On the move in New Zealand.

[Palouse]

Thanks, 19 years ago when I moved to New Zealand with $400 in my pocket I never dreamed I would one day own a house like this

You've done well, very well!

 

[Desmond]

You've done well, very well!

I still have a mortgage - but it is less than paying rent

 

[warth man]

Thanks, 19 years ago when I moved to New Zealand with $400 in my pocket I never dreamed I would one day own a house like this

I hope you and your wife are very happy there. I hope you enjoy the new job too. It always helps to want to get out of bed.

 

[Desmond]

I hope you and your wife are very happy there. I hope you enjoy the new job too. It always helps to want to get out of bed.

Thanks, I started work Wednesday, Friday night now and things are progressing well - I've already solved problems on two cars they were stuck on

 

[Desmond]

I'm busy dreaming about what I could do with this place if we sold our home.
It isn't earthquake compliant but ... think about the explosions demolishing it!
And it has 4 hectares of land that might be worth the purchase price.

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[Philinnz]

sure you could have fun demolishing it, but getting rid of the rubbish after would be a mission

 

[Desmond]

sure you could have fun demolishing it, but getting rid of the rubbish after would be a mission

I have a plan - it's in a good area next to a new sub-division. 10 acres of land sub-divided would be worth quite a bit. With 600m2 pieces of land selling at $190 000 each there is quite a bit of profit to be made. The remaining lot with the building on it would be free, the new owner would have to clear it

 

[Russ_]

You've checked to see if the public drains and water supply are available? Would the road need upgrading?
What was the old building used for?

 

[Clix Pix]

How does your wife feel about this?

 

[Minuteman3]

Reminds me of a series of shorts now playing on Discovery+/Magnolia Network here in the USA. Called "Where we call home"... one of them was a family who took over an abandoned factory and turned it into a "home". A couple of others were a Schoolhouse and a Train Station!!

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Based on this quick documentary, I'm guessing it took the family a substantial amount of $$ to make it work ... but it was cool!!

Good Luck!!

Ken

 

[Desmond]

How does your wife feel about this?

Hmmm, moving from a modern house to one built in 1900 - do you need to ask?
But seriously, if the land were subdivided it would sell in pieces for $10 million then we could buy a house that
she likes - almost.

 

[Desmond]

You've checked to see if the public drains and water supply are available? Would the road need upgrading?
What was the old building used for?

I found an article on it here

 

[Clix Pix]

If both of you are really happy in the house that you've now got -- which to me looks amazing and truly delightful given the photos you shared a while back -- then it seems a bit risky to give it up and sell it to buy this other property, even though there is the possibility of making money and a profit off the additional land around the original 1900's house. Really think this thing through all the way, consider the pros and cons of such a venture......

 

[Growltiger]

I knew someone who bought a nice property in NZ and subdivided it.
The bureaucracy and many payments required were soul destroying. After 7 years they finally sold the last unit and left.
After all that time and work and money they had not made any profit at all.
There is a good reason the current owner never managed to make full use of it or sell it.

 

[Palouse]

"There are too many bureaucratic rules hindering development, he says. Even the cost of permits to clear the site and remove the rubble is significant."

'Nuff said!

 

[Maurie]

Property prices are booming all over New Zealand, to some extent caused by NZ citizens returning from overseas; predominantly Australia, UK and N America. These are often professionals who have made their lives offshore. And Covid has convinced them that they’re better off back in NZ. They arrive back cash-rich and looking for homes and businesses. Then there’s the lucky immigrants like Desmond who get in, and there’s a long stream knocking on the door, those who are bringing skills that are in demand here get to the top of the queue. Then there’s the uberwealthy, who bring wealth, who seem to find a way in. Interesting to discover Larry Page (Google founder) has New Zealand residency. Bet he’s not living in a shabby shack.[

A couple of examples, one of my kids bought an Auckland city apartment 10 years ago for $300k with a $150k mortgage. Sold it 6 years later for $600, bought a house in the burbs for $900k, sold that last year for $1.5 and bought another for $2m. 6 months later the realtors are hammering on the door offering as much as $3m. That’s just crazy inflation inducing market.

I live in a large country home I built 29 years ago, sits on 2.6 acres 30 miles out of Auckland City. Suburbia is starting to close in on me, so my rates (property taxes) are rocketing up because my property is being revalued every few years, and that valuation has doubled in 3 years. I also have an apartment in downtown Auckland that I bought 10 years ago for $650k, that today is valued at (and rated/taxed on) $1.7m. So I’m asset rich, but to benefit from this I need to sell up and move away, probably offshore. Fortunately I have a bolthole and a boat in Fiji, not that I can get there in these crazy Covid times.

 

[Desmond]

Property prices are booming all over New Zealand, to some extent caused by NZ citizens returning from overseas;

For some reason I never received notifications of all my replies?
Anyway, I had a chat with the owner who told me it is sold now - he also told me how difficult, and expensive, it would be to clear the property and subdivide.
Regarding the property prices it has gone crazy and I feel sorry for someone starting out wanting to buy their first home. 8 Years ago I gave in to the wife's nagging and bought my first house for NZ330k [US231k] and sold 7 years later for $645k. The prices doubled in 7 years but wages haven't.
Ashburton, where we moved 8 months ago is about 10 years behind the rest of the country. The house we bought for $580k, 8 months ago is worth about 100k more today - people are moving down here just so they can afford a house. You can still buy a 4 bedroom house for $260k here but that won't last very long as I imagine the prices will slowly catch up to the rest of the country.
There is currently a housing crisis, perhaps more so where houses are cheaper to buy - some friends of ours have to be out of their rental within a week and every place that they have been to that is advertised for rent has had more than 40 other applicants.

 

[Desmond]

Actually we just looked up the valuation on our house today and from $580 8 months ago one site is listing it as possibly worth up to $785k. I imagine that would still be considered cheap by someone moving from Auckland.

 

[rpracing]

I'm busy dreaming about what I could do with this place if we sold our home.
It isn't earthquake compliant but ... think about the explosions demolishing it!
And it has 4 hectares of land that might be worth the purchase price.

View attachment 1688167

A tick small for my tastes.

Homes here have gone through the roof. A house here that last year was $47K USD and REQUIRED a full renovation (as in its NOT livable right at the moment) is now listed for $125K same condition.

 

[Desmond]

A tick small for my tastes.

Homes here have gone through the roof. A house here that last year was $47K USD and REQUIRED a full renovation (as in its NOT livable right at the moment) is now listed for $125K same condition.

Crazy! - One of the problems in NZ is trying to get approval to build on land - in one case it took 18 months for some
developers to get the go ahead.