Kiwis too lazy for lifestyle place: Northlander

The rural property near Whangarei, on the market for many months.

Kiwis have become too lazy to take on a small lifestyle property says a Northland woman, frustrated at the lack of buyers for a Maungatapere place near Whangarei.

Bonny Faulkner Alexander says that for nearly a year, the 2.5-hectare property owned by her husband Grant Alexander's trust has been advertised for sale but: "Kiwis are too lazy to take this on. People don't want to work. People think this is too much work.

"We've had just about every type of person looking at it. We would sell it for $700,000, we're getting that desperate. It's been that long."

Bonny Faulkner Alexander says Kiwis are too lazy to buy the lifestyle property near Whangarei.

But Kelly Sackfield of Ray White, who specialises in selling lifestyle properties in the area, says Kiwis are not too lazy, places are selling and the only reason that place has been for sale for so long is the price.

"They want too much for it. Properties in this area are definitely selling if they're in the right price range.

"Kiwis are not too lazy at all. That property is over-priced. This area has good real estate, always desirable, in a good area and close to town," Sackfield said, referring to Whangarei.

Faulkner Alexander said she is a real estate agent and so is her husband and the place was initially listed with an agency but is now on Trade Me.

Faulkner Alexander said although lots of people showed an interest, no one had offered to buy and she puts that down to lack of work ethic, saying New Zealanders have become too soft to put in the work to make a go of the place.

The property with horticulture growing tunnels and sheds would not necessarily take a lot of work because gardens were planted for easy care. The lawns would only take about two and a half hours to mow every fortnight and the tunnels could be removed, she said.

"Basically, people are too scared or afraid to take a leap into managing their own success," said Faulkner Alexander.

The Real Estate Institute reported a dip in demand for Auckland/Northland lifestyle properties in January, citing "reduced volumes with buyer uncertainty making it harder to get transactions across the line; often good initial response to new listings then interest tapers off."

The national median price for lifestyle properties was $583,000 and all regions except the West Coast had experienced significant reductions in sales volumes in January.

Faulkner Alexander has taken to blogging on Trade Me in an attempt to draw buyers.

"Aucklanders are the more likely buyers because the locals don't have enough money. We have young people waiting for us to drop the price to $660,000. But why should we take less than what it's worth? We know the market. Why would we drop it?" she asked.