Total Visitors And Visitor Locations From December 08 To March 09

Total Visitors = 13245

March 31 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »

Building Consents Rise As The Last Of The Summer Spend Ups Occur – Winter Is On The Way!

This is an interesting article from the Herald Website which is further indicating that the market could be improving. My honest opinion is that the facts below are just the spike that naturally occurs at this time of year. The numbers we are experiencing are well below what we have known for many years. Our economy is going to be hit hard over this coming year with many mortgagee sales fueling what will be a very volatile market. The building consents that are signaled below are a sign that the market could be improving as their is some renewed interest as the interest rates drop to low levels. But maybe this is over as well as the banks increase these rates. It will be an interesting winter to watch and see what happens. Below also is a graph from the govt.org website of building consents issued in NZ. You can see clearly the downward trend of consents issued and the sharp decline since about March 07.

Building consent figures for February improved from January’s deep hole, but remain low.

Last month 1059 dwellings were authorised, of which 193 were apartments, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said today. In February 2008, 1874 dwellings were authorised.

Seasonally adjusted, the total number of new dwellings was up 12 per cent in February after falling 13 per cent in January. When apartments are excluded the improvement in February was just 0.3 per cent.

January’s total of 812 consents was the lowest monthly total since that series started in 1965.

The value of residential building consents in February was $358 million, down 42 per cent from February 2008, SNZ said.

Non-residential building consents were worth $382m for the month, up 5.8 per cent from a year earlier.

This morning’s building consents come as the recession puts a halt to many construction plans around New Zealand, including Wellington.

Funding has been pulled on the luxury $200 million Watermark development in Wellington, and other apartment buildings around the city have also halted construction.

Dougal List from the planning department at the Wellington City Council said resource consents were down 10 to 15 per cent from the same time last year.

Applications for commercial buildings and renovations remained strong but the pace of activity was much slower than it was 12 months ago. He said many people are looking to get consents in place so they can develop once the market picks up in a year or two.

List said the main casualty in the market was multi-unit developments which has almost completely dropped off as developers struggle to get finance.

Statistics NZ said that as with the previous month, the value of consents for residential buildings in February was below the non-residential value. Before January the last time that happened was June 1998.

For all buildings, consents had a value of $740m last month, down 24 per cent from February 2008.

In the year to February, residential building consents were down 26 per cent from a year earlier to $5.77 billion, non-residential consents rose 5.5 per cent to $4.59b, and for all buildings the value was down 15 per cent to $10.36b.

March 30 2009 | The Market | No Comments »

April 1st Tax Cuts Loom – How Much Extra Will This Mean For You?

The short answer is that for people on the average wage of $48,500 a year will get an extra $15.66 a week and those on $100,000 will benefit by $18.46 according ti Bill English and his Tax Cut plan. From Wednesday when the  tax cuts roll out people will have a little extra money in their pay but thats not the end of it in terms of spending out.

There are also going to be increases to benefits and superannuation, and a boost to the minimum wage take effect. The increase the minimum wage from $12 to $12.50 in line with the Consumer Price Index, also the minimum wage for training and new entrants’ will increase from $9.60 to $10. The only problem I am seeing from this is due to the recession we are in now how will this effect the employers in regard to being able to retain their employees with a marked reduction in incoming money for almost all businesses is being felt accross the board.

But the Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson said on Feburary 9th when the increases were announced, “In reviewing the minimum wage it was clear that, given the current recession, we needed to find a balance between protecting jobs and fair pay for workers.We do not want to see workers priced out of the market during these difficult times, but we are confident that a 50c increase, in line with inflation, will not harm businesses.”

The total cost for this package has been totaled to over $2 billion. And this extra cash will start flowing into taxpayers’ pockets as a result of the tax cuts and a 3.4 per cent increase in benefits and superannuation and student allowances from Wednesday.

On the flip side to this our New Zealand ACC system is in crisis and has needed a huge cash injection from the governement and the tax payer. An increase in Accident Compensation levies will take some of the extra money that we will get from the tax cuts. Here is a breakdown of the extra ACC charges which will be effictive from 1st July 2009 for motor vehciles.

