Speaker 1: 0:10

Hello and welcome. Today I've got Kimi with me. Hello, kimi, hi, zeb and Niso, good to see you. So, kimi, today you are coming in as an agent from Harcourts and we're going to talk about what's happening in the real estate market and what do you see out there and any tips for our buyers in this current environment. But before we dive in, kimi, five seconds of fame or even more. Introduce yourself and tell us where you're from and what you do.

Speaker 2: 0:39

Excellent. Thank you, siboniso. I'm so excited to be here today with you. So my name is Kim Tasker and I'm an agent with Team Vida Harcourts in Paraparaumu, and I am one year into my real estate journey here in New Zealand. I was doing real estate in Central America, in Nicaragua, with an American company before I pursued it here on my return back to New Zealand. So yeah, five seconds of fame.

Speaker 1: 1:06

I love it. So a real estate agent was a real international experience. That's fabulous. I don't think it can get better than that. So that's amazing. What brought you back to New Zealand? Well, what took you away first and what brought you back?

Speaker 2: 1:22

Yeah, fabulous question, big OE heading off overseas with my husband, meeting family in London, and then from London we had opportunities to move on to Morocco and then onto a yacht, and that yacht took us to Rhode Island in Massachusetts, in America, where we lived for six months in Martha's Vineyard, pursued my career, my passion, which is another tangent that we'll loop back to that took us to Nicaragua, central America, and while we were in Central America we were property managers of a boutique resort which was in a very well-known Nicaraguan surf spot on the Colorado coast of Hacienda Iguana.

Speaker 2: 2:11

So Hacienda Iguana is a private community, and that community there was owned by a lot of expats from Miami and California, newport, california and so we were right in the hub of this hustling vibe, in a gated community with expat investors, on an amazing surf spot area. Oh my gosh, living the dream, living the dream. And we lived there for eight years. Wow, and that's where my other passion, which is the health and wellbeing side, and the real estate collided, uh-huh. So I'm just literally living in my community and people saying I would love to live here too. How do we invest here? And it just became very organic actually.

Speaker 1: 2:54

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:54

And then from there and over the years that we were living, the networking and I just absolutely loved it. It was just natural, Just my passion, enjoyed it, loved all the properties, loved sharing lifestyle really with everybody that was visiting. Come to 2018, in Nicaragua, which has very strong ties with America, United States, it had some political crisis. It had a political crisis and the political crisis actually caused us and lots of other expats who'd set up their lives Remember we'd been living there for eight years.

Speaker 2: 3:30

We had investment properties running a very, very exclusive boutique resort with clientele from all over. Everything came to a standstill. Wow. So within a very short space of time they had in Nicaragua what was called the Mother's Day Massacres. A lot of this was all around the internet and Nicaragua is a socialist country.

Speaker 1: 3:54

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2: 3:55

And now, with the internet and students who go to America, they're so open to the world and seeing what the world's like with the internet, so they're against the local government, the government that had been putting itself in power for many, many years.

Speaker 2: 4:12

But now these university students are so savvy, so educated and they're so connected to the international world they start to uprise. And with that uprising they protested and there was retaliation and there was the Mother's Day shootings and those shootings were the catalyst for the American government to literally cut down borders. And all the tourists that were coming, you know, years and years coming to stay, they all just stopped. And those shootings were the catalyst for the American government to literally cut down borders. Yeah, and all the tourists that were coming, you know, years and years coming to stay, they all just stopped. So us, as expats, within a space of two years, we had to decide what we were doing. We got so tense at one point that we had a boat ready to come from Costa Rica to help a group of expat families put their families and dogs and cats on a boat not just a rickety old boat to go to Costa Rica because we couldn't leave the country through the borders.

Speaker 2: 5:03

Wow. So within a space of a year, we decided, actually we need to pursue other areas and we will return to Nicaragua one day. We ended up moving to Indonesia and took a very similar opportunity that we had created in Nicaragua, managing a high-end boutique wellness resort in a small island called Muratai Island, which is down from the Philippines. We were this close to home my home is West Australia, perth. My husband's home is here in New Zealand, in Kapiti Coast and we were this close and I was like, actually, our son he's almost five I feel like we should go home, we should be closer to our family, and then we come home 2019, not just for a visit we go back to Indonesia and then, within 2020, covid started.

