[migratory birds]

Can any of you in Wellington region (within 1-1.5 hours of Welly) recommend a realtor (do you call them solicitors in the UK?) who has a good sense of aesthetic and doesn't bother showing us what's not worth looking at?

We'll be in Welly and in outlying communities up the coast and inland for few days 15-19 Nov looking into neighbourhoods and primary schools and hope to have a few hours with a realtor who can give us a glimpse of what's out there.

We'll be looking at renting first on arrival in Jan 08 but may purchase if the right place shows up with a realtor.

[jess]

Will PM you. :)

[thirtysomethings]

I would recommend using trade me as a start point for searching for areas and getting an idea for prices even those advertised by estate agents are sometimes campaigned on trade me.
We utilised a solicitor recomended by our bank ASB.
You can if you wish use an estate agent to search for properties for you and also to act as a negotiator on properties not for sale by the same agency.
Personally we just looked around and then went for it.
Even though we ended up in Christchurch and are very happy with our choice our recce trip included Wellington and the kapiti coast .
We utilised http://www.harcourts.co.nz/ and though they are perhaps expensive we found there agents very friendly and willing to show us around.
Wellington is a great city but for sure property prices are higher, Kapiti coast is beautiful but again your commute begins to grow.As with all things its a question of budget and what you consider to be a good home factored with how long you are prepared to travel.We stayed at a glorious b&b in Wellington and a stunning lodge on the coast - if you wish the addresses PM and I will forward them to you.

[tigerlily]

Keep in mind that the realtors don't work for the buyer in NZ, only the seller. I don't think the American concept of a "buyer's agent" is out there at the moment. So they will be working to get you to pay the most possible and not noticing things like cracked foundations.

[thirtysomethings]

I have no idea what a realtor is - regarding looking at cracked foundations etc - the onus is on the buyer to specify this as a condition on the purchase agreement e.g

*Subject to structural survey
*Subject to finance
*Subject to whatever

The defaults on the agreement being Title & LIM

(Please dont quote me as this is only my understanding!)

[Oregonkiwi]

I have no idea what a realtor is
Realtor = real estate agent

Keep in mind that the realtors don't work for the buyer in NZ, only the seller.
Excellent advice.

Trademe does have a lot of real estate; I like this site too because most agencies use it:
http://www.realestate.co.nz/

[IanW99]

The company that the real estate agents work for may have offices covering the whole of Wellington region, but from our experience most real estate agents only handle a few suburbs (at most).

So unless you know which suburb you are interested in, any recommendations would probably be useless.

If you want to get a feel for the market, best suggestion would be to go to a few open homes in an area that you are interested in (loads of open homes on each weekend) and chat to the agent who is showing the home.

If you get on with them then ask them to show you various properties on the market.

If you can't wait till an open home, then find an area that you are interested in and pop into one of the real estate agent shops covering the area and ask in there.

Ian

[migratory birds]

Yes, in the US, if one is looking for a home to purchase we contact a realtor/real estate agent/buyers agent - someone who knows what's on the market and will take the time to show a potential buyer dozens of houses over a period of many months.

So in NZ...trademe and realestate.co.nz are the best places to look for houses on the market? Any other websites I should be following? And the offer is put in directly to the seller from the buyer? In the US the agent usually presents the offer and does all the negotiating...and ends up pocketing 3% of each sale (realtors can end up sitting pretty at the end of every year if they've sold more than a few houses and the market is decent).

Thanks for the tips and the heads-up!

[IanW99]

The other main website we used was Open2View (http://www.nz.open2view.com/)

How the buying process works is different depending on how the house is offered for sale e.g. auction, tender etc.

For a normal sale, you don't normally talk to the seller direct, you put in an offer (a contract with all your terms and conditions in) to the real estate agent and they take it around to the seller and generally they will change the price of your offer to what they will accept, this goes on backwards and forwards until one of you either accepts or quits.

What you really have to remember is that the agent will act as your friend offering advice etc but they are definitely working for the seller.

Ian

[wanderingoregonian]

Once you get here, I'd fine some wheels and go to a bunch of open houses. Just find one in the area you want, then walk to all the other ones happening. The few times I've gone out to them, there have been at least 4 other ones on the same street!

I also know a few people who are skipping the whole agent thing by contacting everyone they know who they've heard has bought a house and is checking out what they are doing with their old house. I just met someone yesterday who hasn't even listed their house yet, but have 2 serious buyers who heard through friends that they've just bought in a new suburb and wisely figured out that they'd be selling their old house! crazy... not much help for those of us just arriving, but thought I'd mention it:)