Harcourts Team Ponsonby

In my opinion the answer is ‘Yes, definitely!‘

Why do I say this?

Well, having a look at our most recent auctions, I think it’s the only conclusion one can come to . . .

3 properties, over 260 prospective buyers viewings, 28 registered buyers and all 3 properties sold under the hammer on the day!

5 Elizabeth Street, Freemans Bay marketed by Denise Boyes 0274 364 709 / denise@harcourtsponsonby.co.nz

This property was a massive do-up – loads of potential, but a huge amount of work required to realise that potential. As a result, it appealed to a very particular  segment of the market and a lot of potential buyers were daunted by the amount of work required. During the three week marketing campaign we had a total of 38 groups view the property – a number of then making multiple visits to the property. Feedback during the auction campaign was varied and it was clear that the market finding it very difficult to put a value on the property. A number of people were of the opinion that the property was possibly only worth land value, being $670,000.

On auction day we had 8 registered bidders, of which 4 bid on the day. With spirited bidding we comfortably exceeded the seller’s reserve with a sale price of $843,000!

52 Kiwi Road, Pt Chevalier marketed by Richard White 021 051 8404 / richard@harcourtsponsonby.co.nz

This was a bungalow in Pt Chev – cute as a button, but with it’s own challenges, the most obvious being a non-consented rumpus room, which was declared in the auction documentation.

During the three week auction marketing campaign we had more than 100 potential buyers view the property.

Come auction day, 7 buyers registered to bid, of which 3 bid on the day!

Spirited bidding ensued, but didn’t quite get to the vendor’s initial reserve, but, based on the spirited bidding and the substantial interest, the vendor reviewed her reserve and the property sold under the hammer for $715,000 on the day!

25 Clarence Street, Ponsonby marketed by Jacqui Dellar 0274 419 509 / jacqui@harcourtsponsonby.co.nz

Once again, a huge amount of interest in this property with more than 120 groups visiting the property during the auction marketing campaign!

On auction day we had huge interest – 13 registered bidders, 7 of whom bid on the day!

Bidding was fast and furious, with the odd slow patch and, at times, bidding in increments of $1,000 for more than $20,000! This was a wopper!

The property was announced to be on the market at $760,000, but bidding continued unabated and the property was eventually sold for a whopping $850,000 under the hammer!

In conclusion, and based on the above, I don’t think that there can be any doubt whatsoever that the market is hugely in favour of sellers!

Shaun Luyt, Managing Director of Harcourts Team Ponsonby, explains how Harcourts Team Ponsonby are trying to make a difference . . .

Harcourts Foundation

The Harcourts Foundation was launched in NZ and Australia in February 2008 with the purpose of providing support that helps, grows and enriches the communities in which we work, live and play. The Foundation has a clear focus on providing grants in areas where Harcourts offices operate to reputable community-based organisations which need funding for projects and initiatives designed to benefit as many people as possible.

Harcourts Team Ponsonby unconditionally support the Harcourts Foundation and to this end, we make an off-the-top donation to the Harcourts Foundation for every sale concluded. This money is therefore available for grants to community-based organisations in our immediate community.

If any community-based organisations in our area would like to apply for a grant from the Harcourts Foundation, you can find more information at www.harcourtsfoundation.org

TakeFridayOff

In addition to our contributions to the Harcourts Foundation, we have also lately been involved in the TakeFridayOff Charity Golf event.

This event was the brainchild of Chris Dunn, one of our Sales Consultants, who wanted to find a way for us to organise something that would be both fun and benefit our community directly – in this case the charity that was chosen was Mercy Hospice.

Chris, together with Richard White, took on the mammoth task of organising the event – this was a huge undertaking, but the support of the community – especially our local business community – has been overwhelming and we hope to be able to turn this  into an annual event in our community.

This even raised $17,000 for the Mercy Hospice! 

We would like to say a big thank you to all that have agreed to participate in and sponsor the event to make it a day to remember and to help us make a contribution to our community!

Christchurch Earthquake Appeal

This is a new initiative that has been proposed by some of our Team. They approached me with the concept of donating 10% off the top of their commission for all properties listed in April to the Harcourts Foundation Christchurch Earthquake Appeal, which is donated to the Red Cross.

The Business Owners of Harcourts Team Ponsonby and Harcourts have agreed to do the same for these sales, so I you list with our participating Consultants during the months of May or June, then 10% of the total commission paid will be donated to the Red Cross Christchurch Appeal through the Harcourts Foundation.

What is the Unit Titles Act?

The Unit Titles Act is the law governing most newer multi-unit developments (typically apartment blocks, townhouses, office blocks, etc), where the owners hold a property ownership known as a unit title. The property owners in a unit title development own a defined part of the building – typically an apartment, possibly together with an accessory unit or units (typically carparks) – and usually also have shared ownership in common areas such as lifts, lobbies or driveways.

