This just in, there is life out there!

Proof of life in property sales. Potential home buyers who think house prices will drop even further may have missed their chance to pick up bargains.

Real estate agents and commentators have detected a change in the market driven by interest rates and low numbers of new listings that is now tipping the balance back towards sellers.

Some are saying buyers now can’t afford to wait and think about making an offer or they will find themselves in a bidding war.

In Hamilton last weekend a house that had been on the market for just three days attracted seven offers and sold for about $5000 over the asking price.

The house, in the northern suburb of Flagstaff, was listed at $379,000, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and borders a park.

Agent Claire Lugton, who listed the property, said one buyer wanted to make an offer the day it was listed but the vendors decided to wait until after two weekend open homes and set a deadline of 5pm on Sunday for all offers.

Lugton said multi-offers have become common in Hamilton in the past four to six weeks but were rare before that.

“This is the most positive I have seen the market in three years. If I had another six houses like that one, I could sell them just like that.”

Online company realestate.co.nz reported a 16% drop in new listings nationwide for May this year compared to the same period last year. Its May property report said the market was tipping towards favouring sellers and this was being seen particularly in Auckland and Queenstown Lakes.

Helen O’Sullivan, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, said multi-offers were starting to become more a feature of the market nationwide.

The low level of new listings reflected what seemed to be a new mood of caution, she said.

“The market has certainly stabilised and is recovering but it’s not surging away.”

There were between 5000 and 6000 transactions a month which was “pretty subdued” compared to the boom times a few years ago.

“But it’s all relative. The figures are better than last year and while they are not a cause for optimism, they are less causes for pessimism.

“We are very wary of making predictions but, when you look at the last six months, there has been a gentle lift and prices have stabilised,” she said.

Auckland was leading the way in terms of value and turnover.

Barfoot & Thompson, one of the leading Auckland real estate players, reported a 25% lift in sales compared to April and a 12% jump when compared to May last year.

Managing director Peter Thompson said the company sold 889 properties last month, but the major issue in Auckland remained a lack of choice.

“At the end of May we had only 5249 properties on our books, the lowest number for 20 months.” He believed home owners thinking of selling were waiting for stronger signs of economic recovery.

Alistair Helm, chief executive of www.realestate.co.nz, said Wellington was increasingly interesting. While it had a unique ability to somehow match new listings with new buyers, and therefore remain fairly buoyant, that might change in coming months.

Foreshadowed state-sector job cuts were likely to have a flow-on effect on the property market. That could lead to a complete stalling of the market or more homes being listed as people decided to move elsewhere in search of work.

Queenstown, with its market driven as much by international as domestic buyers, was seeing more overseas interest, Helm said.

Sales in the resort town had picked up and, following “massive adjustments” in section prices, there were good opportunities for international buyers.

Originally Published by The Sunday Star Times, Susan Pepperell, 12 June, 2011

 

 

Oakley team in Wanaka

While we all sit around anxiously awaiting the arrival of winter, here is a teaser from Oakley from their house in Wanaka. Talk about some finnnne Real Estate. Packed with local cliff drops and name drops on Snow Park. http://vimeo.com/17506351

Planking vs. Face Down… a Kiwi past time?

Planking, the older brother to the “face down.” A Kiwi man makes the news for his bizarre and wonderfully awkward hobby.

A Wellington man has proof he created planking in 2006, albeit upside down with a different name. Andy Welch, who now lives on England’s south coast, says he and his wife-to-be Ellie Wyatt were in Croatia in 2006 and were tired of taking ”awkward” photos in front of landmarks.

They devised ”comfortable”, in which a photograph is taken of someone lying in a rigid position in strange places.

The only difference to planking is that the person lies facing up instead of down.
”It was a great laugh and we spread it to friends via email to begin with,” Mr Welch said.”Facebook took off in 2007 in the UK, but we didn’t create a [Facebook] group until 2008.”

