September 2023

Upgrade to Start in Coatesville Village

This spring will see two projects start that are designed to upgrade the hub of Coatesville village.

Auckland Transport will build car parking on both sides of Glenmore Road between the corner with the Highway and Lollipops childcare. They will also install a pedestrian crossing outside Coatesville Store as shown in the plan above.

The project's designers have chosen to build a raised pedestrian crossing which will help reduce speed through the village. This will make it safer for children catching school buses and bus commuters to cross this often busy stretch of road.

AT's Draft Speed Management Plan proposes reducing traffic speed through Coatesville village to 50 kmph, and the Chronicle understands this is likely to be adopted as one of the earlier changes. So drivers will be

reducing their speed from 60 kmph to 50 kmph as they approach the crossing.

However, before this building work can start, plantings designed to perk up the village's appeal will need to be completed. The berm outside Black Cottage and the small area of garden on the far side of the highway opposite the dairy, will become gardens that will be maintained by Council. Two trees will also be planted on the berm outside Windmill Orchards, opposite the reserve.

Project designer Claire Walker from WLA in Riverhead, says the planting must take place while the ground is wet enough for the trees and plants to survive. Once things have dried out, AT will be able to start the building work. Residents can rest assured that both projects are being planned together. For more information about the

Editorial

This issue has a strong bias towards the younger generation and I have to say, that's where the joy is at the moment. With Coatesville School's Ag Day only a month away, there's plenty of excitement building about this important day on the school calendar. Check out the Ag Day artists and their t-shirt designs on page 6.

Two local mums are organising an event for parents that could be lifechanging. Find out how to get your tickets to "Raising Body Confident Kids" on page 3.

Playcentre's messy play sessions are proving hugely popular and they're also preparing for a massive day on 11 November. This is when they'll celebrate their golden jubilee - 50 years of Coatesville Playcentre! More from them on page 5.

Pony Club is signing up members for the new season and looking forward to upcoming rallies and events, and Louise Johnston has more information about the planting and building projects as well as Auckland Council's flood risk assessments on page 9.

And, as we get closer to the General Election there's a sense that people are waiting to find out the result before making decisions. Uncertainty seems to bring things to a halt. And as each General Election approaches, (2017, 2020 and now 2023) I've noticed the mood change. This year with the cost of living crisis, increase in violent crime rates and the housing

crisis, it's hard to feel buoyant. So I'd like to politely ask readers to consider the Coatesville Chronicle's advertisers if and when you need to hire a tradie or access a service. The businesses that advertise in these pages are the reason why we have a newsletter and they deserve the community's support.

So whether you're going to book a facial, hire a sparkie or a plumber, build a shed, buy a car, sort out the garden, look at subdividing, install a pet door, do some concreting, mow your property, put in electric gates, resurface your floors, seek financial advice, buy or sell a property, get advice for migrant workers, fill your water tanks, fix your car, build a house or start a renovation, create a pond or repair your driveway, there's a Chronicle advertiser who can help. Please give them a call.

Diary Dates

∞ September is National Mental Health Awareness Month and it's also Blue September, Prostate Cancer Awareness month. Go to https://prostate.org.nz to find out more about how you can show your support.

∞ 21 September, Thursday, Nominations close today for 2023 Beautiful Awards. Go to www.knzb@org.nz This is part of Clean Up NZ Week.

∞ 22 September, Friday Last day of term 3. Enjoy two weeks off before the start of term 4 and Coatesville School's count down to Ag Day 2023!

∞ 24 September, Sunday, 2am Daylight Saving starts today! Put your clocks forward an hour. Remember to also change your smoke alarm batteries.

∞ 27 September, Wednesday, CRRA monthly meeting at the Settlers Hall. All welcome.

∞ 9 October, Monday, Term 4 starts at Coatesville School. Time to pack those school lunches for the last 10-week stretch of the school year!

∞ 14 October, Saturday, AG Day! From 10am till 2pm. Be there!

