With the weather getting warmer, those looking to take their home to market need to keep an eye on the garden.
If you have ever been to an open home and been turned off by an untidy garden then you know what I am talking about.
Going once over lightly with the mower will rarely deliver that wow factor buyers hope to experience when led from your house to the garden by an estate agent.
So it's time to do away with weeds -- wherever they appear -- trim those borders, add a splash of colour with some new plants, deal to overgrown fruit trees, raggedy hedges, tired looking fences and junk hidden behind the shed.
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While your spruced up garden may not win any awards, it should look tidy, easy-care, and not make your buyers worry that 10 minutes after moving in they'll have to turn their attention to getting the garden straight -- do it for them and remove a barrier to buying.
Having your garden looking pristine may not increase your sale value per se, but it may encourage people to buy your home who might otherwise walk away.
Interest rates
Westpac economists say economic incentives will lure people away from our shores to Australia next year, which could take some of the steam out of our real estate market.
Its weekly report says the pace of rebuild activity in Canterbury will slow toward the end of next year, and predicts downturns in employment and house prices.
It also predicts a cut in the OCR on December 10 by the Reserve Bank, the first of three steps taking the OCR down to 2 per cent next year.
On the move
Bayleys is to move from its central Auckland headquarters in Viaduct Harbour Ave to new purpose-built premises 200m away on the corner of Gaunt and Halsey Sts. The move is scheduled for June next year.
The company's 233 staff will occupy three levels of a six-storey building being developed by Goodman Group.
Bayleys has also negotiated signage and naming rights for the building.
The ground floor of the new offices will house Bayleys' auction rooms, a meeting space and the company's licensed cafe.
The firm's managing director, Mike Bayley, says it was time for either a complete refurbishment of its existing premises, or a relocation into a bigger and newer building.