Australian Residents Owning NZ Property

[lukas]

Hey,

We are NZers living in Melbourne for the last 6 yrs and have kept our original family home as an IP.

I would like to hear opinions on an interesting phenomenon that has happened several times over the last 12 mths.

We have received several letters from various Real Estate Salespeople in NZ enquiring whether we would be interested in a market appraisal of our property. They point out that the market has improved substantially over the previous 12-18 mths and that we could achieve significant gains if we were to sell (typical fishing for business).

What we are wondering about is that we have received several of these personally signed on personally addressed letterhead and envelope, and posted to our Melbourne address (not the usual letter box drop).

We have been rather bemused by this and have done absolutely nothing as we have no intention of selling it. We have always kept a close watch on Realenz and various other property websites as to equivalent or similar property values, both from a rent value and a sale potential perspective. We will be getting an updated RV soon, to tie in with the expected GV closer to the end of the year.

Our IP is in a high interest positive cash flow suburb of Auckland and is on a corner site with 2 driveway accesses, fully fenced, and a large 2-storey, 4-brm house. It is in an average area of the suburb and there are not many other homes similar to it nearby. We are well aware of the potential of our own property and suspect we may have been the target of drive by 'spotters'.

What do you think? Have any other Australian residents owning NZ property experienced anything similar to this? Is this just an extension of the Sales Reps marketing strategies in a high demand market? Or do you think we may be a 'special' case?

Regards!!!

[zion]

Hello lukas,

It is standard marketing. A property owner's address is available through tools like RP Date. The information can be mail merged and personalized letters printed. The agent will just sign a few hundred hear and there to personalize it (or some will use a color printer to add their signature in blue). Throwing a stack of signed (or printed) letters through an envelope machine takes a few minutes and it is off to the post office.

Thanks!!