[sizzlingbadger]

We've finally got a house ! ! !

Cannot believe it after all the stress. It went to tender and we were up against quite a few other people but as ours had no conditions on it they came back to us asking for a bit more money. As we've got no conditions it goes unconditional straight away, very scary in a way.

Hubby had a very sleepless night of not knowing what was going on, I however haven't be stressed about it all because for us it was a long shot :o

So this will be our new home www.realestate.co.nz/512936

Definitely be having a few of these in relief :cheers

[Maggiepie]

Congra. Wow, looks like paradise to me. :cheers
Did you use QV to determine your offer price or did you have an real estate agent working on your behalf/advising you ? We are from US and find it very different to not to have an agent to represent buyer.

[liamnrach]

We've finally got a house ! ! !

Cannot believe it after all the stress. It went to tender and we were up against quite a few other people but as ours had no conditions on it they came back to us asking for a bit more money. As we've got no conditions it goes unconditional straight away, very scary in a way.

Hubby had a very sleepless night of not knowing what was going on, I however haven't be stressed about it all because for us it was a long shot :o

So this will be our new home www.realestate.co.nz/512936

Definitely be having a few of these in relief :cheers


Welldun!!!:clap

It looks a wonderful house in fantastic surroundings.....

Give yourselves a HUGE pat on the back:nice1

Liam n Rach

[Tia Maria]

Wow - its fantastic - its so light and airy!

:clap :clap :clap

Cheers

Tia

[jen]

Congratulations! :raebanana: :raebanana: It looks gorgeous!!

[Silverwing86]

Wow Sizzlingbadger, congratulations !

What a beautiful house, and so much space, both inside and out ! You must be over the moon, I well remember what a wonderful feeling it is :clap !

Just out of curiosity, why no conditions ? Did you not want a LIM report or building inspection for instance ?

Again, congratulations and enjoy ! Will it be a long wait before you can move in ?

Silver

[sizzlingbadger]

Thank you, can't believe after what we've been through we've managed to get something that's just right :D It's lovely in that it's charactful on the outside but not quite inside yet, although the vanity units in both the bathroom and ensuite are like old wash stands with sinks in, gorgeous, the kitchen is very farmhouse and it suits hubby down to the ground as he gets his huge oven and I get the belfast sink :o

Maggiepie - I'm (fortunately) up to date with the property markets in the area and so we felt confident that our price wasn't over and wasn't under if that makes sense. It's taken me over a year to get a real sense of what price should be on the property. Greytown works in peaks and troughs at the moment it's going through a transitional stage and most places aren't getting the money where as this property will always hold it's value as it's in the most desirable part and walkable distance to the train.

When I spoke to the agent he said that all the tenders were much of a muchness so sounds like we had the right price on it also, phew :D

[sizzlingbadger]

Oops just seen your post Silver :o

I wouldn't recommend going no conditions unless you're really sure about things.

For us this house is just under 5 years old and so knew that it wouldn't or should I say shouldn't have any building issues.

I had done the leg work with the LIM and went to the council to look at the file. It's not a full LIM but we know the area inside out and so just checking the building work was compliant was enough. It also stated on the contract 'No LIM' as there wasn't enough time.

I had the solicitor run a title search for me and info on the build and conditions they had to meet, which had all been done.

Finance was pre arranged with the bank and other sources so we knew that's not going to be a problem. We've been unconditional on our property for about 3 weeks now.

Got to wait four weeks before we move in

:nice1

[Ana&Steve]

Yay! That is an awesome house! Of course, I liked your old house, too...I guess that means we all have great taste;) . Glad everything worked out, and have fun settling in.
Ana

[jubjub]

Congratulations, and thank goodness, Sam can now check out of rehab, and I can grow my nails again!

It's a beautiful house too.

[zardell]

:clap :clap :clap


Well done you.........I hope you will be very happy there - I'm sure you will be.

Julie

xx

[Jameelka]

Looks gorgeous.
Many congratulations, and bet u can't wait to move in!
Mel

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

Fabulous. We stopped off for lunch in Greytown when we were here on hols last year and thought it a very pleasnat town.

We ate at a pub on the main street called the Green Man which did the most spectacularly amazing wild mushroom I've ever tasted - home made from mushrooms picked that very day - in fact the chef was coming in the door with them in his hand as we walked in.

