[James 1077]

After a year of renting in Devonport to get to know the people, area and housing market we have taken the plunge and purchased!

To show the benefit of the forum we were told of the house by one member, found out from another that they knew the house and the current and previous tenants (which allowed us an in to view the house before anyone else could), and had all of our "dealing with estate agents" and sale and purchase clauses from another member.

End result was that, after seeing the house on Real Estate on Friday night, viewing it on Saturday morning, sitting down with the estate agent to find some things out about the place on Saturday evening, hearing back from him on Sunday evening and then a bit of tooing and froing on the offer we had an agreement signed by 9pm on Sunday night!

We're very excited and pleased to have got just the sort of place that we were looking for!

Link here to the property: http://www.realestate.co.nz/1096733

[Helsandfamily]

One word - Gorgeous!!!!!!

Congratulations :clap:clap:clap

hels

[Kanga]

LOVE the roaring fire- that'll be wonderful to snuggle up in front of!

[GrumpyGoat]

How fabulous!! I am excited for you!!

[victoria24]

nice one James! could I ask the price? it's just that I loved devonport so am
curious

[James 1077]

nice one James! could I ask the price? it's just that I loved devonport so am
curious

We started at $580k but settled on $606k.

It was up 18 months ago at $785k and just under a year ago at $650k though so we're pretty happy.

There aren't that many old Devonport 3 beds that go for under $650k.

[sizzlingbadger]

Well done, great negotiating :nice1 Looks a really lovely property, good luck for the future :cheers

[JandM]

Congratulations, James! :nice1 It's a lovely area, and I hope you'll all be very happy there.

[Moorf]

Love it! Congrats :clap

[peebles16]

Looks gorgeous - well done :nice1

Karenx

[M-Squared]

Many congrats on the negotiations, you did really well! :nice1 :clap LOVE the wood fire, and the beautiful panelling gives it a lovely Nordic feel. :)

[grady bunch]

Very cute house. Congratulations!

So are you moving from Stanley Bay or is yr address just out of date? We were looking at Stanley Bay at the weekend, some nice sections for sale! Any advice?

The Gradys

[James 1077]

We are renting in Stanley Bay at the moment so it is only a 5 minute walk away to the new place!

Stanley Bay is a great part of Devonport - good primary school and facilities for kids plus a commuter ferry to the CBD.

[M-Squared]

I have to say, for 3-bed,1-bath, I hope you don't take offence, but I was really gobsmacked! :eek:

[tea drinker]

Lovely inside and out :nice1

[James 1077]

I have to say, for 3-bed,1-bath, I hope you don't take offence, but I was really gobsmacked! :eek:

No offence taken - Devonport is, however, one of the priciest places to live in Auckland due to pretty much being a heritage village with decent white sand beaches 10 minutes away from the CBD. Most properties will be, in a normal market, $1m+ (and even then I think that they still are in the current market).

[Kalla]

wow! nice pad!

[Belmont Babes]

Beautiful place. Wish you all the best in your new pad :nice1

[Arwen]

I have to say, for 3-bed,1-bath, I hope you don't take offence, but I was really gobsmacked! :eek:

I must say that was my reaction too (no offence James 1077)!!:exit

I guess in light of what James wrote after about Devonport being one of the more expensive areas of Auckland, then I guess it is a bargain, but jeepers that's still a lot of wonga!

Anyway, nice house James, enjoy it. :nice1 When do you move in???

[James 1077]

I must say that was my reaction too (no offence James 1077)!!:exit

I guess in light of what James wrote after about Devonport being one of the more expensive areas of Auckland, then I guess it is a bargain, but jeepers that's still a lot of wonga!

Anyway, nice house James, enjoy it. :nice1 When do you move in???

There are tenants in the house at the moment so we won't be moving in until 2 October.

Having a late date suits us anyway as we want to make sure that the tenants find somewhere nice and so have some time to do that, and we want to give our landlords plenty of time to get new tenants too (unfortunately we can't swap as we are paying much more for our place than the tenants in the new place are!). Plus the MIL was coming out in the middle of October for the kids' birthday anyway so she is changing her flights to get out earlier and look after the twins while we move.

$606k is pricey - especially compared to most parts of NZ. But it is also cheap for Devonport - which is probably comparable, for people who know London, with Primrose Hill as a location (ie pretty, close to the business centre, and, as a result, very expensive compared to the rest of the country).

Personally I would be happy living further out from town but the OH loves Devonport (as, to be fair, do most people who have lived there) so wouldn't look elsewhere. For me it is the best compromise between living in the countryside (as I want) and living close to work as it has a villagey atmosphere, a vibrant community, and very little traffic due to being stuck at the end of a peninsula. The heritage is the icing on the cake!

[miep]

Looks fab, well done for waiting!

[incredible hulse]

Nice - must say I was surprised how cheap you got it to be honest! Been to Devonport a few times and had a nosey in the windows of estate agents and didn't see much under 7 figures. Think it's a great little village and would be my choice if I was in Auckland

[Arwen]

There are tenants in the house at the moment so we won't be moving in until 2 October.