Petrol levy (cents per litre) – From 9.34¢ to 9.90¢ = increase 0.56¢

Average annual licence fee - From $136.48 to $168.45 = increase $31.97

Total average per vehicle - From $254.63 to $287.00 = increase $32.37

Then on top of this you have an increase in the ACC you need to pay on your liable income. This has been rolled out by the Governement and will come into effect the same day as the Tax Cuts (April 1st 2009)

The Government has adopted the following levy rates:

• The Earners’ Account Levy (paid by all employees and self-employed to cover their non-work, non-motor vehicle injuries) will increase from $1.40 to $1.70 (including GST) per $100 of liable earnings
• The average composite employer and self-employed levy will increase from $1.26 to $1.31 per $100 of payroll. This levy excludes GST and is an average rate. Individual rates for industry groups may be higher or lower
• The new rates take effect on 1 April 2009

For an example and to put these into real numbers a person on the average wage of $48,500 per year currently pays $658 a year or $12.61 a week to ACC for the Earners’ Levy. Under the charges an average wage earner would be paying $940 a year or $18.02 a week.

But taking everything into account overall the changes leave fulltime workers on the minimum wage $24.30 a week better off.

The tax cuts will benefit 1.4 to 1.5 million people, the Treasury says.

March 28 2009 | The Market | 2 Comments »

Real Estate Price Fixing – Is This Over The Top Or Just Taking It The Wrong Way?

newsflash

The article below is something that brasses me off. There is no need to do this type of thing by the REN. The REN is there to help the agents out and try and make the process of selling through the different agencies fair and just but by doing this is not fair on the consumer. In my eyes when I see this sort of thing going on where there is a minimum fee bought upon for a service makes me very angry.

Real Estate is a service industry. Yes there is quite large differences within the Real Estate industry when it comes to commissions payable upon a sale. Some are 4% some are as low as 1% and some just work on a fixed price. All these commisions are payable whether the property sells in two hours or two years. BUt by setting a minimum for a service is not right in my mind. I do not know what makes the REN justify themselves doing this.

I believe that if you use a Real Estate agent they should be able to, no matter what they are going to charge you, provide you with the best service possible by using all the tools possible to them. I also strongly believe that there are some companies that provide better service than others. And in some of these cases the amount of commission paid has something to do with it. But I will say that there are some very good agents out there who charge 1% and some good ones who charge 4%. You have to do your homework on the agent and the company to see if what your going to be paying is worth what your going to recieve in service and professionability from your agent.

Please read this article below which come from the NZ Herald website which points out something that quite frankly makes me puzzled.

The Commerce Commission has warned Christchurch real estate co-operative the Real Estate Network Ltd (REN) that its members risk breaching the Commerce Act for price fixing.

REN, which represented the majority of licensed residential real estate agents in and around Christchurch, offered a network listings service allowing member agents to share the details of sole agency properties with other members.

REN passed a bylaw last June introducing a minimum commission provision, under which vendors could only use the network listings service if the fee to the selling agent was 40 per cent of the commission originally negotiated with the listing agent.

A minimum fee of $3000 would apply if the negotiated fee came to less than $3000.

REN suspended the bylaw when told of the Commerce Commission investigation.

The commission considered that the by-law was an agreement between competitors that fixed, controlled or maintained a price, that was the fee payable by a listing agent to a selling agent on the sale of a property.

“As some vendors’ commissions are less than $3000 in total, setting a minimum commission may lead to agents increasing the commissions charged to vendors,” said commission director of competition Deborah Battell.

The commission considered a warning appropriate as the bylaw was only in place for a matter of weeks, and REN co-operated.

“The Commission will continue to monitor behaviour in the real estate industry and will recommence investigations if any further concerns are raised about possible price fixing,” Ms Battell said.

March 26 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »

Twitter, Tweeting, Tweets, Tweeting – What Is This All About?

Ok. There has been a lot of fuss about Twitter over the last few days flowing around the Real Estate realm. There has been talk about it on the real estate.co.nz forum where a number of very smart real estate agents are starting to pick up on how it can be used for benefits of their business People such as Sharon James, Alistair Helm, Clive Bray, Ross Bradier, Brad Maxwell, Bryan Thompson are just a few that I know that are now starting to use twitter.

Here are some of the recent articles that have been made about twitter.

Realestate.co.nz industry website

Propertyadguru website

Business2 website

So what is twitter: Well wikipedia says

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 bytes in length. Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can send and receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS (receive only), or through applications such as Tweetie, Twitterrific, Twitterfon, TweetDeck and Feedalizr. The service is free to use over the web, but using SMS may incur phone services provider fees.

As of March 2009, Twitter has received extensive visibility and popularity worldwide. Twitter is often described as the ‘SMS of Internet’ in that the site provides the back-end functionality (via its APIs) to other desktop and web-based applications to send and receive short text messages often obscuring the actual website itself. This extensibility of the service has earned it more popularity than it would have garnered if users had to visit the site to use the service.

I have been using Twitter for a while now and have built up a great network on there. My Twitter is Swiggs.

From using twitter I have learnt quite a number of things that the online world want and dont want. I am rated second in New Zealand as a twitter user. I love Twitter. When my job prospects in Real Estate changed I sent a tweet out to my network and instantly there were opportunities coming to me. Twitter is a directly engaging system that means you are in touch and broadcasting to the world and your followers directly and instantly. There are many different ways of using Twitter and here are a number of things listed below.

1. Personal Branding. Twitter is a social media platform you can use to build your personal brand. It has the primary benefit of developing a casual persona and establishes you as a social personality that is connected and approachable. As Twitter adoption increases, new users will be drawn towards well established Twitter personas.
2. Get Feedback. Need an alternative perspective on how a website looks or the right course of action to take? Blast out a message asking for advice and you’ll receive replies from other users. This collective intelligence can be used as fodder for articles or projects.
3. Hire People. Need a good logo designer, marketer or programmer? Send out a message asking for recommendations. This is a very quick and easy way to hire freelancers or even companies based on familiar recommendations.
4. Direct traffic. Twitter can be used to get traffic to your websites or the sites of friends. If you ask your friends to tweet about it, the message will spread faster and further as other active users pick it up. There is a viral nature to all types of news, even on a site like Twitter.
5. Read News. Twitter users often link to useful sites or articles and can be a source of scoops and alternative news. You can also subscribe to Twitter feeds for specific websites/conferences, which allows you to receive and view content quickly. This is very useful for active social news participants.
6. Make New Friends. Like any other social network, Twitter has a built-in function for you to befriend and track the messages of other users. This is an easy way for you connect with people outside of your usual circle. Make an effort to add active users you find interesting. A Twitter acquaintance can be developed into a long lasting friendship.
7. Network for benefits. Twitter can be used as a socializing platform for you to interact with other like-minded people, especially those in the same industry. It can be used to establish consistent and deeper relationships for future benefits such as testimonials or peer recommendations.
8. Notify Your Customers. Set up a twitter feed for the specific purpose of notifying customers when new products come in. Customers can subscribe via mobile or RSS for instant notification. Twitter can also be used to provide mini-updates for one-on-one clients.
9. Take Notes. Twitter provides you with an easy way to record important ideas or concepts you want to explore further. Include links relevant to ideas you want to explore. Note taking can also be done offline via mobile applications.
10. Event Updates. Businesses can use Twitter as a means to inform event participants and latest event happenings/changes. This is a hassle-free way of disseminating information, especially when you don’t have the means to set up a direct mobile link between you and the audience
11. Find Prospects. Twitter can be used as a means to find potential customers or clients online. Do a search for keywords related to your product on a twitter search and then follow users. Tweet about topics parallel to your product and close prospects away from public channels by using direct messages or offline communications. Discretion and skill is needed in this area.
12. Time Management and Analysis. Twitter can simply be used to keep a detailed record of what you are doing every daily. This might be boring for others but this type of usage is useful when you want to analyze how you spend and manage your time.

As you can see Twitter is a versitile platform that can be used for all sorts of means. Here is a little tip.

Set yourself up an auto responder with your twitter account. I use Socialtoo. This means when someone follows you they get a personal message.. You soon learn what these are and look like because most of the time it reads.

Thanks for following me – now read my ebook or buy my product from this link………. OR
Thanks for following me, now look at my blog at ……………….

I learnt quickly that people hate this and its not a smart thing to do if you want to build the relationships. You dont want to force anything down the reader or followers throat. You should already have the link in your profile where they can look if you strike the right chord with them.

In your response in these situations what people appreciate is acknowledgment that you have followed them. A simple message with NO links in it along the lines of thank you and look forward to coersing with you or something like that is very very powerful. If you do this then you are building that trust relationship with the other person. This is what is key with twitter.

I hope you have fun. Have a look at the users that are using it from the list above and learn from what everyone else has to say.

Deon

March 24 2009 | Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Fushnchups.co.nz bagging New Zealand – What A Laugh!

