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.
UPDATED: May, 2020 Learning how to negotiate while buying and selling real estate is a tricky business. The process can be full of traps that you can’t be expected to know about as most people only enter the market every 5-7 years. If you only rode a bike, drove a car or swung a golf club every 7 years you…
Please note: I am not a qualified financial adviser and the opinions offered here are purely my own. It is critical that you seek professional advice from a solicitor before embarking on any property purchase. Read: Don’t buy a home without speaking to these 5 people first What a scary time it has become for first home buyers, especially if you…
We have a somewhat interesting situation going on right now, where Auckland has well and truly become a buyers market, while Wellington remains the total opposite. One of the clearest ways to see this play out is by looking at inventory levels… Imagine if, as of today, no more houses came on the market in Auckland. Not a single one….
An extreme shortage of properties caused the Wellington median sale price to jump 8.7% in September. Read on to find out how this came about. But first… Uber sees 100% increase in new driver applications! An underwhelming 181 properties changed hands in Wellington City in September (based on REINZ stats). To put this in perspective, nearly twice as many properties…
The team at movingpro.co.nz recently shared this infographic with me and I thought it made for interesting reading. Scroll down below the image to read my thoughts… Key points (based on their last 1000 moving requests): 23% of kiwis are moving to Wellington. 43% of moves are to another City 65% of movers leaving are fleeing from Auckland The first…
In a market where the majority of properties are marketed by Tender / Auction / Deadline Sale, it is critical that you become proficient in valuing property as quickly as possible, so you can: A: Avoid missing out on your dream property by pitching your offer too low, and… B: Avoid paying too much for a home you fall in…
How are some buyers able to make unconditional offers? Why does my bank insist I have a finance condition even when I have pre-approval? Why do I keep missing out to buyers who are unconditional? What does ‘unconditional’ even mean??? Our last podcast with local mortgage broker Jenny Cheevers was so popular we decided to do a follow-up chat. Listen…
This article was featured in the January 2020 edition of ‘Your Home & Garden’ magazine. Thinking of selling? These 5 steps will provide you with the best possible return on time and money invested when it comes time to sell your home: 1. Painting You should paint bathroom ceilings if they need it, paint kitchen cupboards if the colours are…
In case you missed it, TV 3 showed a story recently (10th Aug) about real estate salespeople being approached by property developers wanting to buy houses cheap (avoiding an Auction situation), and offering in return to renovate the property and sell it through the same agent, allowing them to achieve 2 commissions. One of the agents in question told the undercover…
I meet so many people who will do anything to avoid spending money when they buy a home, which is just crazy. Buying is not cheap, and while it sucks to miss out when you have spent money on lawyers, builders etc, you can’t let that put you off taking the right approach and doing your homework up front. It…
