot

My MIL lives in Pakauranga, Auckland and her neighbours' house was sold just before Christmas after being totally refurbished.

chris the property man

Pakuranga is where my office is and where I do a lot of my work.

thedtb

We never bought a property during our time in NZ so perhaps I have no real grounds to comment, but I never really understood the 'celebrity' angle of agent's marketing themselves.

Neither do I understand the concept of being told (as a buyer) to find an agent you trust and like etc etc. Surely as a buyer, the agent is just the person you go through in order to negotiate a price with the seller, in which case if the agent is acting on behalf of the seller, why (as a buyer) would you ever trust them to do anything other than try to extract as much money from you as possible?

We left NZ for good on Christmas Eve so it'll never be an issue, but it did cross my mind prior that if I ever did have a house to sell in NZ I'd steer well clear of any agent who's name was advertised more than my house. Buying/selling property should be about the property, not inflating the already over (and unnecessarily) exposed, unjustifiably, self-inflated, egotistical personas of people that really, aren't that special.

Coming back to the OP, it used to frustrate the hell out of me to read a great description/title of a house, to then find a only a few pictures of the garden and nothing of the internals of the house itself. I could only conclude that the great description must therefore have been bullsh*t and that the house was actually not worth considering.

Listings without prices too... I mean, what's that all about?? If they can't be arsed stating how much it's for sale for, I couldn't be arsed considering it any further!

chris the property man

I have to agree with you on the celebrity status of real estate agents. I don't get it either and it surprised me when I first came over from the UK to see how it is here. Then it became 'the norm' and now that I am in the industry, you either go with it to some degree (I do minimal personal profiling) or you get frustrated by clients choosing the more well known agents over you. It has become a kind of status symbol to some people, to have a 'famous' agent selling their house.

As far as agents not treating buyers with respect, again, I agree with you that a lot of agents don't treat buyers as well as they should. I always treat my buyers with honesty and respect whilst, as you so rightly pointed out, always keeping my sellers best interest at heart. That is the contract that I have entered into with the seller and by whom I will be paid. Nevertheless, buyers need to be treated with a duty of care also. That is not only my own personal view on things but also the way we agents are bound by law - if we do treat a buyer (or seller) badly and do not have a duty of care towards them then we can be fined and lose our license. That doesn't stop all agents from acting unscrupiously, but the industry has been cleaned up a hell of a lot because of it.

The descriptions used in advertising for properties do leave a lot to be desired, again, you are quite correct. In the UK the descriptions are much less flowery and more factual. Again, I don't like the way the descriptions are done here, and believe that the UK system is better. Time will tell if things ever head towards the UK way of doing things, as a lot of things do here.

Saying that, I can honestly say that UK agents do not really do much for the client. They don't even tend to do viewings with them, never mind run open homes. They leave the owner to show people around the house which can be problematic - owners being less than up front with any issues that the house may have without fear of any come back. In NZ agents do a hell of a lot of work for a client (hence the large commissions charged) and if they are less than truthful about the property, again, they can be fined and lose their license to operate.

All in all there are some good and bad things about the real estate industry here, as with most if not all countries. It is what it is. Most of your points are quite valid, but, as I said earlier, NZ agents are, like all agents throughout the world, only human. Some will be well meaning and honest whilst others will not. The same can be said for the police, government officials, car mechanics etc., etc. That is why I say that you should look for an agent that you can trust...through word of mouth and recommendation and by using your own judgement. You may get it wrong, just the way you might with getting your car fixed. The implications may be more far reaching but it is basically boils down to the same thing...there is good and bad in every walk of life.

I hope that you and your family settle well in your new country of residence. Good luck with any future property transactions!

Kind regards.

Chris

thedtb

A great post Chris.

Synky

Now a bit worried about finding a property in NZ! Is there really no central heating or double glazing? What do you do when it is 2 degrees outside?

Sherlock Holmes

It's pretty rare in NZ and Oz. I have no idea why this has come about. Insulation is also fairly poor.

