Every year, the University of Otago publishes a Food Cost Survey which is available at http://nutrition.otago.ac.nz. Click on the consultancy section and then food costs. This survey calculates the weekly cost of purchasing a healthy diet for men, women, adolescents and children in major cities and looks at basic, moderate and liberal budgets. It’s no surprise that food costs for a teenage boy are around $107 per week compared to $85 for a grown man! A moderate budget for a couple and two children under the age of five living in Auckland is around $255 per week. For a couple with two teenagers the cost is around $359 per week. Use this guide to set a strict budget for your food, so you don’t eat your money!

2 Free Chapters from our Facebook for Business eBook! Click here for instant download

They are told by tradespeople “no, you don’t need a building consent to do this work”, only to find out later that they did. Or.. they were told to upgrade their building unnecessarily.

Then the trouble starts with Council.

This is not good enough. Wouldn’t you expect a professional designer or tradesperson to know the rules of the game (even if they don’t like them that much).

No one is pretending that building law is easy. There are some tricky bits. But that’s what we do at Building Networks.. We make the rules easy to understand. We translate bits of the law into easily understandable steps.

So my job is to tell property managers what I know and how to avoid these same pitfalls.

We run training targeted at your needs and I’ve even written a few books in that vein. The books you can read over a coffee or a glass of wine and all yours for just over $10.00

Please… sign up for our newsletter and get in the loop of some FREE info.

Or grab a copy of the Property Managers Guide to Building Law (written by me under my other pseu de nom). And no it’s not as boring as it sounds. I promise you will learn something and you will save $.

2 Free Chapters from our Facebook for Business eBook! Click here for instant download

While we may not have the ability to control all these external matters we do the ability to control how we respond to these challenges.

Rosie’s Boot Camp is designed to give you that kind of kick in the head thinking. To remind you about thinking and responding to these challenges as opportunities. We have planned 24 hours of stimulating physical and mental activities and a heap of fun:)

To find out more and see the programme here

2 Free Chapters from our Facebook for Business eBook! Click here for instant download

And being in small business myself I do appreciate how hard it is to find time in the day to train yourself.. But it is necessary and a priority if we are to keep on top of our game.

So to help in this regard I have created a wee training product “Tool Up” that you can read over a cup of coffee or a beer. It will make you think, it highlights areas you need to follow up and gives you an overview of some of the changes affecting the sector. The first one is free.

Have you downloaded your free copy of Tool-Up yet? If not click here Tool Up.

2 Free Chapters from our Facebook for Business eBook! Click here for instant download

1) Department of Building and Housing

The DBH website has a link to market rent statistics based on information from all bonds received within the last 6 months to provide an indication of the weekly rent charged in all areas throughout New Zealand. The information is updated every month and is available at:

http://dbh.govt.nz/market-rent

2) Rental Property Websites

Other properties listed on TradeMe and Realestate.co.nz can give a good indication of a likely market rent achievable. Properties listed can be filtered by suburb, number of bedrooms, and even ranked by price, so you can quickly determine where the market rent for your property may lie. Another great benefit of these sites is that the majority of properties also have photos which mean you can quickly look to see how another property stacks up in relation to yours. Have a look at:

trademe.co.nz/Houses-to-rent/index.htm
realestate.co.nz/rental

These sources can give you a good idea of a market rent figure which is likely to be achievable for a property. Make sure you are not under renting your property and you are getting the market rate that you deserve.

If you have a property management question you would like answered please feel free to get in touch!

2 Free Chapters from our Facebook for Business eBook! Click here for instant download

On superstars: Who is the largest Real Estate company in NZ?

Just like the Long Tail theory, just like the internet and its mass of niches. The largest Real Estate company in NZ, is not a company. Its the “other’ section. mmm.

Lots of change is heading our way with national sales volume far below what it was just a few years ago. We will see more salespeople and offices be forced to offering better service, better value and providing that service faster and more efficiently than before.

From the unconditional blog this week we learned that LJ Hooker has just bought Harveys. Alistair Helm had this to say:

“As the industry adjusts to the current level of sales which this year is heading for around 60,000 sales as compared to 70,000 last year, and compared to 100,000+ in each of the years spanning 2002 to 2006, the pressure on margins and overheads will and have already lead to closures of some offices and industry consolidation.”

2 Free Chapters from our Facebook for Business eBook! Click here for instant download

Since our inaugural property investor survey (Dec 2008) it’s fair to say as property investors we’ve been on a fairly bumpy ride due to global and local market conditions and this has resulted in some severe outcomes including legislation changes that stand to directly affect property investors from 2011.

In 2010 are we still ‘in love’ with property as an investment strategy? Do we believe we can continue to purchase more properties to build our portfolios in 2011 and beyond? When will the next boom time be? These questions and more will be answered by hundreds of people in December 2010 and the collective results published mid January 2011.

Your view counts and we want you to be part of our Survey. Enter the Survey (click here).

Then join in the Survey discussion on PropertyTalk.com – Survey Discussion

2 Free Chapters from our Facebook for Business eBook! Click here for instant download

Firstly the main mistake that people make is that they pay way too much for the property. Recession or not you have to make sure you understand the purpose of why you are buying the property. Understand and work out all your costs under that strategy so that you know what price you would offer to make this property work for you. Be prepared to walk away don’t get emotionally attached remember we are looking at a Property Investment Strategy. So once you have worked out all your costs and done background work like sales in the area, rental appraisal etc then you have an offer to put on paper.

Another part of the formula that people get wrong is Area knowledge know where you are investing and understand the community. I invest in South Auckland and South Auckland only I know in this area there is good and bad. People that come from outside of South Auckland and see Sth Auckland as a good Area for rental properties usually get it wrong. Sth Auckland is just like any other area it has the good and bad capital growth areas. Understand the area you want to invest in go and spend some time at the local shopping centre go visit the street talk with the local diary on the corner do whatever you can to understand the Area and community.

Many other fundamentals like structure etc are just as important but to my mind are less effective if you get the two above wrong.

This is not the be all and end all but just from a property investor of 30 years or more is where I had my biggest gains and biggest losses. Make sure you see Property Investment as a way of creating wealth over a period of time but not as a Quick rich scheme.

So to go back to my original question is the recession a good time to invest in property my answer to that anytime is a good time to invest in property as long as you get your fundamentals right. Currently the market is depressed and do you think if you were a Property Investor that you would be out there offering prices on households that for what ever reason are selling there property.

We in Sth Auckland see this currently the market is inundated with listings coming on board all the time prices dropping drastically and heaps of mortgagee sales.

Good investing for the future.

2 Free Chapters from our Facebook for Business eBook! Click here for instant download

Yourself…

Your Buyer…

The Bank…

Your valuer…

And…
Your Council’s Rates Assessor…

2 Free Chapters from our Facebook for Business eBook! Click here for instant download

I hope to see you there!

Marc Krisjanous
PropertyTalk.com

2 Free Chapters from our Facebook for Business eBook! Click here for instant download