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What questions should I ask the agent before viewing an apartment?

Posted in Apartment Buying, Blog, Buying, Not A Property, Things To Know About Apartments, Video.

Summary:

Knowing the right questions will save you time when purchasing an apartment and ensure you are making the correct decision.

Four main questions to ask are:

  1. What is the earthquake rating? It needs to be 34% or above
  2. Has there been any maintenance work done on the building? If so, that means there has been a problem, check to see this has been completed and of a high standard.
  3. Has there been any water penetration past or present? This doesn’t mean it is a leaky building but it may mean there is water in small areas and could lead into it being leaky in the future. Look into their action plan to solve this issue.
  4. With my affordability, can I afford this realistically if there are issues? Gain help and understanding to assist your decision. At Apartment Specialist we can help you with any of the above happily.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Good day, Andrew Murray here from the Apartment Specialists. Before you view an apartment or go investigate further and spend time and money doing so, you want to ask some specific questions. This is to make sure that you are not looking at an apartment that is, down the track, not suitable because it has issues or problems. This has come from so many purchasers asking us questions like, “Is it leaky?” And that question just doesn’t cut it because it doesn’t cover all the possible issues. It doesn’t even cover the matter of water penetration.

What I have done is, I’m going to give you four quick questions to ask. This is going to help you to either put that apartment to the side knowing it is not suitable or carry on your investigation so you can go view the apartment or ask more things like body corporate minutes etc etc. This is all based around a real estate agent. He is not going to tell you unless if you ask.

Yes, they have to declare things to you but they will want to do that in front of you or get you through that process as long as possible so they can get you to be emotionally attached to that property. Let us go over these four questions.

The first one, is to deal with structural issues. This is not just character buildings. What is the earthquake rating? It needs to be 34% or above. This is to cover the structural side and I’ve seen buildings that have been built in the last 30 years that still have structural issues or do not have that required structural strength. Now, that is a very expensive problem. If that question fails then, boom, you chuck it to the side and that apartment’s not suitable for you.

The next question that you need to ask: Has there been any maintenance work done on the building? This covers it all really except for the next question, of course. Anyway, what I mean by that is, maintenance is done on a building if there is a problem. You need to know about it, so you can then look into how that problem was fixed. It doesn’t mean you necessarily discard the building unless if the maintenance work is being done currently, or it is going to be done. But what it means is, it covers all the leaky issues, anything structural and anything like that.

Next one, has there been any water penetration, past or present? Now that is really important because if you ask if it’s a leaky building, it may not be a leaky building but there may be reported areas where say there have been reported with water coming in from certain parts of the building, but it hasn’t been looked into enough or it’s just happening in isolated areas.

This generally means that, that would raise alarm bells for me personally because I’d be going, “Okay, if that’s happening in parts, then it’s probably going to happen in other parts. It’s going to continue and could lead to a leaky issue.” Now if you’re looking at the past, okay that’s not a bad thing because how things are being fixed now are a lot better but it still means you need to look into how it was done.

The last one is all the numbers. If you are an owner-occupier and those numbers mean you can’t afford the property i.e. if the outgoings we’re like that, then well quickly put it to the side. Unless if it has something to do with like maybe the body corporate fee including power and water. Secondly, if you’re an investor-purchaser, then that’s probably the first question you would ask, because if it doesn’t cut it in regards to the income minus expenses, you’re wasting your time.

I hope that helps because in this market, there’s a lot of apartments out there. And there are a lot apartments that are not very good and you can waste your time. It’s about you getting to the good ones and making the best decision for your purpose, and obviously making money.

Andrew Murray, Apartment Specialists. Cheers!

Apartment Buyer Checklist: Your Guide to Getting the Best Apartment

Posted in Apartment Buying, Blog, Buying, Not A Property, Things To Know About Apartments, Value Updates, Video.

Summary:

Buyer Checklist: Affordability, finance, size, lawyers, brokers and purchasing agreements are all factors that need to be included when getting the best out of your apartment purchase.

6 points:

  1. Purpose – figuring out what you are trying to achieve? Is the apartment to live in? or gain income?
  2. Finance – What affordability capabilities do you have? Getting a broker is recommended by us over the bank
  3. Criteria – How much, space, bedrooms etc. do you require.
  4. Questions – Once you have criteria you will have an idea of what questions to be asking your agent
  5. Support – What professionals do you need to achieve buying your property? i.e. lawyers
  6. Conditions – what conditions are you going to put in place when        signing an agreement?  Your agent and lawyer can assist you with this

TRANSCRIPTION:

Good day, Andrew Murray here from the Apartment Specialists with an apartment buyer checklist. If you follow these six points, you can’t go wrong.

Number one is finding out your purpose. Now this is really important. What I mean by this is: “What is your focus on?” “What do you want to achieve?” Is it capital gain? Is it income your main driver, like the rent minus expenses? Are you an owner-occupier? Are you looking for a good location? Do you have kids or is it more about lifestyle? Where you’re not too concerned about capital gains? So, that’s where leaseholders is a very good option.

Are you high risk, where you’re looking at leaky buildings? Do you have access to the construction industry?  So, that is really, really important that you need to figure out, because that enables you to determine what kind of apartments you are looking for.

Then you have number two which is: What are your constraints? So this will be regarding your finance. What is your budget? Are you a cash buyer? Have you actually figured out what you can afford? How big is your deposit? This is where you go to your bank or your broker. And I actually highly advise a broker because they will choose the best bank for your situation. For example, the best rates, lending criteria and the size.

Number three is all about criteria. So having your purpose figured out, let us say it is capital gain and so you have done the finance. You know you can spend up to $600,000. This is starting to give you criteria and what it does is lead you to questions, because there are over 900 apartments on the market. This is always changing but there are a lot more than houses and there is so much choice. You need the criteria to get these basically 1,000 apartments down to these 15, 20 that you are actually looking at and then go through and do your research.

Let us go to number four and I just touched on this before. Now, this criteria is going to give you the questions to ask the real estate agent. When you inquire on that listing, you are going to say, “Okay, how big is it?” or “What’s the earthquake rating?” or “Obviously this is two bedrooms. It’s got another room, is that big enough for a third bedroom?” or “Has it got one car park? Okay, it’s got no car parks, can car parks be rented in the building?”

Now all kinds of questions and that is really important because this will get you down to, basically, ten questions that will help you whittle down that list. This is to get the appropriate properties that you will need to go and look at it.

Number five and this is really important, because a lot of people don’t actually do this one until the last minute. It’s something that I can actually recommend you in regards to different professionals, whether it is building inspectors, lawyers, or accountants. But you need professionals to help you get the best apartment.

The most important one here is your lawyer, because your lawyer will probably be the one reading through those body corporate minutes. And that condition you’ve put it in. They are going to be checking those extraordinary general meeting minutes. They will also be helping you make sure that you are not buying into a building that is problematic. So, make sure you’ve got your professionals that are going to support what you have chosen.

Then we go to number six, which is the last one condition. Obviously, a lawyer will help you out with this, but also see the four conditions. I’ll put in a podcast; basically four conditions every buyer should use and this is where you are putting in conditions to enable you to do the research on. So, you will know if the apartment that you have chosen suits your purpose.To make sure that it is a safe one, a good one, and you’re going to prosper from it regardless.

I hope that helps. Feel free to go through our other podcasts and obviously search the other ones, and especially Buyer Type. If you are a bit confused on purpose, look under “What Kind of Buyer Are You?” and that podcast should help you figure that out your category.

If you have any questions, just flick me an email or any of the staff an email. You can send it to me on andrew@apartmentspecialists.co.nz.

Cheers, bye!

How to buy the right apartment in a moving market

Posted in Apartment Buying, Blog, Body Corporate, Not A Property, Property Value, Video.

Summary:

Buying in the right market means you need to perhaps pay that extra $5000 initially or make sure you are not being too fussy because if you buy the right apartment the market will do it thing for you.

What is frequently seen is when you wait for the ‘perfect’ deal and continuously miss out, you become a buyer that is too fussy. In the time you miss out the values can increase by thousands and thousands as the market moves. Buying a desirable apartment rather than looking for the one that is five to ten thousand less. However, by talking to Apartment Specialists we can take away some of this frustration and help you reach your goal of finding the right apartment for you.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Good day, Andrew Murray here from the Apartment Specialists. How to buy in a moving market? How to buy when you know the values are going upwards, but you want to find the best deal? You want to get the apartment for the lowest price, but what do you do?

The thing with a moving market is – I see this over and over again -You might fall into this trap, but this is where you wait for that perfect deal. You try to get the apartment for the lowest price, and you miss out again. You become too fussy and you take time to purchase. In that time that you have taken, the market’s moved $30,000, $40,000, $50,000.

I have seen buyers wait for that perfect apartment for two years, and in that space the market’s moved $100,000, $150,000. Now, that is a $150,000 mistake, as I have put it. I will give you another personal example for myself. I bought an apartment for $340,000. At the time, it was really difficult and I thought, “I’m a real estate agent. I should be buying well below market,” but I was buying at market minimums. And I knew this one was bought out, but I really wanted this apartment and I loved this apartment. I just got an evaluation the other day and it is worth $500,000 now. This is in two years.

The fact that I agonized over this, even some of my peers said, “You’re paying too much.” The market did the movement, not me. So, it comes down to buying the right apartment, and it comes down to buying a desirable apartment. If you buy the right apartment, which is desirable, then the market will do the rest.

Trying to get that apartment for $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, $20,000 less than what they ask can actually hinder you. The important thing here is not so much as getting the lowest price, it is getting the best apartment. For example, one that is favorable and that is not going to leave. It does not have any issues and it is in a good location.

I hope it helps, because I know it is very stressful. In the next three to five years, this market is really going to be moving. I know. It is something that I have struggled with. I am sure a lot of buyers struggle with this as well.

Talk soon. Cheers. Bye.

Apartment Buyer Type No 5: Owner Occupier

Posted in Apartment Buying, Blog, Buying, Not A Property, Things To Know About Apartments, Value Updates, Video.

Apartment Specialists Podcast No: 136

Summary:

What exactly is an owner occupier? Why is this the most common type of buyer in the market? What are the things important to this buyer? Andrew Murray will answer these questions on this podcast, as he reveals the facts about an owner occupier. Find out more on this video.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Buyer type number five owner occupier. Now as you can tell, these type among the other types of buyers. You can figure out this for yourself. It is about what kind of questions you need to ask yourself and also the questions you need to ask a real estate agent.

So, the biggest one with owner occupier, is to figure out, what your budget is? What the restrictions are on that budget? Most home occupiers are going to be having some finance components to what they’re purchasing. For example, if you looked in the book, a buyer number one was talking a lot about bank criteria. With owner occupier,  your bank criteria is going to limit you.

That is my advice! Because I find the bank that best suits what you are looking for, in all. If you look at an apartment that is, for example, a two bedroom and you’re with Westpac. It’s under 55 square metres and you need 70% finance, you’re not going to be able to purchase the apartment because Westpac’s criteria means that any two bedroom below 55 square metres at this current time is not allowed. I’m doing this podcast means that they’ll only lend 50%.

You will need to be searching online at realestate.co and Trademe at apartments you canno t actually purchase, which is wasting your time. What you need to do is work out what your budget is. Then you have got a price range to search in online. Secondly, find out what the restrictions are on the actual complex. Find out what buildings they won’t lend on, because there are quite a few buildings that if you’re with a specific bank they won’t lend on.

They have over-capitalised or what’s a better word there, they have lent to too many in the building so they have a risk. For example, GE bank won’t lend more than 20%, 25% of apartments within the building. That’s another one and then drive around town. Think about where you’d like to live and look at the buildings you like.

Also, look at the building you don’t like. And then have a list so you’ve got a criteria for what you’re looking at. The amount of times that I’ll have a buyer, that inquire on properties that don’t suit them or they can’t actually purchase is frustrating not only for the real estate agent, but especially for them.

Eventually, they’ll find a property that they really like, but then can’t purchase it, which is even more frustrating. An owner occupied purchase is often a one-off or it’s often people who are not as experienced with purchasing property. And if that is the case, feel free to go and ask your real estate agent to spend some time with them first. In order to help you figure out your criteria. Have a meeting with them first, and take half an hour or 45 minutes of their time.

Most real estate agents should do this and have a chat with them about what suits them. Obviously, we are apartment specialists, that is what we do. But to help you figure out what you need to do. You’ll also see some guides on our website. Usually, buyer’s guides on what you can do to help you figure out what your criteria is.

It is really important to know what you are looking for. Otherwise, it is pretty tricky and I see home occupiers who come in on lifestyle properties. But then they don’t understand they can’t purchase these because they don’t have the 50% deposit or equity. Sometimes be very disappointing and it’s also my mistake if I have a viewing and I haven’t asked a buyer if they have got finance of 50%. Most of the time they come over, “I love it! I want it!” And then they find out they can’t purchase it.

I hope these five buyer types have helped and yes, what I am going to put on track next is a couple of podcasts on the questions you need to ask once you have found the apartment or apartments you like. And to know that you are making a safe purchase, you have an idea on what questions you need to ask the real estate agents to find out if it is leaking, or if there are issues on the apartment.

I hope that helps. Cheers.

Apartment Buyer Type No 4: Lifestyle Apartment Investor

Posted in Apartment Buying, Apartment Marketing, Apartment Selling, Blog, Buying, Not A Property, Things To Know About Apartments, Value Updates, Video.

Summary:

This purchase is where the focus is to have a better lifestyle and you would like to free up capital to either spend it other investments for example rental apartments or use it to enjoy life like travelling and adventure.

Leasehold apartments are often spacious with high end finishing’s and a view.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Buyer type number four – Lifestyle. This is where capital gain is not the focus of your purchase. It is maximising your lifestyle. Whether it be how you live it, and/or having a better life in general. For example, you are being able to travel and enjoy your life through freeing up capital. So, what I mean by this is where leasehold is an actual viable option.

Now, leasehold gets a huge amount of bash in the press and amongst other purchasers because they have been told, “Avoid leasehold.” But the thing is, leasehold does suit a certain type of purchaser.

Obviously, the purchaser who is not concerned about capital gain, but they are concerned about freeing up capital, either to spend it in other ways where they can get a better return. That is to make more money or to free up to enjoy your lifestyle so it is not tied up in a property or a business.

You can travel more and not have it all tied up and underneath their feet. For example, let us say I take my parents and pretend that they have got one home. You look at their first home they purchased for $176,000 in 1987. And now, that is worth 2.5 million dollars. Yet, if they just had that home and they stopped working. They are what is called asset rich, cash poor folks. So, they have got nothing. But yes, they have got a lot on paper.

Now they are bound to enjoy their life more and live a good lifestyle, it would be to sell that home and release the money. Go buy a leasehold property for a couple of hundred thousand dollars with a great lifestyle, understanding there is high outgoings but then there is also outgoings when you have got a home anywhere. If you release all that capital to be able to go on holidays, go on good trips, probably invest in property that is purely income based.

A good example is when you buy a small student apartment which is freehold and they can live off the rent, or help pay the expenses for the leasehold apartment. That kind of thing. So, that is the market where lifestyle depicts what you purchase. It is where you have got to be looking at leasehold and you are going to be, “Okay, what is the best lifestyle I want to live?” And look at also what leasehold actually has the lowest costs.

When I am talking about lifestyle, that narrows down to what you are looking for. The thing is, if you looked for that, you know that a couple of hundred thousand dollars in the freehold market and, I could not see my parents living in a two bedroom, 50 square metre apartment. They could not really invite their friends around for dinner. My mum would be, to be honest, embarrassed.

I mean, she is in her 60’s and that is buyer type number four and it is a small segment of market, but it is actually rare that leasehold suits. I hope that helps.

Next one, I am going to be talking about is an owner occupier. There are different types like high level, medium level, and low level.

Cheers.

Apartment Buyer Type No 3: High Risk Investor

Posted in Apartment Marketing, Apartment Selling, Blog, Body Corporate, Buying, Not A Property, Things To Know About Apartments, Value Updates, Video.

Summary:

The high risk category is where you are buying properties or apartments that no one else wants to buy. This is generally because they have issues, it could be earthquake issues or it could be leaky problems. These apartments are high-risk because there is a little uncertainty. You are not too sure how the Body Corporate is going to handle these.

It is an area which generally, the people who are purchasing do have a high level of knowledge, either in construction or construction industry. They have connections in the industry and they are able to see the value, which from the adding value point of view, for example, you get to have a leaky building.

TRANSCRIPTION:

My category number three is investor, high-risk. High-risk, high-reward is pretty obvious. But when you are looking at apartments; the high risk category is where you are buying properties or apartments that no one else wants to buy. This is generally because they have issues, it could be earthquake issues or it could be leaky problems. These apartments are high-risk because there is a little uncertainty. You are not too sure how the body-corporate is going to handle these.

A leaky building could get wound-up in court for years and nothing could get done. It means you cannot sell it. Or more issues could be found and a higher levy has to be paid.

It is an area which generally, the people who are purchasing do have a high level of knowledge, either in construction or construction industry. They have connections in the industry and they are able to see the value, which from the adding value point of view, for example, you get to have a leaky building, .

The problem is when you have a leaky building owners sell and they actually lose more money through fear, not through fact. For example, the cost to repair the complex is certain to a levy and that levy may cost – let us say $50,000. Now, the actual reduction in price will be more than $50,000. It could be doubled or it could be tripled.

That is where the purchaser will make his money, but that also comes with risk. What happens if that budget explodes? What if that 50 goes to 100?

I have got a client at the moment who wants to buy 30 of these high-risk properties. He has a lot of knowledge of the industry and has connections with the construction industry. I work with this buyer, who are looking at the properties and they are going to be re-clad – in the situations where they are leaky or there are other situations.

These apartments do not have the code of compliance anymore. And he is able to purchase, because the things with these kind of purchases is, you often cannot get finance from the banks. Therefore, you need to have a lot of equity. These are huge opportunities, but yes there is a risk. There is a place for it and if you have the ability to purchase, without needing to use the banks. It is a one where, I think is really unutilised. In regards of investors and the way they are looking at apartments in the CBD market.

I hope that helps. Cheers!

Apartment Buyer Type No 2: Investor – Capital Gain

Posted in Apartment Buying, Apartment Marketing, Apartment Selling, Blog, Not A Property, Video.


Apartment Specialists Podcast No: 133

Summary:

Is your prime objective capital gain when buying an apartment? Then you might be this type of buyer. Watch this video to know what kind of an apartment you should be going after.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Buyer type number two. You are an investor and you are looking at buying an apartment. Your prime objective is capital gain.

Basically, you are looking for an apartment where you are going to be renting it out, and then selling it to an owner/occupier down the track. You are going to be buying it, obviously, you are going to get the best numbers you can. For example, rent minus expenses. But the objective is to then sell it to an emotional purchaser who will pay a lot more.

The key thing with this is actually the size. You have got to have the whole market. For example, if you bought an apartment that was 45 metered squared, and it is a two bedroom, not all the banks lend 80% on that. You are cutting out half your market. You are looking at two bedrooms above 55 square meters and you are looking at one bedroom above 40, ideally, 45 square meters and basically, the bigger the better.

The other thing is, that it needs to tick all the boxes. It needs to be livable. I do not mean livable in regards to high-end. I mean livable as in – apartments are the future. It is not going to be long until the average house in Auckland is going to be a million dollars. It is already well over $700,000 and it is going to keep on going up.

If you want to buy a house below $500,000 and you are looking at a 40 minute commute, apartments are where it is going to be. You can see it is going to happen, and it is happening now. I repeat myself that buying in this market, it is a market that is, obviously, livable and desirable. This is a market that is moving. You’ve got to quote area as size.

If you think about car parks and it is the middle of the CBD, doesn’t it have to have a car park? That is a bonus. If it is on the fringes and it has to have a car park. If it is a one bedroom, you will find it has to have a car park, unless it is at the very central. On the fringes and my pick is the two bedroom market, because you think of a couple buying their first property. It will not be a house because they will not be able to afford it. They are going to want another room for when they have the first child. And it is going to be their first property.

Think of all those people who have a house in this younger generation. What is their first investment property going to be? It is not going to be another house because it is too expensive. It is going to be an apartment. That is the market that is moving. That is the market that is going to continue to move.

Now, Let us take another story. Say my sister and she has a house. She’s got one child. As soon as they have another child, they are going to need another room.

They have a house in Ellerslie and they need to upgrade. But they have got to get quite a bit of cash. This is what we are going to do. We are going to buy a two bedroom apartment and I will get the rent, so it covers the mortgage. Hopefully, within two or three years it should get $100,000 in capital gain.You are really going to need that and use that leverage to buy your next home and sell your last home.

That is what we did. We bought an apartment in Victoria Street. It was $380,000. A one bedroom with 58 square meters and a high stud. It is a nice area and it is gonna need a lot of money in to refurbishing it. It rents for $595 per week. It is more than the mortgage payments and that is after covering the Body Corporate fee.

Since she’s purchased, she’s already made $50,000, and that was only four or five months ago. If you are going to follow that criteria, then you are looking at capital gain. You are looking at two bedrooms, with or without car parks, if it is in the city centre.  It is in the fringes or in the suburbs, but it needs to have undercover car parking – it just does.

To recap, one bedrooms that are bankable. All the banks will lend on them. They need to be desirable. They need to tick all the boxes. You do not want to buy an apartment that faces south that gets no sun because in the long term, an owner/occupier will not pay as much for that.

You do not want to buy an apartment that has something wrong with it. For example, it is extremely noisy because an owner/occupier in the future will not purchase that. Remember, a desirable apartment, you may have to pay more for now. But that means it is going to go up more because it is going to be more desirable in the future.

That is buyer type number two and you are an investor. You are looking for a capital gain as your primary objective. The rent will cover most, if not a little bit more, than the cost of the outgoings.

Next, I will be talking about buyer number three, which is high risk. Cheers.

Apartment Buyer Type No. 1: Income Investor

Posted in Apartment Buying, Blog, Buying, Not A Property, Things To Know About Apartments, Value Updates, Video.

Summary:

An income investor’s main priority is to gain neon from their purchase. If this is your aim, you are often looking at smaller apartments that are generally smaller than 50sqm. And ideally you are trying to find something that is 40sqm, this is due to bank lending. The smaller the apartment you purchase as an investment, the higher the return. Having several investment apartments can allow you more freedom to free up cash without having all your eggs in one basket. When looking at what criteria is necessary for these apartments, size is key and carparks and extra amenities within the building are not.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Buyer type number one. An investor. You are an investor and your main focus is income. When I mean income, it is income minus expenses. Your major concerns are the rent you are receiving and the body corporate fees, the rates and any other outgoings. Now, if this is what your aim is then capital gain is not as must of a focus. Generally, you are looking at smaller apartments and you are going to be looking, in most cases, below 50 square metres.

Yes, there are some odd cases where you will have a large apartment with lots of rooms in them. But it is often harder to find tenants because you are going to have to have multi-tenancies or find a group of tenants that all want to live together. Generally speaking, you can say your criteria is below 50 square metres and ideally; the highest return is below 40 square metres.

The reason for this is because of bank lending. There are two major banks that will lend at 80 percent on apartments of 40 square metres and above. All the rest are a lot higher. So, if you are below 40 square metres, that takes out all your other occupiers. That lower demographic who are buying to live and cannot afford it.  This means most of the owners of those apartments are investors.