∞ 14 October, Saturday, General Election You can pop in to vote at the Coatesville Settlers Hall and go next door to check out the Ag Day fun at Coatesville School.

∞ 23 October, Monday, Labour Day, the last public holiday before Christmas! Get your togs out and get ready for the first swim of the season.

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TThe House Company won Gold in the HOY regional awards for the house shown below he Top 100 Homes for the 2023 Registered Master Builders House of the Year Competition have been announced.

The competition celebrates the very best in residential buildings. This year, the regional competition had almost 300 entries across nine regions. Each home was viewed by a panel of experienced judges who assess the builds workmanship, design, style, and functionality.

The House Company, owned and run by Coatesville's Hamish McArthur, was a category winner for the house (shown above) which is one of the 15 entries that will be re-judged in the national awards in November this year.

“Every year we find ourselves more and more impressed by the remarkable builds, level of expertise, and craftsmanship showcased by Master Builders in Aotearoa," says Registered Master Builders Chief Executive, David Kelly. "These awards serve as an occasion to celebrate and acknowledge our builders' ability to build exceptional homes for Kiwis.”

The House Company won a Regional Category award (New Home $1 million-$1.5 million) in the Auckland/ Northland/Coromandel House of the Year 2023, impressing the judges with its execution.

Boasting stunning views across the water to Ti Point and Omaha, the house blends perfectly into the surrounding landscape and features

General Election Workers Needed

To deliver the General Election, the Electoral Commission needs more than 20,000 temporary employees, and there could still be a role for you! Whether you want to work for several weeks, or just for a day, there are loads of different roles, some with training provided. The pay rates range from $26 to $33+ per hour, depending on the role.

Raising Body Confident Kids

Emma Wright speaks about cultivating body confidence in the modern age and she's coming to Coatesville on Wednesday, 8 November to speak at the Settlers Hall from 7pm-9pm.

Emma is an eating disorder survivor and author who teaches parents the tools they can use to help raise body confident kids. This event is being organised by two local women who work in the health and wellness area; Anna Liguori and Macherie Cooper. Anna says, "We both feel passionate about the issues our children are facing, especially in a world permeated by social media - and we

To register, go to https://work. elections.nz/work-at-generalelections and click on the link Register Your Interest. There's also an easy electorate finder feature that will tell you which electorate you live in. You'll need to know this if you decide to register. want to help parents navigate this."

The event is for one night only and includes a lively Q and A session so people discuss specific issues they might be facing.

This is a parents-only event designed for those with children aged from toddlers to teens. Tickets cost $35 and will soon be available on Eventbrite. Anna and Macherie are bringing Emma to Auckland for this event and hope to fill the Settlers Hall. All profits raised will go towards the new Coatesville School playground.

Find out more about Emma at: www.emmawright.co.nz

Whangateau, new build $1-$1.5M regional category winner & Gold Award winner

a concealed jamb system, negative skirting, square stopping, and recessed curtain tracks.

Coatesville Garden Club Takes A Virtual Tour

As part of the winter programme of the Coatesville Country Garden Club, we schedule in some guest speakers who enlighten us about events, places, and of course gardens outside of our usual fields.

August’s meeting took us to gardens and places we may travel to or have been. But even if our personal travel has taken us to these countries, others see and want to see different scenery.

Our speaker, Penny Cliffin, as well as lecturing to AUT students about horticulture, encourages them to go touring to see gardens with cultural and historic differences to our own. Through a large screen, we visited many special gardens in Japan in the first instance, and later gardens in Portugal, Spain and Morocco.

