HELEN MURDOCH

Property owners within the proposed Lee Dam rating area will be required to pay about $420 to $520 per hectare annually to cover the cost of the dam, whether they use irrigation or not.

However, affected landowners will be able to sell the available water, but not the water right, to adjoining permitted water users.

The liability for the dam’s cost would be tied to each affected property until the dam’s costs were covered.

The finer details of how the proposed $42 million dam would be paid for were revealed during a full Tasman District Council meeting yesterday.

Mayor Richard Kempthorne acknowledged the cost could see some people move from the dam’s rating area, which covers about 4900ha of the Waimea Plains.

There would also be a small increase in water charges for urban water users.

Acting chief executive Dennis Bush-King said if the dam did not go ahead, permitted water allocations across the plains would be cut by about 70 per cent.

Mr Bush-King said rating for the dam’s cost would continue until the project was paid for. The exact duration of the debt was at this stage unknown.

Updated costings on the dam had yet to be finalised and the final terms of the loan would impact on its length.

He said the Waimea Water Augmentation Committee and the council were looking at funding options outside the region to help cover some of the cost, including tapping into the Government’s Irrigation Acceleration Fund.

“Our expectation is to get the charge to landowners as low as possible,” he said.

Mr Kempthorne said he did not want to see people forced to move from the plains because of the dam’s cost, but there was no simple answer to the current unsustainable over-allocation of the basin’s natural water resource.

Mr Bush-King said if the public, through the council’s draft long-term plan consultation, give the dam the thumbs-down the next option was to review and cut water allocations.

Outside the meeting, Mr Bush-King said there was a cost of building the dam and a higher cost of not building it in lost production and potential.

The need for the dam was driven by the current over-allocation of the underground aquifer, the overuse of which drains the lower reaches of the Appleby River in times of drought, and the desire to have a sustainable water supply for future increased horticultural production.

“If we do proceed, there will be cost implications, but people will be reaping the benefit of the extra water.”

Mr Bush-King said the council’s draft long-term plan would be open to public submissions from the end of next month.

Last updated 13:00 16/01/2012

Nelson and Marlborough remains the third least affordable region in the country to buy a house, according to the latest home affordability report by Massey University.

Top of the south homes edged a further 2.4 per cent out of reach for house hunters in the three months to November 2011, although over the previous year the region had improved 8.5 per cent.

Auckland was the least affordable region, replacing Central Otago Lakes at the top.

On a national level, affordability dropped 1.9 per cent in the past quarter, driven by a 3 per cent rise in the national median house price.

Report compiler Professor Bob Hargreaves from Massey’s School of Economics and Finance said in light of financial turmoil in Europe, it was surprising that house prices were increasing.

“However, very low mortgage interest rates combined with more relaxed lending criteria are combining to bring more buyers into the market and new construction is still at a very low ebb.”

The home affordability index is calculated using the key drivers of interest rates, wages and house prices. Prof Hargreaves said the outlook for affordability was probably not going to improve, as interest rates would rise again in the long term.

5:30 AMWednesday Sep 7, 2011

Wooden ‘plyscrapers’ have been cited as standing up better during an earthquake.

Seminars will promote multi-storey wooden buildings in wake of earthquakes

“Plyscrapers” will be promoted by international speakers visiting New Zealand, advocating the advantages of structural timber in multi-storey high-rise buildings.

A series of seminars will start in Christchurch on Friday to promote the wood buildings, including high-rises.

One of the keynote speakers is Andrew Waugh, of Britain’s Waugh Thistleton Architects, which designed the high-rise Stadthaus apartment tower, acclaimed as setting new benchmarks in timber construction for its style and height.

Italian engineer Paolo Lavisci is also visiting. His timber engineering consultancy, Legnopiu, designed houses for thousands of people after the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake.

Wood is seen to be rising in favour after the Christchurch earthquakes.

The seminars have been organised by industry organisation NZ Wood, which said the sessions would look at seismic damage-avoidance engineering, fire performance, acoustic qualities of wood buildings, thermal aspects, comfort and sustainability.

