The aim of this article is to explain the credit crunch and explain how it may have an effect on you as a borrower. Bearing in mind that this is very variant depending on who you talk to, which company you use to lend and where in the world you are. But this is an…
Buying in a Buyers Market
The news that the nation is in the midst of a real estate correction is hardly headline news anymore. The fact of life is that property prices have come back and the market is slowed down. This slow down means less buyers buying. And with a continual flow of proeprties coming to the market there…
Reasonable EarthQuake Felt in New Plymouth
Well tonight I was just sitting down entering things into my database and generally just browsing the net and then BAM. The house started movng and everyone in the house starts running around. Seems to be an exciting thing for the kids when the ground starts to move and the house creeks and shudders. ….
NZ OCR Dropped by .5% in Surprise Move By Reserve Bank
The New Zealand dollar tumbled to a 2-year low versus the US dollar as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand lowered its key interest rate by .5% points to 7.50%. The move surprised the economists who were widely expecting a 25 basis point cut. The NZ dollar also slumped to a more than 2-yearlow against…
Sleepwalking
What is Sleepwalking and what causes it. Well I tried to find out but it seems nobody really knows.But when it happens to you it can be a rather horrible experience. Last night for the first time I sleepwalked. From what I sort of remember I was having a nightmare of some sort and running…
Things to Expect From Your Real Estate Agent
You see it on the Internet and hear it on television, an increasing amount of noise about “outrageous” real estate commissions. The noise is coming, principally, from companies hoping to divert money from licensed agents into their own pockets, but, the nationwide average of a standard 3.5% commission does seem like a lot of money….
New Plymouth
New Plymouth, a great city to live in. And as a lot of New Zealand locations there is a great deal of history here. This post is here to help better inform you on how our city was moulded and the history of our great city. The city of New Plymouth, New Zealand, has a…
Points to Property Investing
Buying Real Estate for investment has for a long time been a tried and trusted way to make some money. But like everything there are risks that need to be weighed up and taken into consideration. When it comes to looking at buying an investment property there are a couple of things that you should…
Why are Petrol Prices at the Pump Still High !?!
*** Read the bottom for latest updates*** Why is it that when the price of oil goes up by a small fraction the price at the pump goes up instantly. But when it goes down it seems to take forever for just a slight correction at the pump occur. And then you hear about the…
All Blacks vs Manu Samoa – New Plymouth, Wednesday 3/9/08
New Zealand All Blacks will be playing a historical test match in New Plymouth. The match will be played on Wednesday September 3 at Yarrow Stadium – the first time an All Blacks test has been played in New Plymouth. The match will kick off at 7.35pm with the Wednesday date to avoid a clash…
Spring Bounce
September 1st 2008. The official 1st Day of Spring and 6 days till my birthday 🙂 Let’s hope that winter is finally over! Officially Winter is from the 1st of June to 31st August. This years winter was pretty wild. Our first major storm of the year way June 25th. I even wrote a post…
Featured Property – 13F Wallace Place
This is a stunning property. With so much to offer. For people moving to New Zealand this is what we are all about. Natural wood look in these Lockwoods are beautiful. With so much space. The current owners bought this property 3 Years ago and have loved the privacy and peace that it offers. The…
Real Estate Fee's!
Well I am disgusted quite frankly dumbfounded at what I just witnessed being said to a Real Estate Agent. “Your just a land shark and pissing in the pants of the home owners taking 4% of the sale for doing sitting on your a** and doing crap all. Conducting a few open homes and calling…
Modern Day Madness
What is Bebo, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Gotaccess, Youtube, What is Trademe, allrealestate, voices, ebay, blogs, websites, What is a hit Report, tracking cookie, opt-ins, forums, alerts, RSS, What is email, texts, podcasts, webinars, What is the internet!! What is communication!! This is just a tiny small fraction of the things the internet in the modern…
What is it That Makes A Great Real Estate Agent?