Japan is renowned for its feature gardens, cherry blossom trees in the spring and in the autumn, and manicured spectacles all year round with toparied and bonsai clipped cedars, pines, and other trees of their choice. They shape and construct the gardens to mimic the landscape on a small scale, so there is meaning

in the placement of rocks, trees and flat stepping stones to enhance water features, raked paths and areas, and the serenity and peace created adds to the enjoyment of a visit. They carefully construct vistas that will feature in the photographs that tourists take, to ensure the right impression is made to a visitor. Even to the slow paddling of a punt full of people across (or more likely around) a stretch of water, so they are included in the photo shoot. Gardens are made around water features like lakes and ponds, with undulations and small hills from which features are

best photographed. So while they appear quite natural, they are actually carefully contrived. The Moorish features in the gardens of Morocco and that part of the world, also enhance natural ideas for the enjoyment of visitors. Constructions feature coloured stone, small windows to keep internal temperatures down and tiled patterns on pathways and atriums create colour and art forms. In many parts the palms and tree foliage in different shades of green light up the different heights of terraces and steps that connect a variety of levels in the landscape. Many of the buildings are old, but that doesn’t stop them from having more modern additions made to them, and this has happened over the centuries. A very interesting and informative session from Jane.

She joined us for an extensive shared lunch supplied by members. Back home winter is getting pushed out the back door, with daffodils and cherry trees blossoming everywhere. Tuis are seen and heard all over town. During the winter the members had the pleasure of visiting the Millers household collection of antique furniture bought with them from England many years ago. Aside from the craftwork of the pieces, also was the fascinating tales that goes with history of each item.

By Jenny Hunter

Morrocan tiled atrium with fountain

Daffodils signal that spring is finally here!

Kyoto, Japan

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Embracing Messy Play

Our messy play open week was a huge success, and the sunny winter weather really helped show the best assets of our centre its fantastic outside areas. We welcomed 30 new families through the gate over the week and the atmosphere was festive, especially on the Friday. Our new mud kitchen with running taps has been a huge hit for our kids, who are drawn to water no matter the weather! With new bike ramps, sandpit equipment and giant bubble wands, we are looking forward to lots more outdoor play as the weather warms up.

Our other exciting news is that we have set the date of 11 November to celebrate our golden jubilee. Join us in the morning as we celebrate the future of our centre with face painting, a bouncy castle, lots of play areas and a bake sale. In the afternoon we celebrate the history of our centre with our foundation members and other past members. We’ll have play areas for big kids, guest speakers, raffles, and a potluck dinner around the fire. This is a free event for the community and we invite everyone along including past, present and prospective members. Friday, 10 November, we have a booking at Black Cottage for past and present members to share stories and reminisce. If you are able to join us for any of these events, please join the Facebook group “playcentrejubilee” or email coatesville@playcentre.org.nz. We’d love to hear from you!

Sarah Craig

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+64 21 533 687

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Coatesville

Getting messy at Playcentre's messy play open week.

Ag Day Art Winners Announced

By Mary Searle Bell, FOTS

At Coatesville School, the children are preparing for the biggest day of the school year: Ag Day. Scheduled for Saturday, 14 October (come along after you’ve voted at the hall), the day promises to be filled with fun, laughter, and some cute and cuddly animals.

The first Ag Day task for the kids was to come up with a design to put on the official t-shirt. This year’s winner was Coby Bathurst, a year six student in Room 2. He says his artwork was inspired by two different designs he found online, which he then combined with stunning results.

“Drawing the background was the hardest – I used a ruler to get it even, but it took ages,” he says.

Coby loves Ag Day, and when questioned about his favourite thing, he says it has to be the Chocolate Trailer – a great game where participants try to win a treat by tossing a $2 coin onto a trailer filled with chocolate.

Runner-up Sofia Barron, a year five from Room 4, has drawn a lovely picture of a farmer and his animals enjoying Ag Day. Sofia’s picture will be used on the Ag Day posters.

“I used bright colours and drew the flags to show the fun of Ag Day,” she says. As an animal lover, Sofia is looking forward to seeing all the farm animals; many children are hand-raising lambs, calves, kids, and poultry as their Ag Day projects. Others are growing either edible or decorative plants, while even more are busy with projects that fall into the category of ‘rural tradition’. These can be decorative (arts and crafts), useable (handyperson), or edible (kitchen), with children like Sofia baking a cake as her Ag Day project.