I think, and I've been wrong before, that much of the housing stock was built at a time when the main consideration was to lose heat in summer. (Before airccon became the norm) This has been achieved but of course it means that heat loss in winter is awful.

But most locals seem to cope with it easily enough. I suppose it is what you grow up with.

Double glazing has now only just become law in new buildings in Oz but the best I can find is two 4mm panes with a 10 mm gap, although the gap is a vacuum.

thedtb

In our 3.5yrs in NZ we rented a total of 5 houses. Whilst most (particularly the last one) were large houses on huge plots of land in great locations with views to die for, from an insulation and (lack of) damp perspective, I've stayed in caravans that were better built.

Seriously, the upper floor of the last house we were in had almost entirely fibre-glass type external walls that were probably no more than an inch thick, most of which was a hollow cavity in the middle. The insulation in the attic was a layer of dust-like material no more than 1cm deep.

The heat in the summer was unbelievable but in the winter it was ****** freezing. But, as most kiwis will preach, it had a superb fire that would heat the whole of the house - except that's bollox because naturally only the room the fire was in got warm and with the bedrooms at the other end of a very long house we'd regularly go to bed with the bedrooms being so cold we were able to see our breath!

It's different when buying somewhere because there's more choice and so far as I could tell, better/more thorough 'home improvements' having been carried out. But Central Heating is all but non-existent with kiwi's seemingly preferring 'Heat Pumps' (otherwise known as Air Conditioning units, elsewhere in the world).

If we ever return to NZ and are in a position to buy, I'd absolutely only consider building something to my own spec. But to get anything on par with UK comfort I'd expect to be paying through the nose.

MrsFychan

we have to have heat pumps as where we live there is no piped gas. further into a bigger town and in new builds you may get it.
As for double glazing most landlords won't pay out for it as its fairly expensive.

I wouldn't worry to much about it just try and get a short term let, ask even if they say minimum 1 yr lease, so if the place is poor you can move on fairly quickly.

Snap Shot

I agree with Mrs Fychan with regard to heating. We had 2 heat pumps installed. (Glorified wall heater) One upstairs in the loft void with vents to each room, one downstairs in the dining room. They are on timers so will warm the house before we wake in the winter and will also warm the house for us in the evening. They work by taking the heat from the outside air, via a fan unit, yes, even when it's minus lots centigrade. Don't ask me, I don't understand compression technology ! This, apparently is cheaper than a heating element in a wall heater.

We could have had radiator central heating installed, 'Savona' is the brand here. However our hot water system does not use a boiler so I felt there was no point having 2 parallel hot water systems in the house. We're on mains gas. We have a gas fire and a gas hob.

We could have rented a house Wanganui with radiators installed but the agent showing us around the property had no idea where the controls for it were, or much less cared.

We paid to have double glazing installed last year. It's all good. I agree that it's nonsense to expect one heater to heat the whole house. How uncomfortably hot would that be to sit next to ? We paid to have the doors put back in the doorways in the kitchen. What is it with kiwis and no doors ?

chris the property man

In the cold months, people here tend to just "rug up" - several layers - it's like the old days in the UK before central heating and double glazing. Coming from Glasgow, I'm sure that you are used to the cold.

It was a bit of an issue for us when we first arrived, but you get used to it.

I'd far rather be cold here than centrally heated back there...that's my opinion, for what it's worth.

We got to see ChCh before the earthquakes and it was an absolutely beautiful city and one that we did consider emigrating to originally. I'm not too sure what it is like now but I do hope that it gets back on its feet again.

Good luck with the move.

Chris

Jan n Neil

Hey Chris, well done for being brave and fronting up


WTF do they charge between 25 and 40 grand to sell a house ? that money goes straight on to the asking price and apart from a couple of open homes and an ad on trade me i fail to see where the money is going

Been to a couple of open homes recently and couldn,t even get the asking price out of a couple of them

Neil

Snap Shot

Why the big mystery for house prices ? They are just as never you mind with regard to salaries as well. I understand make me an offer with regard to a house sale, but, c'mon, gimme a clue !