Going, Going, Gone

Sunday morning was rather nerve racking as we were waiting for the Auction to come around. The house was open for final viewings from 1PM and the auction itself took place at 2PM. We arrived at 1 and found no one except the agents there. As the auction time approached, more and more people started to show up until there were about 20 or so. The agent suggested that we start the bidding at a highish but still less than we'd offered figure. He suggested this might put off the other people. It turned out that we were the only ones actually bidding and that the other people were the friends and neighbours. The auctioneer put in another bid raising the bid to our original offer of $400k. Apparently he is allowed to do this if the figure is below the reserve price. At this point we offered a little more but wouldn't go any further. A period of horse trading then took place with the auctioneer scurrying between parties claiming an astronomical amount of daylight between our offer and the reserve. Eventually we agreed on a figure, but with a revised possession date of 3rd May. This was somewhat odd since we'd been under the impression that a quick sale was required and the original date was 23rd April. After all this mucking about, there was a final appeal for bids and then the hammer came down. It was ours.

At this point we were required to sign the contract for sale, which is unconditional. The final price was still $30k under the "capital value" assigned by the council. By contrast some later research before the auction found two other properties in the same street which were on offer for $60k more than this value, so we think we've got a bargain. Following this we met the vendor, who really didn't look at all well. She seemed keen to pass on some of her furniture, which alas was not quite the sort of thing we'd want so we politely declined. We headed home via New World to pick up a bottle of plonk which we wasted no time on opening and toasting our success.

Monday was rather busy. The first port of call was an insurance broker. As the house is now ours even though we don't have possession until 3rd May, of it falls down it's our problem. Thus we needed to insure it post haste. We had been recommended by a friend to use a local broker. I wandered in as it was just round the corner. The first odd question they asked was the total floor space. I had no idea. I went home and measured the floor plan and came up with a plausible figure of 156 square metres. I thought it prudent to get a correct figure so the agent would be the first port of call for this but as I dare not turn up empty handed, I drove to Bayfair to pick up a cheque for the deposit. The agent was most glad to see me and helpfully suggested that the floor area was actually 170 square metres, if the conservatory which was not on the floor plan was included. My guesstimation of the area wasn't that far out. Suitably pleased with my mathematical prowess I got the place insured for a tad under $600 with immediate effect and without having to part with any money up front. I also rang a solicitor who had been recommended by the same friend, and was quoted $1000 for the legal work. This I accepted and the details were passed to the agent. At this point, it was time for a cup of tea and to catch up on the progress of the test match. Sadly NZ failed to capitalise on the dismal Australian performance.

Today was also the day that Di started her real estate course at the Bay Polytechnic. She returned full of horror stories of deals gone wrong and the news that her lecturers considered that what we did yesterday was a bargain, highly risky and an object lesson in how not to do it. Apparently he likened the auction process to a circus where the client is made to sweat. We could certainly see the analogy, but we did stick pretty much to our limit. She also recanted stories about the leaky home syndrome that a lot of properties in NZ suffer from. We were aware of this, but what we didn't know is that potentially any house built around the time of the dodgy regulations is leaky - it's just a matter of time. Our house was built in 1987, well outside the date range. Scarily, there are 4,000 such houses in the mount area alone. Our house is built of bricks, so there's not problem.

It does seem that being a licensed real estate sales person in NZ requires you to be almost a mini lawyer, since there are a plethora of regulations that must be adhered to or you risk being sued. A lot of them seem to relate to non disclosure of potential problems (such as leaky home syndrome) for which the agent can be sued. Interestingly, the house we went to look at in Papamoa recently was actually a leaky building even though the agent claimed it wasn't when we asked. If we'd bought it, we'd have had a case for suing them to hell and back.

We sent an email to out rental agent asking for a reduction in our rent since we would now be showing people round a lot more. They responded saying they'd ask on our behalf. Sadly, we're probably on a hiding to nothing since we receive a call not long afterwards from the estate agent letting us know that an offer had been received and was likely to be accepted. It looks like we'd be given our marching orders pretty soon. Ho Hum.