Today all over the new there has been a story about these australian couple from fushnchups.co.nz that posted a blog about New Zealand slagging us off to the aussies and other parts of the world. I think this is a typical Kiwi vs Aussie rivalry that will always go on. But have a look and see what you think of the website which is Fushnchips.

Here is the article that was posted on the NZ Herald website.

An Australian couple has upset Kiwis with an online expat guide which warns that Auckland is a “horrible soulless city” and its inhabitants are “hobbits” who cannot dress properly.

The anonymous duo have used their website, fushnchups.co.nz, to attack their new home here, rubbishing everything from the country’s beer to its major cities and lack of worldliness.

“I was horrified that I couldn’t buy a copy of The Age, even in the major bookstores. True story,” wrote the bloggers, a professional couple in their late 20s.

They sum up the largest city, Auckland, as horrible and soulless, a comment the city’s tourism chief executive, Graeme Osborne, took exception to.

“Maybe they’re just envious that Auckland recently rated ahead of every Australian city as a tourist destination,” Osborne said.

“They should get in touch with me personally and I guarantee I’ll change their impression.”

The couple also trashed Rotorua, a popular tourist destination famed for it sulfuric activity, saying it “absolutely stinks”.

“It smells like the whole town let rip at once,” they say on the site, set up as a guide for Australians contemplating making a move over the ditch.

“Can blokes (in Rotorua) get away with letting out a silent-but-deadly in bed next to the missus?” they ask.

“How do people tell when their eggs have gone off?”

Ruth Crampton, from Destination Rotorua, said the Aussie bloggers had missed the point.

“It’s the smell that makes us special,” Crampton said.

“And didn’t they read that scientists have discovered the gas which causes smell is great for men’s sexual arousal and prowess?

“That’s a reason to visit.”

The New Zealand beer brewery, DB, took exception to an open letter on the site which says the national brew is lacking in hops.

“They can’t be serious,” a DB spokeswoman said.

“We’ve got some of the best beer in the world.”

The bloggers also waded into touchy trans-Tasman waters, laying claim to pavlova and Phar Lap, but adding “you can have Russell Crowe”.

Professor Philippa Mein Smith, of the NZ Australia Connections Research Centre at the University of Canterbury, said the comments were “pathetically rude” and did nothing to help the two countries relate.

Picking up that the young pair were from Tasmania, she decided to give some back.

“Isn’t Tasmania the butt of all the jokes over there?” Prof Mein Smith said.

“They’re just attacking us because they themselves are at the bottom of the pecking order back home.”

- AAP

I think it is important to realise that New Zealand is a great country to live in and then realise that this country is the country we all live in and grow up in. Most of the People I know that have visited this place love it and have always enjoyed their stay. This is a tourist destination most people around the world long to come to to visit and experience the Kiwi culture. Auckland is Auckland.

At the end of the day we have a multi cultural nation and I am proud to be part of it. But people are able to have their own opinion but when it comes to being on a website like theirs its a little rich. But hey you cant look at it just as a negative. Its a little bit of a laugh and if i were reading about it from some other country id probably be quite interested to see what the whole thing was about.

The great thing is that New Zealand is as well as being multi cultural is a very diverse country. There is a vast difference when you go from one part of the country to the next. Every city you visit is different and every rejion is different. I have lived in so many places in New Zealand and I can say that not one place was the same. As with anywhere you have the good places and the bad but I think the people of New Zealand make this a good place. Most people are friendly and because of the diverse culture you can learn a lot from different people.

I have had a good look through their website and it is funny in a way. It has a quirky nature that I know the Australians have which is great fun most of the time. But are the things this couple have been saying a little over the top. In their blog they call it a “piss take”.To some people maybe yes and to some people maybe no. Everyone has their own opinion.

I would be very interested in seeing what people think of this story.

March 24 2009 | Uncategorized | 9 Comments »

Mortgagee Sales are up – Whats happening out there?

Today I read a very interesting article on stuff.co.nz about an Auction that a good friend of mine Roland Lina conducted last night in New Plymouth. It highlights a good point about what is happening in the market. The article reads as follows.

Three words are dominating Taranaki’s real estate pages “sell, sell, sell”.

As house prices and interest rates continue to plummet desperate vendors trapped in mortgages they can’t afford are looking for creative ways out.

Last night at Harcourts New Plymouth an auction attracting almost 100 people sold an expansive Heta Rd property for almost $120,000 below its government valuation (GV).

