[blue]

Anyone else had problems with estate agents in NZ not getting back to them? I have e.mailed a couple to ask for further info on a couple of properties. Got a reply to say the chap I needed was out of the office and would e.mail me later. E. mailed again 3 days later and no reply.
The other agent hasnt bothered to get back to me either. Finding it pretty frustrating. I thought about ringing them but cant get the number and dont know the code for Hawkes Bay area from the UK. Done a couple of searches but still cant get through!

[jubjub]

0064 6 --- ---- for hawkes bay. We found that when we were still in UK that we got no answers , but once we were here, they were on the phone every day!

[Smiler]

Hi Blue,
Yes I've had this with several. No reply or they refer me to realestatenz or similar. The only one I had any luck with is this one and he is Hawkes Bay :clap :clap , Grant McDonald grant.mcdonald@raywhite.com

(sorry it's a email addy, I'm unsure if I'm allowed to post the link). I get a property newsletter on Napier, HV N, and Taradale. That's where we thought we would originally go.

I have also found that some of the smaller agents don't have websites.

So if anyone knows of a decent rental agent in Welly or surrounding area, details on a postcard please :nice1

Deborah

[blue]

Thanks Jubjub. Have just written it down. I knew I could count on the forum for help. The code is going to be a blessing as I also want to make contact with a cattery thats not on the net.
Hi Deborah, Grant is one that hasnt replied to me! but thanks for the link.

[Smiler]

Oh :roll


D

[Do B Brief]

What we have found with NZ Real Estate that they are a bigger bunch of sharksthan then those in the UK.

The NZ housing market is so vibrant please beware coming from a buyers market into a sellers market.

On average there are 4 buyers after to every property on their books so do not be surprised if you enquire about a property you do not get a reply as the property would have gone!

We have had our first experience of this and the agent will scare you into putting in a higher offer stating that there are other interested parties. All of the agents will be doing this and will advise you place your best offer - they are the ones pushing the house prices up to gain more profit for their clients and their fee.

We went in with an offer and was accepted too easily, our builders report has hi-lighted some things which we had concern about so we had a sneaky drive by...he was there doing the repairs himself but stating in a reply email via the agent that they were being done by a local builder.

He knew that if we were not satisfied that we would pull the plug and he would have to start again (part of one of our conditions).

Please beware buying in NZ at the moment. Even the banks who are just as bigger sharks, they will be advised by the Real Estate agent and back handers are done. Find an independent agent and you will get a better deal. Banks worldwide are legally registered thieves anyway and have a license to steal.

OK. The bee has been ejected from my bonnet and I am thinking about starting my loan shark business in NZ as nothing else is monitored by any watchdogs.....

[Diny]

Having just had some pretty major dealing with NZ estate agents I can confidently report that IMHO NZ estate agents crawled from under the same stone as UK ones. They don't give 2 hoots whether they give a good service - it's the filthy luka they're after and don't ever be fooled into thinking otherwise.

Of course - this is just our findings - I'm sure there must be some good ones out there.

Diny

[Smiler]

Hi Dave

Thanks for that info.

I seem to have a problem contacting rental agents. Are there many independant agents about or should we look up on trademe, yellow pages etc when we get there.

I just would like an idea of the style, price we would be expected to pay now rather than make a rash decision when we get there.

Maybe I should change my name to worrier :(

D

[jubjub]

Dear Worrier

We got our rental off trademe, and it worked out fine, even got a flexible tenancy with no tie ins. We think we paid a fair price judging on other rentals we had seen advertised. Its worth a look anyway, the more info you get the better armed you are!

There seem to be quite a few agents about, but I think I saw a post that said if you use an agent you have to pay them a fee as well as your bond and rent in advance? http://www.dbh.govt.nz/housing/tenancy/ have a look at this for the legal side of things, it should be the same whether you rent privately or via an agent.

[Smiler]

Sal


Thank you :clap

less worried now

[Do B Brief]

Smiler (aka "The Worrier")

We searched for rental via the Dominion Post (paper) which is quite good but found nothing to our taste or needs.

Then we ventured around the Real Estate who publish their rental property in the windows on A4 sheets of paper.

We are now in a rented 4 bed in a respectable area of Wellington..at a cost ($350 PW)

The agents will take 1 weeks rent from you as a fee! And yes, you will have to place a bond of 2 - 4 weeks (a deposit basically which you get back if you leave the property as you found it).

Our agreement is that we can give 3 weeks notice to vacate and the landlord (ours died the other week!) has to give 90 days for us to vacate (now his daughter has to do this).

What I found quite funny is that our landlord used to work for the real estate that has leased this property to us.

On average, every real estate agent owns 3-4 properties which they rent out themselves.

Kiwis have invested into property instead of shares and trust funds that are found in the western markets so if you are delaing with any property in NZ, I guarantee that a real estate agent has a personal interest in it too.

I am chaning my name to "Pessimist" instead of "Optimist"..I really MUST get rid of that bee........bbbbzzzzzz, that is under my bonnett!!!!!

