Business South August 2020

| 57 Volume 29 | Issue 4 businesssouth WK is proud to have supported Harcourts Marlborough since its inception in 1989 Talk to WK today about supporting your business 03 578 0180 www.wk.co.nz Marlborough BUILDERS CLEANS OF NEW BUILDS OR RENOVATIONS Let the SteamCleanz present a clean finish for your client www.steamcleanz.co.nz | Blenheim | info@steamcleanz.co.nz Mobile: 027 578 1163 “Interest rates are low, LVRs are down, and the shortage of stock makes this the best seller’s market I’ve ever seen in 28 years in the industry.” PROPERTY » Harcourts Marlborough Opportunities abound in changing market The talented team at Harcourts Marlborough - plenty on the go. Below, sales manager, Chris Greenhill. T he optimists of Blenheim are some of those making the most of the opportunity presented by the post-Covid property market, with vendors relishing good results at auction and great multi offers. Harcourts Marlborough sales manager Chris Greenhill says while the glass half empty people are wating for the market to balance out, the glass half full people are forging ahead and taking a leap of faith. “These people are prepared to look at the post- Covid market as an opportunity,” she says. “Interest rates are low, LVRs are down, and the shortage of stock makes this the best seller’s mar- ket I’ve ever seen in 28 years in the industry.” Multi offers abound with two properties sold in early July with 10 offers presented on each. Even priced properties are receiving multi-offers, and Harcourts Marlborough recently sold a home priced at $540,000 to one of five prospective buyers with a cash offer of $571,000. “That’s $34,000 above what the vendor was even asking!” Chris says this is the best seller’s market she has ever seen, and it has gone on for a long time. “Whether Covid has been a part of that, I’m not sure,” she says. “It was showing a couple of signs of balancing out before covid, but it never really got there. Now it’s a really strong seller’s market, and driven purely by supply and demand. “The only way it’s going to come back is if we get lots of listings, and at the moment it’s not showing any sign of that at all.” Harcourts Marlborough has been tracking its open homes and whether visitors are local people or out of town buyers. “We’re traditionally tracked at about 90% local people and 10% out of town. However, in June, a third of our written contracts were out of town buyers, showing that anyone looking in Blenheim from out of town is actually making a commitment, and locals are using open homes to chat to agents, check out homes, compare properties, and gauge market values.” Chris says when buyers look at a property, they will generally decide within the first 30 seconds whether it is the property for them or not. “That first impression is so important, so we offer our vendors Kelly Deeks a free ‘dress for success’ service with compli- mentary home styling advice from interior styling professionals and photography and graphic design by our own in-house photographer and graphic designer. “Our ‘sparkle programme’, also part of our service, provides gardeners and window cleaners allowing our vendors to absolutely maximise the sale price of their home.” Harcourts Marlborough applauds commitment to building a successful and vibrant community and proudly supports local community groups. Its Community Referral Network allows for a $500 referral fee to be donated directly to a chosen Community Referral Network partner. Likewise the international Harcourts Founda- tion has now distributed $6 million to community groups and charities globally. This translates to 732 charities supported, 356 communities impacted, and more than 970 grants made through Harcourts offices, with 100% of the funds raised going directly back into local communities.