While he is not the only contender for the crown – Brits Gary Clarkson and Christian Langdon claim to have invented it 14 years ago – Welch can prove with a date-stamped photograph that he was doing ”comfortable” in 2006.

”Andy Welch and Ellie Wyatt are the true originators of this ridiculous art form, you should have no doubt,” he said.

He had ”no idea” where his original idea came from but was certain he had never heard of it before devising it in Croatia.

About a year after starting the comfortable Facebook page, he saw a news report about the ”lying down game”, which many hold up to be the precursor to planking.

”It’s nuts to think it’s kind of taken off,” he said. He was not concerned about not being given credit for its creation.

”My wife reckons they copied us but there is no way to prove that … to be honest, I don’t want to be accountable for any deaths.” Sam Auger, from Wellington, said he had known Mr. Welch since the early 1990s.

”Although he wasn’t getting comfortable back then he was responsible for lots of random fun stuff.

”I recall Andy getting excited about comfortable back in 2006 and since then I’ve been witness to acts of comfort by Andy and and his friends in Amsterdam, at his wedding celebrations in Tuscany 2008 and more recently in Wanaka when he was home to visit family and friends.”

Check out full article here.

Consider it considerate.

If you are in the market for a vacant section to build your own dream home, we have some exciting ways to building efficiently using the original designer, Mother Nature.

Protecting our environment by building with eco-friendly materials and systems has become integral in the design of modern homes. Building ‘green’ or ‘eco-friendly’ homes means taking an approach that has minimal impact on the environment.

First things first. Let’s talk materials. Choosing sustainable building materials that do not deplete the natural environment more than necessary. We are going to ask you to use your instinct here. When you begin looking at building materials, you are going to have options. Heaps of options. So many options you are going to want to jump up and down, or scream, or cry. Maybe all of the above. So here is the quiz: Which sounds like the eco-friendly option? Using recyclable building materials or using plantation-grown timbers? If you guessed the recycled materials, you clearly have superior instinct, use and reuse!

Sticking with Mother Nature’s blueprint, let’s talk on improving indoor air quality by choosing paints with low volatile organic compounds. Even though mould is natural, no homeowner wants it inside, yuck. So, when you plan how to design your interior, you will want natural, simple air to flow through your home. This will take away the need for industrial and mechanical ventilation and cooling. Natural ways to fight that nasty natural mould.

Be a climate conscious Kiwi. Consider using renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind power or hydropower instead. Get the low-down on greenhouse gases, global warming, consider your options for reducing emissions in the home and be proud to support New Zealand’s nuclear-free policy.

You go h2O, you go. It’s a no brainer but using water wisely will save you heaps. Consider installing a tank to collect rainwater. This can then be used for irrigation or flushing the toilet. Installing a system for recycling waste water for use

Consider ideas for building compatibly with the environment, such as positioning the house for solar energy. For example, because the sun is lower in the sky in the winter and higher in the summer you can build your house suited to absorb and release heat naturally.

The concept of ‘eco-housing’ is being developed in some areas in New Zealand. So, before your break ground, here are some eco-friendly and money-saving ways to consider for your section.

NZ to make snow sports history

New Zealand is once again leading the way in the evolution of competitive snow sports with the announcement that Augusts 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games will feature dual sanctioning between TTR (Ticket to Ride) and FIS (Federation International de Ski) for snowboard events and FIS and AFP (Association of Freeski Professionals) for free ski events.

The event will also feature the first ever FIS sanctioned freeski big air event. New Zealand was instrumental in getting freeski halfpipe and ski cross events included in the 2014 Winter Olympics following the FIS Snowboard & Freestyle Junior World Championships in 2010 in Lake Wanaka which marked the first time freeski and snowboarding had been combined at a world championship level. Now in another world first, 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games will host a FIS freeski big air event.

