Selling house in Chch - now or this time next year?

[waleed]

Hi everyone, I'd like some opinions on the following. If you had a fairly run-down house near the university in Chch, and you intended to sell it, do you think it would be better to put in on the market in Sept/Oct this year or next year? (The house currently is rented to uni students so the question is whether or not to renew their lease or just to sell it now). I realise that no one has a crystal ball about interest rates, the market etc.
I'm just wondering whether there will be more red-zoners on the move next year than now (how many have been paid out so far?), and whether there are likely to be more investors looking then than now (because the house may well be bought by an investor to use as a student rental).
So:
1) Would you sell now or at this next year?
2) Would you sell through auction or not? (We had a real estate guy say straight away that he'd recommend taking the property to auction)

[Keys]

You have a message in your Private Message system.

[Wayne]

I'll buy it, my son is at Uni in Chch next year (in the halls) but will need a house the year after.

[Wiz]

And I reckon if the above 2 posts are anything to go by, I'd hold out a while yet! Market is rising still, and demand will continue to outstrip supply, especially from those overseas families moving into the area for the rebuild work. Buy and hold is my strategy for now, and I don't think that will change any time soon.

[sjkpark]

Oh.. just to piggyback onto this question. Would you buy in Christchurch now?

I grew up in North Shore, and bought a house in Rangitoto zone under LAQC now LTC on interest only loan before I left. Over the last 3 years I saved about $120,000, and I'm thinking about buying another investment property and consolidating it (i.e. this time I will put it under my own name and go for principal and interest payments).

Now I'm moving to Christchurch in December. At least 1 year. Possibly will stay there up to 5 years.

I was deadset on buying a property in North Shore, but anything in mid-400 range is rare as hen's teeth.

Would it be a better idea for me to buy a house in Christchurch rather than North Shore? Also I found a rental property in Riccarton that I can move in on the day I want.

[Wiz]

sjkpark - if I had the $ I'd certainly be buying in Chch right now. The low interest rates available and the higher rents here mean you should be able to get something cashflow neutral or positive depending on what you want. House prices are sneaking up though, so sooner rather than later I reckon.

[AlanaChch]

There are some really good buys in Chch right now but be careful, there are different land zones, levels of land damage, insurance etc, so do your research first. Good luck!

[rentalrunner]

there seems to be a lot of BS in the media about the realestate situation in chch right now - massive demand, rising house prices and short supply of rentals are common headlines - i dont know what they bases these stories on but there are huge variances - some parts of chch have a huge amount of rentals available, and there are plenty of property owners trying to get out of the market now (possibly imagining that the market is peaking and want to capitalise now, or over committed themselves thinking they could make a killing on a low supply rent market)

to sum up if youre in the market to buy in chch there are plenty of good deals around, just dont imagine youll be able to screw tenants over with exorbitant rents - ignore the media hype!

[sjkpark]

there are plenty of property owners trying to get out of the market now (possibly imagining that the market is peaking and want to capitalise now, or over committed themselves thinking they could make a killing on a low supply rent market)

If you know any of these people, please let me know.
I recently rented in Christchurch - fortunately found a nice place, but every viewing I went to had 10+ potential tenants lining up.

[rentalrunner]

If you know any of these people, please let me know.
I recently rented in Christchurch - fortunately found a nice place, but every viewing I went to had 10+ potential tenants lining up.

i hope youre right, ive just bought a rental.