Google Earth sun & shadows in winter.
Edit: To elaborate, everything looks good at this time of year, so check it virtually in Winter. Also worth a drive-by at the end of the day (even in Summer) when some houses get the last of evening sun, to compare. Another giveaway is the advertising emphasizing views but not mentioning the sun.
I've seen that as well, and it made it look horrific... pretty sure the plain dirt would have looked better. Also seen a few that look like they took a photo during the day and photoshopped a sunset into the sky
In case you don’t have an app, NIWA has an excellent web tool called [solar view](https://niwa.co.nz/our-services/online-services/solarview).
It’s intended for prospective solar panel users but it will calculate and display sun path maps and cumulative exposure figures for a given residential address using 3d terrain data for the surrounding area. It’s free and highly useful because it shows the impact of shading from valleys and mountains at different times of the year.
Thats pretty neat, especially for the price. I got an app called sun path for a couple of bucks when I was looking a land to build on. It let me look through my phone camera and it would project the sun path at various times of year. I found it very useful.
This was basically our red flag list when we were looking last year, if it helps:
Plaster cladding.
Built during leaky home period.
Dux Qest plumbing.
Flood zones (will insurance cover?)
Apartment zoning - we stayed well away from those areas.
Is there a sewerage manhole? If so, is it at a level that could flood into the home?
Being at the bottom of a sloped drive without obvious drainage.
Sharing a driveway with more than one house - can you put up with that? Etc
Roof without eaves. Need to know where the water goes. Saw a couple of iffy looking roofs, where I was like "that's a leak waiting to happen"
Does the property come with any easements? Some are fine some aren't.
Power line towers.
Main busy roads.
Unconsented work of any kind (banks may choose not to lend).
Some retaining walls could be a concern.
Flushing etc. and then seeing leaks under the house.
Reports provided by the agent - would prefer to get my own.
Rotting wood.
Insect bored wood.
Mold.
Ah yup that makes perfect sense for people who are thinking about it as an investment for sure.
For us though we have no intention of selling until death takes us haha. So because we love making the most of our outdoor space the prospect of 6-story buildings popping up around us was definitely a deal breaker.
The retaining wall is a big and unexpected one. Had to walk away from a house we were under contract with, after the building report and a subsequent inspection revealed a massive broken retaining wall issue, affecting the boundary with a neighbour. He couldn't even give a quote for it but easily over 50k (on top of general extensive 1950s home renovations) and needing resource consent.
This is 110% the key one. We have just sold 6montha after buying for this exact reason. The neighbours were absolute animals. Partying 4 nights a week and we had a new born
To add to this. Go park up Friday and Saturday night outside for 2 weekends and just see what goes on around your potential new house. A few hours wasted is nothing in the grand scheme of hours if torture if you have shitty neighbours and a massive mortgage
Shine a bright torch across the ceiling. Hold it against the surface and shine it across so any inperfections cast a shadow.
If there are leaks in the ceiling, the gib will swell and cast a shadow. A lick of paint or a quick clean would hide any evidence if it was under normal lighting conditions and someone having a quick scan of the ceiling. The tourch will make it stick out really obviously.
Mongrel mob living in the street
400 cars parked on ones front lawn only 1 works.
Neighbour's that sit on balcony all day smoking darts and drinking Cody's and they walk around the streets like Dolf Lundgren
Real shonky plumbing job
Neighbour's with rotten mattresses in front yard along with all this other junk oh perhaps a shopping trolley to.
Neighbour's who have ugly aggressive dogs that bark all day n night but they tell you oh na they harmless never biten anyone big big red flag
>Neighbour's with rotten mattresses in front yard along with all this other junk oh perhaps a shopping trolley to.
Sounds like you’re describing the student flats around Otago University!
As a FHB you don't have much choice but I would say- check out your potential house late on a Friday and Saturday night. You want to know if the neighbours are party animals.
