Hey, my name is Andrew Duncan.
On my blog, you will find real estate tips, advice and market commentary, along with articles about climate change, plant-based food, personal finance and travel. I love working with nice people, solving problems and living in Wellington, NZ.
A few of my friends and clients have asked me whether it’s a good time to buy and/or sell considering what is going on in the world. Here are my thoughts based on what we know so far… Note: Last updated 24th March 2020. Lockdown announced! This will effectively push a giant ‘pause’ button on nearly all real estate transactions and all the advice below…
Here are 10 key property truths that I have learned throughout my career in real estate. These tips will help you make better decisions when buying and selling real estate. 1. Every property would sell tomorrow if price didn’t matter There is no such thing as an un-saleable property. Every single dwelling in NZ would sell tomorrow at some price. The house is never the…
Is having a house to sell holding you back from moving to your dream home? In this podcast episode, we sit down with mortgage adviser Jenny Cheevers to talk through the different options available when you are buying a home, but already have one you will need to sell. Our conversation includes: – Pros and cons of using bridging finance – Risks of offering ‘subject…
After more than a decade in real estate. I have seen the value that a really good salesperson can add to the process. I have seen houses sell for prices that blew me away – because the salesperson running the marketing campaign knew how to position the property. They knew how to attract the right buyers and how to create competition. At the same time,…
In this article, you will find straight-forward tips and advice on what to do if you have a home that is taking a long time to sell. If a house stays on the market a long time, does that mean there is something wrong with it? Not always. It is true that some properties are harder to sell. If there is unconsented building work that…
Every millennial real estate buyer wants to be in charge of their transaction from start to finish. We want to do as much research as possible before speaking to a real estate salesperson. 5 dos and 5 don’ts for marketing properties to first home buyers. Please don’t! 1. Don’t limit the number of photos on trademe to ‘make the phone ring’. If we can’t see a photo…
A new report has been released by the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor which questions all our assumptions around ‘safe’ meth contamination levels in residential houses. The report essentially says the old trigger level of 1.5 mcg per 100 sq cm was way too over-zealous and contamination levels would have to be many, many times higher to even have the possibility of causing negative effects….
In this article, I’m tackling an age-old real estate belief that a fast sale = a good sale. To work out whether that’s true, I’ve analysed the most impressive sales in Wellington City over the past 12 months, to see if I could answer the following questions… What goes into a great result? Are there similarities among the best property sales that we can learn…
This article explains why you need to think long and hard before you choose an agent and before you sign their listing agreement. What is a listing agreement or ‘agency agreement’? It is the contract you sign when you hire a real estate salesperson to market your home. Find out more on the REA website. The standard duration is 90 days and therein lies the problem….
Please note: Figures below are generated from REINZ stats and ‘Wellington City’ covers Tawa to Seatoun and everything in between… The big talking point this month… The median sale price for non-apartment properties (houses, townhouses and units) in Wellington increased to $744,373 in February 2018. That’s the highest median every recorded for that segment of the market. Just beating out November 2017’s high of $744k,…