Real Estate Agents, who are we and what do we do. Do we sell property? But we don’t own any stock.. Do we sell expectations? But what is an expectation. So what is it we actually do. Well in a nutshell from isn’t it putting a willing buyer in front of a willing seller, creating…
How to Buy Real Estate in New Zealand
This is a question I have been asked via email a few times over the past few weeks from buyers out of New Zealand looking to invest here. And even dealing with some people in my line of duty at the floor front I have come accross a number of people unsure of the process…
Westown New Plymouth Competition
Welcome, To all the Westown people who are responding from the mail drop. I thank you for arriving to this blog. There is so much valuable information here for you to digest and take in. This blog platform is a key for you if your interested in the Real Estate market in any degree this…
Tips to Sell Your Home in a Buyers Market!
The number of homes listed for sale in most cities high. The result is prospective buyers know they can negotiate hard over price and terms. (Simple laws of supply and demand apply here) This poses some tough times as a seller. But if you are prepared you will definitely be able to get good results…
New Plymouth Harcourts Blueprint Online 16/08/08
Our Blueprint is Online. The bi-weekly publication that gets delivered to many of you in New Plymouth is now online. The advantage of this means that by reading it online you will get to see it before it goes to print. The other advantage is that the Blueprint can now reach the people that dont…
Marketing Real Estate to Generation Y
This is the 21st Century. Gone are the labourage days and the days where it takes a week to get any type of response to a request. This was what the Baby Boomers and some of the Generation X people went through. This is the communication age. This is the era where we have social…
Buyers are Back – Property Numbers are Down
Well it seems that the buyers are out in force again 🙂 The last few weeks have seen a rather increased volume of buyers enter the market. Most of the buyers I talk to have said to me they have been looking for ages but only just come back into the market going to open…
Beijing Olympic Games Opening Ceremony 8pm 08/08/08 (Amazing)
Well weren’t they an amazing opening to the 29th Olympic games. The work that has gone into those games has just what can I say, just intense. The critics around the world are saying “An eight became a perfect 10 in Beijing tonight.” The opening ceremony of the 29th Olympics Games began at precisely 8pm…
Things to Look Out For When Doing A Building Inspection
This guide should help both sellers and buyers to make the selling of your house to make the whole thing a lot more transparent. A good builder friend from New Zealand Home Inspections and me have put this together so that you may use it to your advantage. The information is probably the same as…
Financial Steps to Buying a Home.
This is a small exert from an interview I did with a guy named Bill James. Bill is a great financial adviser and I have been working closely with him in creating a book and a workbook that should be ready for print in a few months. I thought this was important for buyers and…
What Do You Want to See in This Blog? (user feedback needed!)
I am really enjoying this whole blogging thing. It gives me something to think about and also gives me an excuse to research and write which I really love doing. And I hope you as readers are enjoying some of the things I am writing. The things I am writing definitely provoke my mind into…
Generation Y Real Estate Habbits
Now to follow on in this series so far with talking on the Baby Boomers and then Generation X now I want to talk about generation Y. Born between 1980 and 1999 Generation Y are now entering the workforce and stamping their personality all over it. Generation Y represents about 20 – 30% of the total…
New Plymouth Harcourts Expanding
This is a latest plan for us at Taranaki Harcourts. Our business here is going very well and our plans to expand and work closer to the community are becoming more real. This is a positive move forward for Harcourts in New Plymouth and Taranaki. Growth plans prompt new Harcourts office in Taranaki Fri, 01…
Generation X Real Estate Habbits
Generation X were the babies born between 1965 and about 1980, the Generation X group is much less concerned with formality and impressing others than previous generations. Instead, group members prefer living wherever, whenever and however they want. Generation X people are now between the ages or late 20’s and the mid to late 40’s…
The Baby Boomer Real Estate Habbits
New Zealand has got an aging population. Why? Well because of the Baby Boomers. Baby Boomers are of people born in the ages of 1946 (just after WW2) to 1964. Over one million babies were born at a rate of about one hundred thousand per year, when New Zealand’s population was just 2.5 million. This…
Sale and Purchase Agreements in Real Estate
Well what great weather we are having. Actually for once I think Taranaki has missed the brunt of both the storms that have rattled the upper north island in the past week. Anyway.. I got asked this question today by email from someone who was reading this blog. It goes something like this… “What happens…