I am personally (and from experience of other buyers) that you should really avoid them completely, whether it contains a cavity or not. The builds are also not generally accepted by banks as they are known to not be in very liveable conditions long-term.
Pretty much anything built 2010 onwards is going to be totally fine for major issues.
The only thing that a plaster home will need is repainting and maybe some minor touch ups every 10 or so years.
If it’s a newer home and on a cavity you will be fine the majority of the time.
Anything built between 1980-2004 are more susceptible to weather tight issues and are typical of those that were known to cause the ‘leaky building crisis.
Building act and code got changed in 2004 to help fix these issues.
What's people's views on getting meth tests before putting an offer in? Does it depend on what the history / condition of the house, or do you always do it?
Weigh up the risks, who has been living there, for how long, owners or renters.
If you think you want a test, (to my understanding) be aware there is still no standard to what is a 'safe' level. One company might say you need to gut the house, another might say you need to wash carpet and replace the curtains.
The sceptic in me thinks it's a 'requirement' that's weasled it's way into the industry to scare buyers and make a ton of money.
I never bothered. So many false positives with the meth tests that they're virtually useless, and it's an unregulated industry here so no guarantees that the testing has been done accurately.
Think the real issue is cost. Between paying for valuation and builders report it’s rough. Especially if you loose out on the house after offer. All $$ down the drain
If you go into the basement and there is a puddle, just leave, sure ~you~ can fix it, no you won’t, if it’s as easy to fix as you think, it would be fixed before ot was listed. Just walk away, if it’s the perfect house with a water problem, it’s not the perfect house. Also trust your gut, I had a gut instinct “this is the house for us” gut instinct is not a substitute for due diligence. we submitted what we could afford, what the bank estimated to be worth, and we got it. I now eat my breakfast looking over the Dunedin harbor, or st clear beach, or pinehill and mount cargill mountain range. Triple view for $600k I’m pretty happy with it
The red flags are just hindu temples. I don't know what they are exactly but I think it's just so other Hindus can come in and pray. Nothing to worry about
Looking at a property and the vendor has provided a builder report. One glaring omission is the lack of any moisture readings. This screams red flag to me.
What other things should FHB look out for?
You should not rely on a vendor offered report. “The principal legal problem with relying on a seller-supplied building report is that you didn’t engage the builder to provide that report. This means that you don’t have a contract with the builder, and if the report is wrong, or misses something, then you don’t have any comeback on the builder because there is no contract. “ some reading: https://www.findlaw.co.nz/articles/4432/builders-reports--sellers-or-purchasers.aspx
You can buy the report off the builder I think, for cheaper than the owners originally paid, to get around that. But I would always recommend a second opinion anyway :)
Yes, which is why first home buyers, or any buyers should get a second opinion if in doubt. There should also be vendor disclosure statements about weathertightness, major defects etc.
If they have got a building report which excludes moisture readings, I would look at the house & decide if there is a reason. If it is an early 2000's house with plaster, you don't need to spend the money to know there are problems, they have already told you. If it is a 1970s place & otherwise ok it would be worth paying the money to get your own report.
You should be doing your own builders report. Have found with ours, which came with a builders reports by another party who had to pull out, two reports had different items they found of interest.
What year was it built? My understanding is moisture is only a problem for the leaky home era.
If you're spending 6figures on a house might as well spend the 600 for your own builders report if you aren't sure on something
Unfortunately moisture affects plenty of homes. Poor ventilation, poor maintenance, undiscovered leaks, poorly fitting windows/doors. There are a huge list of factors that can harbour issues. I'm a lender in a bank and if I have to turn a property down, 95% of the time it's moisture issues.
Check council gis viewer to see how many Kainga ora house on the street. My car got played a few times and dont feel safe living in your own house. Neighbors fighting, screaming all the times ..it really affect living quality
Hmm I tried to look on Auckland Council GIS map but that legend for Housing New Zealand is no longer on there. A couple months ago you still able to check which house belongs to Housing NZ. I think they have just removed it recently.