Advertised as a pre-mortgagee sale under the title “beat the bank” the six bedroom, 1582sqm, 2 1/2-year-old home had a reserve price of $380,000, was valued at $680,000 and sold for $566,000.

Auctioneer Roland Lina said the days where you could simply “nail a sign to a fence” and a place was sold were over.

“I can assure you if we had advertised it for $600,000 it would still be on the market,” he said. Having worked in real estate for 18 years Mr Lina said clever marketing was needed to get the best price and houses off the books.

Several bidders at the auction said they had come in the hope of getting a bargain but expected the “marketing ploy” would push the price way past the low reserve.

Other advertisements on both Trade Me and in real estate publications are littered with phrases such as “lawyer says sell”, “priced to sell fast”, “bank wants all offers presented NOW” and “Crunch Time!!”

Thought of as existing in a bubble, mortagagee and pre-mortgagee sales are starting to creep on to the region’s real estate market.

Industry insiders report a rise in the number of people forced to default on mortgages they got into when interest rates were as high as 9.5 per cent.

Nationally mortgagee sales listed on websites Trade Me and realestate.co.nz have more than doubled in the past year.

The country’s increasing unemployment has been blamed for the mortgagee sales.

The last comment here is one that doesn’t go down too well with me. Sure enough unemployment is one of the reasons there may be some mortgagee sales but if you get into the nitty gritty of it most of the people that have mortgagee sales at the moment are still on high interest rates. And after talking to a few people in that situation they simply say they canot afford with the incomes they are gettin to pay the mortgage.

Sometimes this figure is up to 80% of the total income goes on the mortgage. And I am sure that there are some people with more. Now think about it, on top of that yo have to eat, pay the rates, the power, the phone, the car bills, insurances and any other costs that you can think of.

What I have found is that some people I have spoken to have been surviving like this purely because of credit facilities that they have been using. For example the weekly wages goes toward the mortgage and then the rest goes on the other bills, but the shortfall is made up of credit – eigther a credit card or a personal loan. Some people have even got to the state of getting personal loans just to pay the credit card off.

Now the simple fact is that you can probably live like this for a very short time until things ironed themselves out a little, but we are in a ressession, if you cant see that or think it wont last i believe you need to have a good look around you. Mortgagee sales will rise because of this fact. As people run out of credit they need to sell or should sell. MOst people will try and hold on to what they have but in a lot of cases the bank steps in and takes over which is what you then call a mortgagee sale.

But as Roland said in the article above there needs to be some smart thinking going on and try and people need to sell before the bank steps in. In that case you as the home owner will have a little more control over what is going to happen to what probably could be your biggest asset. If you are a home owner please do take a close look at your speding and where your money is going. It is much better to try and sell before there is a problem. Becoming a mortgagee is not a nice place to be for anyone.

March 19 2009 | Buyers and Sellers and The Market | 1 Comment »

Social Networking and Real Estate Marketing

Are the days of having a party at your home inviting friends and family around and possible clients gone. In one way yes and in another way its taken on a whole new form. The old days of making some useful contacts, get referrals and meet prospective clients through events like these prties or dinners or even casual lunch dates with friends are pretty much gone. Dont get me wrong, this type of stratergy can still work but the target markets these days where you want to be putting yourself or your property forward are changing. These offline activities are still very much a part of every day life and can be very benificial. I know a number of people who cant use a computer at all. They come to the office sit down make a few calls and then all of a sudden the next day they have a new listing or sale. But that older styled way is changing and the scope of reach is never going to be wide and as far as could be achieved now with the internet. People are becoming less social offline and more social online. So what does this mean for you and your real estate business or how you market your peoperty today.

There are two websites that I like to use for the purpose of social networking They are Facebook, Linkedin and the latest craze Twitter. Facebook has quickly become one of the largest social networking sites in the world with over 100 million users. Started by a college kid (now a multi-millionaire), Facebook has grown from a simple college leisure site to one of the most powerful, far reaching social networks on the web. LinkedIn also started with humble beginnings, but has grown to become the largest business networking site in its domain. LinkedIn allows professionals from all industries to network with like-minded professionals and/or network to find new jobs or employees.Twitter  only a recent addition to the social family is a very very powerful way to create and grow your network. The use of a micro blogging system where you tell your audience what your doing, a useful link or just anything that may help them can have huge benifits to your business. These three networks alone have helped many people take their businesses to the next level by providing them with extremely simple, expansive networks to find prospective clients where they may not have otherwise been able to reach. But remember the use of these sites is not just limited to the use of the Agent. Sellers or buyers can use these sites in a similar way to network out to find what they want to achieve.

But you might ask me why does this bare any relivance to Real Estate which is an offline activity. Well if you think of the initial question of how the fact that people are becoming more social online, as opposed to offline, affects your business you will get the answer. The facts is over 85% of real estate transactions start online usually via looking at the peoperty online and then the person contacting you. Prospective clients are on the web. Whether they are doing searches on Google, conversing with friends on Facebook or watching community videos on Youtube, people looking to buy, sell or invest in real estate flock to the Internet to gather as much information as possible before making one of the largest financial transactions of their lifetime. Why… Because the internet has probably everything that person wants to know and if your their when they are searching you could get a lead. This is more of a reason than any that you must be found easily on the web but you need to establish yourself as an authority for the services you offer in your area. So that when it comes time for that person to make the descision about who he wants to call your at the top of mind.

But how can you set yourself up for this. The one thing that all of you will agree is that everyone hates a kiss arse. Someone who says look at me, pick me blah blah blah. Online it is easy to be like that but if your marketing yourself right you will be seen as a person of help to these people. Inbound marketing tactics work the best online. This is marketing that does not need to be intrusive or interruptive, is one of the most organic and effective ways to accomplish these two goals. Social networking is the prime example of effective inbound marketing – if done right of course. By plotting your social networking strategy and / or employing professsionals to manage or consult you on your social networking strategies, you will be able to define yourself as a true resource on the web – the place where a pool of prospective clients continues to grow each day. They will benifit you in the long run.

If you want you should take the time to learn more about the social networks mentioned above. Marketing for your real estate and your business online in these types of ways can truly increase your client base by making you a trusted resource online. Remember, you may be one of the top producers in your market, but if your clients can’t find you online when they are looking for your services then you may as well be a brand new agent with no experience or credibility yet. It is never too late to get started, especially on social networking as this is still relatively new for the real estate industry, so take advantage of it before you fall too far behind the pack. And as I said it doesnt just stop at marketing your business online.

These social network sites are only the party. This is where people get channeled in. I will talk a little later on how to channel these from the social networking sites to your own site and to your properties which is where you ultimately want traffic online to go. But just remember its all about the party and entertaining your guests that have arrived and stearing them into the right direction.

March 15 2009 | Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

Ellerslie International Flower Show in Christchurch 11 – 15 March

For the last few days Christchurch has been abuzz with activity. The Ellerslie International Flower Show has hit Hagley Park and there are people from all over coming here to look at the show. This morning I decided to go along and have a look and the quality of the stalls and arrangements are just great. There has been some great effort put into the stalls as always. The Ellerslie International Flower Show is an internationally recognised brand and because of this draws a global audience of thousands.There were people from all over today looking around the event. One couple I was speaking to from Germany flew all the way just to visit the show and as a result of this have also set themselves three weeks of touring the South Island. This must be good for business.

The focus of the Show is as much about our homes and our lifestyles as it is about gardens – the plants, garden design, colour, structure and form. Most importantly, the iconic event provides the horticultural, floral, landscape design and construction businesses with the opportunity to showcase to a global audience the best of what New Zealand has to offer.

Christchurch has also put its own ’stamp’ on the show – introducing a number of new features, including the Taste of the South – the best food and wine the South Island has to offer.  It will showcase the unique English heritage that helped name Christchurch ‘The Garden City’ in 1906 during the Great New Zealand Exhibition held in the same site, as well as highlighting the special tanga te whenua.  Christchurch will also recognise that sustainability is no longer a trend but rather a necessity in the 21st Century Sustainability is about design re-using, recycling and responding with sensitivity to our environment and landscape.

If you havent had a look yet I fully recommend that you do take a look. The artworks are truely inspirational and have definately given me a few ideas about how I would like to build my home and garden in the future. Its also nice to have the event now held in New Zealands Garden City of Christchurch. This is the first time it has been held down here, It is usually held in Ellerslie in Auckland. But hey lets hope it stays.

March 12 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »

New Zealand OCR Dropped to 3.0% 12 March 2009 – Will This Help?

Again the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is dropping our Official Cash rate amid the world and New Zealand Economy falling as credit becomes tight and people stop spending money like they have in the past few years. The new OCR rate of 3% is a 50 bias point drop on what it was at 3.5%. The total drop in the past two months has been 2%. But is this enough to stimulate our economy enough to give it the spur of life that it needs.

