With the current strong real estate market in Kerikeri one of the outcomes is that there is less stock and a limited choice when it comes to buying houses. Consequently, many home buyers are opting for buying a section and building their own home.
The process and issues to be aware of:
It would seem, from the outside, that buying land and building a home would be a simple straight forward business, Not so! Below is listed some of the decisions and obstacles involved.
- Power: is there power supplied to the section, either by way of an existing power plinth or is it on the road reserve and would require a transformer, trenching and a cable to get supply? This can be a very expensive exercise.
- Phone: is the phone to the boundary copper or fibre optic? Can it be connected for broadband? Does it have ADSL or VDSL? These are issues which you need to sort before you buy.
- Boundaries: Are all the boundaries clearly marked and defined? If not, you have the right to ask the vendor to have all the boundary pegs identified. (This is for residential sections only and not the case if there is an existing dwelling on the property or larger blocks.)
- Soil type: Is the soil clay or volcanic? If you are living in Kerikeri it makes sense to try and have volcanic type soil as it is free draining, great for establishing a garden and even workable in the winter, whereas a lot of the local clay soils are a lot more challenging.
- Water: In Kerikeri we are fortunate to have not only treated town water but also, in some areas, an available Kerikeri irrigation supply. When buying, it is certainly an advantage if either or both of these options are available.
- HAIL: The Hazardous Activities and Industries List known as HAIL is a new one and can’t be avoided! It applies any time a change of use is applied for through the council. So be aware and do your homework because there can be significant costs associated to remedial work if there are any signs of contamination. The tricky part is that a change of use (such as building a house) is most often not applied for until after the sale has been transacted, so the purchaser could end up with an unusable chunk of land.
- Titles: Certificates of Title prove the ownership of land and the rights and restrictions that apply to the land. They contain interests such as easements and covenants, mortgages and caveats etc. So it is really important that you get either your real estate agent or your lawyer to explain in detail the information contained in the title document. This is really important; for example, the covenants may not allow cats or dogs to be kept on the property, they will also specify, most likely, the size and type of home you can build so this is essential to your decision making process.
The idea of this article was not to put people off buying a section and building because we all know Kerikeri needs more new homes, it was more to make people aware of the possible problems that can catch out those who are uninformed. We would suggest that using experienced, knowledgeable real estate agents will make this process easier and there is less likelihood of any issues which invariably cost money and time, and cause a huge amount of emotional stress during a process which should be exciting, rewarding and fun.