It is in our blood as much as selling houses is. We have been doing it for some time now and have, in my opinion become good at it. Thing is with Property Management it is a thankless task that requires many long difficult hours to become proficient. We have seen over the years many companies come into our market place and fail because they think it is easy but let me tell you it is not. Over the years we have made the decision to push our Property Management as a source of income. It has meant we have had to invest in resources both human and physical at some cost. Over the years we have grown to be the largest dedicated team in North Canterbury with 9 people in our team. They work extremely hard and do a great job for our landlords and tenants a like. We know what we are doing, we know what works. Currently, after five years of good trading we are seeing a shortage of tenants and a few properties not renting quickly. This hasn’t happened for some time and people start to get nervous and questioning our experience asking why their houses haven’t rented. We know why and will work extremely hard to get properties filled but when there is more supply than demand not all properties are going to be rented within a week. Landlords need to understand rents post-earthquake no longer exist and prices may need to drop to attract the right tenant. Landlords need to understand presentation of a property will make it more attractive and to spend some money tidying a house up might just make all the difference and landlords need to understand that spending money on marketing your property will make it stick out in today’s market and just might get you that tenant. What is unusual at present is the number of stories of rental shortages around the country. Yet if you were to go on trademe today you will find around 100 properties for rent currently in North Canterbury and Hurunui, around three times more than normal over the past few years. In my opinion those properties presented well, marketed well and with a realistic rental price will always rent in any market and what we are seeing today is landlords not responding to the market and simply not doing what is required to get a tenant. This market may be here for some time so if you have a property you can’t seem to rent give one of our award winning property management team a call – they will welcome the call. With changes to banks lending coming into effect over the past couple of weeks I thought it pertinent to pass on some useful information from Corcoran French solicitors regarding first home buyers; ‘Purchasing your first home can be a very daunting prospect, especially trying to save enough money for a deposit. Luckily there are some options out there to assist first home buyers with this. The Government has just this week announced changes in this area that we wanted you to be aware of. KiwiSaver First Home Withdrawal This enables a first home buyer to withdraw their KiwiSaver Funds to purchase if they have been contributing for at least 3 years and intend to live in the property. A recent law change now allows all funds to be withdrawn, except for $1000 which must be left in the KiwiSaver account. The funds are able to be used for the deposit on a property or on settlement. Each KiwiSaver provider has their own withdrawal forms to be completed and require these applications at least 10 working days before the KiwiSaver funds are required. This means first home buyers need to be very organised and have all the documentation sorted if the Agreement for Sale and Purchase contains short time frames from confirmation of conditions to settlement, or if they need the funds for the deposit. Housing New Zealand Home Start Grant This is a grant of up to $5,000 for individuals and up to $10,000 for couples purchasing an older/existing home. A recent law change also means that first home buyers who are building or buying a brand new property with a Code Compliance Certificate issued in the last six months are eligible for a grant of up to $10,000 for individuals and $20,000 for couples. The amounts depend on how long the first home buyer has been contributing towards Kiwisaver. Further information is found on Housing New Zealand's website: www.hnzc.co.nz There is certain eligibility criteria that must be met and this is available on Housing New Zealand's website for any purchases, but we mention specifically the following: 1. Income thresholds - individual $85,000 or less, couple $130,000 or less (before tax) in the last 12 months. 2. 10% deposit available (with proof available) - this can include KiwiSaver First Home Withdrawal and the Home Start Grant funds. 3. The purchase price of the property must be within the price cap - in Christchurch City, Waimakariri and Selwyn District it is $500,000. There are further rules if a first home buyer is buying land and planning to build. Again, this information can be found on Housing New Zealand's website. Housing New Zealand require the applications for the New Zealand Home Start Grant to be provided to them at least 4 weeks before settlement. Pre-approval is available and a first home buyer should obtain this as the paperwork is extensive. Pre-approval will last for 6 months. If a first home buyer does not have pre-approval, they need to be conscious of this time frame when they find a property and sign an Agreement for Sale and Purchase so as to ensure there is enough time before settlement for their application to be processed. One fact a lot of first home buyers are unaware of is that the Grant monies will not be paid until the day of settlement. This means they cannot be used for the deposit (as per the Agreement for Sale and Purchase). Should you wish to know more, please contact Caitlin Stack on (03) 379 4660 or email: [email protected]’ |
James Twiss
Licensed Business Owner of Harcourts Four Seasons Realty 2017 Ltd Greg Roberts
Licensed Business Owner of Harcourts Four Seasons Realty 2017 Ltd Archives
September 2020
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