sharetrader
Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 28
  1. #11
    Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Christchurch
    Posts
    431

    Default

    Hi Serpie, very sorry to hear about the damage to your houses. It's certainly a very worrying time for property owners. You are extremely fortunate to have 4 years rental cover - who did you get that through? As I have not found a company offering more than 6 months rental cover.

    I hear John Key has said tonight that the Govt. is going to buy out properties in areas where it is deemed unsuitable to rebuild. In that case, that may be your best course of action especially if you get "market-value pre-quake" or something close to that. Otherwise you risk being left with worthless land if you get an insurance payout for the destroyed house. The formula may be that the Govt. pays the difference between what the insured party receives from EQC and their insurance company for the damaged house/land and the pre-quakes market value. But those who have already settled early with their insurance company may not be treated as well? So many questions at the moment.

    Many people I know are concerned about the 18-22 March danger period mentioned by Ken Ring the Moon Man. Seems two other alternative experts agree on this date too. Be careful around that date IMO.

  2. #12
    Legend minimoke's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Christchurch, New Zealand.
    Posts
    6,502

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Serpie View Post
    Thanks guys.

    And my thoughts are with any here who are facing similar issues with their family homes (as opposed to investment properties). Our own home has lost most of it's cladding, but appears structurally sound, with only minor damage inside, so we can stay here comfortably after some temporary repairs to the outside.

    Today's news says an estimated 10,000 homes to be demolished, so there's lots of families out there who will be anxious and frightened.
    Yup there are sure a lot of people in desperate situations around here. Thats a stark reminder of how lightly we got off. We've lost one half of the house subsiding down a back corner. 95% of internal walls cracked, most exterior cracked or twisted and bugger me the aftershock on Saturday blew the water main and the sewerage is looking dodgy. But we have our family and friends and a roof over our heads. And we're insured!

    In times like this I'm reminded of the second Yorkshireman: "House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling." A line I had hoped my kids would never have to recite based on fact - but there you go.

    However we can turn to comfort from the one true almighty "always look on the bright side of life"

  3. #13
    Senior Member Serpie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Christchurch, , New Zealand.
    Posts
    702

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by denpal View Post
    Hi Serpie, very sorry to hear about the damage to your houses. It's certainly a very worrying time for property owners. You are extremely fortunate to have 4 years rental cover - who did you get that through? As I have not found a company offering more than 6 months rental cover.
    I'll PM you Denpal.

  4. #14
    Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    , , .
    Posts
    94

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by minimoke View Post
    In times like this I'm reminded of the second Yorkshireman: "House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling." A line I had hoped my kids would never have to recite based on fact - but there you go.

    However we can turn to comfort from the one true almighty "always look on the bright side of life"
    I have often quoted that line to my kids, but it is not so funny anymore. To take one of the hated 'Buzz words' from another thread, there has been a 'step change' to the meaning of OK in Christchurch. OK simply means that you and your immediate family have not been killed or maimed.

    I am extremely fortunate to be out of harms way except for the odd plaster crack, and the biggest disposition is the mother in law coming to stay for an extended timeframe. Others in my extended and friends haven't been so lucky. I fear the full impact of this event won't be felt for many years yet - there are simply so many unanswered questions. I also doubt the average Joe Public without very direct contact with Christchurch fully understands the situation either, particularly the emotional aspects.

    My thoughts are with all who have been impacted.

  5. #15
    Advanced Member trackers's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Christchurch, , New Zealand.
    Posts
    2,227

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by minimoke View Post
    Sorry to hear of your loss Serpie. Congratulations on being wise enough to have comprehensive insurance.

    At a broad level I think you can expect EQC to pay out two cheques for $100,000. These cheques will go to your bank for your mortgage. If your mortgage on a property is less than $100,000 you'll get the difference.

    The house part is probably relatively simple. Your insurance will likely pay to rebuild it to its original state using current materials. So you'll probably get single glazed timber framed windows replaced with a single glazed aluminium windows. Your insurance will also likely pay the demolition and removal of the old house. So say you have a 150sqm house, at a rebuild of $1,000 a sqm tyyour insurance company will pay $50,000 - teh othe $100,000 comig form EQC.

    What I'm not clear about is how much the insurer will spend on land remediation. If you are in an area of liquefaction (where they are talking about building dams) council and governement will pay for that so your property gets some benefit. But what if you had 100 cubic metres of silt shoveled off your back yard (like some properties I know) thats a lot of potential problem lurking under the surface. I've no idea who will pay to get that fixed.

    Either way your insurer does have the option of simply settling with you. They might figure its easier to offer you $50,000 cash (plus cash fo rthe loss of rent) in full settlement - or some other figure. If this happens you get the cash (and the $100,000 EQC money) and keep the land and property. This means you have to demolish and remove the property at your own cost (remember the "House of Horrors?) and you'll be responsible for the rates on the property until you sell it.

    Clearly you're going to have to look closely at your Policy and get very good advice. I'd imagine the insurers are going to look closely at their exclusions. Remember after September how the insurance companies tried to claim the immediate after shocks as second events so that EQC would cough up two lots of $100,000.

    Which leads me back to my original post. Are landlords underinsured - resulting in potential slum replacements. Or, as you have raised, will landlords take the money and run leaving decaying bomb sites for years to come.
    Hi Minimoke,

    The guy I share an office with is at the base of Redcliffs and they're looking at a write-off. Have friends in Avonside also that have a writeoff from the first quake. They both think that since EQC covers the land under the house + within 8 sq metres + land under driveway, that EQC will have to pay them for most of their land. If that was the case they'd get 100k for land and insurance would cover house.

    A lot of uncertainty out there but its an interesting theory.

    Commiserations to everyone affected; we got through both without anything major (except water cylinder damage and a few superficial cracks) which is a massive relief having a young baby etc.

  6. #16
    Legend minimoke's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Christchurch, New Zealand.
    Posts
    6,502

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by trackers View Post
    Hi Minimoke,

    The guy I share an office with is at the base of Redcliffs and they're looking at a write-off. Have friends in Avonside also that have a writeoff from the first quake. They both think that since EQC covers the land under the house + within 8 sq metres + land under driveway, that EQC will have to pay them for most of their land. If that was the case they'd get 100k for land and insurance would cover house.

    A lot of uncertainty out there but its an interesting theory.

    Commiserations to everyone affected; we got through both without anything major (except water cylinder damage and a few superficial cracks) which is a massive relief having a young baby etc.
    Thats probably right. My understanding is that EQC will pay for the land under your house and around your house to 8 meteres. This means if you have, say an 150sqm house this covers around 800sqm of total land. EQC will pay for either the remediation of the land or the value of the land art the time of the earthquake. And thats where it gets interesting.

    If I look at my example above my 800sqm land had a nominal value of $133,000. So that will immediately tap out EQC at $100k leaving my insurer to pay the balance. Thats $100k is settlement for the land. Pegasus Town is selling 500sqm for around $170k. $150k will get me 800sqm at Rolleston or 550 sqm at Delmain for around $165k. No idea what you get for your money but we can see there is a shortfall in both cash and equivalent section size for a start.

    $100k isn't going to get you much land. The next problem is to look at your insurance cover. If you have "Landlord Insurance" with State, for example, you are not covered for "
    Subsidence: You’re not covered for loss or liability connected in any way with:
    1. subsidence or erosion, or
    2. settling, warping or cracking caused by earth or other movement
    so $100k is about as much as you could expect for the land.

    The next problem is, assume you but a wee parcel of land somewhere with your $100k and whatever else you stump up with, you then have to put a house onto that parcel. Your previous 150sqm house may not fit on that land so you may have to build a smaller house. You also have the risk of putting a decent house on poxy land which means you can't gt a true sense of its resale value.

    Then theres thinking about the neighborhood. I'm sure people out at pegasus town and rolleston and delmaine have these ideas that their neighborhood will be filled with like minded people. They may find their small sections are built with really cheap housing so the landlords can maximise their return. Which is fine for the landlord but may devalue the overall neighborhood - especially if the Hampshire Street residents move in. (so theres a hint why never to buy in an undeveloped neighborhood - you don't know what your neighbors are like!)

    Of course the detail lies in the Insurance Policy and how the Insurance company sees its obligations under that policy. For example you may have had a piece of land slightly recked by the September Earthquake which as at February was worth not very much. How will the insurance company value the land as at February? Will the tax payer stump up the difference?

    It will be interesting to see how this pans out over the next few years.

  7. #17
    Advanced Member trackers's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Christchurch, , New Zealand.
    Posts
    2,227

    Default

    ^ In relation to Delmaine, the word on the street is that FBU has just bought every available section to house their national and international contractors

  8. #18
    Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Christchurch
    Posts
    431

    Default

    I wonder if it is worth thinking about "where in Christchurch is there undamaged low-cost housing available"? The reason for this is that wide swathes of such property out east have been rendered useless. Therefore, in relative terms there is a shortage of houses in the $220,000-270,000 price range. I suspect that undamaged low-cost suburbs like Hornby will experience strong demand in due course. Interested in others opinions.

  9. #19
    Advanced Member trackers's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Christchurch, , New Zealand.
    Posts
    2,227

    Default

    I think thats an extremely good idea... Its less than the cost of replacement for so many affected places as it is now, and land prices in unaffected areas are bound to rise.

    I wonder if people in that range have put up their prices? I would assume not given that so many people have left the region + extra hoops that people are going through now before they'll sign the dotted line (structural engineers etc).

    If you bought a place now though, would someone give you insurance on it? required by banks for the mortgage...
    Last edited by trackers; 09-03-2011 at 05:52 PM.

  10. #20
    Legend minimoke's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Christchurch, New Zealand.
    Posts
    6,502

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by trackers View Post
    If you bought a place now though, would someone give you insurance on it? required by banks for the mortgage...
    I don't think there is any insurance at all be written in Christchurch at the moment. The "ban" on new policies is likely to continue until the end of the month. Trouble with this quake though is that insurers are going to look more closely at their coverage and premiums with talk that some of the international re-insurers are thinking about quitting earthquake cover in NZ. Expect premiums to rise. As an aside I reckon we can also expect some bargain properties to come onto the market as residents / landlords cut their losses and run. Buyers beware! Also Real Estate agents will be joining the lines of unemployed.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •