If there is one thing more certain in NZ these days than the latest political scandal or sporting event, it is the view people have to real estate and the purchase of a property.
It is so true that everyone has an opinion and every opinion is the polar opposite of everybody else’s!
It was with this in mind that my eye was caught by a great blog post by Jane Yee, who writes on Stuff.co.nz. Jane is a classic Gen X / Gen Y and her life is played out through her regular blog entitled the “Girls Guide”. Now there are two really important things to reflect on at this stage (i) Jane is of the age that most people start to buy property, and (ii) Jane writes from a woman’s perspective which is as is well known very much the influential voice in real estate transactions in the case of couples.
Her most recent post “Real Estate, Everyone’s and expert” is one of the clearest perspectives I have read on the consumer psyche of buying or searching for property I have ever read. It should be mandatory reading for anyone in the real estate industry. Added to Jane’s excellent prose is over 60 comments from “people like her” that further add to the richness. I really urge everyone to read and comment.
By way of dissection, below I have distilled what I consider to be the key takeaways I see as pivotal to the process – valuable sources of focus for ambitious operators in this industry.
- Buying a home despite what many believe it to be is not always a rental investment property. Many people just want to satisfy their emotional desire to own a home – it is also a great form of forced savings
- The process of house hunting is time consuming, enormously time consuming involving – daily review of listings (I clearly need to introduce Jane to Realestate.co.nz as well as Trade Me, after all Realestate.co.nz does feature a more complete view of whats on the market), as well as weekend open homes
- The activity is very much a self managed exercise.
- Everyone has an opinion / piece of advice. At the end of the day the collective wisdom as represented by the comments is that you have to make that decision yourself and accept the implications.
- Your key partner in the process seem to be the mortgage broker rather than the real estate agent
- Unfortunately real estate agents tend to be seen (and demonstrate the behaviour) of being seen as purveyors of other people’s listings
- There are huge emotions involved in real estate process – the heartache of missing out, matched to the desire to find just the right place
- Home buying has a benefit in a sense of control, something that can not be attained through renting and therefore financial comparisons are not always relevant