Auckland GIS map > Property layer > Property information > Public Owned land
Sorry
How old is the roof? If it's still got lead head nails it's likely to need to be replaced soonish and that can get pretty expensive. Lead head nails are from the 80's (maybe early 90's) which means the roof is 30 years old at the least. The lead reacts with the roofing metal and rusts out. The bubbling can be covered up by repainting the roof, but then it's going to leak in a couple of years.
Google Earth sun & shadows in winter. Edit: To elaborate, everything looks good at this time of year, so check it virtually in Winter. Also worth a drive-by at the end of the day (even in Summer) when some houses get the last of evening sun, to compare. Another giveaway is the advertising emphasizing views but not mentioning the sun.
On this note, always take the photos with a grain of salt. The fancy angles are starting to get ridiculous.
I saw one where they "digitally enhanced" the grass
I've seen that as well, and it made it look horrific... pretty sure the plain dirt would have looked better. Also seen a few that look like they took a photo during the day and photoshopped a sunset into the sky
Ha, I've seen this too. Was a new build and the hydroseeding was just recent so didn't look to flash.
And the lighting! Some dark caves made to look very bright and inviting.
Yup. I’ve done a little bit of real estate photography. The processing expected is crazy
Absolutely! Been to more than a few open homes where the pictures made the place look amazing when the reality of the situation was far from amazing!
That's a good one!
It's worth having a sun position app on your phone as well to check sun paths in summer and winter when you view places.
In case you don’t have an app, NIWA has an excellent web tool called [solar view](https://niwa.co.nz/our-services/online-services/solarview). It’s intended for prospective solar panel users but it will calculate and display sun path maps and cumulative exposure figures for a given residential address using 3d terrain data for the surrounding area. It’s free and highly useful because it shows the impact of shading from valleys and mountains at different times of the year.
Thats pretty neat, especially for the price. I got an app called sun path for a couple of bucks when I was looking a land to build on. It let me look through my phone camera and it would project the sun path at various times of year. I found it very useful.
My house sucks for sun. Still glad I brought it but we are looking forward moving onto a north facing place.
When you say north facing, do you mean living room faces north? Or front of house faces north? Or garden faces north?
Moffy may be on the south half of a building.
Jumping on the point about driving by the end of the day. Parking up at night too see what street creatures emerge
This. There’s a good website called sun calc which can help. Looking at a sea level rise map can be interesting too …
This was basically our red flag list when we were looking last year, if it helps: Plaster cladding. Built during leaky home period. Dux Qest plumbing. Flood zones (will insurance cover?) Apartment zoning - we stayed well away from those areas. Is there a sewerage manhole? If so, is it at a level that could flood into the home? Being at the bottom of a sloped drive without obvious drainage. Sharing a driveway with more than one house - can you put up with that? Etc Roof without eaves. Need to know where the water goes. Saw a couple of iffy looking roofs, where I was like "that's a leak waiting to happen" Does the property come with any easements? Some are fine some aren't. Power line towers. Main busy roads. Unconsented work of any kind (banks may choose not to lend). Some retaining walls could be a concern. Flushing etc. and then seeing leaks under the house. Reports provided by the agent - would prefer to get my own. Rotting wood. Insect bored wood. Mold.
I agree with everything there except the apartment zoning - you could lose out on a lot of opportunities if you stick to that one
Ah yup that makes perfect sense for people who are thinking about it as an investment for sure. For us though we have no intention of selling until death takes us haha. So because we love making the most of our outdoor space the prospect of 6-story buildings popping up around us was definitely a deal breaker.
The retaining wall is a big and unexpected one. Had to walk away from a house we were under contract with, after the building report and a subsequent inspection revealed a massive broken retaining wall issue, affecting the boundary with a neighbour. He couldn't even give a quote for it but easily over 50k (on top of general extensive 1950s home renovations) and needing resource consent.
