Comments on: House Buying 101

By: Nat

Nat — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:33:02 +0000

I agree! A lot of people in every industry take pride in their job and rightly so. I have already met some good agents and am so far, thoroughly enjoying the house hunting process, if not finding it a little overwhelming!

By: Col

Col — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:39:20 +0000

There is no better example of the 80/20 rule than Real Estate agents. You mentioned above Nat that one of the keys to success is to surround yourself by good people. This includes a good agent albeit they are hard to find.

Perhaps the best way to find a good agent is not to take the standard Kiwi approach of pretending to be an expert in Real Estate and assuming all agents are the devil. A good, hard working, honest agent will be in demand and therefore simply will not devote the time or effort to deal with plonkers – which seem to be the majority of people who make posts on real estate threads such as Trademe etc.
You should remember the old adage that 95% of kiwi’s know everything there is to know about everything and 5% tell the truth. The latter group are the ones who employ lawyers, accountants etc and own 95% of the countries independent wealth. Clearly 95% of kiwis think they are experts in Real Estate and therefore embarrass themselves at every step and by default attract dubious sales people.

Clearly there are many poor agents out there but recognize not all are rogues, cheats etc – just like lawyers, accountants and many other industries. LOL – what about the web designer selling tickets to the Olympic Games…

The biggest thing to remember is that buying a property can and should be a really cool and fun experience – kick back and enjoy the ride.

By: Nat

Nat — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:08:53 +0000

Ha ha if they tell me to get a goat, I’d use that as an excuse! Goats are COOL!

However, yep, they do say a lot of things that don’t really make sense!

By: lance

lance — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:24:25 +0000

And never believe anything a real estate agent tells you. Real Estate agents are there to make a sale – they don’t care about the price you pay, they just want a sale.

My favorite was a Nelson agent who kept saying “get a goat” to deal with out of control vegetation on steep inaccessible properties.