[Avalon]

I was told on phoning to enquire why a particular estate agent had not replied to several emails - that the agent found it more convenient to deal with people on the phone! I explained that:

1. Im the one with wads of money waiting to be spent - we will do this it MY convenience not his!
2. If you dont want people to email you dont put an email address with the advert!!!!

I think the biggest reason they dont want to do it - is because they dont want to put anything in writing (following on from the general observation that NZ agents are pond scum)

I do ahev one piece of advise: Don not beleive anything they tell you . Aways double check everything with a solicitor - and make sure that the Solicitor (and valuer, reporter whatever you use) is NOT recommended by the agent. They recieve Kickbacks - which means the advise you get cannot be trusted.

On saying all this - we finally settled on our house yesterday and spent a lovely afternoon drinking bubbly and eating a picnic in our new garden with friends. (Oh, and in glorious sunshine too) So it can work out in the end!!!!

Good luck to everyone trying to buy at the moment.

[veronica]

we had the same problem when we were in the uk. but we did get replies from 2 agents and they are the 2 we contacted first when we got here. it was commercial property that we were after and it just so happens that we got the backpackers thru one of them and the ski shop thru the other. seems fair to me.

[blue]

Thanks for all the info. Will really watch it when I get over to look for something. Am already sick of estate agents here. They take all your money for doing very little.
Veronica glad you got what you wanted when you got over. Its always great to know that others are going through the same experience and the support on here is invaluble.
Cheers

[robothamma]

Heres my two pennorth worth!
We have seen a property we really like Phil is about to put an offer in the asking price is $250k we thought start at $230K, Pond life tells Phil that another couple have put an offer in at $248k (now over here NO estate agent would give you an exact figure of someone else offer! Not sure if NZ is different on this one!) and the vendor flatly refused it! Alarm bells are ringing in my ears & Phil really thinks this is THE house for us, and the rest he has looked at are bags of c**p! When we sold our house here (UK) we initially put it up at more than what you expect to get for it, taking into account Estate agents fees and buyers haggling! Surely NZ is the same? Now I know you are not supposed to compare $ to £ but I'm not over there yet! but if someone offered you £770 less than the asking price would you not snatch their hand off?

I always fancied being an estate agent, but I think I would be too honest! LOL! certainly wouldn't make a living if I was on commission :- 4 bed house, damp, rotten, worst part of town, you really only want to view this as a desperate last resort. Must be seen to be believed! Offers invited under $1000 !

Will post as soon as I have more news re house! and NO I'm still not saying where it is!
Michelle

[Avalon]

Robothamma,

Remeber you do have the option of getting a n independent valuation done. We did, we were looking at an expensive property, on the market at 650k (Note here that this is for 2 families to live in - we cant actually afford that on our own!) and that would use up all our money. We wanted to pay 600k, but didnt know id we would get away with it. We had a valuation done which came in at 606k (including all the chattles - allowed 25k for that). So we could go in with a very clear view of what the house was worth at tops, and what we would be wise to stop at.

We actually started at 585, then went to 590, then had to up the offer to 595, but insisted that the fridge freezer stay.

In our case - we were pretty sure we were the only interested party. We also gave on some of our conditions, because we really could not give any more money.

As to agents disclosing other offers - they shouldnt. Its unethical (!) But I couldnt say whether it was genuine or not - sorry.

Good luck, and hugs to both of you - you are an inspiration!

[Do B Brief]

Our house has gone unconditional with the Real Estate getting their deposit.

We had some issues with the builders inspection report and some of the ridging neede replacing (like ridge tiles in UK but long strips of galvenised metal).

The vendor has agreed to this and some other stuff that we picked up.

He seemed to do it too eagerly as his solicitor added further conditions relating to the builders report.

Whatever was picked up on it the vendor had x amount of days to remedy this - hence removing the option of failing the conditions.

We know we have paid over the odds but you are advised to put your best offer in. Not how much the house is worth but how much is it worth to you.

What was weird though, they still had an open house yesterday and we tipped up for ideas knowing that our offer was already accepted.

The missus was dying to tell everyone to get out of her house :laugh

Move in in 3 weeks - then the work really starts (get that paint out!!!!).

It is too easy to buy a house out here....and to pay over the odds for it, but hey, we have our house!

[Singel]

Dave, you are always so positive :nice1

Congratulations to your new purchase :clap
How much do you paid for the house, if you don't mind me asking.

Can't wait to see the pics :cheers

[baboonworld]

Horowhenua
Katie Miles [katie.leaders@xtra.co.nz]

Very helpful lady based in Levin - she always responds to emails and sends loads of photos!

[Avalon]

i read in the Dom Post today that there are some new players on the market here (Hutt and Welly) that are going to charge either a flat fee to sell your home, or 1% (Called Go Gekko and Borders).

Remax were harping about how it would mean no flexibilty in fees: Ie, if your house gets an lower offer - the agent may aggree to take a smaller fee (after making it clear thay thier 20 kids will starve!), whereas at 1% they cant do that.

I guess remax think we are to stoopid to realise that at 1% you arent being so ripped off in the first place! I mean, the agent we bought through had to lower his fee (from 4% to 3.5%) to clinch the sale. For heavens sake - he still made a killing for being pretty crap.

[Do B Brief]

Thankfully, in this case our buyers are paying the fees and not us so I wasn't that bothered who sold us the house.

I wonder though how much extra they get if they (Real Estate Adents) get a certain amount if they get passed a threshold?

i.e. The buyer would like 300K and the agent gets 315K, would the agent get a nice lump sum for their troubles?

I think someone summed it up earlier in the post, they crawled out from under the same rock as those in the UK!!

And Singel, I am trying to be positive 'coz if I weren't I would be on the plane home!

It is not all smiles and let's just say that the holiday season has just finished for us - the real work begins.....

[Moorf]

We bought our place via Homesell and it was so easy - I'd certainly consider using them to sell in the future ;) - even if you started out by using Homesell and, if the property proved difficult to shift, you could then go on to use an agent as a last resort.

[jubjub]

We get a flyer every so often from the agent we bought this house from, with the sale fees included, we knew they were high, but the folks who sold this place had to pay them near enough $13k, and it was on the market for at least 3 months that we know about!

[baboonworld]

The Professionals in Upper Hutt charge their agents $20K just for a desk in their office - so they have to make that before they een break even - perhaps the individual agents are not to blame - perhaps it is the high profile agencies that are causing joe public to part with so much dosh that it brings a tear to the eye!

Horray for the 1% ers - i still say - start with trademe or homesell to sell your house. If everyone is the Uk started using ebay to show their property then the agents would soon have to start working for their money!

[Singel]

NZ Herald 24.09.05

Q: My partner and myself have been on the rocky road to finding our first home. We have had a few issues to contend with.

Real estate agents don't seem to want to be helpful in giving any advice if they can see we will go conditional.

This has happened four times when we have been shown properties and then said if we were to put in an offer we would have certain conditions. We then were given no service or follow up calls from the agents.

The only conditions we are looking for are as follows: Lim report; finance (we have pre-approval, but you never know); builder's report (we have looked at some new properties less then five years old.)

We thought that these would be quite standard conditions. But it seems estate agents are looking for unconditional offers.

We are making a huge decision and think that it would be unrealistic not to have these conditions in place for our first major investment.

Some of the new properties we were looking at, we wanted to ensure that the company that built them was still in business. We never got a response back from the real estate agent, and after a company search we found they were no longer in business.

We looked at one property that was a good price and had everything we wanted, but it did say a little TLC was required. We are not scared of a little hard work but when we found out it had a major leaking problem on inspection we were disgusted that it was advertised as TLC.

Where can we go to get the best informed, unbiased information for first home buyers? We have a checklist and all the things banks provide, but how do we deal with these real estate agents that waste our time and give us the run around?

Another thing: It seems if you email a real estate agent instead of ringing them they will never get back to you. It seems odd they even offer this service on their websites.

A: You don't need more information. You're being savvy and reasonable, for the most part. You might get further, though, if you try to see things from the agents' and sellers' points of view.

Real Estate Institute national president Howard Morley says the conditions you are asking for are "totally appropriate. They're the sort of conditions I would tell my family to be watching for.

"A building report is a good idea, especially if you suspect leaky housing. And a lot of sale and purchase agreements are subject to a LIM report."

He's not so sure, though, that ensuring the builder is still in business is a real estate agent's role. An agent might do a search and find a company does exist, "but that might not mean much" if it's in financial trouble.

"That's not normal for people to request of an agent. If you're worried about leaks and may have to take legal action against somebody, a lawyer would be best to check on the company. If you have an ongoing problem with the builder, that's mostly a legal issue."

On the house that needed more than TLC, whether you can blame the agent depends on what the agent knew, says Morley. "If an owner tells an agent they've had trouble with a house, that it leaked and has been fixed, that information definitely has to be passed on to anybody who asks." Only to those who ask? "No, the agent should declare it. But if the owner says the house is okay, we can only go with that. Agents are not engineers."

The same goes for valuers. "I'm a property valuer. We put in reports that we've inspected the property but we can't guarantee what's behind the walls."

That's why getting a builder's report makes sense.

In all your dealings with agents, keep in mind that they act for the sellers who pay them, rather than for buyers.

"If you were the owner of a property and you had an agent working for you, you would want unconditional offers. If there are three offers at the same price and one is unconditional, that's the one that will be accepted."

However, the market is moving more in your favour, with fewer unconditional offers than a couple of years ago, says Morley. Still, to compete with other buyers, you might try:

* Asking if the agent already has copies of a LIM report. Sellers are increasingly providing copies to would-be buyers.

If there's not a copy available, the quickest and cheapest way is to get one yourself from the local council, preferably paying the premium to get it done faster.

* Telling the agent you have pre-approval for a mortgage. "You can still say your offer is subject to finance. But if you can show the agent your letter from the bank, the agent can tell the vendor, 'These people are 99 per cent sure of getting finance.'."

"There's nothing wrong with due diligence," Morley adds. "I strongly recommend they continue to do that, but they need to take as little time as they can."

On your email comment, he says, "That's not acceptable. What I suggest is that they ring the real estate office concerned and ask for the office manager or the licensee of the business and talk to him or her about that."