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard said: “The world economy deteriorated very rapidly late last year, amid ongoing losses and extreme volatility in international financial markets. While monetary and fiscal policy responses in many countries have been substantial we still expect the adverse economic forces generated by the crisis to remain dominant throughout 2009. The timing and extent of global recovery remain highly uncertain.

One point I would like to note which seems interesting to me is that as you can see by the picture of the NZD against the USD as soon as the OCR rate cut was announced we saw about a half a cent rise in its value and this value has stayed constant all day. In my view this is a good sign to look at as this means that investors have got some confidence in our dollar and its performance. Also as a side note we saw fuel drop in price by .5c a liter today at 12pm which will make everyone a little more happy.

As we are at the moment we are coming into winter which is traditionally the time when people start to wind down on the spending and save money for the summer vacations and the likes of christmas and new year parties etc. The winter sees less people moving around as well because generally most peole have settled into their new jobs and the children are into their school routine and people tend to sit down and not do as much. This year has seen many people get into that routine alot earlier and many are going to find this winter very difficult.

Although sales volume for Real Estate was the highest in about a year at just over 5200 sales recorded for the 28 days in Feburary it was still the lowest recorded sales volume for 10 years. This gives us a clear indication that people are not buying at the moment. I do believe though that the interest rate drops from the OCR are going to give the housing market a boost as there are some great oportunities out there to buy if you have the equity to borrow you will most likely be able to find a property out there that will return a positive cash flow now.

I myself have been going around Christchurch doing a small survey and talking to almost every business owner in dairies, supermarkets, fish and chip shops etc etc and generally the same message is coming accross is that business is tight. People are not spending money but there is a trend for what people are spending more money on. The trend seems to be that people are spending more money in the stores where they can get their entertainment and take it home. So instead of people going out for dinner, going to the movies and going to the bars it seems people are buying those items from video stores and bottle stores and are taking those back home and entertaining at home. This is one way to save money.

It will be very interesting to see how much of this rate cut will be passed to the consumer over the next few weeks.

March 12 2009 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Arranging Finance – Are The Banks Helping

Well it is interesting to note that now after almost 5 weeks ago the OCR dropping to a record low in New Zealand of 3.5% the banks are now only just starting to pass the interest rates to the consumer. I am aware that the banks are facing increasing pressures as the sost of buying the money from over seas increases and our New Zealand Dollar drops further and further against the greenback (USD) which as of this morning was hoverng at a 6 year low of .49c

One notable company I have noticed that are being very competitive is the BNZ offering a 6 month fixed interest rate of 4.99% and Kiwibank are doing some good deals. The main point is to shop areound to find the best deal. What you will find is in this every changing market the best port of call is to talk to a mortgage broker before you commit to anything. The problem being that as the economy tightens into winter and money becomes hard to come by everyone will want the business for themselves. It is important not to get into this channel as there is so much happening every day that you need to be alert and aware.

Thats why I say get a mortgage broker you trust to help you. They are in the market and understand what is happening and in the economic times of today. A good friend of mine who is a top mortgage broker in my opinion “Kerry Kelly” is very onto it when it comes to todays market and knows how to best get finance for you. If you want to talk to her click her name which will go to her contact details and she will be able to help you no matter where you are in the country. Its worth a shot.

Below is something I read on the Herald website this morning about this very topic of banks passing on the lower interest rates to the consumer and it raises some interesting points that I think is important for everyone to be aware of when trying to get finance to buy a property in todays market.

Governor keeps heat on banks over credit

4:00AM Thursday Mar 05, 2009
By Brian Fallow

Alan Bollard

We have been putting quite a bit of pressure on the banks to ensure they are not treating New Zealand borrowers in an unnecessarily different way.

Alan Bollard, Reserve Bank GovernorReserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard kept the heat on the banks yesterday to continue lending to businesses on reasonable terms.

When Bollard appeared before Parliament’s finance and expenditure select committee yesterday, Labour’s finance spokesman, David Cunliffe, said his comment to last Friday’s job summit that the banks “should not underestimate the degree of corporate anger out there” chimed with what MPs had been hearing from major companies.

They were hearing of lending decisions now being made overseas and not by local relationship managers, Cunliffe said.

“That is a widespread concern in the corporate community,” Bollard said. “We had more discussions [with the banks] during and after the summit. My comments seem to have taken some of them by surprise.”

