davetapson

That would be this Thursday? It's tricky for me, but if everyone else can make it, I'll try and make a plan.

Stake-in-the-ground No.2: O'Hagan's Viaduct 19/11. 18h30 - 19h00 ish? Happy to hear about something more original...

I think that we should have a Christmas drinks meetup, just because. I was going to suggest we did this before Wayne disappeared down south, but it looks like we might be keeping him a bit longer... Whatsay? A Thursday evening somewhere mostly central? I'd suggest somewhere in Takapuna as that is central for me ( ) but probably somewhere in the Viaduct is more central...? I live and work in the far north, so a bit clueless on options. Stake in the ground: Thurs 19/11?

I sold a three bed house plus granny flat in Airfield, Benoni for R800k before we left. That house here would go for NZ$1M easy, probably more. Our house, we sold for R2.5M, that makes a deposit here on a house, just, and not for an equivalent house.

Damn. Friend of mine used them, very happy, which is why I went to them. Probably franchise related. Whereabouts did your friends build? Please don't say North Shore... Edit: Tony Alexander warning building companies they are going to run out of staff - if they are slow currently, it's not going to get better... Edit2: 20 out of 29 houses in auctions today (Auckland, North Shore) got passed in. The weather is filthy, but that can't be the reason.

Went out to have a look at that plot while the valuer was there so that I could take more time (pity about the weather) Nice it is, peaceful it is not, given that it is across the valley from the main motorway north, but beggars and all that... Was speaking to the agent about property prices and his view is that the main reason Auckland prices are what they are are because of a shortage of land. He says that the only person who'd force release of land is David Seymour, but that the release of land will reduce house prices which will upset the banks, and nobody in the main parties is prepared to upset the banks. He also implied that the house builders/banks/interested parties all collude to keeping house prices/building prices high. So his view is that prices will not drop, just due to shortage. He does acknowledge there will be houses on the market from distressed sales, but that they will be soaked up by pent up demand. Take it where it came from. Doesn't necessarily reflect outside Auckland.

Our current plan is to (try) and buy the land, which has a (big) two bedroom house on it already. That way we have somewhere to live while the main house is built. If you play your cards right and manage to add more value than it costs, you can actually get the construction loan with no further deposit as the final value will be more than the cost to build. But, if not, building up the deposit for a house build should be easier than for the land, which costs a bundle compared to the house. Spoke to Signature homes for construction and they are quite happy to engage in trying to work out what will work out best. They say construction costs are 2.4k to 4k m2.

We decided that you got to get used to the idea of paying more than we'd really like. The problem with us is that the bank will only lend up to 90% of the valuation, and currently the valuations are way less than what properties are going for. Last one we tried, the agent thought the house would go for 1M or so, top end 1.1M (which curiously enough was what the valuer valued it at - you got to wonder if they colluded) and it went for 1.16M. Which was huge for what it was. We're trying once again, but I suspect the same thing is going to happen. Wayne's plan is really the most logical, just short on appetite for it for us given we like space. Of course you could go that route, get some capital growth to put against a deposit, and move somewhere you like after a few years.

He took a punt, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. There weren't many who wouldn't have agreed with him at the time. That said, the fat lady is only getting warmed up at this stage. I did see a graph though, that mapped deaths vs economic downturn and they were pretty directly related - indicating NZ might get away lightly. Given tourism, hard to see why.

We used Lucy Wright at Bay Law, recommended by the broker we were using. She was pretty responsive and answered all my dumb questions happily. lucy@baylawoffice.co.nz We didn't get the property so don't know what the total cost would have been, but the review of the all the sale docs (including answering my questions) was $200, which is what she said it would be initially. Have no idea if that is good value or not.

Agent reckons 900's, but it's so nice I think it will be 1M+ Depends on the day. Took my missus and fussy 21yo to show them and they just fell in love. When I was there, the agent's comment was 'dont' come and see it if you don't have the cash, you'll just break your heart.' Which is not far off. The land is empty, you can just go look if you want. I had a look at the title, looks like it is owned by an SA family - Visser. Allegedly they were going to build a retirement home there, but that plan has fallen through. Edit: The aspect is generally south facing, but you can park your house on the highest point (basically on top of the olive trees ) and design it to catch the heat from the north. The property doesn't feel cold or damp. Edit edit: those plots are planned for main dwelling, and secondary dwelling (i.e. granny flat.) One option would be to go into partnership with a like minded individual and build the granny flat on top of a triple garage, which might just change shape once the CCC is issued, allowing two reasonable houses on one piece of land zoned for a major and minor dwelling.

