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When things turn pear-shaped, it can be tempting to behave like an ostrich, bury your head in the sand, and ignore what’s going on. This is not the best policy.  The media is currently giving high exposure to the issues facing dairy farmers - dairy..

At GRA we have become concerned at the number of people thinking about buying leaky buildings. This was brought to our attention in our capacity as Professional Trustee, which means we (along with any other trustees) need to sign off on any planned property purchases for..

As investors become increasingly aware of how much the lending landscape has changed from that of a few years ago, a question I am receiving a lot is, “When will we see the banks relax mortgage lending criteria again?” Whilst we saw the slight relaxing..

The 2012 tax year began on 1 April 2011 for most taxpayers and with it new tax rules in relation depreciation on buildings and LAQCs finally came into force.  We have written a number of times on the potential impact these rules may have on you..

We find that a lot of our clients get very confused about what drawings are. And with good reason – it’s a complicated area.  Most tend to think that drawings taken by a shareholder from a company are the same thing as their wage or..

I wonder if the Reserve Bank's enthusiasm for introducing debt-to-income ratios has more to do with social agenda than strengthening the economy and protecting the banking system.   In the Professional Trustee Team's August blog, we note that debt-to-income ratios (DTIs) are potentially dangerous and that they can..

In these tougher times we have noticed vendors asking for early release of deposits before actual settlement has taken place.  If you have purchased a property and paid a deposit on the unconditional date, we would recommend you think twice  before agreeing (and don’t) to any..

With nearly 900 people in attendance, the Economic & Property Update in March was a fantastic event. Tony Alexander gave his predictions for the economy and property market in 2016, and I talked about strategies for investing in the current conditions. Tony and I both..

As I have said on several occasions, property and stock markets react much faster than local businesses to bad news. The property sector and stock market wear the downside of recession very quickly, as does the entire supply chain underneath these sectors of the economy...