Speaker 1: 5:59

Covid happens, happens.

Speaker 2: 6:01

So for me, I felt like it was actually divine timing. Yeah, everything was moving us closer and closer to home, and we've been here for five years now. Actually, april was five years, so it's been yeah.

Speaker 1: 6:16

What a journey.

Speaker 2: 6:17

My goodness.

Speaker 1: 6:18

I think I held my breath throughout this whole story going oof. This is again a powerful message of that sometimes life happens and you can either, you know, be sad about it and cry and, you know, mourn what you had, or you could take the power back and go. What can I do about it? Absolutely, and this is what you've done. This is incredible. So you've come back and you're now in the all good Carpathia coast. Yes, and I guess then your husband's family is from here. Yes, and how do you know? Magno from Team Vieira.

Speaker 2: 7:01

So Magno is my brother-in-law, so my husband Zach is Magno's wife's brother, brother, uh-huh. So we are family.

Speaker 1: 7:11

Oh, that's lovely. So Magno marketed my house, sold the house for me and he actually sold one of our other properties for me. And throughout the experience with Magno it's just been really cool to get to know an agent that has your interests at heart. Right, because agents usually have some sort of old reputation of you know being whatever. But recently what I find is through interactions with you and your team and other agents that I've seen on the coast, I think we've moved away from that now. I don't think there is, you know, that dodgy agent stigma, especially on the coast. I don't know about other parts of New Zealand you still see some posts popping up here and there, but I think overall on the coast we have a really good community of real estate agents.

Speaker 2: 7:56

Yes, yeah, I agree with you, Zebany. So I think the thing that really attracted me to when Maganol shoulder tapped me, knowing my experience, was that he's genuine, and I think what you're talking about is genuine a genuine interest to actually help to help people.

Speaker 2: 8:16

Maganol said to me really, kimi, our job is just helping people move on. Yeah, you know my experience of us transitioning and everybody. There were so many families, so many people who had to pivot with COVID, you know, and we're still pivoting, but what it taught us was that actually we're helping people move on, whether they're downsizing, whether their family is growing. You know all of these life experiences and it is life experience. It's not for me, it's not about the houses, it's and that's for most realtors. You know and I feel, being here on the Carpenter Coast, there is something which is very humble and genuine about being on the coast. So when I first moved to New Zealand, I lived in Wellington and I love Wellington, I love the hustle and bustle, but what I found by moving to Kapiti, there is a nice softness and there is a little bit more of a laid-back vibe.

Speaker 1: 9:12

I was about to say I think we're more relaxed on Kapiti it's a bit more chilled. You know, we don't have the stresses of the traffic here. We've got nice schools and nice community. I think the community here is quite tight. Everybody knows each other. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 9:28

Yeah, which is warm and it is, and it's community, which is the word that you're saying. Yeah, you know. And realtors, good realtors, yeah, they're part of the community.

Speaker 1: 9:41

So how's real estate been so far for you in the last 12 months? What have you seen? What have you learned? Where do you think we're heading? Yeah, amazing you, you. You came at a very hard time in real estate.

Speaker 2: 9:49

Yes, the last 12 months have been a bit tough, yeah, and I think for me, coming in um you know, underneath mcgenore, I've been very supported in this space, being in a team, yeah, and also within our team as Harcourts. It's not just myself and Maganore as Team Vida, but it's our greater company.

Speaker 1: 10:11

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:12

So in that respect, like I personally haven't felt those challenges, I know my buyers have, I know my vendors have, but we've all we've actually come out with successes and because, when you've got nothing to compare with, because I'm so new into it and also because I'm coming from overseas, really yeah, and our own personal experiences weren't like that, because my husband and I we moved into our family home, so we never had challenges in that aspect. So it's really enabled me to realize actually there is a lot of expertise out there that I need to tap into. But it is also these challenging times that are here. For me, it's almost like I don't see them. I'm aware of them, but all I see is the successes and we're focused on the success, we're focused on the outcomes, but I'm also aware of what's going on, so I don't have my blinkers on.

