After the Covid-19 announcement today, all our staff will be working from home. We are well set up to do this, and our business will operate as per usual, with the following changes: All meetings will be by phone or Skype All events will be held online We will not be able to receive postal or courier mail for ... More 

With approximately 8000 relationships ending in NZ in 2017 (Statistics NZ), it is hardly surprising that the Family Court is bogged down, and it is taking far too long for people to access the courts in order to resolve relationship property disputes.  As it should be, the Family Court’s priority is the protection of children and related issues. Resolution ... More 

With a cooler Auckland property market, what should buyers and sellers be doing to maximise their chances of success? Sellers obviously want to get the highest price possible, while buyers (especially investors who are focused on the numbers) want the opposite. Funnily enough, auctions can work well for both.  Sellers There are a lot of conditional buyers in the ... More 

If you own (or plan to own) residential rental property in Australia, there are changes to the tax deduction rules that will affect you, particularly if your cash flow is tight. These changes were announced in the May 2017 Australian Federal budget and were passed by Parliament on 15 November 2017.  They take effect from 1 July 2017 onwards ... More 

As you may be aware, there is a new law that requires all tenanted homes to be insulated by 1 July 2019. Anyone who owns rental property must ensure their properties are insulated to the required standard by this date. At GRA we’ve been getting a lot of questions about whether the cost of insulating a rental property is ... More 

It is a requirement in New Zealand for parties to provide their IRD numbers when buying or selling real estate (whether as an individual or through another entity such as a company or trust). Normally this does not pose any sort of problem. However, there will be significant issues if you are selling a property that has been generating ... More 

A new bill is making its way through Parliament which is going to see changes made to the current Trustee Act.  All those with an existing trust should be aware of the implications imposed and the opportunities this new bill will bring when it becomes law. Further details will be presented at our Trust Seminar on 11 October 2017. ... More 

It’s been an interesting start to 2017 with a much tighter credit market than what we have seen for most of the last decade. While the majority of the media have been concentrating on the fact that the market seems to have slowed since the 40% deposit rule introduction, I put more down to banks themselves pulling back in ... More 

Do you currently have life insurance in place? Unless you’re single, living the high life, flying solo, and not bothered what happens to your debts when you die, then you’re going to need to have the right life cover in place. Life insurance isn’t something that you lie in bed at night thinking about. Rather, life insurance generally comes ... More 

At Property Ventures we are increasing our focus on new builds as investments because we see tremendous advantages from a financing perspective. Not only do investors get pristine new and low maintenance properties in better areas, they get the benefit of 80% LVRs and tax advantages from higher chattel depreciation.   These smart tax and finance benefits make investing ... More