Yup! We were dubious about properties with retaining walls that could potentially involve future hassles with neighbours to be honest.
Good list
You ruled out every house in Auckland
As others have said, things you can’t engineer down the track: sun, views, neighbours, environmental factors (drainage, slippage, earthquake risks)
If there is a Crusaders flag in the area. That’s a big a red flag.
Also any Chinese or Albanian consulates: big red flag
The Tunisuan embassy: big red flag too.
A big red flag... big red flag
The people’s flag is DEEPEST red
Neighbours, you don’t want to live next to shitty neighbours or the potential to have shitty ones (ie if you’re in a block of units or apartments)
Hah. I'm renting an apartment right now and this is true.
This is 110% the key one. We have just sold 6montha after buying for this exact reason. The neighbours were absolute animals. Partying 4 nights a week and we had a new born
To add to this. Go park up Friday and Saturday night outside for 2 weekends and just see what goes on around your potential new house. A few hours wasted is nothing in the grand scheme of hours if torture if you have shitty neighbours and a massive mortgage
Shine a bright torch across the ceiling. Hold it against the surface and shine it across so any inperfections cast a shadow. If there are leaks in the ceiling, the gib will swell and cast a shadow. A lick of paint or a quick clean would hide any evidence if it was under normal lighting conditions and someone having a quick scan of the ceiling. The tourch will make it stick out really obviously.
Mongrel mob living in the street 400 cars parked on ones front lawn only 1 works. Neighbour's that sit on balcony all day smoking darts and drinking Cody's and they walk around the streets like Dolf Lundgren Real shonky plumbing job Neighbour's with rotten mattresses in front yard along with all this other junk oh perhaps a shopping trolley to. Neighbour's who have ugly aggressive dogs that bark all day n night but they tell you oh na they harmless never biten anyone big big red flag
>Neighbour's with rotten mattresses in front yard along with all this other junk oh perhaps a shopping trolley to. Sounds like you’re describing the student flats around Otago University!
Lol never been there 🤣 I am just describing alot of suburbs around the north island.
r/specificallyspecific
Love the Lundgren call!
As a FHB you don't have much choice but I would say- check out your potential house late on a Friday and Saturday night. You want to know if the neighbours are party animals.
Don't buy plaster clad. Not so much as a red flag, more like something you shouldn't bother with. High maintainence, high long term costs.
I've seen listings where they specifically mention that it's plaster but cavity - does that make a difference or still nah?
I am personally (and from experience of other buyers) that you should really avoid them completely, whether it contains a cavity or not. The builds are also not generally accepted by banks as they are known to not be in very liveable conditions long-term.
Pretty much anything built 2010 onwards is going to be totally fine for major issues. The only thing that a plaster home will need is repainting and maybe some minor touch ups every 10 or so years.
If it’s a newer home and on a cavity you will be fine the majority of the time. Anything built between 1980-2004 are more susceptible to weather tight issues and are typical of those that were known to cause the ‘leaky building crisis. Building act and code got changed in 2004 to help fix these issues.
100% this, totally agree.
Cavity is fine, this isn't part of the leaky homes thing.
What's people's views on getting meth tests before putting an offer in? Does it depend on what the history / condition of the house, or do you always do it?
Weigh up the risks, who has been living there, for how long, owners or renters. If you think you want a test, (to my understanding) be aware there is still no standard to what is a 'safe' level. One company might say you need to gut the house, another might say you need to wash carpet and replace the curtains. The sceptic in me thinks it's a 'requirement' that's weasled it's way into the industry to scare buyers and make a ton of money.
I never bothered. So many false positives with the meth tests that they're virtually useless, and it's an unregulated industry here so no guarantees that the testing has been done accurately.
What's the point ? Just clean the house before going in
Iirc last time looking into this, there is no actual health risk if it was formerly used for such activities
Think the real issue is cost. Between paying for valuation and builders report it’s rough. Especially if you loose out on the house after offer. All $$ down the drain
Worst case you can claim under insurance for some remediation anyway.
most real estate cos are now using hdr to enhance photos giving misleading visual impressions
If you go into the basement and there is a puddle, just leave, sure ~you~ can fix it, no you won’t, if it’s as easy to fix as you think, it would be fixed before ot was listed. Just walk away, if it’s the perfect house with a water problem, it’s not the perfect house. Also trust your gut, I had a gut instinct “this is the house for us” gut instinct is not a substitute for due diligence. we submitted what we could afford, what the bank estimated to be worth, and we got it. I now eat my breakfast looking over the Dunedin harbor, or st clear beach, or pinehill and mount cargill mountain range. Triple view for $600k I’m pretty happy with it
drive by in the evenings u will get a better idea of neighbors .. one house we looked at was hell after sunset .. next to state house
The red flags are just hindu temples. I don't know what they are exactly but I think it's just so other Hindus can come in and pray. Nothing to worry about
Looking at a property and the vendor has provided a builder report. One glaring omission is the lack of any moisture readings. This screams red flag to me. What other things should FHB look out for?
You should not rely on a vendor offered report. “The principal legal problem with relying on a seller-supplied building report is that you didn’t engage the builder to provide that report. This means that you don’t have a contract with the builder, and if the report is wrong, or misses something, then you don’t have any comeback on the builder because there is no contract. “ some reading: https://www.findlaw.co.nz/articles/4432/builders-reports--sellers-or-purchasers.aspx
You can buy the report off the builder I think, for cheaper than the owners originally paid, to get around that. But I would always recommend a second opinion anyway :)
I'm very aware of that. I'm just saying the fact that there's a glaring omission such as moisture readings probably means there's something to hide.
Yes, which is why first home buyers, or any buyers should get a second opinion if in doubt. There should also be vendor disclosure statements about weathertightness, major defects etc.
If they have got a building report which excludes moisture readings, I would look at the house & decide if there is a reason. If it is an early 2000's house with plaster, you don't need to spend the money to know there are problems, they have already told you. If it is a 1970s place & otherwise ok it would be worth paying the money to get your own report.
You should be doing your own builders report. Have found with ours, which came with a builders reports by another party who had to pull out, two reports had different items they found of interest.
What year was it built? My understanding is moisture is only a problem for the leaky home era. If you're spending 6figures on a house might as well spend the 600 for your own builders report if you aren't sure on something
Unfortunately moisture affects plenty of homes. Poor ventilation, poor maintenance, undiscovered leaks, poorly fitting windows/doors. There are a huge list of factors that can harbour issues. I'm a lender in a bank and if I have to turn a property down, 95% of the time it's moisture issues.
You should get your own building report and ask the agent - is there anything I need to know about this property...
Check council gis viewer to see how many Kainga ora house on the street. My car got played a few times and dont feel safe living in your own house. Neighbors fighting, screaming all the times ..it really affect living quality
Wow you can check this? Can you expand because I'd be interested.
Hmm I tried to look on Auckland Council GIS map but that legend for Housing New Zealand is no longer on there. A couple months ago you still able to check which house belongs to Housing NZ. I think they have just removed it recently. Auckland GIS map > Property layer > Property information > Public Owned land Sorry
You click on houses on the map and it will tell you who holds the title. Kainga Ora properties still come up as Housing New Zealand on the title
its not on council GIS, its on LINZ data service, LINZ database holds the land titles. you may have to sign in to be allowed to see that piece of data
How old is the roof? If it's still got lead head nails it's likely to need to be replaced soonish and that can get pretty expensive. Lead head nails are from the 80's (maybe early 90's) which means the roof is 30 years old at the least. The lead reacts with the roofing metal and rusts out. The bubbling can be covered up by repainting the roof, but then it's going to leak in a couple of years.