Earlier this year, Connal Townsend, Property Council chief executive, returned from the Green Cities conference in Melbourne where he said an address was given on the prospect of plyscrapers becoming more prevalent, partly in a drive to offset carbon dioxide emissions from concrete.

Plyscrapers have also been cited as standing up better during an earthquake. Most new houses are built on concrete floor pads. High-rise towers have extensive pre-cast concrete panels as floor and wall components.

Michael Green, a partner in the Vancouver firm McFarlane Green Biggar Architectures + Design, told the Melbourne conference of his vision for the world’s first timber skyscraper and how a 10-storey plyscraper was proposed in Australia, a 17-storey one in Norway and a 30-storey wood tower in Austria.

Architects Warren and Mahoney will present their vision for the city at the NZ Wood Christchurch seminar.

Robert Finch, chief executive of the Structural Timber Innovation Company, will talk about damage avoidance designs in multi-storey timber buildings.

He cited a building at Canterbury University which he said had endured dozens of simulated earthquakes in the lab, three significant quakes and thousands of aftershocks.

Damage avoidance technology for timber buildings was also used in several new New Zealand buildings.

TIME OUT: Richmond-Waimea Men’s Shed members Allan Brown, Fred Stade, Ray Deadman and Alan Kissell at their new home, the former kennel association rooms at Richmond Park.

————————–

The roller door goes up on the Nelson region’s first Men’s Shed next month.

The Australian concept of a place where blokes can go to potter away on projects and share stories and trade skills has taken off in New Zealand.

It has taken 18 months to get a local haunt organised. But with the ink on their legal documents almost dry, Richmond-Waimea Men’s Shed members took to renovating the former Nelson District Kennel Association clubrooms at Richmond Park with enthusiasm at the weekend.

The chairman of the incorporated society behind the shed, Jim Davis, said the project had taken longer than he hoped to get off the ground, but with the official opening only a month away, things were getting exciting.

“The sheds give men a place where they can use their skills and pass them on, do community projects, bond, talk, cook and relax.”

Mr Davis said the committee bought the building with the help of funding from the region’s two councils and the Canterbury Community Trust.

He said sheds provided a place for men who had lost their own shed, often through the sale of the family home, or who had retired and missed the camaraderie of the workplace environment.

The Richmond shed would be a place where men could interact, he said.

“Men do not network like women. This gives them a focus.”

The Men’s Shed was not a community care facility, but members looked out for each other, he said.

“Men talk while they work, and we are finding already that they are talking about all sorts of things.”

Mr Davis said members could not use the facility for their own profit, but community groups could have items built for their projects at reasonable rates.

The Richmond shed was currently designated for wood-based skills only, but a little light engineering could be catered for in the future, he said.

The Richmond-Waimea Men’s Shed will be officially opened at the end of next month.

Nelson District Kennel Association secretary Claire Trevelyan said the club was more than happy to sell its building to the Men’s Shed committee. After 50 years of service, the building was on the verge of being surplus to the club’s needs, she said.

The club would remain at Richmond Park under an agreement with the A and P Association, Mrs Trevelyan said.

With membership climbing and all the club’s shows held outside, the club only needed the use of a kitchen and occasionally a room for committee meetings, she said.

“They seem like a nice bunch of guys, and it was a unanimous vote to sell.”

HELEN MURDOCH  – The Nelson Mail

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/5458942/Blokes-get-ready-to-hang-out-in-the-shed

Stoke skaters are to get a skatepark at Greenmeadows. The city council has agreed to move to the design stage of the skatepark on the corner of Main Rd, Stoke, and Songer St, after considering a range of possible sites. Community Services co-portfolio holder, councillor Pete Rainey said there was high community support for a skatepark in Stoke and the difficulty had been finding the best location. “Extensive consultation with residents has highlighted some concerns and the council is conscious of the issues raised by police, the neighbouring tennis club and some local residents that live nearby,” Mr Rainey said. Concerns raised included noise and road safety and safety for the elderly. Council staff will be working closely with these parties into the design stage, Mr Rainey said. The Greenmeadows site was one of 11 initially investigated by the council after requests for a skatepark in the area during the discussions for the 10-year Nelson Community Plan. Ad Feedback – The Nelson Mail

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/5452304/Site-of-skatepark-chosen

Take a look in the Nelson’s Property Weekly and you might notice Brent Palmer. He’s one of several agents with a solid handful of listings around Richmond.