Millah Collett, a year 2 in Room 6, was also named

as a runner up. Her sweet picture of farm animals will be used on the Ag Day thank you cards.

Millah says her favourite thing at last year’s Ag Day was the tug of war, and she is disappointed that she will be missing this year’s event as she will be away.

The team at FOTS (Friends of the School committee) are promising a bunch of exciting activities on the day – from old favourites, such as pony rides and bouncy castles, to new and exciting thrills, such as a vertical bungy!

The FOTS team is still looking for sponsors to help fund the activities, so if would like to donate, please email marysearlebell@gmail.com.

Authorised by Rob Salmond, 187 Featherston Street, Wellington.

Pictured with their winning entries, from left, Millah Collett, Coby Bathurst, and Sofia Barron.

the club over the next month. Our first event of the season is the dressage series to give local riders an opportunity to practice the new ESNZ dressage tests.

Safety is always paramount for our riders and their horses. Dogs should always be controlled when around horses and riders when visiting our Pony Club grounds as accidents can happen very quickly.

Here's to a wonderful start of the season –watch this space …

Tarryn Bellingham

Sign-up time for Pony Club Sign-up time for Pony Club

And we are back!!! Hopefully with a drier season, more mounted rallies, and greater opportunities to showcase our amazing riders and Pony Club facilities.

Excitement is underway as the new Pony Club Season starts again in midOctober with a meet and greet for the riders, coaches, and management teams. It’s fantastic to see such strong enrolment numbers once again. There are also a few new faces to welcome to the club. If you are interested in joining – please email: coatesvillepc@ gmail.com.

What has felt like a never ending wet and wintery few months, we know our riders are looking forward to our Wednesday and Thursday night rallies. These are such great opportunities to upskill

and work towards certificates, create long lasting friendships, and represent our club on many levels.

Despite the tough winter, a few of our riders have been out competing and doing really well. Navigating the constant mud and rain requires a passion and fortitude that only some can rise to.

Therefore, we are thrilled to announce that a few young riders have been selected into the Dressage, Show Jumping and Eventing Performance Squads. Having such a diverse and outstanding group of riders represent our club is exciting. We wish them all the best. We will be hosting a few events at

Mark Mitchell For

Unexpected Crisis: Powers of Attorney

Rob and Jill had been together for ten years. They each had adult children from previous marriages and also had assets from those relationships which they had agreed would be their own separate property. They had seen their own lawyers and signed a relationship property agreement (or pre-nuptial agreement) agreeing on that. They lived in a house which Rob owned 40% of and Jill owned 60% of and they both owned shares in a business that they had started together five years ago.

Rob and Jill were looking forward to the next few years when they would sell their business and enjoy their well-earned retirement. They each had grandchildren living overseas and they were keen to spend as much time with them as they could. In fact, they also had their house on the market, intending to downsize and buy a “lock and leave”.

However, one morning after walking their dog along the beach, Jill complained to Rob that she had a terrible headache. The next thing, Jill had collapsed on the floor and Rob rang for an ambulance. It transpired

that Jill had had a cerebral stroke.

Rob was at a loss. The first thing the doctors asked was, who has power of attorney. Rob and Jill hadn’t got around to completing powers of attorney – they had done them for Rob’s mum who was in a rest home, but hadn’t thought that they would need them as they were only in their 50’s. It wasn’t just Jill’s healthcare that Rob was unable to make decisions about. He soon found out that as Jill hadn’t appointed an attorney in relation to property, he couldn’t

access her bank accounts to help with household expenses. There were also transactions with the company that he couldn’t deal with as Jill was a 50% shareholder. But what was also concerning at this stage was that he couldn’t negotiate on the sale of their property as Jill owned her share of the property in her own name.

