The recent revelation of plagiarism used in Witi Ihimaera’s latest book The Torwenna Sea has sent shockwaves around the world. Even though it amounted to only 0.4% of the content, Ihimaera’s fall from grace has been astounding, resulting in Paul Homes statement “The world comes down heavily on plagiarism. It is cheating. It is theft of intellectual property.”
So it should be on blogging. Presuming the aim of it is to say, look at me, I’m an expert, I’m building profile, I’m here to help, offer advice, knowledge, free! Yet someone is now known as an expert, yet most of his posts are plagiarised! Dishonesty is not becoming of a real estate agent or any one else.
You will have noticed I’ve had a bit of a lull in my good start to blogging. Perhaps I could’ve found something to copy to keep me going everyday, be seen as a regular. This never entered my head. I know it’s wrong, so I will not do it.
If I am to copy, I would quote the source, if it is some public newspaper perhaps. If it is not a generally known source, I might ask permission first.
My standards are obviously higher than one blogger on here.
Who was the first to write these blogs, I need to sell my house or the most effective ways on how to sell your house? I know who I beleive. If I wanted to bring news on mortgagee sales, would I have to do anymore than say look at this. Then ask so what happens at a mortgagee sale and answer the question How does this happen?
Is this too brief. Too simple. Not interesting enough. Bit like Twitter, could have put it all in 140 words or less! Or write it out fully, but give sources, not just a link to the Hearld’s home page. Least I’m not promoting it as my own, but I cringe every time I see others do it. Hopefully someone will own up like a man Witi Ihimaera is.
Postscript:
Looks like I hit a nerve! Corrections have been made! Some sources of the two articles have been acknowledged, not in a logical way, but some effort has been made to cover up. Still no acknowledgement of pinching stuff from Bayleys and not a direct linkage to the original author’s article on EzineArticles.com, his preferred source of material.
I hope we can keep the integrity of this blog. If I’m a whistle blower, so be it. And I’ll keep doing it.
November 23 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Real Estate agents technically finish their job when they provide the vendor with a completed unconditional contract.
The only thing remaining for the vendor is to get their money from the sale. There is an enforceable, binding contract and the purchaser can be sued if they default on the sale,
The deposit for the sale is usually paid into the real estate agent’s trust account and the balance, after deducting commission for selling and any agreed advertising expenses, is paid to your solicitor.
If the purchaser doesn’t pay when settlement is required, the vendor is entitled to retain the balance of the deposit and use it to offset any losses, if the price is less when the property is resold.
Traditionally buyers paid 10 per cent deposit. This left a reasonable sum for the vendor in the event of the purchaser defaulting. Now-a-days, any deposit seems to be acceptable. So if the deposit is not much more than the amount needed to pay the real estate agent’s commission, the vendor will get no compensation if the sale falls through.
Many a buyer has told me that a deposit is not required for there to be a binding contract. This may be technically correct, but my recommendation to my vendor would not to accept any offer without one, and as I say, 10 per cent if possible.
One of the worst habits of many sale consultants is to suggest a vendor accepts an offer where the deposit is payable only when the contract becomes unconditional. This clearly is a condition in favour of the purchaser, and in my opinion, lacking in fiduciary duty to the vendor. Too many agents think that a vendor should take just about any offer to get a sale, as if the vendor is in a weak position. If the deposit is not paid on unconditional date, the vendor’s position is precarious.
Vendors, stand firm, you’re not desperate are you? Demand a decent deposit, if not 10 per cent, but not less than 5 per cent, payable on the date of the contract.
Thankfully, vendors are going to be better protected when the new Real Estate Agents Act comes into force on Tuesday.
November 14 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
This question causes a lot of confusion among people who are considering changing their home, and it is important to get it right. Should you find what you want, sign a conditional agreement, and then sell your present home? Or should you sell your present home and then go shopping with money in your pocket. Let’s think it through.