Why is the Act changing?

The original Unit Titles Act came into force in 1972. Since then there have been major changes in the number, scale and nature of property developments in New Zealand – it is estimated that are over 18,000 unit title developments, which includes more than 90,000 units, 12,650 of these being residential.

Due to the changes over the years, the original Act had become out-dated and, as a result, on 1 April 2010 the Unit Titles Act 2010 was enacted by Parliament to ensure that the diverse and complex range of unit title developments in New Zealand are able to be managed more effectively.

The new Act is intended to provide a clear and flexible mechanism for simple and complex developments to be created in the future, as well as to provide a modern legal framework for the joint ownership and management of land, buildings and facilities on a socially and economically sustainable basis by communities of individual owners.

When is the new Act coming into force?

The Act is expected to be implemented in mid-2011. The regulations to support the Act are currently being drafted and the Act will come into force once these regulations have been developed.

Most of the provisions of the Act will apply from the date it comes into force, with other provisions applying from the end of a 15 month transition period, which start when the Act comes into force.

What changes are included in the new Act?

There are naturally a raft of changes included in the Act – too many to cover in this editorial, but some of the most important ones are:

• Long term maintenance plans – a body corporate must establish and maintain a long-term maintenance plan, which covers at least 10 years
• Disclosure statements between buyers and sellers, and developers and body corporates – sellers of unit title properties will be required to provide intending buyers with disclosure statement which contains information that can help inform their purchase decision. The Act provides for three types of disclosure statements – a pre-contract disclosure statement, a pre-settlement disclosure statement and an additional disclosure statement that the seller provides on request of the buyer
• Providing a fully integrated and cost effective dispute resolution service through the Tenancy Tribunal – once the Act comes into force, parties who find themselves in a unit title dispute (up to $50,000, and with some exceptions) and are unable to reach an agreement will be able to apply for an order of the Tenancy Tribunal which will resolve disputes through mediation, where possible, and/or adjudicate disputes, where necessary.
• Lowering the voting threshold for most body corporate decisions

Source: Department of Building and Housing www.dbh.govt.nz

The Department of Building and Housing has prepared two publications explaining the Unit Titles Act 2010 in more detail. You can access these on the DBH’s website at www.dbh.govt.nz/pub-unit-titles-index

Alternatively, if you would like to be kept up to date with property-related matters, including legislative changes, that might affect you, send me an e-mail toshaun@harcourtsponsonby and I will make sure you are added to our mailing list.

Shaun Luyt, Manager & co-owner of Harcourts Ponsonby, answers some of the common questions . . .

Why do people choose real estate sales as a career?

There are a number of reasons – some of the more predominant are . . the earning potential is unlimited and that you can work flexible hours. More recently, a lot of people have also realised that paid employment is not as secure as was previously thought, while in real estate sales you are essentially running your own business and self-employed, putting you firmly in control!

Why would you recommend real estate?

The one thing that drew me to real estate is the fact that my earnings were proportionate to the amount of effort and energy I put in – unlike an employment situation. Real estate also doesn’t require Sales Consultants to be in an office environment during office hours – in fact, a lot of their time is spent out of the office, which provides a lot more variety of work environment.

What are the most important skills required in real estate sales?

The most crucial skills are definitely networking and interpersonal skills. Real estate is generally thought of as a property-focussed business, but it’s really far more about the people you are dealing with on a daily basis – both buyers and sellers. People with good networks and good interpersonal skills have a definite advantage in real estate!

Isn’t it a risky business?

The fact that you work under a company’s umbrella eliminates a lot of the risk normally associated with being in business for yourself. Business setup would normally require a large financial investment for stock, working capital, premises lease, etc. The company that the real estate Sales Consultant decides to work for carries the majority of the business risk – all you really need to commit to is your initial training, some working capital to last until your first sale and some money on personal marketing – it must surely be one of the cheapest options to set yourself up in your own business.

What income can I expect to earn?

Income potential is definitely one of the most positive aspects of real estate – there really is no cap at all to what you can earn. It depends on you and how much hard work you are prepared to put into your career. Real estate Sales Consultants earn a percentage of the commission that is earned from each property sale, so the only constraint is how many properties can you sell. This is one of the huge advantages of real estate over employment.

What qualifications do I need?

Under the Real Estate Agents Act 2008 you need a National Certificate in Real Estate (Salesperson).

What are the advantages of working under the Harcourts umbrella?

I could fill a whole page with what I refer to as the ‘Harcourts Advantage’ . . . As a new Sales Consultant the most important advantage is the training offered by the Harcourts Academy – it is truly New Zealand’s leading real estate training and gives new Harcourts Sales Consultants a huge advantage to their peers. Harcourts are also renowned for their superb sales support systems and technology which we provide to all our Consultants. The Harcourts brand is also well-known and respected nationwide. In fact, Harcourts has the highest national preference and the highest top of mind awareness for real estate agencies amongst homeowners in New Zealand (ACNielsen), which is a huge advantage when you are starting out. Altogether this is almost an unfair advantage when you’re new to the industry!