The apartments have not risen emotionally, if you know what I mean. An emotional purchaser is what pushes the prices up and so you will be looking at stock below 40 square metres. But you will be looking at doing it on a 50 percent deposit.

I will give you a bit of a story, this is what I did for my parents. My parents had a house, one of their houses that was $700,000, approximately. Dad was renting it out per room and getting a reasonable income about $1000 a week rent. Yet, the return was horrible. I said, “Dad, what are you doing? Sell, you are not concerned.”

He is not concerned about capital gain and the only person that is going to benefit from capital gain is me. And I am not looking for that. He is as fit as a fiddle, anyway. And, so I said, “Dad, sell them. We will go and buy some apartments. We will get three apartments and we will rent them all out, and I guarantee I will double your income, or your net return.” That’s what we did.

We went and bought three apartments for about 200 odd thousand dollars, furnished them all and rented it and now he is getting double the income.  The great thing now is he has got six that are freehold, just for income and that is his retirement paid for. Every time he wants an injection of cash, he just sells one of them because all his eggs are not in one basket.

In a commercial type arrangement where you have got one large property, with a great return, but you have got to find a tenant. That is one type of buyer.

Just to recap on that, you should start that small. Reasonably large body corporate fees, you should be looking into long-term maintenance plan and location. Car parks are something that are not necessary, because if you are looking generally in the middle of the CBD.

What a car park does is lower your return legally, because you pay a higher body corporate fee and you do not get a very good return for the added cost of the car park and that narrows your criteria.

Now, the next one we are talking about is, you are an investor but you are probably a bit younger. In most cases and your main concern is capital gain with income being secondary.

Cheers.

What Type of Apartment Buyer Are You?

Posted in Apartment Buying, Blog, Buying, Not A Property, Things To Know About Apartments, Video.

Apartment Specialists Podcast No: 131

Summary:

This podcast gives you an overview of the different types of apartment buyers in Auckland. Why do you need to know what type of buyer you are? What are the things that a buyer is concern about when they are choosing an apartment? Watch this video to get all the details.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Good day. What kind of apartment buyer are you? Now you go in Trademe and there are 600 to 700 apartments on the market. Are you anyway confuse? Are you trying to figure out values? Are you finding it difficult to figure out what is a good buy and what is not a good buy?

When you buy an apartment, it is not like just buying a house. There are over 14 different types or categories of apartments, and you need to figure out which kind of apartment is going to best suit your goal. Owning an apartment is a solution to a purpose, and you have got to find out what your purpose is. Now it seems a little bit weird talking like this, but the point is, you are dealing with 700 apartments and you are shopping online.

You are going through Realestate.com, or you are going on Trademe, trying to find the apartments that suit you. You are asking all these questions. That is a lot of work and with that many on the market, that is pretty hard to figure it out. I mean I was an agent and I have been in the game for a while now.

However my first six months, I did not know what was going on and I was doing it everyday. Now the commitment from a buyers perspective, how do you figure out what is best for you? You need to figure out what is best for you and you also need to find out what kind of buyer you are.

What is the purpose of the apartment you are looking for? So what I am going to do is help you figure out what kind of buyer you are. You can then go through and take those 700 apartments and get them down to about 15. Now figure which ones are listed too high, figure out the ones that are inappropriate, and make the best purchase for you. Then you will be thanking me in five years and that is for sure.

Anyway, to give you an idea I will put it in five different categories. Now you are either an investor, where return or basically income is your main objective and capital gain is a bonus. Number two, you are an investor where capital gain is the main focus and income is the second main focus. Number three, you are an owner occupier, you have got certain criteria, like you may have pets or you may want to be in a certain part of town.

There are different kind of criteria. You are either concerned about lifestyle, so this is a purchase where it is about how you live. Capital gain is not as important, so that is were a leasehold would be very appropriate. Number five is high risk; that is where you are looking at buildings that are leaky because when they are fixed they are going to be worth a lot more. You are looking at buying into hotel leases, because they are harder to buy into, because of your finance, but when they come out. it is going to be worth a lot more.

