What's it Worth - Sales Information

A key to making yourself a smart buyer or seller, is having access to property sale information in your neighbourhood. Luckily, with the internet, this information is readily available - albeit that there may be a small fee to pay for access to certain sites which hold this information.

The key areas where you can find property sale information include:


The Quotable Value web site

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand

Property Valuers

Real Estate Agents/Salespeople

Personal contact with buyers and sellers



The secret of course is that the more you know about what has sold in the neighbourhood, the better a position you are in to negotiate the right price.

Until you have a good handle on what has recently sold in the neighbourhood, and, what condition those properties were in compared to yours, you are effectively in a very weak position to negotiate. The knowledge is power thing was never truer than in real estate.

Ultimately this process involves a bit of good old detective work. Don't let that bother you though. It can actually be quite fun.

Personal contact with buyers and sellers can be very enlightening. People like to have a gossip. A quick conversation with a neighbour can reveal some very crucial information such as how long a property has been on the market, why the owners are selling, and perhaps some not-so-good news about the neighbourhood in general.

Actual sale data can be first downloaded from the net, but it is then vital to actually go and check out those sales to see how they compare with the property you are buying or selling. This is discussed further in the next section:


Step 3: Comparing apples with apples