Putting your home on the market takes effort. There is the effort to select the agent; to choose a marketing strategy; to prepare and to present your home throughout the campaign. When you go to all this effort and don’t get an offer, it can be disappointing. It is not that you would simply accept […]

Why are they selling poppies, Mummy? Selling poppies in town today. The poppies, child, are flowers of love. For the men who marched away. But why have they chosen a poppy, Mummy? Why not a beautiful rose? Because my child, men fought and died In the fields where the poppies grow. But why are the […]

The elevated Napier house sales volume seen in February continued in March 2015 with 104 sales. However, the average turnover over the past year is still 18% below the previous 12 months. A sustained improvement of over 95 sales per month will be necessary to suggest a turn in the market. This recovery appears to […]

A hundred years on from the Gallipoli landings, on ANZAC Day the entire country honours and remembers New Zealanders who have served at war. ANZAC Day commemorates the loss of life and of innocence at war. Interestingly, recently my sons school librarian directed my 12 year old son away from the fantasy stories he’s enjoyed reading […]

If you’re tempted by a real estate agent to Auction your home – PLEASE DON’T! I’ve just received another call describing a disastrous Auction experience. While approximately 38% of property in Auckland sell by Auction, in provincial areas like Hawkes Bay Auctions are a financial minefield. Here’s why . . . STARTING PRICE: It seems […]

This recipe is a sensational spin on a classic pudding. It’s a great way to use up leftover hot cross buns. This is an indulgent and comforting desert. Ingredients: 6 Hot Cross Buns 2 cups cream 1.5 cups milk 3 eggs Zest of 1 orange 1 handful sultanas Berries & cream to serve Sugar to […]

Daylight saving ends on Sunday 5th April 2015. You’re probably looking forward to that extra hour of sleep you get when we turn the clocks back. But a little more shut-eye (and the threat of being an hour early to work on Monday) isn’t the only thing Daylight Saving Time can signal. You can also […]

A surge in sales bought welcome relief to January’s sales drought in the Napier real estate market!  We last saw sales at this level back in August 2013. With sales rising to 98 in February this exceeds the ten year average sales volume of 97 (which 20% higher than the current average). Overall sales during […]

The process of selling and buying real estate can be overwhelming and stressful especially when considering the amount of paperwork and preparation involved with these transactions. Currently, around 13% of the homes for sale in Hawkes Bay are listed privately. This has increased in recent times, and the main reason is a larger number of […]

The Napier real estate market ended 2014 looking to shake off the effects of the loan-to-value restrictions that have been in place since October 2013, and significantly affected turnover in Hawkes Bay and other provincial areas. Since October 2014 house sales recovered strongly across the country, except in Hawke’s Bay and Central Otago Lakes, where […]

On 22nd February 2011 a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Canterbury killed 185 people, injured thousands and caused unbelievable property damaged. This event, considered an aftershock of the quake six months earlier, not only changed lives forever, it changed the face of house insurance in New Zealand. Since then, home owners have no longer been able […]

Affected by the holiday period, the volumes of sales in Napier slumped to 66 in January 2015. Taking into account seasonal factors the average monthly sales during the past year has been 76 – 15% below the previous year’s average of 94, and 19% below the 10 year average. Sluggish turnover appears to be the […]

First home buyers were among the big winners from National’s win in last year’s general election.  A series of changes to the KiwiSaver first home buyer packages come into effect from 1 April 2015. These changes are designed to help lower and middle income first home buyers attain their dream of owning a home. There […]

Last month Napier property owners received a revised Rating Value for their property. The Rating Value is an assessment of the freehold value of a property. It is one of the factors used by a council for calculating the rates that individual ratepayers will pay. In Napier rating valuations are reassessed every three years from […]

When contemplating selling, most of us have a figure in mind we feel our home is worth. People overvalue possessions because of an emotional attachment. This tendency was studied by Harvard Professor De Max Bazerman and he called it “the endowment effect”. The family home is a one asset that a lot of people struggle […]