You can go shopping, find a home you really love, just what you have been dreaming about, and sign an agreement that is conditional upon selling your present home for what you think you might get for it. Then you put your present home on the market. You may be lucky and sell your home quickly if it is very well priced but the likelihood is that you will not. The average period a house takes to sell in this area on today’s market is 70 – 80 days. So what happens is that for the first two weeks you’re euphoric – planning your shift, seeing yourselves in your new home, planning where the furniture will fit, and so on. Then you become a little apprehensive when your home does not sell quickly. Then others with cash in their pocket, having sold their home, make an offer for your dream home and the seller invokes the cash out clause, or you run out of time, or your house does not fetch enough money, and your conditional offer crashes along with your dreams. The pain and the anguish are very real.
The other option, having assessed prices generally, is to sell first or have a firm agreement on your present home before starting to look seriously. You know how much you can spend and how much finance is needed. You can even get approval for mortgage finance and know what the repayments will be on different levels of borrowing. And, as a cash buyer who is in a position to make a firm, unconditional offer for a property, you will always negotiate a better price for a property than a conditional buyer.
So what is the downside on this option? That you will be left without somewhere to lay your heads? Most unlikely. At this time there are an increasing number of houses for sale. If you are shopping seriously you will find what you want. If you are really worried about this we can always negotiate a longer settlement period when selling your present home.
Better still, have a clause in your sale agreement that allows you to find your next property before you sell your own. Buyers generally don’t like this because they are tied down for perhaps some weeks before they know they have got their new home.
I have an answer for that, too. That is, a clause in the buyers favour that gives them the right to give the vendor 3-5 days notice to remove the vendor buying clause, or the contract is at an end.
So what’s the answer? Sell first every time, it saves a lot of pain!
October 11 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
He‘s his wife’s husband, his mother’s son, his nephew’s and niece’s uncle, his son’s and daughter’s father. She’s not an agent either, she’s my sister, her husband’s wife, her father’s daughter, her nephew’s and niece’s aunt, her son’s and daughter’s mother. They are grandparents or grandchildren and best mates too. They’re not real estate agents, not one of those, Jack and Jill, Romeo and Juliet are real people, family, whanau, friends, nice, honest, trustworthy, generous, loving, hard working, humble people.
Real estate agents are not real people; they’re faceless, possessed by Satan, out to get you, steal your money, incompetent, dishonest, rip off merchants. Lesser charges are annoying telemarketers, junk mailers, flash cars, laziness, unprofessional, lack of courtesy (not promptly returning phone calls, email etc) and getting paid far too much for the little they do. Is their reputation deserved?
We will never forget what our parents told us about them, what we have heard, and, for a few of us, our own experiences. Even Bob Jones wrote “. . . for a period in the mid sixties the Auckland real estate world could be likened to the wild west with some quite appallingly unethical firms and their gangster salesmen roaming the commercial scene”. One can only imagine how much worst the residential agents were like. This is the inheritance of the real estate industry that, reinforced by the odd criminal goings on of a few and the disappointments of some, many who have wrongly blamed an agent for same, has progressed to today.
Yet, how many people have been a real estate salesperson at some stage of their life? They say that 80% don’t last more than 12 months. So are many of the knockers those that have tried and given up, probably tens of thousands? And ten times more, somebody’s brother, sister etc, decent people with empathy etc, your own family or friend. How nasty some can be towards them, the very same people, yet tens of thousands of people depend on the real estate industry for their own livelihoods.
Agent bashing is a favourite New Zealand pastime, a tradition, a habit, where significant law and ethical changes since the sixties have gone unnoticed. Sure, there are incompetent agents out there, but 99.9% are the Jack and Jills of the world.
If you are thinking of selling your property, who do choose to represent you? Best choose someone local, has no baggage, who is alive, shows some sign of intelligence, makes promises they can keep, works at least six days a week, available all hours even face to face, smiles, is friendly and happy, networks, has empathy, can actually sell, negotiates in the principal’s favour, shares his listings with other offices etc. Oh hell, 99.9% of them are like that!