Speaker 1: 11:10

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 11:11

And again it's coming back to pivoting. Yeah, it means we pivot on strategies. We get back to the drawing board again, we have other conversations. Maybe we even decide actually no, let's take your house off the market. Let's look at this again in six months time. Let's not put stress on you or let's see if you can look at another way, because what you almost always see at the front, there's always another, there's always a glimmer I like to call it glimmers. There's some glimmer behind there that you may not have seen and that comes in with probably the other podcast that we're about to do, which is in that wellbeing space. Yeah, stress and the pressure to get on the market and get this price, get this price and this is what the challenging are. You really need to become quiet. You need to step back and deframe everything and then you make your calculated moves and they're intentional moves and then you get. You know there are challenges in real estate, you know for sure. I love that.

Speaker 1: 12:14

Yeah, I love that because no good decisions come from stress. No, I love that because no good decisions come from stress.

Speaker 1: 12:19

You cannot make a solid thought through decision if you're stressed out. We all know that another part of the brain activates and that's our amygdala. That's fight or flight and usually you make decisions that then you regret. Once everything comes down, you look back at it and you go, oh my God, why did I do that? Why did nobody stop me?

Speaker 1: 12:46

So it's really good for you guys to have that space, because I guess it's interesting dynamics that you have with your clients and I have with my clients in the same industry, where we hold their hand through one of the most stressful and biggest decisions of their lives For you, whether it's a family that's attached to the house and they're selling the house and they don't really want to do this, but they have to because of X, y, z. And then, on the other hand, you've got a buyer that's really excited to buy, for instance, but really nervous, and that's where I come in in the puzzle. On the other end was the buyer and holding the buyer's hand and making sure. You know that all the whole puzzle just gets together and all the pieces fall where they're meant to be At the moment. What do you see out there in terms of buyers, and what sort of tips would you have for?

Speaker 2: 13:36

yes, um, definitely pre-approved financing, um, have a great financial advisor and, yeah, have an idea of what you're looking for. But try not to limit yourself in some. If you can keep your mind open to consider opportunities within properties especially if you are a first-home owner that you could develop or explore, you know. So not really lower your expectations, but don't always just take everything as face value. Give yourself some time to sit and to have a look at the property. Have a look at all the variables around which make it so appealing distance to school, those things have them on the top of your list, but don't always put everything into two baskets. So in a way, again it's about being able to pivot.

Speaker 1: 14:40

Yeah, needs and wants, yeah, needs and wants.

Speaker 2: 14:44

Yeah, and I think that's what we're finding. We're finding some buyers that we're working with them for a very long time and that it's a hurdle. Yeah, and that is a hurdle. Yeah, you know and there are definitely specific needs, but I think as well, just you know.

Speaker 1: 15:00

Feel back on walls sometimes yeah.

Speaker 1: 15:03

What I find interesting, like when I was buying my first home, I just had to buy what I could afford at the time, so I didn't need to pay rent because my rent was pretty much the same as the mortgage payment. So I just bought what I could at that point of life. Now, what I'm seeing with a lot of buyers they're very fussy. You know, some of them can be very fussy in terms of like, if, if it's not ticking all of their boxes, they don't want to go for it. Yeah, and I don't want to go for it, yep. And I don't know whether it's the social media. You know where we are constantly, you know, exposed to watching videos of our friends buying these brand new houses and brand new cars and living a lifestyle, and you just want to keep up with the Joneses.

Speaker 2: 15:48

So I don't know what do you? Yeah, absolutely, Zebani. So that's you've articulated it so beautifully. That's exactly what I'm trying to convey, which is get on the ladder, make an opportunity out of what you've got and make some strategic moves that will benefit you in the long run, and you can be resilient, and you can use a lot of creativity in the properties that you have and then use that as a step to keep moving, keep moving.

Speaker 1: 16:23

I almost feel like we need some sort of seminar done up by real estate agents, mortgage advisors and interior designers, for instance, and you know, giving examples of some properties that have been run down, for instance, you know, and how you can actually renovate cost effectively to make it the dream home that you're looking for, Because I think a lot of the time people lack that imagination.