The banks were saying the market had got a lot more difficult, that it was harder to raise funds and riskier, and that that risk had to be passed on to corporate borrowers.

“We think that is true up to a point but it is very important they don’t go beyond that point and are there supporting investment into our recovery,” Bollard said.

“We would not want to see a home country bias [among the Australian parent banks] as is happening in
some places around the world.”

The banks said on Friday that they had increased their lending to the business sector by $3.6 billion in the December quarter and had received $4 billion in additional funding from their Australian parents.

Bollard acknowledged business sector lending had increased but said some of that was the drawing down of backup credit lines already in place plus a degree of “back-filling” of the hole left by collapsed finance companies.

Cunliffe asked if he was confident the Australasian banks were treating New Zealand corporates identically with Australian ones.

“I can’t say that,” Bollard replied, although he noted that some Australian companies were also complaining about tightening conditions and higher interest rates.

“We have been putting quite a bit of pressure on the banks to ensure they are not treating New Zealand borrowers in an unnecessarily different way – bearing in mind there are some arguments about extra risk here – or running down their balance sheets.”

Asked if he was happy about the extent to which banks were passing on official cash rate cuts to borrowers, Bollard said that at the short end of the interest rate curve there did not seem to be a big increase in banks’ margins. At the long end rates were driven more by what was happening in overseas markets.

He was more concerned about the terms and conditions of loans being tightened to unrealistic levels.

March 05 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Affiliate Marketing and Article Marketing

Affiliate marketers ignore article marketing at their cost. Do you want more customers and more money or less of both? Ignore the following reasons to let someone do your article writing for you when you market your goods at your own cost!

Any successful online marketer will tell you why “You Should Outsource Your Article Writing”, and if you are reading this, then so are potential customers who you would never have reached. Just think about that for a second or two.

Affiliate marketing experts realise the importance of traffic, without it there is no business. It doesn’t matter how good your product or service is (or the product or service you’re marketing as an affiliate) if people don’t know about your site. No traffic means – no sales; article marketing is one of the most popular and most effective means of bringing visitors to your site as well as increasing your search engine page rankings through the large number of back links that can be created this way.

However, not every affiliate marketer or web based business person has time to write articles. The answer to your problem is to let someone else who enjoys writing do it for you; there are plenty of talented copywriters out there who specialize in producing well-written, search engine optimized content for affiliates and other online marketers. This is exactly the kind of content you need to grow your business – if you’re not convinced that this is the way to go, keep reading to see some of the best reasons to have others write your articles for you.

1) Your articles will be professionally written – Your strength is more than likely in business, and you might be the first to confess that you are no article writer. That’s perfectly OK; you don’t have to be. You can leave this work to the professionals.

2) It saves you time – Writing articles can take up a lot of your time and more than likely you have more important things to take care of. By outsourcing your article writing, you can turn your attention to other important tasks.

3) It can save you money – When you factor in the value of your time, it’s better for you to have someone else write articles for you – short articles can be written quickly and inexpensively by professional copywriters.

4) Improved SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – A writer who specializes in producing content for article marketing will have a good understanding of SEO and can produce you article which get you results.

5) Better consumer response – Search engines tend to take more notice of articles written by a professional – and so will human readers. Remember them? They’re your potential customers who you might be ignoring right now.

6) Increased Credibility – Have you ever read anything that sound terrible, looks unstructured and is full of typing mistakes and bad grammar – what a turn off; professional writers will produce content which is free of these problems and more enjoyable to read.

7) Brand building – Well written, informative articles can establish you as an expert in your field – and isn’t it much better to make a choice to buy based on the opinion of someone who knows? Remember, the core message of any brand is “trust me”.
More tightly focused content – A skilled copywriter will be sure to ascertain exactly what your target market is and how best to get your message across to them; this translates into increased sales.

9) Expertise – If you’re marketing in a niche which you are less knowledgeable about, you can find a copywriter who has some expertise in the field or who has the necessary research skills to write about it knowledgeably.

10) You hate to write – Did you really enjoy writing when you were at school? Most people did not relish the thought of having to produce a good essay. It’s not that different when it comes to writing articles either. If you are sensible enough to let someone else do your article writing, you will get better articles than you might ever imagine, and that will bring in those all important customers.

So now you have a decision to make. Do you have so much money that you don’t care or need any more OR are you clever enough to realise you can reach and attract more customers and increase your income?

March 01 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »