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Life Cycle Feature The value of pre-purchase inspections If life cycle costs included in the decision to buy a house, home buyers would better safeguard their investment. One method is to have a house professionally inspected before purchasing. Since home buyers in this country operate in a 'buyer beware' environment, the long-term results are sometimes disastrous for buyers who do not have a house professionally inspected before purchasing. Potential pitfalls Negotiating tool In terms of purchasing a house, the cost of an inspection is minimal when compared to the potential expenses for buying a 'lemon'. But it is sad fact of life in house purchases in New Zealand that the percentage of people having pre-purchase inspections carried out professionally on houses is minimal compared with other, less valuable purchases. An analogy to having a property inspected prior to purchase is taking a motor vehicle for a pre-purchase check-up. While many people will do this for a car, most do not for a house, yet a car may have 5-10% of the value of a house. A further problem is that some vendors and real estate agents
will deliberately discourage buyers from a pre-purchase inspection,
for fear of losing a sale. Until such time as lending institutions
and selling agents actively encourage buyers to have properties
professionally inspected, buying a house will remain a 'buyer
beware' situation with all the associated costly pitfalls
and dangers. |
Buying a house, for most of us, whether the house is brand new or old, is usually one of our biggest investments. And yet most have very little or no experience in what to look for beyond the cosmetic facade and the overall appearance. About a year ago I was contacted by a couple wanting to purchase a house in Masterton through the real estate industry. They wanted to know if I would be interested in using my experience to provide them with a report on the soundness of their proposed purchase, which of course I was happy to do so. What the report did for them was give them the knowledge in writing of the condition of their proposed purchase. This information put them in a very powerful negotiating position with the person they wanted to purchase the house from. As an example, by having an insight into any damage or rot or repairs that need immediate attention, they could use this information to lower the purchase price of the house.
They went ahead with the purchase and from memory, all I charged them was about $250 + gst. That was a small investment when they were able to save thousands of dollars on the purchase price of their new home, purely based on the report I prepared for them. By the way, if you or someone you know could benefit from this type of powerful information, just phone the office for a chat. I'm sure the investment will be either saving a lot of heartache or a whole lot of money.
Domestic LPG has been a feature that is being used more and more with our clients, and once again I spied a very good article on this subject in some trade literature. What makes LPG different to Natural Gas? For the end user, not a lot really. LPG is supplied in bottles, delivered (usually free) to your door in large 45kg bottles while Natural Gas is supplied from a street main. However there is a monthly hire charge for bottle rental. Looking at the article I see that in Auckland the monthly rate is $8 - $12 while down here in the Wairarapa it's only $5 a month.
Domestic LPG can save customers 10-20%"An unprecedented response" is how Rockgas Auckland Area Sales Manager, Martin Swainson, describes the public's reaction to LPG at the massive Auckland Home Show. Held in September, the Auckland Home Show is the largest showcase of its type in the country. And according to Martin, Rockgas did exceptionally well out of it, even in the supposedly warmer northern climes. "We exhibited alongside three of our preferred business partners, gas appliance manufacturers, Living Flame, The Fireplace and Real Fires. We demonstrated our 4.5kg twin pack bottled LPG system and were delighted with the public reaction." Martin says there are a lot of homes in Auckland that aren't reticulated with natural gas, and for whom that option may be prohibitively expensive. "LPG is the best option for those people and, judging from the interest at the Home Show, many of them certainly recognise the advantages we offer in terms of savings, controllability and protability compared to electricity." Rockgas' twin pack comprises two linked 45kg LPG cylinders. LPG flow is controlled by a regulator that senses LPG levels in the primary tank and automatically switches to the reserve, or second, cylinder when appropriate. A red flag is raised to indicate when the reserve cylinder is in use. A manual option is also commonly used. Rockgas' twin pack system is designed to fit as unobtrusively as possible to a house's exterior wall. While there is a small monthly rental for the cylinders (between $8-$12/month). Martin says a Rockgas twin pack could provide power savings of between 10 and 20 percent compared to electricity. "The reaction from most people is that they didn't realise LPG could provide all the benefits. Once they realise they could have the benefits of gas hot waters, space heating and cooking, without the huge reticulation cost, and save on their power bills too, they were impressed. Issue 2 Feb 99 |
Domestic LPG has come about to fill a need in the absence of Natural Gas being available at a street connection or to service rural properties. Obviously there is no way that gas companies could possibly service many areas by mains connection, it will just never happen, but it doesn't matter anyway. Except for the two gas bottles, which can be placed anywhere out of sight, you won't know the difference.
My wife and I installed LPG just for hob cooking only. And how about this, we have a 4 ring gas hob plus a single ring unit especially for the wok, so that's 5 rings we have available for use. We use the gas almost every day but because we are only using the gas for the hob we decided we only needed 9kg bottles (that's BBQ size) and fill them ourselves when one runs out, one bottle lasts for 6 months, this equals all cooking (except for the oven) costs us a massive $25.00 a year. I kid you not, it is so cost-effective.
But most of our clients (that's the ones that have installed LPG) have installed the larger (delivered free) 45kg bottles and added more appliances, such as, a free standing look-a-like log fire, like the Contessa we have in the new showhome. Most people who have seen it going are convinced that it's a genuine solid fuel wood burner, that's before they have a much closer look. But it's not just the look that's so impressive, it also puts out a lot of heat. The other thing we install a lot of is on-demand gas water heating, This system does away with the hot-water-cylinder and only heats the water you use when you want to use it.
Gas is becoming so versatile these days, if you read the top article on the photocopy I attached you'll see an Aussie invention called a Gasaloo. Speaking to the gas company representative, the Gasaloo is reasonably attractive, is totally odourless, is unbelievably effective and efficient and easily fitted by a registered gas fitting tradesmen. Cost per unit, about $3,500.00. This will have a downward on the cost of septic tank sewerage system but it won't eliminate them.
1999 Registered Master Builders House of the Year competition.
Moss Brothers Housing have had another string of successes in the 1999 Registered Master Builders House of the Year competition. One of those placings was our latest showhome.
For you, there are two huge advantages having a showhome on display. Firstly, you can actually see what is new and innovative within the new home industry and how these innovations improve and make day-to-day living so much easier, ie; less time spent cleaning and less maintenance.
And secondly, and probably most importantly for someone building a new home, we use our showhome as a bench mark for the standards of finish we set. What this means is that we put in writing in our proposal (quote) that the standards seen in our showhome will be the same or better that we will provide you. And of course, the benefit of us doing this is that you know exactly what standard of quality and finish you will get and can demand before the first peg goes in the ground. So if you haven't already seen the showhome, it's well worth the trip. But don't come on Sunday because we are closed all day.
Regards
Julian Moss
Oh PS: More and more inquires and sales are from beyond the toll free area of our office. Because of this, for your convenience I have installed an 0800 Free-Help phone line to our office. So if you have any questions or queries you can contact me (that's Julian Moss) on:
0800 MOSS BROS (6677-2767)