It turns out he’s a nice guy, too — grew up in the region, has a wife and two children, and recently joined the Richmond School board of trustees. For the last five years he has made a “decent living” from selling properties under the Ray White Richmond franchise.

The media and real estate agents don’t have the easiest of relationships — some agents have become increasingly bitter as the property market tightens — so it is a relief to find Palmer is open to talking about his job, and even to have a reporter tag along for a day.

“I’m happy to be upfront and tell it like it is, I’ve got nothing to hide,” he says.

Darting from one property to the next in a brand new diesel-fuelled Hyundai car that he’s just bought that week, Palmer fits in seven open homes between 11.15am and 4.45pm on a Sunday.

He says the open homes are quieter than usual, even in today’s market. Four fail to attract any lookers, while others get a smattering of interest. Then there’s the last one, listed a week before, and one of the day’s least-attractive properties.

A steady stream of people file through and there are three offers on it by the end of the day.

Palmer is still working at 7pm that night dealing with the offers and by the end of the week, he has it sold, not to the highest bidder but to the one who offered the most favourable conditions.

No routine, no pattern. Palmer says that’s typical of real estate and the work that it involves. “I guess you always wonder where your next business is coming from. Nothing’s certain or set in stone.”

Salespeople aren’t employees of the agencies whose brands they work under they each run their own business and personally pay for things like petrol, computers and paper.

They claim commissions on sales they manage of usually 3 to 4 percent and Palmer has to pull one of those each month just to cover his overheads. Of the full commission, there’s GST to pay and a marketing or franchise fee, and the agency itself will take something like half. If another agent has been involved in the marketing or sale, further sharing will be done.

Recent years have seen more agents employing personal assistants, who sometimes also earn a slice of the commission. Palmer has chosen to employ a PA on a salary. He also started the year with a buyers’ assistant who earned a share of his commission but the arrangement ceased when the market slowed down.

Selling real estate is not a job for the “risk averse”, he says. Agents need to be hard-working, outgoing and business-minded to make it work.

It’s not unusual for him to work 60 hours a week with “no guarantee of getting paid”.

“In this market, you definitely have to work harder to earn less. I think everybody is down a bit, but you find the top agents are down less than others.”

Agents can’t afford to drop their commissions and vendors seem more interested in just having someone who can get the job done, he says.

“Negotiation is becoming more and more important, and I’m trained in that to help. It’s like being a doctor and providing different prescriptions to solve problems, as opposed to a hot market where anything sells.”

What about image? The smart car, the suit, the outward trappings of success? He says it’s not essential, although admits it “probably helps. “It comes down to a lot of basics asking people the right questions, being confident and proficient and being a very good listener.”

Not everyone has those qualities. Yet the numbers of registered salespeople in the Nelson Marlborough region has grown from 433 in March 2002 to a peak of 670 in March last year, then fallen to 645 in March this year. It makes sense that agent numbers follow market trends, as does their income.

An article on the website Realestate.co.nz reports the average earnings for New Zealand real estate agents peaked in 2003 at $47,000, falling back to $41,000 last December. They are tipped to fall to less than $37,000 this year.

Few figures are available for Nelson-Tasman — the best Statistics NZ can provide is 2006 census data showing 213 people in the region identified themselves as real estate agents and 126 of those had personal incomes above $56,000 a year. Twenty-one had an annual income of less than $20,000.

Some in real estate like to talk about an 80/20 rule, that being 20 percent of agents handling 80 percent of sales.

Bayleys Nelson agent Daniel Reed is the sixth-best performing Bayleys agent in New Zealand this year. He says the 80/20 rule is much more pronounced in this region, estimating that 5 percent of agents are making 95 percent of the deals.

The slowing market is “really good” for buyers and sellers, he says. “It will cull out the non-performers, big time.”

A lot of agents “don’t have the minerals” to tell people the truth, which is what is needed in this market, he says. “The quality of service will improve.”

Nelson, like everywhere else, has always had a fair turnover of salespeople but the core group of high-profile sellers remained reasonably constant throughout the property boom.

One of the few big names to bow out was Ray White agent Mary Burke, who took leave last year to go overseas. Having notched up numerous sales awards, she decided it was time for a break, but many are predicting she’ll be back before long.

Summit operations manager Vaughan Borcovsky says he’s noticed no great change in the number of agents coming and going. Summit has about 15 salespeople in each of its offices in Nelson, Richmond, Stoke and Blenheim, with smaller teams in Motueka and its commercial division.

“For us, it really comes down to office space and getting the right people.”

There is no right number of agents to service a region like Nelson, he says. “The market will dictate.”

Haven Realty principal Darryl Marshall, a stalwart of the Nelson industry, declined to be interviewed without the right to vet what was printed. He’s upfront about his reasons — he doesn’t like the media, and thinks it always focuses on the negative and is driving the market down. So surely that means it also drove the market up during the property boom? He’s reluctant to agree. Instead, it just focused on how unaffordable housing was then, he says.

Marshall isn’t alone in his views. Another long-serving agent exiting the industry expressed a similar opinion when she was approached for comment. Harcourts Nelson principal Paul Hedwig has previously asked the Nelson Mail to never seek comment from any of his salespeople and this month condemned its “sensationalist” reporting of the market.

Real Estate Institute Nelson Marlborough branch president Jenny Dickie is also annoyed by recent media reports. The prospect of another story clearly doesn’t impress her and she suggests the Nelson Mail needs to maintain a good relationship with the industry because “we’re paying a huge amount of money in advertising”.

“The thing is, I think the public and real estate agents are sick to death of the negative and they just want something positive.”

The industry “is always sort of changing” and some agents who leave will probably return when the market starts climbing back, she says.

“There’s still positivity out there.”

But Dickie admits it is a “very unsettling time” and says there are “murmurs” of further changes on the local scene.

There are also proposed law changes before Parliament that the institute strongly opposes, as they strip the industry of self-regulation.

It is unknown whether these will get passed before the election and a change of government could see them scrapped altogether.

But Green Door South Island master franchiser Gary Le Petit says the growth of his business offering “commission-free, vendor-assisted sales” is proof that the industry is facing change, whether it likes it or not.

“People are increasingly looking for a viable, cost-effective alternative. Irrespective of the value of their home, no one wants to pay more money than they have to.”

Green Door charges a flat fee for a marketing package starting at $995, which people have to pay even if their property doesn’t sell. Founded in Nelson in 2001, the franchise was rebranded to become Green Door in 2004 and branches have since sprung up around New Zealand.

“Interestingly, many of the franchisees are ex-real estate agents,” Le Petit says. “They’ve converted across from the dark side. Unfortunately, the malpractice of some has tainted the entire industry.”

Le Petit says the merger between First National and LJ Hooker in Nelson and Richmond earlier this year was just a “nice way of saying one company has gone under” and he puts the Century 21 and Ray White merger into the same category. Summit took over the LJ Hooker office in Blenheim at a similar time.

It is not all one-way, though. A new Professionals agency has opened in Stoke during the last couple of months, and Haven Realty last year established a new branch in Richmond, which some of the more prominent and experienced salespeople switched allegiance to. The Ray White Mapua office has had a change of ownership.

The industry changes have been partly responsible for former policeman Andrew MacDonald having a slower start to his real estate career than he might have liked. He took up the profession last year with the aim of achieving “specific financial goals” for his family.

“I think out of 18 people on my real estate course in May last year, only two of us are still selling.”