Looked like they did some pretty cool and funky jazz nights too.

Obviously that was a year ago and things might have changed, but hopefully it'd just as good nowadays. If so, get some soup in a takeout can and courrier it up to Hamilton. Yum.

[Sam B]

BRILLIANT!!! and I love it. Erm, I shall have an extra big vodka cocktail to celebrate!!!

Now can you feel stressed for me instead. We have to complete and pay on our new house here in Cambridge on the 30th June, and we HAVEN'T exchanged yet on our UK house, it's just dragging on and on, and I still haven't got a firm date. My stomach's churning and I can't sleep at night.

So I'm not checking out of rehab just yet.

[sizzlingbadger]

What a horrible situation Sam, definitely be having a glass or two of wine for you :o

Fingers crossed it goes through, having been through that many times before it's so stressful :(

As I said earlier the hubby this time has had a sleepless night over this house and been really stressed about it, finally he gets how I felt when we were waiting to go unconditional on this place, certainly not a nice feeling

[auskiwi]

Congrats! Your new home is absolutely beautiful....:-)

[Marie P]

Well done Sizz and family ..........what a lovely home you have found.

Best wishes for your future there.

Marie x

[swissmissdesigner]

Please let me know when you throw the party so I can book my ticket!!

CONGRAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Pip]

Wonderful wonderful news! I think there will be a few forum members breathing a deep sigh of relief for you, especially after everything you've been though and are now having a celebratory drink on your behalf! :cheers

Stunning house by the way... I'm very envious of that bathroom!

[Silverwing86]

Thanx Sizzlingbadger for your answers to my questions. I had no doubt that you knew exactly what you were doing, but was just curious as to the circumstances. It certainly sounds like you were on top of things, well done !

We bought back in February and even though the house was only 18 months old, we were advised to have a building inspection done anyway, just to be sure.

The inspector (hand picked him ourselves, not referred by the agent, in case you were wondering ;-) ) was so impressed with the house and it's surroundings, apparently that same evening he suggested to his wife that he was inclined to buy a house (by the same builder) on our street ! Since they were just in the process of moving at the time, she wasn't too pleased LOL !

We managed to get the LIM report done within 24 hours, how's that for a LIM turnaround ?? Okay, so we were really lucky because the agent had a friend who worked at the relevant department on Council, but it must be a record, right ?!

Good thing too since apparently the vendor was just about to invoke the Cash buyout clause he had put in the contract, when we went unconditional. Unfortunately for him, by going unconditional in just a week we didn't give him the opportunity :p !

Besides LIM and inspection, the only other condition we had was 'subject to sollicitors approval', since we'd also already sorted out the finance side of things before making an offer.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your experience and good luck with the waiting, although for us time went by very quickly once the sale was certain. Perhaps that was also due to the fact that we'd only been in the country for three short weeks when we bought and still had plenty of stuff to sort out ;-) ? I know, very quick to buy and we hadn't planned on that at all, but hey, you see a house and fall in love with it (and the wide views !), what can you do, right ?

Here's a pic of the view out of our bedroom window:

http://www.nz.n2w.nl/Photos/PIC_0433.jpg

The golfcourse being there will ensure our wide views won't change anytime soon :nice1...

Again, thanks for sharing, the very best of luck with the pending move and enjoy your wonderful new place !

Sorry to hear about your tough situation Sam, can imagine that it's really stressing you out. I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed that it all happens for you soon and in the meantime, good luck and hang in there !

Silver

PS Apologies for the looooong post :o...

[sizzlingbadger]

Silver, I'm also training to become a real estate shark oops Salesperson :D so know (sometimes) what we're supposed to be doing. I also got an independant view from a friend who also happens to be in real estate to look over the tender we put through. We also know a lot of people that know the area and will tell us straight up if it's a duffer or not, so far everyone has said it's a wonderful property and perfect land. Just had to initial changes for settlement and the agent (not working for the vendors) has just said it's got great land, so not all agents are sharks it seems.

Absolutely fantastic view from your bedroom window, better not show the hubby as he loves his golf :uhoh That is a fast turn around for a LIM, around here it's around 3 weeks although it's not really worth it if you already know the area, just looking at the council files usually gives enough information as well as asking locals.