And soon its going to be 100%. At last, agents are going to get the respect they deserve. Why – because from 17th November, agents will come under the control of The Real Estate Agents Authority, along with tough new consumer-focused rules. In a later post, I will expand a little on this. In the meantime, take care out there.
October 09 2009 | Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
About me – first and foremost, I’m a real estate agent.
I make no apology for using the term ‘agent’ in the context that I am not presently a licensee; this is what everybody knows a salesperson by, it has become the norm, and it is a sorry oversight that the new Real Estate Agents Authority hasn’t seen fit to use this term for salespeople and introduce the title ‘Broker’ for a licensee. Some of the oldies frown on this loose description salespeople use, but that is how all of us are known. Anyway, I do have a Diploma in Real Estate and an Associate of the Institute (AREINZ) and have previously been a licensee of my own company. For my full profile, visit here.
Having said that, I am back to the grass roots of real estate, and loving it, as are other ‘retirees’ I know, Richard Podwin and Robin Cross. For me, it’s like starting all over again, back in Auckland after nearly five years away and thinking I was never coming back, dumped my database. Now prospecting like a newbie. I can’t even remember where all my past sales were, but everyday, something reminds me, like today, an appraisal, I remembered I sold a house in the next street, twice!
But just like Ronnie Corbett, I wonder away from the topic, social media. You may have noticed my brief on Twitter – cynical. I thought I should mention, I’m not too sure about this blogging thing, not every day anyway. Without drawing scorn, I hope, from my learned fellow bloggers, is this the way to increase my business? Will I be recognised as an ‘expert’ that leads to potential sellers knocking my door down, please Clive, sell my house! Well, I think not – told you I was a sceptic, too (not a member of the society, though!)
Interesting to note, also, that of the top 50 agents in New Zealand, less than a handful blog!
Selling real estate is more to do with face to face contact, or at least, talking on the telephone. For example, talked to a seller today, on the market for three weeks, except for two letters, hasn’t heard from the agent! Don’t tell me she could follow him on Twitter to feel she’s in the loop! Guess who she’s going to list with when her present exclusive expires?
Recently, I read Social Media Marketing in a Nutshell, I was encouraged to give it a go, so here I am. Time will tell, but I know I’ll be an agent who does a bit of socialising rather than a socialite who dabbles in real estate!
October 05 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
Titirangi (translation from Maori, meaning “The Fringe of Heaven”) is a beautiful natural area in the south east of the Waitakere Ranges, bordering the Manuakau Harbour and the suburbs of Glen Eden, New Lynn and Green Bay, with Laingholm to the west, and marks the end of Auckland’s urban sprawl.
“If I didn’t live in Titirangi, I wouldn’t live in Auckland. If I didn’t live in Auckland, I probably wouldn’t live in New Zealand. If I ….” so wrote great New Zealand author Maurice Shadbolt. Other greats who lived in Titirangi include painter Colin McCahon, while cricketers Jeff and Martin Crowe attended Titirangi School.
Pre-European, Titirangi was divided between the Te Kawerau a Maki and Ngati Whatua tribes. An early English settler was John Kelly, the first to legally buy land in the area in 1848. Others followed including Thomas Bray (my great, great grandfather), who bought 73 acres in 1853, William Brimner 220 acres in 1854 and Hybernia Smyth, who aggregated 550 acres on the slopes beneath Mt Atkinson between 1854-57.
By the late 1850’s, all the timber was cut in the east where the whole Whau was slowly being turned into farmland. A letter to ‘The New Zealander’ in January 1860 describes the view from the top of Mt Atkinson looking back toward Auckland as “…clay showing everywhere with hardly a tree or cultivated field…” The view west was still at least partially forested. Some of this cleared land is now within the suburbia boarders of Titirangi.
Later, Henry Atkinson (1838-1921), an early conservationist, pitied the plight of the natural landscape and donated large chunks of land for water catchment areas, native bush parklands and Titirangi Beach.
The landmark Titirangi Hotel was opened in1930. It was billed as the Ideal Mountain Guest House featuring 63 luxury rooms. Plenty of beds but no liquor license! It was quickly dubbed the “Pub with no beer”. Later, renamed Lopdell House, it was a school for the deaf, and since 1986, an arts centre and theatre. Henry Atkinson’s statue stands outside.