The inclusion of freeski big air by FIS in its sanctioning programme is an indication of the growing stature the sport is receiving on the elite global competitive circuit. At Winter Games NZ, freeski slopestyle, halfpipe and big air will be dual sanctioned by FIS at Continental Cup level and by AFP at Silver Star level. In the 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games snowboarding programme, the slopestyle and big air will both be dual sanctioned at TTR 3* level and FIS Continental Cup level. New Zealand punches way above its weight in terms of the influence it has had on globalcompetitive snow sports over the last few years, said Winter Games NZ CEO, Arthur Klap. What we produced at the junior world championships essentially secured the inclusion of freeskiing into the Winter Olympics and now were proud to deliver another influential competition with the first ever FIS freeski big air.

This is huge for the sport as it receives official recognition from FIS and is also great for New Zealand given our strong history in freeskiing with such athletes as the Wells brothers. 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games takes place from 12- 28 August 2011 featuring 22 snow and ice sports over 38 events and involving 1,000 elite athletes from 50 nations. The 16-day long Games also include a full Downtown Sessions festival programme featuring films, live music and entertainment and rail jam extravaganzas inQueenstown, Lake Wanaka, Dunedin and Methven.
The on-snow competition will take place at Coronet Peak, Cardrona Alpine Resort, Snow Park NZ, Snow Farm and Mt Hutt with the ice sports taking place at Naseby and Dunedin.

www.wintergamesnz.com, May 27, 2011

Smarty-Pants: Real Estate agents and the love of their smartphones

Realestate.co.nz and 2degrees Mobile releases smarty stats on Real Estate agents and their phones, smartphones that is.

Close to half of all agents polled in a recent survey said that they owned a smartphone with nearly 7 out of 10 of the remainder indicating that they would be acquiring one within the next year. These findings were part of a recent survey undertaken in partnership with 2degrees mobile amongst the real estate agents using Realestate.co.nz.

The survey was undertaken online with 216 completed surveys giving a margin of error of 4.2%. Real estate agents were early adopters of mobile phones back in the 80′s and 90′s as their work environment certainly had them out and about more than many other professions. This adoption has continued with a clear imperative for all agents to have a mobile. The most active use of their mobile phone is to voice calls (40%) followed by texting (32%). It is interesting to note the preference of texting to handling emails on the mobile phone – just 13% indicating that they used their phone for this purpose.

At present the iPhone is the most popular type of smart phone for real estate agents with 24% of all those agents surveyed indicating that they owned the iPhone. Certainly the success of the Realestate.co.nz iPhone app would indicate the appeal of this smartphone to ensure that agents were able to be able to access the most comprehensive selection of property on the market. The adoption of Android at 17%; or put another way there is an Android user for every 3 iPhone users, is higher than would be seen in the general population, and this signals a significant opportunity to ensure there is a Realestate.co.nz app for Android sometime soon.

As to the 54% of agents that do not as yet have a smartphone the message is clear that they will soon – 69% saying that they expect to buy one in the next 12 months with 40% indicating a purchase in the next 6 months. It would appear to be clear from these stats that a smartphone is now close to being by the end of this year a significant “must have” tool for all agents.

Originally published by http://unconditional.co.nz/blog/ MAY 23RD, 2011

Flip Out Over It!

For all you skiers and snowboarders out there getting antsy over the wait for snow, check out Wanaka’s Aspiring Trampolining. Athletes looking to keep busy before the slopes open can make use of two Olympic size Trampolines with String Beds, a competition sized trampoline with a black mat, a double Mini Tramp and foam pit for as far as you can huck yourself.

Flip onto, over or into a range of group or private sessions for all ages and ability levels. Great training for snowboarders, skiers, gymnasts and those just wanting to improve their Trampolining skills. Check out the deets: http://www.sportsground.co.nz/aspiringtrampolining
aspiringtrampolining@xtra.co.nz

You’d better shape up…

A second round of community forums designed to “shape the future” of the Queenstown Lakes district began in Wanaka and Queenstown this week, with events taking their turn under the spotlight.