MacDonald started with Bayleys, then switched companies to train under Mary Burke for six weeks and took over “farming” her Atawhai patch. He says he “lost it for a bit” after the death of his sister and he decided to switch to Ray White Richmond after the Nelson office merged with Century 21. “I just wasn’t sure what was going to happen.”

MacDonald was forced to surrender his three listings and told he could expect to lose up to 30 percent of his business switching offices. He says he has made some sales and is keen to stick with his plans in the meantime, believing it takes time to build up the profile and reputation needed to be successful in the industry. “Give me another year or two to see whether I’m suited to it,” he says, while noting, “you can’t force an economy”.

Back in Richmond, Brent Palmer says he didn’t deliberately set out to become part of the industry. It “just happened” after he and his family returned to Nelson from 12 years overseas, where he had worked in various management and consultancy roles.

“I did a real estate course because I was looking at investment.”

The course consisted of six half-day classes, a few assignments and a practical exam. That’s all he needed to do to enter the industry. Palmer says that’s set to change and he’s all for seeing the levels raised.

“I think, as a new agent, you don’t know what you’re doing. You’re way under-qualified for dealing with people’s biggest asset.”

He chose to further his education by doing his AREINZ papers, which took about two years to complete. It cost him about $8000 and is one of the highest real estate qualifications available, allowing him to become an agency principal.

But Palmer says he still gets his share of business and is content just doing what he’s doing for now.

“I really do love it, but I certainly wouldn’t do it if I couldn’t make a decent living.”

Karen Goodger – 26/07/2008 – Nelson Mail

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/features/weekend/550577/Looking-for-the-next-sale

For years, Melrose House has stood unchallenged as Nelson’s grandest, stateliest public house; but the readily available information about its history could have been scribbled on the back of an envelope.

As Melrose Society secretary Ruth Bayley recalls, when she joined the committee back in 2007, “the same little historical blurb used to come up in newspaper articles and flyers and stuff – it had just been cut and pasted for the last 30 years”.

And even that was less-than-enlightening, referring vaguely to how surveyor Charles Watts, the man who would go on to build the palatial home on the corner of Brougham and Trafalgar streets, had arrived in Nelson on the Will Watch in 1841.

For the house’s live-in manager, Simone Henbrey, the lack of readily available information to share with the public was more tiresome. She inevitably found herself collared by curious passers-by wanting to know the story behind it, and had to recite once again the story of Watts’ short-lived association with the house, before it passed to his son-in-law, Percy Adams, then to the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers, and finally into public ownership under the Nelson City Council.

Today, at long last, all that has changed with the launch of a new book, Melrose House – A History. Published by the Melrose Society and written by Ms Bayley – a history graduate – it pieces together some of the key people and events behind the house, and features a mix of historic and contemporary photos to document its various roles.

Ms Bayley says that when she volunteered to document the history four years ago, she never envisaged a book resulting. She imagined it would lead to a new pamphlet, perhaps. When the Melrose Society received a city council grant to help pay for research, the decision was made to develop a more comprehensive and permanent portrait of the place.

Even though she found large gaps in the record – most frustratingly, a paucity of stories about life within the house – Ms Bayley had more luck in tracing the stories of the house’s various owners, particularly Percy Adams.

A prominent lawyer, businessman and benefactor in his day, Adams was both colourful and generous. The book recounts his exploits of both types in detail, in addition to outlining Charles Watts’ role in getting the place built shortly before his death in 1881; its decades serving as a rest and holiday home for rural women through the middle decades of last century; and the controversy over whether the city council would take it over when, in the 1970s, the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers had to walk away from the increasingly-expensive maintenance burden the house posed.

While the demands of maintaining such a large and ornate home haven’t exactly lessened with the years, Melrose House has moved to a more prominent place in the city’s attentions lately, with the opening of a popular cafe there last year.

The cafe is one of a series of major projects tackled by the society and Ms Henbrey; another is the imminent installation of a long-awaited central heating system. There is no shortage of other tasks to be tackled – Ms Henbrey muses about finding a Victorian-era clawfoot bath to replace the one that disappeared from the house years ago, as the society sets about upgrading the bathrooms.

The story about Melrose is far from over, in other words; but its story so far has at last been told.

Melrose House – A History, by Ruth Bayley, published by the Melrose Society (72 pages), is available only from the Melrose Cafe, for $25.

GEOFF COLLETT

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/features/weekend/5445162/The-story-of-a-historic-house

Check out my Facebook page and recieve a free eBook “How To Sell Your Home For More”

http://www.facebook.com/RealEstateNelson

It will be intersting to see how this all plays out come election time.

Labour’s tax plan sends ‘perverse signals’ – accountant

Published: 5:47AM Friday July 15, 2011 Source: ONE News

Labour maintains it has struck a fair balance with its new tax plans despite criticism it will encourage people to dodge paying, and lead to an exodus of the wealthiest New Zealanders.

Phil Goff announced his party’s tax plans yesterday which will target high earners and introduce a capital gains tax, if it wins the election.

The new tax threshold for high earners under a Labour-led Government would be 39% and will kick in for people on incomes of $150,000 or more. That’s up from 33%, and will affect about 2% of the population.

Labour’s plans also include a proposal for people not be taxed on the first $5000 they earn.

“Under this plan we hit surplus in the same year as National, we pay debt down to zero but keep our assets and promote growth by getting the tax incentives better for business rather than just property speculation,” Labour’s Finance Spokesman David Cunliffe told TV ONE’s AMP Business.

“Only about 1.7% people will be in the top tax rate, most people will get an improvement in their tax position,” he said.

Wealthy targeted

The Chairman of Accountants Price Waterhouse Coopers, John Shewan told AMP Business the plan unfairly targets the better off.

“To me this package sends a signal that if you’re in the top 10% don’t hang around,” he said.

“We talk about fairness, it’s probably not well known that half of New Zealand households pay no net tax at all, the top 10% pay about 60% – 65% of net tax and the top 2% pay over 20%. In terms of fairness we’re saying that very top group needs to pay more? To me that sends some very perverse signals.”

He said Labour seems to have ignored most of the advice it was given by the Tax Working Group and believes its strategy would get a mark of “three out of 10” if it was to be reviewed by the OECD.

And Prime Minister John Key said Labour’s proposed tax strategy will encourage more people to rip off the system.

He said high earners could get around paying by putting some money into family trusts, which are taxed at 33%, and declare lower incomes.

But Cunliffe said Key seems to be scared of any new tax, and is even out of step with his finance minister on the issue.

“Some critics like Bill English say the problem is it’s not comprehensive enough – it doesn’t tax everybody,” he said.

“(But) John Key uses the Chicken Little argument ‘the sky is falling in, he’s never seen such a big bad tax’, I think the Government needs to decide which side of the argument it’s on.”

Cunliffe said he was not afraid of wealthy Kiwis moving away from the country.

“You might go to Australia where the tax rate is 46 cents in the dollar, not 39 as we’re proposing, or where the Capital Gains Tax is 33 cents at the marginal rate not 15 cents… I don’t think so.”

“We think we’ve hit a fair balance here. Most people won’t pay the (capital gains) tax, probably only 8% of New Zealanders in a given year. There’s no retrospective component, the family home is exempt and personal property is exempt. We’ve even got Canterbury out of the net for the next five years after the election.”

Goff said the capital gains tax rate will be 15% – as revealed last week by ONE News – and will cover property, shares and business investments including farms with an exemption on all real estate, land and buildings in the Canterbury quake zone for at least five years.

The tax would raise $26 billion over 15 years, Labour said, and would be introduced from April 1, 2013. It will not be retrospective, meaning people would pay tax on any gains after the introduction of the tax. To find out more about Labour’s tax plans click here .

Labour is pitting its tax plan against National’s state asset sales policy ahead of the November 26 election.

Goff said the tax changes would tackle the country’s debt and state assets would not be sold off.

NZ property sales pick up in June

Now this is good news for those on the market or about to put their home on the market!