Titirangi has always been described as a haven, far from the madding crowds, for potters, artists, weavers, writers etc, but today, half the workforce are professionals or managers. Living in Titirangi offers a very laid-back lifestyle away the hustle and bustle of the city.
Expansive architectural homes stand alongside original cottages in beautiful native bush settings, some with panoramic city or Manukau Harbour views. Although urbanised, mostly the natural character is dominant over the built environment. Average house size is around 158m2 and land size average is over 1700m2.
Recreation can be had at the beaches, Titirangi, Wood Bay or French Bay, by way of swimming, boating or board sailing. A shallow bank just off Titirangi Beach was once a favourite spot to collect scallops, without diving or dredging, at low tide. Bush tracks abound in the area, also.
Five primary schools serve the area including a Rudolf Steiner, Kaurilands (decile 9), Konini (6), Woodlands Park (9) and Titirangi (10). Older students bus to Glen Eden Intermediate or Green Bay High.
According to the latest census (2006), Titirangi had a population of 9291 people, living in 3270 dwellings, with 7.3% over 65 and 23.5% under 15 and 82.8% European. People living here have a higher post school education, lower unemployment rate and higher earning rate than the average for all Auckland. Home ownership is also higher than the average at 70.2%.
Around 40 shops and other businesses are crammed into the little available space on the ridge line that is Titirangi Village. Everything is here from a supermarket, florist, bookshop, hair salons, dentist, lawyers, doctors, accountants, giftshop, health shop, liquor store, two banks, post shop and stationers, travel agent and pharmacy. Just around the corner in South Titirangi Rd is the community centre, library, kindergarten, fire station, RSA and bowling club.
Titirangi is well served by public transport, no one is far from a bus stop. All bus services link up with the mid-western bus terminal at New Lynn, conveniently located by the New Lynn train station, giving you a choice of bus or train to Auckland CBD. The bus-train journey to town is very popular with commuters.
From the early days, Titirangi had tearooms to serve the many who ventured for a day out motoring the Scenic Drive. Now, for eating out, you are spoilt for choice! Cafes and restaurants include Takehe, Hardware Cafe, La Vinci, Turkish, The Toby Jug (the first in the area) and the soon to be opened, Masala Indian restaurant. Takeaways include Chinese, Hells Pizzas, fried chicken and hot bread shop.
October 02 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Is really not that much of a battle according to a new survey by real estate company, Coldwell Banker.
The survey of 1,000 men and women was designed to highlight the differences in how they approached buying a house.
One of the main concerns that popped up is that both men and women are looking for a home office. That is one of the leading drivers in new house purchases. Another facet that is important to the guys is the opportunity to find a man cave, an entertainment centre or place where they can get away for a little bit.
Women may be inclined to make up their mind more quickly than men …
– When asked how long it took before they knew their home was “right” for them, almost 70 percent of women had made up their mind the day they walked into the house, vs.62 percent of men.
Conversely, significantly more men needed two or more visits: (32 percent of men vs. 23 percent of
women).
Women would rather live closer to their extended family than to their job …
– 55 percent of women find it more important to be closer to their extended family (those that do not live in their household) than to their job, compared to only 37 percent of men.
A home’s security is a deal-breaker for both men and women …
– 64 percent of women said that if they found the home of their dreams but had concerns about its security, they would no longer be interested. More than half of men agreed (51 percent).
Couples say that no one “wears the pants in the relationship” in terms of major financial decisions …
– When asked who wears the pants in the relationship (when it comes to major financial decisions, such as purchasing a home), almost 70 percent of respondents living with their significant other said it’s actually mutual.
– However, 23 percent think that they, themselves, wear the pants in the relationship, not their partner. More men than women said this (26 percent vs. 20 percent, respectively).