Are you self-motivated with good interpersonal and networking skills and wanting to take control of your career?

Come find our more about a career in Real Estate Sales at our Real Estate Careers Seminar to be held at Harcourts Ponsonby, 89 Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby at 6pm on Wednesday 11 August 2010.

Call 0800 500 546 to register.

1. Your income is unlimited

2. Your hours can be flexible

3. Harcourts is New Zealand’s number one preferred real estate company (The Nielsen Company Omnibus 2009)

4. The Harcourts Academy provides New Zealand’s leading real estate training

5. Opportunities locally, nationally, globally

Looking to change career? Come and discover the opportunities available at Harcourts Ponsonby at our next Real Estate Careers Seminar on Wednesday 11 August 2010

Register now by calling 0800 500 546

From enquiries that we have received, it’s clear that a number of homeowners and investors are thinking of renting their homes and/or rental properties out during next year’s Rugby World Cup.

Understandably, many people see this as an opportunity to make substantial amounts of money during this period of unusually high demand for accommodation.

For homeowners, my advice is simple – consider your options, and all the implications, very carefully before taking a decision . . .

Firstly, I think (and I may be proved wrong) that the expectations of many homeowners might be on the overly-optimistic side – in terms of both the achievable rent, and the total amount of money to be made.

I don’t doubt that the unusually high demand will result in supporters being prepared to pay good money for a place to stay, but supporters, by their very nature, follow their teams and, as the games are spread throughout the country, I believe that they will more likely be wanting to rent accommodation in a particular location for a number of days, rather than weeks.

You also need to consider factors like possible damage to the property and the tax implications. You need to ensure that you receive sufficient bond upfront to ensure that you are covered if there is any damage to your property and/or your possessions – possibly even insuring against major damage that may occur.

I believe that the considerations for property investors with rental properties are different and I’ll cover these at another time . . .

Last week in our Team Meeting, I asked the Team for some ideas for my newly-created blog and one of the topics that was immediately highlighted was the recent Reader’s Digest-commissioned survey on ‘New Zealand’s Most Trusted Professions 2010′.

In the survery, 500 NZ adults were asked to rate professions and everyday relationships and the results show that Real Estate Agents came in at no. 36 out of 40 professions included in the survey . . .that’s 36 from the top (most trustworthy) – or 5th from the bottom (least trustworth)! – in terms of the public’s perception of trustworthiness . . . .

In the ensuing discussion within our Team, a number of questions were raised . . . . for example, for most NZ’ers their property is either their most valuable (or at least one of their most valuable) assets, which begs the question . . . ‘Why on earth would you entrust the sale of your most valuable asset to a profession who you, at least from the results of this survey, clearly don’t place much trust in?’ Surely you need to trust the person that is taking your property to the market?

Looking at other stats, it’s evident that over 80% of property sales in NZ are conducted through Real Estate Agents, despite this (seemingly?) low level of trust . . . does this mean that people actually do really trust us and just don’t want to admit it publicly, or is this simply a fact of life and historical perceptions that we need to accept?

One of the consoling facts is that we at least rate as slightly more trustworth that car salesmen (what about the car sales women, I’m wondering?) – not that I’m denegrating that profession in any way, but at least the value of an average car is lower than the value of the average property, so there’s a certain amount of logic in that argument (even if I’m cluthing at straws in this logic!) . . .

One of the surprising results of the survey were that Sex Workers are trusted even less than us . . . I always thought that one of the ‘professional advantages’ of a client-sex worker relationship was the trust (or was that the impersonal?) nature of the relationship . . . ?

As a cheeky aside, our Team did point out to me that there are some similarities between us and sex workers in that both our professions are entrusted with (one of?) our client’s biggest assets . . .!

I’d be keen to hear your thoughts on the results of the survey . . .

It’s been about a month since I set up the Harcourts Ponsonby blogging account with the best intentions to blog about real estate related matters on a regular basis, but everytime I thought about writing something, I couldn’t think of anything to say . . . .

The question is, ‘Why?’ . .  I never seem to have a problem talking about things or giving my opinion verbally, but, when faced with the prospect of sitting down and writing something my mind would just go blank . . .

The question I kept on asking myself was . . . .

Was it because I was just procrastinating (as I am inclined to do), or was it the fact that whatever I was going to write was ‘public’ and had to therefore be really interesting to other people, or was it just because, like professional writers, I had ‘writer’s block’?

The reality is that I think it was a combination of all these reasons . . . .

Anyhow, now that I’ve ‘broken the ice’ I hope I can keep it up . . .

I’d really like this blog to be interactive, so if you have any real-estate related questions or comments, I’d welcome your comments or questions and I’ll be happy to interact and comment on any matters that are brought up . . .