If you’re one of those lucky people with a swimming pool, you’ll know the enjoyment it offers, which is a fact not lost on prospective buyers. A pool will draw a crowd and is a magnet for young families. But it is important to prepare your pool for sale as you would the rest of…
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A New Year often inspires fresh ideas, and this is an ideal moment to start planning the sale of your home with an autumn campaign. As an experienced agency, we don’t believe there are any hard and fast rules when it comes to timing the sale of a property. The best approach is to sell…
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The goal of any seller should be to make their home as luxurious, spacious and appealing as possible for buyers. That’s the best way to maximise the value of your biggest financial asset. And if you put yourself in the buyer’s shoes, you’ll appreciate that many of them are tired of walking around homes where…
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A feature of any wet and warm summer is the emergence of ants, digging their way through the mortar of bricks and pavers and often invading your kitchen. While there are more than 12,000 species in the ant family, the two most common pests across the Southern Hemisphere are the sugar ant (also known as…
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Easter is one of the last opportunities of the year to entertain friends and families before winter sets in. While the nights are closing in and the days become cooler, we are lucky enough to have a climate that encourages outdoor entertaining. Hosting a gathering at your home is a special moment – it’s how…
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Higher tariffs for household gas, plus publicity highlighting how methane emissions from gas cooktops risk your health and contribute to global warming, have many owners considering switching to induction cooking. Gas cooktops are being targeted by organisations such as the Global Cooksafe Coalition. Its goal is to stop gas cooking because of the methane issue.…
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For only the third time in the country’s history, a National State of Emergency was recently declared, to help in the response to Cyclone Gabrielle. The declaration applies to Northland, Auckland, Tairāwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Hawke’s Bay CDEM Group areas, and the Tararua District. “A National State of Emergency gives the National Controller…
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The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) raised the official cash rate (OCR) from 4.25% to 4.75% earlier this month, and implied that at least one more rate rise is coming. In a statement explaining the decision, the Monetary Policy Committee of the RBNZ gave two main reasons for the rate rise. Inflation is too…
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National property prices declined further in January, meaning prices have contracted more than 8% since peaking in March last year, according to CoreLogic. CoreLogic chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said that after 10 consecutive months of price falls, a case could be made that we’re close to the bottom. But it could also be argued…
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There’s been an increase in the number of new homes approved for construction, according to the latest data from Stats NZ. There were 49,538 new homes consented in the year ended December 2022, which was 1.1% higher than the year before. That number was also very high by historical standards, although below the peak of…
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