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Home→Techniques→Mastering Skills→Buying a House in New Zealand - Page 3

Buying a House in New Zealand

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5. Closing dates

This was possibly the biggest shocker for us. As opposed to the normal
sort of US 60-90 day escrow, houses here often go from first listing to
move-in in under a month. You’re given a week or two for the
inspections and a week or two to finalize financing, and then
it’s yours. We didn’t even have time to find a bed!
In our
case the house was empty, so it might be possible if you need longer to
negotiate it with a seller that needs time to move, but if you are in
a hurry, you can typically move in quite quickly. Of course, you
don’t want to wait too long when you’ve already
paid the
seller 10% upfront. This also means that having pre-approved financing
is essential to being able to successfully bid for the property you
want.

6. Last note for
the foreigner

Although we were not affected, you want to be aware that while
foreigners can buy most properties, there are laws here to prohibit foreigners from buying
certain
“heritage” properties. Farmland and any property
that adjoins a body of
water or DOC (government) owned open spaces could have restrictions.
You will be required to get permanent residency status or possibly even
citizenship before buying such sites. Of course, if you’re
really
rich you might be able to get around that. Shania Twain was able to buy
property next to DOC land by agreeing to help build a public walking
track across her massive estate. Others have had to let their dream
home go.

Conclusion

We love our house and we feel we got a fair deal. We aren’t thrilled
with our lender
and wish we had been more careful with our loan. The main challenge for
us
was not realizing the types of questions we should have been asking,
even after talking to other Americans who had bought property here.
 If, however, you spend time reading about the process and the
potential pitfalls, you should be able to make an informed purchase
decision.

Resources

  • Consumer.org
    is much like Consumer Reports in the US and is worth joining. You can
    join online on a quarterly basis for a reasonable cost and it’s an
    invaluable resource as you begin to buy appliances and furnishings for
    your new home. They also address a variety of services. 
  • Interest.co.nz is another great
    resource in your house hunt for evaluating a lender.
  • Tip for AAA members- AA New Zealand
    honors your years of US membership, and gives quite favorable rates on
    homeowners insurance to long time members. We found their coverage to
    be more comprehensive and have fewer restrictions in many areas as well.
  • NZ has a few “HelpUSell” type agencies, such as Green
    Door     that are also worth keeping an eye on. Lower commissions
    should mean lower prices.
  • If you are thinking of buying a NZ property for investment,
    the Property Talk site might have some
    useful information.
  • We did not participate in any auctions, and if you do, you will
    want to prepare yourself thoroughly because they are unconditional once
    final.
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Comments

Buying a House in New Zealand — 3 Comments

  1. Thanks for the article, good to hear how buyiing a house differs from the USA.

    Sounds like you could have had a better agent that covered the basics. Unfortunately they are rare now days as most are just in for the quick buck then move on…

    The purchase date is normally flexible as is the right to split the costs or ask the seller toput right any fualts found via the inspection. BUT you need them in the contract first! You can try later but a lot harder.

    We have brought a few homes in NZ, most have been easy, all had the subject to inspection clause, a few needed work that the seller sorted as they would have lost the sale otherwise :-)

    Yes the banks have a frinedly face but it can be unclear to what fees , charges “MAY ” be impossed. In one case we needed to sale quickly to avoid a squeeze in income due to moving from a regular job to self empolyed. We took the responsible step of down grading house quickly to cope as the new bussiness started to grow.
    The bank decided to enforce its early repayment fees of $3500NZD with disregard to the fact that we were refinancing with them on the smaller house……….. At the time that was 6 months of payments!

    Have fun in Nelson, it is a magic spot that we hope to move to after a few more years of our OE

  2. Thanks Paul for your thoughts. I think the agent was as helpful to us as he rightly could be, while representing his clients, the sellers. Great idea to be clear in the contract that changes might be made based on the inspection! We are enjoying Nelson!

  3. great work and thank you for all the information and insight.
    Very much appreciated.
    My partner and I have fallen in love with the kiwi lifestyle and country side of the south Island and are preparing to shift countries to enjoy it as well.
    At this stage Wanaka which will give us time to check out the rest of the beautiful country.
    Regards

    jack

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