YOUR QUESTIONS
Selling, Answered
The questions Auckland sellers ask me most often, answered plainly. No jargon, and nothing hidden.
There are four costs to plan for when you sell:
I go through the full cost breakdown with every vendor at the appraisal stage so there are no surprises later.
Yes, it is free, and no, it commits you to nothing. An appraisal takes about thirty minutes. I look through your home, compare it against what has actually sold nearby recently, and give you an honest range along with what I would do to achieve the top of it. Plenty of people get one because they are simply curious about where they stand, and never list at all. That is completely fine.
An appraisal is free, is provided by a licensed salesperson, and estimates what buyers are likely to pay based on comparable sales and current demand. It is used to set your price and marketing strategy. A registered valuation is a paid, formal document prepared by an independent registered valuer, and it is what a bank will usually want for lending purposes. They serve different jobs, and one is not a substitute for the other.
From the decision to sell through to settlement day, plan for around two to three months, though it varies with the property and the market. A typical campaign is three to four weeks of marketing, then a conditional period while the buyer confirms finance and reports, then the settlement period agreed in the contract. Preparation before you list adds time at the front, and that is almost always time well spent.
It depends on your property, your timeframe and your situation.
After viewing your property and reviewing comparable sales in your neighbourhood, I can recommend the strategy most likely to achieve the best outcome for you.
The capital value is a figure the council uses to apportion rates. It is calculated in bulk, without anyone visiting your home, and it is often years out of date. Properties regularly sell well above or well below their CV. What actually sets your price are recent comparable sales in the area, the condition and presentation of your home, and how many buyers are competing for it.
Usually not. A full renovation rarely returns what it costs when you are about to sell. What consistently pays for itself is cheaper, high-impact work: a deep clean, decluttering, fresh paint in tired rooms, nice floors, tidy gardens, a tidy driveway & entrance, and fixing the small faults a buyer will otherwise use to argue the price down, remember first impressions matter. The aim is to remove reasons to hesitate, not to rebuild the house for someone else.
In most cases, yes, though not always. Staging helps buyers understand the scale and purpose of each room, and it makes photography considerably stronger, which is where nearly every buyer meets your home first. It matters most for empty properties and for homes with awkward or unusual layouts. If your home is already well presented and furnished, you may not need staging.
In a softer market, selling first is usually the safer sequence. You know your exact budget, and you can make an offer without a "subject to sale" clause, which makes you far more attractive to the person you are buying from. Buying first protects you if the property you want is genuinely rare, but it puts you under time pressure and can mean carrying two mortgages. The right answer depends on your numbers and how comfortably you could hold both.
Yes, and you have a few options. You can sell with the tenancy in place, in which case the buyer becomes the new landlord, or sell with vacant possession, which requires ending the tenancy properly first. Notice requirements and the rules around access for photography and viewings depend on the type of tenancy and your circumstances, and they do change, so confirm your position with Tenancy Services or your lawyer before committing to a settlement date.
A cross-lease means you own a share of the whole site together with the other owners, and lease your particular dwelling. It is very common across Ellerslie and Mount Wellington. It can affect your sale if the flats plan no longer matches what is physically on the ground, for example after a deck, conservatory or garage was added without the title being updated. That is fixable, but it is far better to identify it before you go to market than to have a buyer raise it mid-campaign.
Kellys Osorio is based at Barfoot & Thompson Ellerslie, located at 107 Main Highway, Ellerslie. She proudly serves homeowners throughout Central Auckland, including Ellerslie, Mount Wellington, and surrounding suburbs, as well as the wider East, West, and South Auckland regions. If you're unsure whether your property falls within her service area, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Ask me directly. A free appraisal takes about thirty minutes and commits you to nothing at all.
Book your free appraisal