Have a personal hate about cash out clauses as we've lost a couple of properties through that, for us it's almost gazumping in the UK market.

Wow, can't believe you bought after three weeks although if a place feels right it's meant to be. This for my OH has certainly worked on this place, I went to look at it as we were looking into building so didn't really look at it as a place to live, probably need a 3rd viewing just to double check things :D

No problems in sharing, like to let people know who are looking forward to moving to NZ or those looking to move within NZ that things aren't always straight forward (like the settlement date now being 6 weeks ahead not 4, storage and rental spring to mind :D ) My friends can't believe I can laugh at the dire situation we're now in, I got over the stress a while ago so nothing seems to phase me now as it did .

[Juniper]

:cheers ah, a well-earned sigh of relief! and perhaps a weekend off? lol ;) too bad our timing was off for meeting up while we passed through Featherston, but i'm so glad everything came together for you at last!

[Silverwing86]

Sorry it's taken so long to respond Sizzlingbadger, been so busy...

Wow, that's pretty cool, what do you have to do to become a Real Estate Agent in New Zealand ? Tough and long term studies ? And do you need a specific background for it ? Never really thought about it before...

It is useful when you can have some 'inside' information, as it were, from independant sources about a property you're interested in, we have found this to be the case as well. Was the agent working for you as a buyers' agent ? Interesting, I didn't think they did that here, well useful !

Thanx for the compliment, we still pinch ourselves daily realising how lucky we are ;-) ...

The regular turnaround for a LIM report is also 3 weeks here in Rodney District, we just really lucked out. We're also very much believers in the "if it's meant to be..." philosophy, so I guess everything working out for us the way it did; LIM, cash clause, competition and all, means it must have been right, right ;-) ? I know we would have been majorly disappointed if someone had beaten us to it, can't believe you had that happen more than once, how shattering !

It was indeed quick, but it's like you say, when it feels right, it feels right. I'm pretty sure your hubby has every confidence in your choice ;-) , where were you thinking of building before this beauty came along ? In the same area ?

True, that's why my post was as long as it was as well. I know how much we learned from reading on this site, we were very grateful for all the information we could find here.

What happened with the settlement date ?? Did I miss something (known to be a bit slow on the uptake on occasion :o) ?? What's going to happen now ? Glad to hear that you're not letting it get you down though, good for you :clap !

I remember the negotiations for our house were soooo stressful. The vendor initially did not want to budge an inch from his asking price, which he had apparently already dropped by $10K before we came along and he tried to use that in the negotiations. Obviously for us it was listed at the price we were looking at when we made our initial offer so we saw no reason to take that into account. I think also the agent saw $$$'s because of our enthousiasm for the house, she seriously underestimated us and probably thought we'd be a pushover. Gosh were they ever disappointed !

We walked away from it twice (very difficult but also very necessary) and I think the only reason we did manage to get it at the price we did is because the vendor really had to sell.

To be honest, his reluctance to 'dance the dance' of negotiations in the way it's supposed to be done only resulted in us not going as high as we initially decided we could/would since we strongly dislike being pressured (makes me dig my heels in :D) !! If he'd just played nice, he would have done better out of the deal. In the end the agents cut part of their fee to sweeten the deal for him, he put the cash buyout clause in the contract and the rest is, as they say, history.

There was also some other nastiness regarding electricity that had been cut off (which apparently happens here if a house has been unoccupied for more than a month), that the vendor was actually responsible for reconnecting. The agents were sorting it out with him, he said he was getting it done, fobbed them off until we went unconditional and then flatly refused to have it done ! Much to our surprise the agent kindly offered to take up the reconnection fee (we didn't even ask !) and it was sorted.

I have to say, I know some people have bad experiences with agents, but other than her seriously underestimating us (probably inexperience as she hadn't been in the business very long), which in the end 'cost' them rather than us, our experience with agents has been very good. We found them generally helpful and accommodating.

Interesting stuff, this buying of a house in NZ ;-) ! I can imagine that as an agent you never have a dull moment, is that part of the attraction for you as well :p ??

[RayBCO]

SizzlingBadger, we love your new 'drum'... Wow!!! :nice1

There seems to be a lot of room for 'Forum' kinda BBQ's and late night partying with plenty of places to 'crash'...What did you say the address was? :D

:cheers