# Why why why -House sale prices



## walshdon (May 2, 2012)

I am trying to find out the sort of house I can afford, so looking on trade me and almost 70-80% don't give me the price just "by negotiation" no guide nothing. 

Anyone help me by telling me the reason for this?


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## Canuck2Kiwi (Jun 22, 2011)

walshdon said:


> I am trying to find out the sort of house I can afford, so looking on trade me and almost 70-80% don't give me the price just "by negotiation" no guide nothing.
> 
> Anyone help me by telling me the reason for this?



I too find this frustrating. I can't tell you why but take a look at the GIS viewer on the Auckland council website. You can select houses and it gives you a value for the land and the house, plus the combined value. I found this to be a good guide to different neighbourhoods. Hope it helps.

GIS viewer


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## Weta (Feb 11, 2012)

walshdon said:


> Anyone help me by telling me the reason for this?


Because for some reason they all seem to think their house is worth a million dollars. Its like the Trademe effect, in naming their price they would be limiting the potential of some gullible sap or cashed-up immigrant coming along and offering them a bundle more than it is worth.


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## G-Mo (Aug 17, 2011)

While I understand it's frustrating as a casual browser, once you start working with a real estate agent, it makes things a lot easier as they have valuation and price ranges for auction properties.


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## walshdon (May 2, 2012)

But having to make the effort to ring round the different estate agents surely puts people off, it does me.


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## G-Mo (Aug 17, 2011)

walshdon said:


> But having to make the effort to ring round the different estate agents surely puts people off, it does me.


You don't ring around to different real estate agents, you have one that works for you, and they are your go to for this.


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## topcat83 (Apr 16, 2009)

G-mo's sort of right. Real estate agents over here are much more sales people than in the UK.
But I'd say 'buyer beware' - they are generally not working for the buyer, but for the vendor. And if they can get a buyer under their wing and sell them one of their vendor's properties then it's more commission for them. And they charge much more commission than in the UK - anything up to 4% (which I think is a rip-off).

We have (for a number of reasons) been involved in about 7 property deals over here. You do, unfortunately, need to shop around. And the real estate agents don't generally provide the 'flyers' for properties that you would get in the UK. So you can't just wander into a real estate agents and gather a few bits of paper. 

My pet hates are auctions and tenders. We've been involved with one auction, and even though we came out of it with a house for my son, I was left with a bad taste of 'we've been manipulated'. 

Also - read up on the sale process. When you start negotiating you will be signing legally binding documents. Make sure that one of the clauses of the contract is 'subject to due diligence'. Insist on it. The real estate agent may tell you it's not necessary. _Insist on it_. The whole point of this clause is that it gives you a get-out if you need it. It could be something from your solicitor, or a finding from the surveyor or builder. We backed out of a purchase of a piece of land, as the cost of preparing the land was going to be over $100k. Also add 'subject to finance', if you are going for a mortgage (and who doesn't?)

If your negotiation is successful, you will 'go unconditional'. This is the time you need to do all those checks. Make it as long as possible. The agent will be trying to make it as short as possible. The absolute minimum should be two working weeks - you won't get the checks done in less than that.

_Get a building inspection and/or land survey._ In particular get them to check for, and confirm that it isn't a 'leaky building'. Be wary of monolithic cladding on houses. Unfortunately they have a reputation now, even if they're well built. And if it's an older house, check whether it's insulated and how easy it will be to insulate it if it isn't. 


_Do not pay the 10% deposit until you go conditional._ And pay it to your solicitor - _not_ the agent. As long as it's held in a trust account then this is perfectly valid, and I trust my solicitor more than any real estate agent. We had an agent who tried to tell my husband that he was wrong (yeah, right - this was property purchase no 5 for us so we knew what we were doing) and tried to get him to write them a cheque at the same time as we completed the negotiation. They became very nasty when he told them he absolutely would not, and that everything would be done through our solicitor. 

BTW, all the above doesn't apply to auctions - you sign and you buy at those. No unconditional to it. So do all your investigations up front if you're tempted.


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## carosapien (Oct 16, 2011)

Basically do NOT trust a real estate agent, remember they are working for themselves first, their clients second and they don't work for the buyers at all.

With regards to building inspections. These are not as thorough in NZ as they are back in Britain and seldom include electrical inspections. I also find the LIM reports pretty cursory and it's common to find modifications done by previous owners that haven't been permitted. Someone new to the country can get stung big time.

It's good advice to stay away from monolithic clad houses. That cladding covers a myriad of problems, bear in mind that there are large temperature fluctuations in NZ, high humidity and beneath that fragile clad exterior is a house with an untreated timber frame. 

Most houses in NZ have timber frames and very poor moisture barriers (only a single layer) and the frames are exposed to the elements for weeks before the building is clad and roofed off. Don't be fooled by brick skins either - they're very thin, nothing like as robust as the bricks you have in Britain.

It truly is buyer beware, even with the newer homes.


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## anski (Aug 17, 2008)

You can log on to the local Council website & do a rates search on a property. It will tell you size of land & type of dwelling, CV land value & improvements, This is not entirely accurate as in my area Mission Bay & Orakei (many older houses built prior to leaky house syndrome) are selling way above CV. One recently sold for $936,000 & the CV was $610,000. They had spent $40,000 on painting interior & exterior, staining deck, landscaping & it was on land 510M2.

In my part of Auckland most place are listed for auctions because auctions attract higher prices.

If you want to find out what prices have been paid in the recent past in any particular area if you log onto QV you can buy a sales report which will show prices for several houses, you can then compare prices realised by CV on council websites. Also if you work with a real estate agent they can print out the same for you. There are some agents that will extend themselves for you & can be trusted even though they are trying to get the best price possible for the seller.


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