Manager's Comments 6-7-15

Our biggest month this financial year to date, 44 sales, sees us with a shortage of good stock for the buyers we have. This should help your situation, if you are still on the market. More buyers, less competition. The other side of this is of course, is that if you haven’t been getting buyer attention, something is awry. Buyers work using comparative value. Seeing value will attract their attention and ultimately an offer. If this is not the case there is a problem to be sorted. There are 2 things to look at:
                                                                                                                                                                 
1:  Marketing and Promotion. Do the market know you are selling? Is the profile high enough to ensure you are in the mix when it comes to an open home visit, a call to the agent or internet search attention?  Review that and make an adjustment if you need to.
                                                             
2: The other critical factor is price. Do you offer a ‘market presence’ in the sense that when the advertising is getting attention, it tells a story of your willingness to offer comparative value? If that information is not getting through, or is unclear, then an adjustment is required there. Review the pricing strategy to get yourself considered as a viable buy in today’s market.                                        
We have buyers. They want comparative value.

John Christiansen

Manager's Comments 22-6-15

At last the rain has gone and by and large New Plymouth has been spared the horror of major house flooding. Not so our neigbours in Wanganui.
This is a good time to count ourselves lucky and do a couple of timely little checks ensuring we continue to be safe and secure. Do you have an emergency pack? Basic first aid, water supply, canned foods, multi tool? Is there an obvious place water pools on your section that you can drain to help save house flooding? Most importantly, are you well enough insured? The horrors of flooding start with the water, but the cleanup will be long, messy and can be very expensive if gib board walls and the flooring need to be refurbished or replaced. A few extra dollars a month for a good policy to cover this sort of damage could be well worthwhile. The misery of a flooded or wind damaged house will be bad enough without worrying about getting it sorted and ready to occupy again. A good time to take stock. We have just witnessed what can be. We know the threat is real.
These events have not affected our market. It’s business as usual.

John Christiansen

Manager's Comments 8-6-15

50% of online marketing is now searched on mobile devices, mainly smart phones, and also tablets. Desk top computers are used less and less to search for information. This trend is growing exponentially as more and more smart phones are used. One of the issues with this is that older websites don’t view easily on a smaller device. They don’t resize their content in a simple and readable format for smart phones and tablets. taranakiharcourts.co.nz and harcourts.co.nz have been redesigned to do just that. Now when 50% of our on line inquiries come in on small devices, your web presence is displayed in a good usable format, easily read, easily searched, enquiries go straight to your listing agent. Being number one on line is not only about volume, it’s about quality of service. It’s about getting your information to the buyers in the best possible way.

John Christiansen

Manager's Comments 25-5-15

17 of our New Plymouth sales team attended the annual Harcourts Conference held over 3 days at Sky City last week. Over 1000 delegates heard from an array of fine speakers, attended several workshops, and generally ‘upskilled’ over the period. There were even a few quiet drinks with colleagues from all over New Zealand, further cementing a referral network second to none in the world. This is all part of our continuing education programme. We are required to do 20 hours every year of continuing education, but your average New Plymouth Harcourts Agent will end up doing about twice that by time the year finishes. Just another way we try to be the best realtors we can be, which is a win win situation for you and for us.

 John Christiansen

Manager's Comments 11-5-15

The Auckland market continues to get massive publicity as it strides forward and capital gains are reported that are completely out of sync with the rest of New Zealand. Even Christchurch can’t compete with its huge shortages and multi billion dollar government post quake spending. It’s easy to see how sellers could expect some rub off in the local market, and how price expectations could lift on the back of all this hype. Don’t be fooled. The Auckland market is driven hard by a massive shortage of housing. In New Plymouth the supply is easily satisfying the demand. Rents, especially at the top end, have fallen. The Energy sector has shrunk. Farmers are tight at present. Local demand for housing has diminished. New Plymouth prices are steady, flat, showing no real growth. Competition for outstanding properties is good, but price is always a factor for our buyers. They will not pay premiums without competition. Talk to your agent about how we do that most effectively.

John Christiansen

Manager's Comments 28-4-15

March was a big month for New Plymouth real estate. 111 sales recorded, the highest since May 2012, 34 months earlier. This is almost double the average of the last 12 months. In the halcyon days of 2005/6 these were average numbers, but I fear they are unsustainable now. There may be some investors ready to cash up as rents have dropped, but by and large we simply don’t have the available stock to sustain 100 plus sales a month in New Plymouth. We simply don’t have as many sellers. Buyers are much more astute than they were in the earlier run as well. Banks are tighter; caution is the catch cry as buyers look at options much more closely. Formal due diligence is the norm, not the exception. Our market has evolved into a more considered and measured phase. Competition for buyers however is as strong as ever.

John Christiansen

Manager's Comments 13-4-15

As winter starts to bite we reflect on another year of very flat real estate activity. There has been a gradual but quite erratic increase in sales volumes this last year, but there has been no real market change. We still have a shortage of property on the market in New Plymouth, and there are still a reasonable number of active buyers. The Buyers have been very restrained though. Although mortgage rates are as low as ever, and the banks are back into the market aggressively, buyers seek real value and are quite specific about what and where they buy – and what they are prepared to pay. Investors are particularly discerning and when pushed over their price just walk away. Winter will not help this situation. Although real estate is not seasonal, it certainly slows when daylight savings ends. Dusk is early; home buying visits after work are difficult. In this climate daytime open home activity and perfect pricing are key.

John Christiansen