What I am going to do is I am going to do a forecast on each type of buyer, and go into a bit more detail on each one of those five types. You can figure out how can you best find the solution that you want. And you could be looking at the wrong category. If you are doing that, you are asking all the wrong questions.

This is about your time, and time is valuable. You have got so many listings in the market and there is a lot of excuse my “French” – crap out there. You need to sort through it and the more education you have, the better purchase you will make. Anyway each week one will come out, and yeah I will talk to you soon.

Cheers.

Buying an apartment – What should you buy?

Posted in Apartment Buying, Blog, Buying, Not A Property, Things To Know About Apartments, Video.

Summary:

Buying an apartment is not like buying a house as there are over 14 different types of apartments. The key factor is figure out your goal from buying this apartment. What purpose do you need this apartment for? This can be hard when there are lots of apartments on the market and it can be confusing when researcher what kind of buyer you are.

You are either an investor, where return or basically income is your main objective and capital gain is a bonus. Number two, you are an investor where capital gain is the main focus and income is the second main focus. Number three, you are an owner occupier, you have got certain criteria, like you may have pets or you may want to be in a certain part of town.

There are different kind of criteria. You are either concerned about lifestyle, so this is a purchase where it is about how you live. Capital gain is not as important, so that is where a leasehold would be very appropriate. Number five is high risk; that is where you are looking at buildings that are leaky because when they are fixed, they are going to be worth a lot more. You are looking at buying into hotel leases, because they are harder to buy into, because of your finance, but when they come out, it is going to be worth a lot more.

There are more podcasts about each type of buyer in depth, search these through the Apartment Specialists website for further detail.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Good day. What kind of apartment buyer are you? Now you go in Trademe and there are 600 to 700 apartments on the market. Are you in anyway confuse? Are you trying to figure out values? Are you finding it difficult to figure out what is a good buy and what is not a good buy?

When you buy an apartment, it is not like just buying a house. There are over 14 different types or categories of apartments, and you need to figure out which kind of apartment is going to best suit your goal. Owning an apartment is a solution to a purpose, and you have got to find out what your purpose is. Now it seems a little bit weird talking like this, but the point is, you are dealing with 700 apartments and you are shopping online.

You are going through Realestate.com, or you are going on Trademe, trying to find the apartments that suit you. You are asking all these questions. That is a lot of work and with that many on the market, that is pretty hard to figure it out. I mean I was an agent and I have been in the game for a while now.

However my first six months, I did not know what was going on and I was doing it everyday. Now the question from a buyer’s perspective, how do you figure out what is best for you? You need to figure out what is best for you and you also need to find out what kind of buyer you are.

What is the purpose of the apartment you are looking for? So what I am going to do is help you figure out what kind of buyer you are. You can then go through and take those 700 apartments and get them down to about 15. Now figure which ones are listed too high, figure out the ones that are inappropriate, and make the best purchase for you. Then you will be thanking me in five years and that is for sure.

Anyway, to give you an idea I will put it in five different categories. Now you are either an investor, where return or basically income is your main objective and capital gain is a bonus. Number two, you are an investor where capital gain is the main focus and income is the second main focus. Number three, you are an owner occupier, you have got certain criteria, like you may have pets or you may want to be in a certain part of town.

There are different kind of criteria. You are either concerned about lifestyle, so this is a purchase where it is about how you live. Capital gain is not as important, so that is were a leasehold would be very appropriate. Number five is high risk; that is where you are looking at buildings that are leaky because when they are fixed, they are going to be worth a lot more. You are looking at buying into hotel leases, because they are harder to buy into, because of your finance, but when they come out, it is going to be worth a lot more.

What I am going to do is, I am going to do a forecast on each type of buyer, and go into a bit more detail on each one of those five types. You can figure out how can you best find the solution that you want. And you could be looking at the wrong category. If you are doing that, you are asking all the wrong questions.

This is about your time, and time is valuable. You have got so many listings in the market and there is a lot of, excuse my “French” – crap out there. You need to sort through it and the more education you have, the better purchase you will make. Anyway each week, one will come out, and yeah I will talk to you soon.

Cheers.