Yeah, there are some dumb prices being paid at the moment. Unfortunately they may become the baseline prices from now on (I was going to say 'going forward' but I hate it when people say that...) We've decided our best option is buy land with some livable structure and live in that while building new house, or to watch auctions and then make cheeky offers on houses that get passed in. There is a piece of ground in Dairy Flat we are looking at, has a clunky two bed house existing. If we get it, we will live in that, build something nice on it, then rent existing house out to help pay for the entirety. Currently rented at $450 which is a fair old chunk. If you don't mink paying two rent/mortgage payments, or don't mind living in a caravan while building, there is an utterly stunning piece of land going in Dairy Flat - we nearly bit, but the magnitude is just beyond our energy at the moment.

Can't go wrong. Prices in the bays are pushing demand for those properties up. Those areas are commuter belt for city so will always have demand. Orewa beach good in that a. it's nice, b. it gets waves because Rangitoto etc aren't in the way. Worked with a guy who went to Orewa College - said it was a great school and he was an engineer, so couldn't be all bad. We've considered it, but with my predilection for building boats new builds are a problem in terms of boat building space / boat storage space. Maybe I'm the problem.

Seem to remember my brother rigged up a solar powered skiff to cruise around there.

Do it. You'll learn on the way. Building boats is one of the best things you can do. I may be biased of course. Edit: My only observation is where are you going to sail - it doesn't have high sides and the plan says 'SUITABLE FOR — Somewhat protected waters'. Sydney harbour? Probably perfect. But this is akin to saying 'don't marry that one, marry this one' so treat comment appropriately. It does move nicely... and balanced lug rigs are where it's at.

. (because we can't delete) Was opinion piece on 'this wasn't a recession, it was an external event, so recovery will be quicker than a normal market cycle.'

Previous house had a small 'plunge pool' in a tiled court yard with no vegetation to be seen and a salt chlorinator. I used to remember to do something about it every three months or so and it worked like a charm. But still can't lose the experience of the other pool... utter misery. Should have chopped the trees down, but I preferred the trees to the pool. Cut 17 other trees out of that garden and you could hardly notice.

As the previous owner of a tree infested pool, if I never own a pool again it would be too soon. Some friends of ours have moved into a house with a pool that is currently 12 deg or so, not even the kids will swim in it. I can't really see the value of a pool in Auckland, unless seriously heated. Brisbane, maybe, but no trees. Better a neighbour with a pool..! Which leads to the observation that those black hot water camping bags that used to get scorching in SA never really seem to get hot here. There might be a real bite in the sun due to lack of UV, but there is no real heat in it somehow.

In my initial interviews I just asked what the salary range was for the role and said that I'd take mid point - or that I'd take mid-point for the salary range for the role if they were being cagey. You can say that you don't have an informed decision yet as to what you are worth in the NZ market, which as you haven't worked here before, is valid. I also found that the salary lists where optimistic - you'll find out soon enough with a couple of interviews what the current going rates are. When you get a job, soon enough you and they will find out if you fit in with them and things will adjust accordingly, and if not, you stay a year and then look around...

Just been at another auction for a real fixer-upperer in Torbay. Nice property, the house essentially unlivable. Chatted to agent before, who did fixer-uppering, and he reckoned buyer interest (mainly developers) was 800's, he reckoned he'd maybe go to 950k if it was him, fix it up for 150k and have probably 1.2M value once done. Went for $1.114M. Property market at the moment is astonishing. Hard to know if it's a bubble or the new normal. House didn't even have a staircase between bottom and top floors. Had a spiral staircase like you might find in a submarine, but probably smaller.

Oh, ok. Here you go... https://www.roberthalf.co.nz/research-insights/salary-guide

Yep, spot on. My boet lived in Aus for a fair while, and his observation of his Aus mates (pretty much all in academia) who were wealthy and those that were not was that the wealthy ones tended to have been given a house or a good chunk of deposit for one by their parents, and hence had that disposable income to do other things than pay the bank. It's a hell of an advantage you can give your kids if you can swing it.

Sounds like Jatniel. We're considering it. Had a beer or possibly two with another saffa dad from the kids school and we discussed buying a section and building two or three houses on it - one each for us, third to sell to go towards the cost of the thing. Only problem is financing rental and build at the same time. If you do what you were planning to do, it's only deposit down and then rest at completion, normally. We should probably do something like that.

Gah - we've just had notice that our rental house is for sale - tenancy is until Feb, but looking for a house in Feb is chronic. This we know because our previous house was sold out from under us in Feb. Second time it's happened. I suspect they are looking for the FOMO prices going around at the moment, and I also suspect it will be way out of our price range to buy.

I'm a bit ignorant of SI, but the one thing I have noticed is that everyone who has lived in CHC that I've spoken to says "blah blah blah but I loved living there..."