Housing Around
This is my blog about property investment and house renovations. I have now completed the renovation/redecoration of three properties. Maybe my thoughts and experiences may help someone out there doing something similar - or considering doing it. The start of my blog has been written in retrospect because when I was doing the work this website didn't exist. I've rattled through my first 2 houses pretty quickly then go through my latest one in more of a step by step fashion. Hopefully you find my ramblings useful in some way!

Feel free to ask me some questions - comment on a post or send me a message.

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The significant easing of monetary policy in the UK over the past few months has created an interesting situation. Free mortgages. The official cash rate is now 0.5%. In the bid to...

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There has been quite a bit of coverage lately about the falling prices of apartments in Auckland. Some recent sales have seen owners loose close to $100k.As this NZ Herald article points...

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I've been watching over the past 8 months or so the progression of a couple of buildings along Franklin Rd. On one side there is an old villa/bungalow being completely renovated. Almost...

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The recent collapse of Bridgecorp will only increase the country's preference for property as an investment. Property is bricks and mortar and has four square walls (most do). If you...

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I came across an article yesterday citing a piece of research conducted by Neilson that found half of those people selling their home had plans to do so privately. Since I have now...

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Here's a feel good story from my home province, Southland. Two local real estate agents, Tom Dowling and Sean Bellew of Southern Wide Real Estate City-Lifestyle, recently bought an...

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The recent submission by the Reserve Bank to the Parliamentary inquiry on housing affordability that a capital gains tax should be introduced on investment property to cool the housing ...

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Readers of today's Herald will of seen Michael Hill's plans for 17 semi-underground houses around his Arrowtown golf course. These look awesome and I only wish I had enough money ...

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A house at the end of Garden Rd in Remuera has sold for $12.1 million - a massive capital gain of $7 million for the home's surgeon owner. That's a net wealth gain of over $1million ...

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So during the week Allan Bollard rose the Official Cash Rate (OCR) again and it now sits at 8%. That is the third rise this year, resulting in fixed mortgage rates hitting over 10% ...

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I've stumbled across a really good property show on The Living Channel - Sky Digital channel 8. It is called Flip This House and follows a couple of real estate investors/agents as ...

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Our flat received the following letter today from the landlord.Dear TenantWe have reviewed your rent and consider that your rent should increase from $372 per week to $400 per week. ...

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There is no doubt the environment is deteriorating and we all must take action to help save it. So I was pleased to hear Helen Clark announce new building code requirements last night ...

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This week's announcement that the Government is seriously considering a Shared Equity housing scheme reinforces the concern of home affordability in New Zealand. Their efforts in trying ...

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There has been quite a heated debate around the country this past week about first home buyers and their reduced ability to buy their first home. This seems to have been instigated ...

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Will absolute waterfront properties become absolutely worthless over the next 20-30 years? Once home to the classic kiwi bach (or crib if you're from down south like I am) significant ...

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In 20 years time Auckland is expected to have an extra 560,000 residents. That is a city the size of Wellington that needs to be housed by 2027. Going by these estimates it would be ...

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This was in Friday's Herald. You've gotta admire the guy for his persistence in an ultimately futile battle against the property developer. Can't imagine this happening anywhere ...

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I watched a piece on Campbell Live tonight about how Generation Y - which I guess is myself - are investing in shares over property. The main reason being they have been priced out ...

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So three houses down.....what have I learnt so far? These are my top ten. 1. Make the leap and just do it. Do your research but don't mess around. You could wait for years for prices ...

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I had an absolutely trouble free 6 months with my new tenant. While I was getting $300 per week rent it was still quite tight to maintain my lifestyle and meet the monthly mortgage ...

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With a fairly hefty mortgage payment due each month I was pretty keen to get the house rented out as quickly as possible. It was amazing how quickly I found a tenant and they moved ...

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Well it's been a while since I posted anything - lucky it didn't take me this long to do the project. So without the risk of boring you any further I think all that is left to cover ...

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You always hear that bathrooms and kitchens are really expensive to renovate. Having done my kitchen for much less than expected I thought I could do the same with my bathroom.....wishful ...

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Being a state house my place was built from solid native timber - appeared to be either kauri or matai....so it was only natural to rip up the old carpet and vinyl throughout the house ...

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So the wall was gone and old kitchen ripped out...a new kitchen was needed! I pretty much had the design and colour scheme worked out in my head but needed to decide who to do it for ...

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The house was a traditional ex state - a stand alone living room accessed off the main hallway. To get to the kitchen from the living room you had to go out into the hall then through ...

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The inside was in a pretty tidy state but very dated with lots of brown, beige and floral! First up job, apart from taking down all the horrid net curtains, was to paint the ceilings ...

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Basically 2 years went by, I did some travel then moved to Auckland to take on a new job late 2005. I was still keeping a close eye on the property market as it continued to defy everyone's ...

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So within 14 months I had 2 houses and was wondering what to do next. While on my holiday I did a lot of thinking and started to get a little nervous about the Invercargill property ...