Having a late date suits us anyway as we want to make sure that the tenants find somewhere nice and so have some time to do that, and we want to give our landlords plenty of time to get new tenants too

Oh that's so considerate of you to be concerned about the current tenants and your landlord James. :):nice1

Wishing you all the best for your move on the 2nd October. :clap

[Tia Maria]

I have to say, for 3-bed,1-bath, I hope you don't take offence, but I was really gobsmacked! :eek:

Lol, 600k for Devonport is a bargain! :D

Doesn't Welly have similar CBD suburbs?

Cheers

Tia

[chocolate cake]

Well done, looks a nice property. A good solid property, 90 years old, historic by NZ standards I guess.

'By negotiation' and 'Auction' seem to be very common ways of selling property in NZ, certainly more common with certain agents too. Is it more stressful?

[miep]

Yes Welly has similar suburbs where 600k would be a bargain! I thought James did really well considering how popular (and with good reason) Devonport is.

[James 1077]

'By negotiation' and 'Auction' seem to be very common ways of selling property in NZ, certainly more common with certain agents too. Is it more stressful?

I didn't even bother looking at the houses that went up via auction as the process seems far too stressful for me! Most houses around here seem to be auction though so next time we move we may need to get comfortable with it!

By negotiation is OK as you just call the agent to get an idea of ballpark and go from there - so similar to normal where you are told the starting point for negotiation in the ad (as obviously you aren't going to pay asking price! :)).

[Tia Maria]

I didn't even bother looking at the houses that went up via auction as the process seems far too stressful for me! Most houses around here seem to be auction though so next time we move we may need to get comfortable with it!

By negotiation is OK as you just call the agent to get an idea of ballpark and go from there - so similar to normal where you are told the starting point for negotiation in the ad (as obviously you aren't going to pay asking price! :)).

Having been here a few years I've got use to the idea of auctions, once you've been to a few and understand the process they're actually not that bad. I think the thing to remember is its not all just about auction day and a lot of the wheeling and dealing gets done before and after.

The process I most dislike is tender, there were a lot when we first arrived and the market was in full swing and houses were going for top prices. I think its fair enough if a house price gets pushed up because a couple of people are interested in it but I think its crazy when the top tender can be as much as $100k higher than the second highest tender. I think this can only happen when the top bidder has been seriously misled and it just seems wrong to me.

Cheers

Tia

[doowrehsij]

Great work!!! - That's fantastic bargaining!...

We're still waiting on the exchange rate (if ever) - but quite happy where we are (Kitchener Rd!)

[James 1077]

I had forgotten just how stressful and how much work buying a house involved! Luckily I'm at work so my wife is dealing with most of the questions (she doesn't have anything else to do as all she does is look after two 20 month old toddlers all day - how hard can that be! ;) ).

Firstly the solicitor had an issue with one of the clauses in the contract and wanted it replaced by another clause (it was around the building survey which said we could pull out if there were structural problems but the solicitor wanted it replaced by one where we can pull out if there are any problems). The vendor's solicitor didn't like it so there was a bit of a standoff. I wasn't too bothered as the surveyor went in yesterday anyway so if there was a big, but non-structural issue, then we could get out of the sale by not getting solicitor's approval for the contract. As it is the vendor has told his solicitor to agree anyway rather than incur cost fighting it.

The surveyor reported back with the big issues yesterday and we received his full report this morning (so I haven't looked through it yet - but it is very thorough apparently). The main issue is that the walls are "scrim lined" - which is common in an old property that hasn't been refurbished. Scrim lining is basically thick canvas pulled tight over the wooden walls to provide support for the wallpaper. The problem is that you have paper on the outside, canvas in the middle and then wood - all of which are flammable. Most insurance companies therefore won't give us building insurance - which means no mortgage. Luckily I did some googling and found out that State will insure us and have spoken to them to confirm it. There are various conditions required but we meet all of them.

The LIM has also now come back and it is clean other than the vendor is in arrears with rates and water payments and there are penalties for that. No problems for us though as they will be paid before we take on the property (and it is the vendor who is chased if they remain unpaid anyway).

So all that is needed now is for me to look through the full survey tonight and for us to get finance confirmed when we pop into the bank on Sunday! The bank shouldn't be an issue as we asked them what they would lend us for that property and the offer came in below their maximum.

Still - it is all a bit hectic buying a place here! :)

[James 1077]

Woohoo - we've gone unconditional!

So it is all ours!!!!

[Marie P]

Congrats to you all :nice1

Hope you will be very happy there !

Marie x

[Kerry and David]

Great news :clap

Looks perfect:cheers

[JandM]

:nice1:cheers:clap

[tea drinker]

:clap :clap :clap

[Trendynana]

Well done James

We are hoping to emigrate in the not too distance future - looking at properties in the Bay of Plenty. We want to go back to our roots, house on stilts, tin roof and made of wood will suit us fine. Sod the central heating. Wear 3 jumpers and coats on bed in the winter.

I was brought up just after the war in England - ice on the inside of my bedroom windows and gloves and hat on when I went to sleep - and guess what - I am still alive and over 60!!