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Sage Dallimore
By Sage Dallimore, Operations Manager
I joined Dallimore Properties at the beginning of 2018. Since then, I have been learning the ropes of property investing through dad while completing my Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Political Science, International Relations, and Media Studies.
Through the duration of my training period, I quickly established that I had a passion for property. I believe this has been ingrained into me since a very young age, having Scott as my dad has made me realise that you can do anything you put your mind to, even when others say you can't.
Dallimore Properties was formed by my father Scott Dallimore in 2010, but actually started back in 2000, so it has been established for a while now.
We are based in Napier, however we source property all over the North Island and have been recently researching for commercial properties in Sydney. It is a pretty tough market to break, but it would diversify our risk within our portfolio.
As a rule, we rarely sell a property; we like to hold, we are long-term investors. We specialise in buying commercial property with the angle to refurbish and new cladding.
With the current market booming it has become unfeasible to develop new projects from the ground up.
Everything is at a real high, so we will just sit on our landbanks and develop when it cools off. Our goal is long-term, and we are in a position to wait.
We have many tenants both national and corporate, that is not to say we prefer either, we are quite happy to look at new start-ups and local tenants. All we are interested in are tenants that have stability; we do not like short-term tenancies.
Dallimore Properties prides itself on having excellent relationships with their tenants. If there is a problem we want to know about it. Relationships with tenants is very important for our long-term future, and to have a satisfied tenant is without question.
We have recently found that we are getting a lot more direct inquiry. Commercial owners are wanting to sell directly to us, and our leasing inquiry is at an all-time high, and we certainly welcome both.
We appreciate our estate agent relationships, and thoroughly enjoy using them. Dealing with a commercial agent is easy as long as they understand our position in the marketplace.
Having Scott as my dad has made me realise that you can do anything you put your mind to, even when others say you can't.
A lot of the time the agents are needed to put deals in motion, and the good agents are on the ground looking for new stock and dealing with tenant inquiry on a weekly basis. All we want from them is the property that suits our company, we are in contact with them on a daily basis, and they are certainly an essential part of the process.
Locally, our latest purchases have been 16 Ford Rd, which is roughly 1300 sqm. We have this on a short-term lease as we plan to develop a 600 sqm building with two large doors and well-appointed front offices to suit a commercial operator, plans are currently under way and should look to start mid-2019.
We also purchased 116 Vaultier (Willis Legal Building) this building is three stories and has much history. With 28 leased car parks it really suits our portfolio. We are looking to give the building a new look, plans are underway and should also start in mid-2019.
We seem to always have properties under contract, but 90 per cent of them fail our due diligence process for one reason or another. It is frustrating and can be very costly, but we do not compromise. If the property doesn't stack up, we cut it. It is a discipline that is hard to do sometimes, but like dad always says "there's always another property, think long-term."
We self-manage all our buildings in-house and do regular visits with all our tenants; this also gives us a chance to talk with everyone and inspect each property thoroughly for any problems that may have, or could have arisen.
We welcome all direct inquiries to those that are looking to sell commercial property, or those looking for a property to lease; office or commercial space, you will find Dallimore Properties a pleasure to deal with.
Our goal is to have a commercial portfolio of $100 million by 2030, to achieve this there is a lot of hard work to do and a lot of due diligence to go through, but we are on track and looking forward to the challenge.