Speaker 1: 16:49

They can't see past a yellow wall, you know they can't see past an old carpet and actually if you just give it a lick of paint, you know the good old Kiwi DIY right Absolutely absolutely.

Speaker 2: 17:02

And one thing which I really because we're renovating our homestead one of the things which I really appreciate is gardening, gardening, planting trees you know thinking about if we're also thinking about you know, a legacy, generational wealth. You can plant trees and plant fruit trees and give value to your property. So those properties that we're entering into that are almost like wow factor. A lot of it has got to do with those beautiful, creative little touches that they've put which make them unique to the property.

Speaker 1: 17:39

Passion fruit trees. Did you know the cost of passion fruit in a supermarket? No, I don't $49.99 a kg A kg.

Speaker 2: 17:51

Oh, my God.

Speaker 1: 17:51

A passion fruit yeah. So, I saw it on the weekend in the supermarket. I'm like I'm planting passion fruit trees and avocado.

Speaker 2: 18:00

It's another one, yeah.

Speaker 1: 18:01

Right, so it's amazing. I'm sorry to deviate here.

Speaker 2: 18:05

No but absolutely.

Speaker 1: 18:06

But when you talked about the fruit, trees. I was like oh, my God, Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 18:09

Yeah, I was like, oh my God, yeah, yeah, you know, and it's also what you see value in, isn't it? You know, where do you put your value? For one person, value is this. For another person, value is this. But when you're talking about property, talking about real estate, think about the soil. Think about what value a great, big, huge native tree or fruit tree brings to your, your property yeah, you know that's a really interesting perspective.

Speaker 1: 18:36

I don't think we've had any other real estate agents touch on that, so well done, that's awesome. Um, just to wrap it up as we come to an end about the real estate side of it, and then we will reconvene, for our second part of your journey is with the real estate do you think it's a good time for the investors to come back to the market, because I see a lot of investors are still a little bit, you know, unsure as well because of the rental market. I believe there is at the moment, like, for instance, levin has too many rental properties up for rent but not enough good tenants.

Speaker 2: 19:14

So what's your?

Speaker 1: 19:15

perspective on that.

Speaker 2: 19:16

Yeah, very interesting because we do work with quite a few investors and they're always out there. And I think that there are some pearlers out there I like to call them pearlers and if you have an opportunity to get a perler and, you know, build your portfolio. Well, there are still a lot of pearlers out there. So I think it's always an investor's market and if you're in the position to be able to make those moves on that, well then, absolutely. You know, and again, it's about keeping your eyes open and looking in unexpected places and spaces. You know the networks, the communication that you have, you know, and then you see those pillars come out. And I have a story about a property in Taihapi. You know, looking again, wants and needs and just seeing what is around in the area, so what businesses are opening up over here? So, for example, in Taihapi there is a great big, huge manufacturing electricity company opening.

Speaker 1: 20:35

You know, just you know. I can see our listeners going in and searching Thai happy properties.

Speaker 2: 20:39

And also my husband always says Patia, we need to buy something in Patia because there's surf in Patia. Yeah, but you look at these places that you're not really expecting to see, and there is a lot of movement, you know. Again, it's almost like removing those veils of things that you think are limitations.

Speaker 1: 21:00

and a pearler look for a pearler and yeah, that's going to be the name of this podcast. Look for a Pearler. I love it. Removing the. What was the other word?

Speaker 2: 21:12

Removing the Like the boundaries. Other word Removing the Like the boundaries, or what did I say? Something about glimmers, glimmers, glimmers. So glimmers are like little bits of shiny. Yeah, remove the glimmers and look for pearls.

Speaker 1: 21:24

Yeah, I love it, I love it, I love it. Kimmy, thank you so much for sharing your insight into the real estate in the beautiful and caring way that you did, and we're going to come back for the part two of this episode and talk about something else exciting that is you're doing and your journey and passion in that field.

Speaker 2: 21:43

Excellent. Thank you so much, debony, so beautiful.