September 28 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
Rescue on the high seas
Rescuers are jubilant after the successful salvage operation of a stranded fishing boat on Saturday morning. Harbourmaster John Lee-Richards co-ordinated…more
Stars spill all for kindy cookbook
World famous TV chef Gordon Ramsey is among celebrities helping raise money for
Green Bay Kindergarten. The controversial Englishmen, well known for not … more
Home owners in limbo
Homeowner Steve Pedersen is one of 65 people waiting to see whether they will be forced to sell their properties to the New Zealand Transport Agency … more
Storyfest promises a day of entertainment
More than 3000 people are expected to turn up at the Kelston Community centre for face painting, performances and creative workshops.’… more
Can you help put together New Lynn’s history?
Contact Derek Battersby if you have any old photos or documents on the history of New Lynn. The Waitakere city councillor says the area has an interesting past but … more
All dressed up, nowhere to go
Parau folks want a community hall of their own, but Waitakere City Council hasn’t included one in its 10-year plan ,,, more
Blitzing the pests out West
Titirangi’s resident eco-warrior is a woman on a mission - to rid the Waitakeres of pesky possums … more
Lai Thai, New Lynn
The potluck dinner at the home of a friend, a frequent dining companion, was going well. The Professor … more
Kelston designer girls make impressive mark in fashion world
Look out Karen Walker – here comes Patricia Santos and Mele Alamoni. Both girls … more
Lots of stars in Caro Bowl
There will be plenty of top tennis when the Caro Bowl club competition starts Thursday night. In the men’s division, Westmere-based West End are … more
New Lynn’s $300m Newmarket-esque makeover
Funding for the redevelopment of New Lynn has been secured which will go towards upgrading the town centre as well as the rail and road … more
September 25 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
One of my favourite places out west would have to be Laingholm. Having lived there for twenty years I can tell you what a great place it is. Yet some people, even Aucklanders, have never heard of this thriving community, so I thought I would tell you a bit about the place.
Laingholm is a small community on the outskirts of Auckland, in an area with a lot of native bush, in the foothills of the Waitakere Ranges and on the coast of the Manukau Harbour, with a safe shallow-water beach.
The name comes from the Laing family who originally farmed here. George Laing bought 610 acres in 1854 and the family farmed the area till the mid 1920s when they sold to property developers, Parker and Warner and who called the subdivision, Laingholm Estate.
Originally Laingholm was a holiday place, but the depression in 1930 caused a number of people to come and live in their baches and to retire here. With the outbreak of war in 1939 and the subsequent shortage of housing, more people arrived to rent baches, the start of a residential expansion.
According to the latest census (2006), Laingholm had a population of 2490 people, living in 867 dwellings, with 4.7% over 65 and 25.7% under 15 and 83.7% European. People living here have a higher education, lower unemployment rate and household income higher than the average for all Auckland. Around half the workforce are professionals or managers. Home ownership is also higher than the average at 73.4%.
People live here because of the beautiful natural environment, the small town atmosphere and not to be close to shopping centres, work or motorways. Immigrants, particularly from the UK and South Africa, find the lifestyle to their liking.
The beach is popular, of course, with the convenience of local store and takeaways, and is famous for its Guy Fawkes celebration, especially when the tide’s out.
An excellent bus service runs from the main roads, Laingholm Drive, Victory Rd and Huia Rd, to New Lynn and beyond. Commuting by car to Auckland proper is no problem, approximately 40 minutes to the CBD.
Laingholm School (Decile 9) is on Victory Rd, a focal point for the community, and has a spaceship theme and is called the ‘Greatest Little School in the Universal’
Housing styles vary between a few old baches to mostly modern designs to Waitakere’s most expensive. Many are designed for the environment on sloping land, pointed to the sun or views. Average house size is over 140m2 and land size average over 2200m2. Most common construction is weatherboard cladding with iron roof.
On a personal note, one of my great aunts, Evelina Bray married Duff Laing, son of George and Jane Laing; a great uncle, Len Bray, married a granddaughter of George and Jane and another great uncle, Alfred Bray lost an arm while working on Duff Laing’s farm!
September 21 2009 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments »