Assetwise NZ Ltd

[Bluekiwi]

Who are these guys, anyone know exactly what their modus operandi is.
Is this an above board organisation ?

They reportedly sign up properties with a normal S&P and flick properties off to their investor base ?
So looks like another way of doing a double settlement.

[SuperDad]

I have met Kirsty at Assetwise, and also manage properties that she has placed her clients with.

All of my dealings with Kirsty have been very good. She does not just place clients in an investment in my experience - she actually follows up for them. In my case, she would communicate with me to see how we are going with tenanting properties.

Paul.

[Bluekiwi]

Great, sounds good.

[Allan.AJ]

Hi Bluekiwi.

I delt with them about 2 years ago and the experience was pretty good I would have to say. I think they are more of a financial planning or financial advisory business really.

I used them for matters other than property. They helped with buy/sell agreements and some other things to do with restructuring a business. I was pretty impressed at the time. They also did the business partnership insurances and my personal life insurance and income protection.

They do have a property part of the business though I havent used it. But we did talk about buying an investment property for me as part of a long term financial plan and I looked at a couple. In the end they actually advised me to wait for a better deal. The ones I viewed were listed with agents. They were not buying and on selling and seemed to just be doing a deal with the agent. I guess a commission share.

I did refer a friend to them at the time and he did buy a property through them about 6 months ago I guess. He's no fool and he seems to think they got him a very good price and he says its in a pretty good area. Not sure on the exact details of what he bought.

[fatfishandchipman]

Interesting, a quick search of the internet did not reveal much. But my guess: these people (or person) are/is a desperate Spruiker out to take your money.

Never trust someone to do something that you can’t do for yourself with your own money.

[WGN ex-property manager]

Interesting, a quick search of the internet did not reveal much. But my guess: these people (or person) are/is a desperate Spruiker out to take your money.

Never trust someone to do something that you can’t do for yourself with your own money.

So you'd rather go to space in a rocket you made out of old loo roll's in your shed than actually pay an aerospace engineering company to build you one?

How Odd

[Asterix]

So are you saying that property investment is like rocket science?

[WGN ex-property manager]

Depends if you're doing complicated stuff with if (Trades, Developments, Lease options) or simple buy and hold.

Maybe Rocket Science was a bad example.....

Try bread in stead.

I know how to bake a loaf of bread (sort of), but in general I trust other people to do it faster better and cheaper, and I'm happy to pay them for it. If everyone did everything for themselves, then we'd not need money, as we'd never trade goods, services or commodities. Productivity would plummet because we'd all need to be the ultimate generalist (thus doing many task inefficiently).

Just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD.

[Assetwise]

Interesting, a quick search of the internet did not reveal much. But my guess: these people (or person) are/is a desperate Spruiker out to take your money.

Never trust someone to do something that you can’t do for yourself with your own money.

Hi there.

Im Scott Wilson from Assetwise. (Thanks for referring me to this thread Allan)

Despite the views of Fatfish&chipman I'd like to think we are not a "desperate Spruiker out to take your money!"... though I have to say it did make me laugh.

This thread begun with the question as to who we are and what we do...

We are in fact a Financial Planning company with an Insurance & Mortgage Brokerage attached to us. Plus we love Investment property so from a long term investment perspective we have a bit of a bias in that direction.

Started back in 1987 as an insurance broker, formed Accredited Brokers Ltd (the mortgage & Insurance arm) in 2002, and then established Assetwise NZ Ltd to specialise in the Financial Planning and property side of things.

There are a few of us in the office, but the primary points of contact would be...
Myself-Scott Wilson (tea, coffee and general business matters)
Kirsty How is the General Manager.
Sandi Todd is our legendary administrator.
Ken Beirman is the Finance Manager.
Scott Healey is the Property Manager.
James Wadsworth is a Broker and Client Manager

Office Phone 6304340

Our office is in Epsom. 382 Manukau Rd, Next to Alexandra Park (parking at the front door if you wish to drop in for a coffee). We have been based here 3 years but are moving next month to the Ellerslie Business Center in the Ellerslie Town Center. 101 Main Highway. (Better coffee & a nice community feel there)

BlueKiwi asked if we were an above board organisation. Obviously I'd be rather foolish to say anything else other than "yes" we are an above board organisation.

But thats the truth. We have been around a while and I venture that you wont find anyone who will say anything negative about the way we do business or our integrity. We are a very straight up team and we do go the extra mile for our clients.

I'm also on the Board of Newpark Financial Services. Newpark is the largest Insurance Dealer Group in New Zealand, with about 280 members. Naomi Ballantyne, the former CEO of ING New Zealand, is another Board member you may have heard of. They would not have me on the board if my actions or activities were ever questionable.

I suspect the only reason you may not have heard of us is because we don't do any advertising or marketing. All our business comes from referrals from existing clients or from Accountants and Solicitors whom refer their clients to us. (Oh, I should also mention we dont pay kickbacks to them either.)

Our 'Modus Operandi' is simple.

Step 1. Meet clients & have a chat & a cuppa. We complete a fact find & needs analysis to establish what they really need (as compared to many advisors who simply give it their best guess).

Step 2. We work hard for the next 2-5 days to ensure they get the best solutions, producing comprehensive & detailed reports & recommendations for them.

Step 3. We meet again to go over recommendations. They can choose to accept all recommendations, or just some of them, or none at all. It's up to them. But if they do give the thumbs up they won’t be left on their own wondering how to get it sorted, because we will action the plan for them and sort out whatever needs to be done.

Depending where the business came from and what we are asked to do we sometimes charge a financial planning fee. But everything is disclosed up front so there is no surprises.However for many referrals we don't charge any fee.

PROPERTY!!!! WHAT ABOUT PROPERTY???? I hear you ask.

Well, I expect most of you on this site are pretty property savvy or at the very least, reasonably up with the play on what you want from property and what to look for.

However that's not the case for many of our clients. Many of them love the idea of property as an investment vehicle, but they dont have the time or the skills or even the inclination to be property investors. They are good at their chosen profession but not at property. They want the results that a good long term property investment can deliver, but they dont know where to start, what to look for or how to do it.

So that's where we come in. For clients who want an investment property we 'go looking' for them. Once we find something suitable we check out the property, the area, zoning, schools, local development, roading, get independent rental assessments, independent valuations, see how 'rentable' the property is and do the sorts of things that prudent property investors generally do.

In fact I suspect that we do a LOT more than most property investors do.

We also do detailed and comprehensive cash flow analysis of a property and its real returns. We include everything from rates, legal fees, valuation costs, maintenance, cost of interest, insurance costs etc etc. Heck, we even include the cost of real estate fees that would be incurred when someone eventually sells. We ensure clients have the best structure set up for both tax reduction and also asset protection.... (an area where many investors get it wrong!)

While many banks have their floating rates currently at about 5.75%, we base projections of affordability on 7% or 7.5% interest, Inflation at 3% and long term capital growth at 6%. All pretty conservative.

Basically, we do the leg work for the client and invariably look at many many properties before recommending one (or several options) to a client.

Some are high yielding, some only 5% yield but with secure HNZ leases and some mixed. It depends what the client is looking for. But once we find what they want we then do everything for them. All they do is agree to buy and we negotiate the price, sort Valuations and chattels Vals and Lims & help arrange tenants (using independent Property Management companies), liaise with the solicitors and agents and vendors, set up the trusts or Co structures to buy it, organise the mortgage and all documentation and everything you can conceivably consider that needs doing. Essentially our client needs to do nothing at all. Having said that, they can get involved as much or as little as they like. And we have many clients who are quite savvy investors who simply use us to do the leg work and they pick and chose the deals we present.

Sometimes they are new and sometimes 'pre-owned'. Many are via real estate agents that specialise in the sort of properties our clients need. Some are direct with developers and sometimes clients buy with a private treaty with the vendor.

We normally get part of the fee that is paid to the real estate agent.

So yes, our clients buy using a normal Sale & Purchase agreement and they buy direct from the original Vendor. We normally add a 15 working day Due Diligence clause that enables a client to walk away for any reason they want. This gives plenty of time to fully check out a property. For some clients we might have an agreed fee they pay. But normally we arrange an agreement with the realestate agent and get paid by them from their fee.

However, we do not buy properties then mark up and on sell.

The bottom line is we provide a very comprehensive service for clients to sort their financial lives out. Insurances, mortgages, business insurances & buy/sell Agreements for business. Property investments and holding structures. Wills, Trusts, etc etc

We dont work for free, but we do a good job and I'm proud to say our clients are happy clients.

Phew... sorry for the loooong reply

[Asterix]

Assetwise, I liked most of your response, with the glaring exception of

All they do is agree to buy and we negotiate the price, sort Valuations .....

That, in my mind is a major conflict, and something that should be avoided by any property selling company that believes they are above board. Prospective clients should be told to find a valuer and arrange their own valuation, and if they object, they should be told that it is the ONLY way you can maintain your integrity.

Once I read that, everything else was just noise.

[graemeh]

Prospective clients should be told to find a valuer and arrange their own valuation, and if they object, they should be told that it is the ONLY way you can maintain your integrity.

I'll play the devil's advocate here.

Imagine the situation where the customer decides to buy a house in Manukau. They commission a valuer who has a nice sign in the Remuera shopping centre (apologies to any valuers with signs there). This valuer knows Remuera well but knows nothing about Manukau.

Can anyone see the problem here?

[Bluekiwi]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for that great reply, brilliant.
My friend is selling a property and your company has contacted him.
I was just investigating as he has had property finders lowballing him with offers on his properties.

Its great how you work, as I have had some contact with corporate clients who want to get into property but dont have the time to do the leg-work.

I think its a great service you are doing as you cover the whole gambit including structuring.

I am going to have to sell one of my properties this year to release funds so I can do some flipping, once I have painted the roof that is
Maybe seeing Assetwise is another option to selling myself, or putting with an agent.

Cheers Paul

[Asterix]

I'll play the devil's advocate here.

Imagine the situation where the customer decides to buy a house in Manukau. They commission a valuer who has a nice sign in the Remuera shopping centre (apologies to any valuers with signs there). This valuer knows Remuera well but knows nothing about Manukau.

Can anyone see the problem here?

That's the buyers problem as part of his/her due diligence. I would expect the valuer to mention this and suggest someone in Manukau. Either way, I still think it is safer than using a valuer that is 'sorted' by the seller. That is a practice that has exposed too many times.

[graemeh]

That's the buyers problem as part of his/her due diligence. I would expect the valuer to mention this and suggest someone in Manukau. Either way, I still think it is safer than using a valuer that is 'sorted' by the seller. That is a practice that has exposed too many times.

True

They can always ask here for recommendations.

[fatfishandchipman]

Hi there.

Im Scott Wilson from Assetwise. (Thanks for referring me to this thread Allan)

[]

Fair enough; a good and honest answer Scott. Thank you.

While the service you provide is not for me, I guess that there are some lazy people out there who would pay for it. My only objection to the service you provide is that you invest other people’s money in real estate. I hate to tell you mate, currently, this is a bad investment.

Now that the OCR has been raised most investors will be better off putting their money into a savings account.