Property Investment Information

There are two sub-species of the Homo Sapiens race that particularly apply to many property investors at present. “Homo Panic Stricken” and “Homo Unawareness”.

Homo Panic Stricken is typically seen listening to friends in bars and restaurants as they recall tales of massive capital gains they have made on their homes and investment property over the last couple of years. They tend to have stress lines on their brow and look as if they are about to be physically sick after hearing of their friends’ exploits in the housing market. They have usually heard these stories many times over the past year or so and have wondered if the market would continue to increase. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I had a tenant call me in a very distressed state as they had just been burgled.

I went straight around to see them and establish the situation. On coming home, they had found the front door wide open and were convinced that someone with a key had gained entry. I called my locksmith who said he would come around straight away. When John arrived he established that what we thought was a deadbolt, in addition to the main door lock, was in fact a regular spring action lock. John explained that burglars can actually open these locks relatively easily and this was the most likely way they gained entry. I asked if he could replace the lock with a deadbolt straight away and he could. In addition he matched the key for the two locks so that the tenant now only needed one key. He also adjusted the bathroom lock, which sometimes didn’t work properly. I had recently purchased a wireless burglar alarm from the Auckland Property Investors Association and fitted this into the flat while John installed the new deadbolt. Read the rest of this entry »