The Queenstown forum on Wednesday attracted about 50 people. Another 30 attended the Wanaka forum on Thursday.

The “Shaping Our Future” community forums are costing ratepayers $51,400, with another $28,000 earmarked in the next financial year.

The programme was launched last week. Sessions on the district’s economic future were attended by almost 200 people in Queenstown and Wanaka.

Further forums will be held on issues such as health, culture, arts and heritage and food.

The forums were an opportunity for everyone to discuss issues important to the entire district, Queenstown Mayor Vanessa van Uden said in a statement.

“They are a vital step in a process that takes advantage of the collective knowledge of individuals and organisations in the region to find solutions to issues towards a better future for everyone.”

One of the major issues raised at the Queenstown events forum was the need for an independent events organisation that could study all the district’s events, co-ordinate a comprehensive, balanced events calendar and assist in lobbying for more events facilities.

Facilitator Dave Robert said Queenstown people had questions about what sorts of events were being held, how many there were, how many people they attracted and whether the community wanted all the events.

There was also some discussion about how local events – for example, Wanaka’s Festival of Colour – could be leveraged so the whole district benefited, he said.

In Wanaka, representatives from the Department of Conservation, Lake Wanaka Tourism, Festival of Colour, Challenge Wanaka, private event organisers, farmers, the Upper Clutha A and P Show, farmers market, moteliers and volunteers attended.

Queenstown Lakes District Council chief executive Debra Lawson was there; also Wanaka councillors Lyal Cocks and Leigh Overton, and the council’s senior policy analyst Scott Figenshow.

Among positive drivers for change in the Wanaka events industry were trends, community involvement, economic benefits, job creation, increased public access, social benefits, population growth, increased leisure time and income, and landscape setting.

Negatives included increasing costs of compliance, dealing with regulation and bylaws, constraints on funding opportunities, volunteer burnout, environmental effects, waste generation and strain on infrastructure.

Two more events forums will be held in each town.

Courtesy of the Otago Times, By Marjorie Cook on Sat, 21 May 2011

Wake Up Wanaka – Vote for Kaz!

Von Heruad-Parker has made the cut to be part of the top 10 finalists in The Langham Hotels and Resorts film competition.

The finalists were challenged to create that special moment and find the world’s most romantic proposal. The film was filmed in Wanaka with local talent and unmistakably local backdrops. According to Kaz, of the most special moments in life is when we find life’s true love. She is in the running to win the most romantic trip of a lifetime. If you would like to support Kaz and her film, check out their film and vote for Wanaka talent to take the prize!

Check it out and vote here.

It’s getting hot ‘n here…..

We already know you’ve got the smarts, so let’s use them to keep toasty this winter. We have some energy-saving tips for all you homeowners to keep hundreds of dollars worth of heat from flying out the window…or walls, ceiling, floor and front door.

First, let’s get eco-friendly. According to Homestar insulation service, about 1.6 million homes in the country are inadequately insulated. Not good. Insulation and installation is not something you want to be skimping on. The first step to getting your home winter-proofed is to properly insulate your home. The difference lies in how well your house will keep the warm in. Proper insulation means less power and the less power you need, the less New Zealand relies on fossil fuels.

Love to hate em’, hate to love em’ but the space heater is basically part of your family. However, unlike your family, you do get to pick your space heater. So choose wisely, heating your home is directly dependent on the heater you pick for each space. There are a variety of heating options available and some are more energy efficient than others, so spend some time researching them and talk to the experts. Since Kiwis spend about one third of household energy bills on heating, you might as well go ahead and make them part of the family.

We know you homeowners out there love a dry and warm with straightforward changes. Try out simple energy-friendly tips and advice for becoming more energy efficient. Oh, and don’t forget the signature mother motto, turn out the lights when you leave the room.