Buying a house in Palmerston North

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PolicyGuy

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#2798780 21-Oct-2021 13:47

Geektastic: I've yet to see a building report I consider worth the paper it's written on.

The lack of the equivalent of the RICS qualifications in NZ for (in this case) Building Surveyors means that pretty much anyone can produce building reports, rendering the usefulness of them extremely difficult to determine.

When I sold the house I'd been living in for over fifteen years, I got a Building Inspection report which I made available to potential buyers.

One prospect pointed out something that I hadn't noticed, but was a significant defect - several thousand to fix - and wasn't on the Building Inspection report. The Real Estate Agent had to amend the disclosure statement to include this fault and email out copies of the amended disclosure to everyone who had previously asked for a copy. It could have been professionally very embarrassing for the agent and expensive for both of us. Neither of us was impressed with the "Building Inspector"

MadEngineer

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#2799034 21-Oct-2021 20:59

Dang.

I'd also be getting a builders report in the same manner. Someone I knew sold their house only to find they had to dismantle a deck I think it was at the back of their house at the request of the purchaser's lawyer due to it not having consent. I'd hate to be in such a situation where a sale has gone unconditional only to be forced to pay for a builder to carry our major work. There's a lawyer here in Palmy that's infamous for that

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PolicyGuy

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#2799069 21-Oct-2021 21:42

When I was buying three and a bit years ago, a number of times the agent said of some large and obvious feature in a house I was being shown like a massive deck "that is not consented"
Same with "<agent points to textured ceiling> I'm obliged to point out that this may contain asbestos"

Both are "Run away! Run away now!!" signals as far as I'm concerned

On the other hand, I guess it means (some?) real estate agents are a lot more honest than in Ye Goode Olde Days

Lizard1977

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#2799086 21-Oct-2021 22:15

On the asbestos question - I've been going through my watchlist and trying to sort out what are the viable alternatives to this house I've been looking at, and a few seem to have (according to the property insights page on Trademe) fibrous cement cladding (i.e. asbestos).

This really is a red flag isn't it? Should I not even consider houses with fibrous cement cladding, or am I over-reacting? One house on my list is very nice, about $50k cheaper than the first house I mentioned - which I initially put down to it being in Milson not far from the airport. But is it priced to reflect that it's got asbestos on the outside?

Bung

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#2799091 21-Oct-2021 22:47

PolicyGuy:
When I was buying three and a bit years ago, a number of times the agent said of some large and obvious feature in a house I was being shown like a massive deck "that is not consented"
Same with "<agent points to textured ceiling> I'm obliged to point out that this may contain asbestos"

Both are "Run away! Run away now!!" signals as far as I'm concerned

On the other hand, I guess it means (some?) real estate agents are a lot more honest than in Ye Goode Olde Days

It's been a long time since most decks have needed consent unless over 1m (later 1.5m) off the ground although some councils pull stunts based on site coverage.

We recently sold a house with a textured ceiling done in the early 80s. I'd thought it probably wasn't asbestos but treated it as if it was. The new owner had it tested and it was free of asbestos.

Fibre cement is less likely to contain asbestos if the build was done after early 80s. It's certainly worth testing.

mattwnz

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#2799096 22-Oct-2021 00:32

Have you looked at new builds? Or a townhouse that maybe a few years old? If it is a 70's house that hasn't been updated, then it is likely to need a lot of money spending on it. Likely no double glazing and limited insulation too.

I would also make sure it hasn't been used to drug manufacturer, and I think you can buy DIY kits to test for this.

If you are concerned something maybe asbestos, ask the agent in writing so they can find out for you, as that can affect the price. IMO many houses these days are in very poor condition, and many aren't worth much more than the land value. I hear a saying that often in NZ you are paying for the land, and you get a free house, and it is land prices that have doubled in parts of NZ in the last year. Sometimes there isn't much difference between a blank section and a land with a 70's or older house on it.

jonathan18

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#2799144 22-Oct-2021 08:22

mattwnz:

Have you looked at new builds? Or a townhouse that maybe a few years old? If it is a 70's house that hasn't been updated, then it is likely to need a lot of money spending on it. Likely no double glazing and limited insulation too.

PN real estate isn't the (relative) bargain it was and, despite the numbers being built, even relatively small new builds are going for stupid prices. We sold my mother's house a couple of months back - a three-bedroom 1990s' townhouse, it went for $825k. Sure, probably cheap compared to Auckland or other places, but a couple of years back that probably would have gone for something starting with a six (and had been bought for $371k in 2015).

The market here is just crazy; I really don't envy anyone needing to buy at the moment.

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ShinyChrome

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#2799167 22-Oct-2021 08:57

Yup, the most affordable new builds mostly look like this now... 3 bedrooms with a garage jammed 2+ deep on a section where there used to be 1 house.

Unfortunately it is a scramble for whatever you can get really. I would definitely avoid the fibrous cladding though; even if it isn't asbestos, it's just nasty stuff.

Lizard1977

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#2799169 22-Oct-2021 09:04

Yeah, that's kind of the corner I feel like I'm in. This house I'm looking at probably isn't the greatest, not really what I had in my mind a year ago, but compared to everything else right now it might be my best bet. New listings will come through, but it's hard to be sure which direction prices are going in. They feel like they have plateaued somewhat, and increases in interest rates may dampen prices a little, but it's still such an uncertain environment. I could wait for something better, but I easily could end up in a worse position if house prices continue to rise. The houses I'm looking at are already on the border of my maximum budget, so even just a few months from now I may be priced completely out of the market.

So yeah - not an ideal situation.

Bung

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#2799233 22-Oct-2021 09:18

ShinyChrome:
Unfortunately it is a scramble for whatever you can get really. I would definitely avoid the fibrous cladding though; even if it isn't asbestos, it's just nasty stuff.

My sister bought a house about 25 years ago with Hardie Plank siding. 0 problems, her partner has repainted it 3 times so far. It's so easy it only takes about half a day to clean and job done in 2 days. The identical house on the front section paid extra for cedar. That isn't aging as well. Maybe it wasn't top grade but planks are showing splits.

The full 1200mm wide sheets can show up any problems with the framing and cracking can happen.

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