The only option was for Rob to hire a barrister to make an application to the Court to appoint him as Jill’s attorney. This was a very costly and frustrating experience as the consent of Jill’s adult children had to be obtained before Rob could be appointed as attorney. The time delays only added to Rob’s stress.

If only Rob and Jill had instructed their lawyer to prepare enduring powers of attorney for them. An enduring power of attorney is a legal document that everyone should set up to give peace of mind for the future.

The protection of assets that we have all worked so hard to acquire is an important consideration for most people.

If you have a will, but not assigned anyone to act as your Enduring Power of Attorney, you could inadvertently be putting your assets at risk.

An Enduring Power of Attorney will look after both your property and personal care and welfare should you become incapacitated to make your own decisions while you’re still alive.

If you have not put in place an Enduring Power of Attorney, contact Tammy McLeod or one of the Trust Team for specialist advice.

Tammy McLeod, Trust Law specialist, Managing Director, Davenports Law.

Tammy McLeod

Local Board Report By Louise Johnston

Over the following weeks, the election will dominate the headlines, so it is a good opportunity to keep this month’s article focused on Coatesville and let the major parties debate the significant issues facing New Zealand.

Auckland Transport (AT) and the Council will start to deliver the town centre improvements for the Coatesville village. On the AT side, this includes the raised pedestrian crossing on the Coatesville-Riverhead Highway (CRH) by the dairy and parking at the bottom of Glenmore Road on both sides of the road.

A big thank you to the residents who provided feedback on the design. Below is a quick summary of comments received back from AT.

AT designers considered the request for angle parking as it increased the total number of parking spaces. However, their response was as follows: ‘Angled parking requires more space and there is limited space available to provide parking and a footpath on the southern side of Glenmore Rd. Additionally, angled parking would result in reverse manoeuvring out of parking spaces which is not ideal on a higher speed road like Glenmore Rd. We have reviewed the sight distance available for people turning into Glenmore Rd from CRH and there is sufficient visibility for drivers to see a car pulling into or out of a parking space and

slow down or come to a stop.’

The response from AT to a request for a left-hand turning lane on Glenmore Road included the following: ‘The traffic volumes on Glenmore Rd do not warrant widening to provide separate right and left turn lanes. This would require road widening, which is outside the project’s mandated scope, extent and budget; therefore, this has not been considered. We note widening would take away from the ability to provide parking and safe pedestrian facilities close to the intersection’

Requests for slow graphics to be painted on the road just before Sunnyside Road and one on Sunnyside Road entering the centre of Coatesville village and lowering the speed limits through the village have been sent internally to another

Thinking of selling

department at AT.

AT confirmed that the car parking spot to the left of the dairy is to be removed.

AT’s response for the request for a no-stopping (yellow hatched) zone to be painted on the CRH/Glenmore Rd intersection so that cars do not stop in the middle of it is that it has not been included in the design, as any queues forming when traffic is waiting for pedestrians to cross the road will only be for short periods so any delays for traffic on Glenmore Rd will be minimal if any.’

For the Coatesville village area, the community facilities department of the Council will deliver several small landscape projects along CRH. This landscape project includes planting the grass berms on the road reserve by the bus stops near Black Cottage on both sides of the road with white carpet roses, Hebe, Renga Renga and Lomandra. The Council will maintain these planted areas. As part of this project, two Liquid Amber trees will be planted opposite the Coatesville Reserve on CRH. As part of this upgrade project, the Council are planning to concrete a small section of the shell path between the dairy and the new childcare facility so that it joins up with the footpath. I have always been a massive fan of the shell path through the Coatesville village and have stressed how important this is to the village's look and feel. It

Louise Johnston

would be great to hear community views on the shell paths, as they look good and distinguish Coatesville from other towns in Rodney. They are, however, expensive to maintain and make access difficult for some users.

On another note, we met with Auckland Council’s Healthy Waters (HW) department at the Coatesville AT transport forum, where we heard about the heroic efforts from locals rescuing cars and occupants trapped in flood waters along Sunnyside Road over the last year. HW and AT are looking at possible automatic road closure signs similar to those used in Australia and automatic stream monitoring systems.

As part of the long-term storm recovery work, Auckland Council are assessing properties with a high risk of flooding again. This includes homes damaged in the recent storm events that the Council did not placard/ evaluate. The risk assessment does not directly align with the coloured placards issued. 7000 letters have been sent to landowners across Auckland; however, if you believe you are at high risk of flooding again, you can register with the Council for a risk assessment. Many property owners are reluctant to engage with the Council on this risk assessment, as the details may be included in the property LIM report.

Auckland Council have estimated that they will need to contribute $1.6 billion to mitigate the flood risk in Auckland, including buying out high-risk properties, which seems an astonishing amount of money. However, given the required scale and work, funding will still be tight. These risk assessments are essential for the Council to understand and be able to mitigate the flood risks. For more information please refer to https:// www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/ recovery-extreme-weather-disasters/ property-categorisation-resolution/ Pages/risk-assessments-propertiesstorm-affected-areas.aspx

Louise.johnston@auckland council. govt.nz

Pest Plant: Privet

By Grant McKechnie

Privet (Ligustrum), another from the long list of plants introduced to New Zealand as hedging, and that liked it so much here it tried to take over.

There are at least four varieties in NZ the main differences between them being the leaf sizes and the mature size of the plant, plus there are some variances in their flowering and seeding times. Generally, the bigger-leaved varieties are the bigger growing. All flower and seed prolifically, grow in a broad range of conditions from dry to wet and in heavy shade to full sun. If left unchecked their prolific seeding will quickly establish a mini forest smothering any native regrowth and to make matters worse, the seed is eaten and distributed by birds leading to new areas of invasion. The scent of the creamy white flowers is known to aggravate asthma, the purple seed and the leaves can be poisonous to animals and humans, but not birds.

Eradication, now this is the tricky bit. Privet looks very similar to one of our native plants, Mahoe, also known as Whitey Wood (Melicytus ramiflorus), they have very similar leaves and both have purple berries. Not only does Privet look similar, it often inhabits the same areas that you would expect to find Mahoe, our native forest margins. This can lead to Mahoe being destroyed because it’s mistakenly thought to be Privet.

If you are unsure if you have Privet or Mahoe there are several ways to distinguish them. Have a look at the trunk, Mahoe should have white blotches on its bark. Mahoe is also a surprisingly dense and heavy white wood when you cut into it. Another difference is Privet has a more upright form where as Mahoe is more random with branches often going horizontal before they go vertical. And lastly Mahoe seeds and flowers will be down

the stem below the new growth, Privet flowers and seeds will be above the new growth.

Back to eradication, Privet has a strong tap root making it difficult to pull out even relatively small plants and it’s likely any root you leave behind will re-sprout and carry on growing. Spraying with herbicides is the easiest way to attack them but you must get good coverage of all the leaves. This can be difficult if you have big plants to deal with, an alternative is to cut them down and treat the stump, and if they are too big for you to cut down, frilling or, drill and inject will also work.

Frilling is where you work your way around the base of the trunk giving it a decent clout with an axe to make deep cuts which you then fill with herbicide. Drill and inject is the same theory, work your way around the base drilling 15-20mm diameter downward sloping holes to fill with herbicide.

For all of these methods, frilling, drill and inject or painting the stump, I use either Glyphosate, Metsulfuronmethyl or Triclopyr at triple strength. You need to do it within 10 minutes of inflicting the wound so that it soaks in before the wound dries out. With the chemical at this strength you need to be very careful about making sure you only get your target plants.

Privet

Time

for a new

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Accomodation Boutique homestay in Coatesville. Self-contained peaceful private suite in our sunny north-facing country garden for up to 4 people. Perfect stay for local weddings or functions, 2 minutes to Coatesville Hall. Contact : Pat 021 316 781 pat@maddisons.nz www.maddisons. nz/homestay

Agricultural contractor mulching/ gorse clearing, mowing (& lawns), rotary hoeing/seeding, stump grinding, Graeme 027 533 3114 Clean Queen I'll have your house looking like a castle. References supplied. Ph Angela 021 0832 9352 Coatesville Mulch Mowing 1 to 50 acres, local contractor, affordable rates. Phone Warren and Brenda Mills on 415 6503 or 021 191 4195

Connect Electrics For all your electrical solutions, Phone Kris 022 332 6663 or 412 6066 GET IN SHAPE Local private gym for one-on-one training or small group sessions, specialising in weight loss, general fitness and rehabilitation. Call Debbie 027 441 8769.

Haven Hair Design Need a completely new look or just a trim? Senior hair stylist and salon owner Lisa Cross will help you look and feel your best. Phone 09 415 4424 or book online www.havenhairdesign.co.nz LAWN MOWING, You Grow & Joe will mow. Lifestyle, commercial and residential. Ph Joe 021 624 494 / joseph@propertyfit.co.nz

Local Shearer, Kevin Abel, 021 223 5033 Odd Job Company For building and landscaping projects, contact Peter 027 453 0570

Painters & Decorators Marshall Painters can help with all your painting needs; interiors, exteriors, even

aquarium and pond specialists

Professional Oven Cleaning

All size ovens, local references and great service from an experienced professional. Text Kiri 021 233 6028 Scout Marquee for hire, 6m x 8m, $250 per day. Call Garth 447 1863

The Blooming Beekeeper fully maintained beehive service. The ideal eco-friendly gift. Bee packages; beekeeping lessons; artisan bee products; swarm catching. Coatesville based. Call Val 021 755 833.

Who’s your caterer? Beautifully presented, great tasting food, at competitive prices. Phone Helen Cato 415 7771 or 021 211 8223.

Zumba at the Coatesville Settlers Hall on Mondays at 10am. $15 per session or $12 each if you buy five. For more information, call Hana 021 02212714.

Preparing your property for sale coming into these warmer (and hopefully dry!) months, may need that extra touch to have your home on buyers ‘shopping list’. You will be competing with a number of other sellers particularly if you wait until after the general election on 14 October, so it's important that your home is presented the best it can be.

Before going to market, let’s do a walk-through of your home and discuss what areas will make you more money, or your property more saleable, and of course, what will not…Honestly, these areas and ideas may not be what you think they are. Make sure you spend your time and money on doing it right first time!

With the lichen and algae making the most of the rain, a house wash, roof and gutter clean should certainly be on the list. Gardens will come into their own in the spring and summer months with magnolia, wisteria, daffodils and other colourful garden delights.

Understand the timeframes involved with the process. How far in advance does the professional photographer need to be booked? This can be between 7-10 days in advance for the top photographers, and if on the day it is raining or dull, the decision will be made to postpone which could be as close to 30-minutes beforehand. Auckland weather can be very changeable as we absolutely know! Your property would then be given priority for the re-shoot. Social media is hugely important and having ‘reel video’ and story media ready to post is critical to your property exposure. Meeting the media deadlines? Print adverts are to be booked between 7-10 days before the publication. Across all marketing mediums allow time to work with your agent to ensure that the property, photos and words are the best they can be. Do you need help to get your property ready? OUTSIDE; paddocks slashed, fencing fixed, gardens weeded, windows washed, pool valeted and INSIDE; hiring storage units for decluttering, paint touch-ups, oven cleaned, staging or partial staging etc. Put aside a budget for the extras or obtain quotes.

I have contacts for every aspect of ‘property ready’ preparation. The goal is always to present your home in the best way possible to achieve the best price possible for you!

Whether you're ready now or looking in the next 12 months, the decisions you make now WILL affect your value so let me assist you and get it right first time! Call me today.

Spring into selling, the market has turned!