[Girlno9]

Hi there, we are very interested in purchasing a house in your lovely country. However the house is for sale by tender which, for us, is quite unusual for a residential sale. I can only suppose that there is a degree of uncertainty re the state of the house market there. The agent, did give us an idea of the vendors expectations, which we feel is a quite high. We were wondering whether it would be a good idea to retain an appraiser to give us an independent valuation etc. The house is lovely, recently refurbished to a high standard and in a really good location. Has anyone any experience with purchasing by tender, or any advice. Any thoughts on where the property market is going would be greatly appreciated.

[swissmissdesigner]

[COLOR="Navy"]]"a house in your lovely country."[/COLOR

where?

[Girlno9]

Nelson

[hball]

Sale by tender is an emotional business - if you want the house badly enough you will go high in order to get it and you will find that in some cases the independent valuation (which is obviously not emotional) becomes irrelevant as does the state of the market.

Real estate agents like tenders and auctions when they see an emotional value to a property, and are so are reluctant to put a bricks and mortar price on it. That also works on properties at the other end of the scale, such as investment properties.

Oh, and vendors do not always accept the highest tender either! They may prefer a lower offer if it is unconditional and fast. Good Luck :)

[veronica]

difficult to buy without seeing, I wouldn't be comfortable with that myself.

As to the property market here I did hear that it has slowed down but Nelson is one of the areas that is probably a better risk than other areas.

[Caroline and Dave]

This may help you or at least give you a better idea of the NZ housing game
http://www.house-buying-downunder.com/auction-tender-negotiation.htm

[tigerlily]

I'd be VERY wary of buying a house that I had not seen myself. So much about the neighborhood/traffic noise/airplane noise/musty smell/messy neighbors is left out in the photos and I wouldn't trust the real estate agent to tell. How long have you been watching the property market? Lots of houses come and go that you might love. But if it MUST BE the house for you, fly over and look for yourself before you commit. What is the cost of one plane ticket compared to the price of a house?

[Nick88]

An appraisal from a registered independent valuer is always a good idea if you are the slightest bit unsure of the value. It could save you alot of money.

I am constantly surprised at how fast people want to tie themselves down once they get here. Nelson might not work out for you, so stay flexible and rent, that way you can move on if things are not right.

[Familyofmonkeys]

An appraisal from a registered independent valuer is always a good idea if you are the slightest bit unsure of the value. It could save you alot of money.

I am constantly surprised at how fast people want to tie themselves down once they get here. Nelson might not work out for you, so stay flexible and rent, that way you can move on if things are not right.

Not just a valuation survey....you may well need a more invasive building or engineering survey. This can be especially useful, as some recently 'renovated' properties, can look all nice and shiny, whilst masking underlying problems.

[hball]

All excellent advice, but don't forget this sale is a tender process, you will have no idea what other buyers will be offering, and so you may spend a lot of money for nothing as unlike a straight forward negotiation sale you can't haggle on the price using your valuations etc as ammunition!

All you can do is offer your best price and keep your fingers crossed!

[Girlno9]

Was away for the weekend so only saw all the replies this morning. Thank you all for advice. We would not exactly be buying blind. We have been going to Nelson every year for the last 6 years and in the last few have been looking to purchase and doing all the research. We have all the homework done re areas we like etc and this house is on one of the streets we identified as wanting. We actually rented a house around the corner from the property so we are very familiar with the house and the area .We have befriended alot of people in Nelson, one of whom told us in January that this house would be coming to the market so, while we didn't see the house internally, we had a good look around the outside. We also have some friends who actually owned this house before the current owners and are going to view it on our behalf. Unfortunately we are not moving to permenantly to Nelson but intend spending about 3-5 months there every year.
I am actually in the commercial real estate business in Ireland where the tender process would be quite usual, so it was a bit strange to see it used for residential. Very interesting point about agents using it where there is an emotional value attached. Once again, many thanks and any further thoughts, observations etc would be greatly appreciated.

[IanW99]

You can also go to one of the big valuation companies who can provide a report on the estimated market value based on its previous sale prices and the prices houses in the area are being sold for etc. This report will give you a very good indication of the current true market value of the property (but not what someone would be willing to pay for it)

They can also send out a property valuer for you and have other useful links e.g. school zones etc.

At the moment they are also providing a free report which shows the relative house prices around the one you specify so you can see if your house is below average, average or above average in value. See this link:-Free Property Value report (https://www.qv.co.nz/FreeReport/)

Ian

[Girlno9]

Thanks for that IanW99, will do some further investigations. I actually am waiting to hear back from a firm of independent valuers in Nelson, but in the meantime will have a look at the link you suggested.:nice1

[Girlno9]

Friends and builders looking at the house on our behalf tomorrow........lots of nervous energy going on !!!!

[Girlno9]

Decided not to tender as according to the agent, he had tenders guaranteed at and above the vendors expectations. We had agreed between us, that though we really wanted the property, it was not actually worth what agent was indicating. Well tender was yesterday and So, it was with great surprise that despite all the definite ;) tenders, the house did not sell and is now listed as 'price by negotiation'. I think the agent may have talked it up so much, he actually may have frightened off some serious purchasers!!!
It's amazing, I'm sure the vendors have their expectations and thats fine, but at the end of the day the market will determine what a property is worth. :yes

[IanW99]

Decided not to tender as according to the agent, he had tenders guaranteed at and above the vendors expectations. We had agreed between us, that though we really wanted the property, it was not actually worth what agent was indicating. Well tender was yesterday and So, it was with great surprise that despite all the definite ;) tenders, the house did not sell and is now listed as 'price by negotiation'. I think the agent may have talked it up so much, he actually may have frightened off some serious purchasers!!!
It's amazing, I'm sure the vendors have their expectations and thats fine, but at the end of the day the market will determine what a property is worth. :yes

My advice would be to ignore the agents, if you want a property then submit an offer that you are prepared to pay.

There are three reasons for this:-

1) I get the impression that the agents tell you that a higher offer is already in so that you increase yours, even when there doesn't actually appear to be a genuine offer (had the same experience as you above).

2) Your price may only be the same as others, but it is up to the vendor to decide which offer they accept. For example, the other offers may have more strings attached etc.

3) It doesn't cost you to submit the offer (it didn't for use anyway?) so why not try anyway - nothing to lose.

Ian