Welcome to That Home Loan Hub, your ultimate guide to mastering the world of home loans and property. I'm Zebunisso Alimova, here to simplify the complexities of real estate and provide you with expert insights and the latest trends.
Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, an experienced investor, or simply curious about the property market, this podcast is for you. Join me each week as we unlock the secrets to property success and help you make informed decisions. Let's dive into the world of property together!
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8:57
One word on a listing can change how much control you have after you make an offer: tender. We sit down with Megan to break down tender versus deadline sales in plain English, focusing on what buyers actually experience once the paperwork is in and the clock starts ticking. If you have ever wondered why you can sometimes pull an offer under a deadline, but are expected to “hold” under a tender, this will make the rules and the real-world practice feel far less murky.
We talk through how both methods set a submission time and often signal competition, so buyers should assume a multiple offer situation and put forward a strong offer. Then we dig into the key difference: deadline sales can be looser for buyers, while tenders are designed to give vendors breathing room to consult family, weigh up conditions, and properly analyse close offers. We also cover how sunset clauses and short fuses can put huge pressure on vendors, especially older sellers who want the dignity of sleeping on a decision.
The bigger takeaway is about respect and communication in the New Zealand real estate process. Buying or selling a home is massive money and a massive life change, and the silence after an offer can feel brutal. We share the simple habit that makes a difference: keep buyers updated, explain what is happening, and set realistic expectations so nobody feels strung along.
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Deadline versus tender. I've got Megan in the house in the hot chair and I've puzzled her. What's the difference between tender and a deadline? Because we hear this all the time.
SPEAKER_01
Yes, we do. And I was just saying to Zebronesso earlier that the legal definition, next time I'll bring a piece of paper with me with the actual wording on it. Because although with a tender the offer is allowed to be held for five days, I was saying to Zebroneso, we don't hold it for five days. Like if it's not going to be accepted, we would never say to the buyer, oh, cool, we'll hold your offer for five days. And at the end of five days, let you know. Like it's just not a cool thing to do. So when she asked me to answer this question, I was like, Well, I know what the best practice, like the rules are, but like in reality, we don't kind of let it go on that long.
With a deadline, there's a day and a time that is given to the buyers to get their offers in by. Same as a tender. So that part of the process is the same. Like it's advertised on this day at this time, you need to have your offer in by. And the assumption is you'll be in a multiple offer, like there will be competition with other people. So you do put your best offer forward, assuming that you know, you may or may not have competition, you've got to act as if you do. And then the difference is with a deadline, the unless the homeowner accepts the offer, the buyer can say, Oh, we've taken too long, I'm withdrawing my offer. Or they could put a sunset clause in it, or they could write a letter saying, This is about me and my family, and unless you accept my offer by 4 p.m. on this day, I withdraw it because I'm going to go buy something else. So that's the deadline. It's a much more sort of looser, freer kind of situation for the buyer. Whereas with a tender, the the offers are supposed to be held up to five days. And that's why I'm frowning. I'm like, we don't do that. So if we got a few different offers that were tender, we could present them all to the buyer, same as a deadline. And then sorry, the vendor, the vendor could then say, okay, I'm going to talk to my family in Singapore or London or wherever they might be and take a couple of days to mull this over. In reality, we don't sort of encourage a long time to think about it because there's a person at the other end who's made an offer in good faith, and we know what it feels like to be a buyer. Like George and I have both been buyers before. And so even if the vendor was taking a while to come back, we would then phone the buyers and say, okay, this is what's happening, where they're needing to talk to family, we'll get back to you tomorrow, or they're going to take the night to think about
But yeah, I So what's the advantage? What's the advantage for the vendor to be selling deadline versus tender or vice versa?
SPEAKER_01
The advantage for the vendor is always that time frame, that five days, where they're like, okay, I will have more time to consider my options of what to do or who to accept. In reality, most of the time, there's an offer that's significantly better than the other offers. Well, there might be one offer in this market. So if you have an offer for like 600 and the other offer is for 500, you don't really need to spend a lot of time thinking about it. But if you have an offer for 600 and you might have an offer for 590 with better conditions, that's where they might appreciate the tender process and have more time to think about it or analyse the offers or go back to one of the offers and say, could you increase it or you know, negotiate with them and then go back to the other one potentially. Okay. So for it it is mainly for the vendors, I think. The tender process, the buyers don't tend to like it as much as a deadline.
SPEAKER_02
What do you see more often off? How do you usually sell the houses now?
SPEAKER_01
Probably the tender tender process, although we can do either or there was a couple of years ago, there was a bit of a trend from some of the it wasn't a first home buyer trend. It was more of like your investor or you know, more experienced buyer. And they were putting those sunset conditions into their office quite regularly. And I feel like that's probably where we started going, okay, this is putting especially elderly people under a really huge amount of pressure to have like one hour to consider an offer or like a really short time frame. It didn't really work out so good for the vendors to kind of make a rush decision.
Yeah, yeah. Most people want to sleep on it. And how George and I work is we'll usually say to the buyers, okay, these people downsizing, as you know, they're moving into a retirement village. They will want to probably think on it. They'll have family that they'll want to consult, or a friend, or a neighbor, or an advisor, or a lawyer, or whoever. And it's likely that they'll probably take the night to think about it, and then we'll get back to you in the morning. But we always say to them, if they are going to think about it overnight, we'll let you know. So it's all about communication to make sure that the buyers stay in the loop and feel respected and you don't want to stress out the buyers, right?
SPEAKER_02
We just talked about it offline that yeah, it is the most stressful time of their lives, whether they're buying their first home, whether they're downgrading, upgrading, yeah, it's still the most stressful transaction in people's lives because for one, it's huge money. Yeah. For two, it's the change of circumstances in terms of moving houses and whatever happens in people's lives in that moment. So yeah, you've got to be able to communicate with them.
SPEAKER_01
Well, there's that saying, isn't it? That your home is your castle.
And it's it's sort of like I I'm a scuba diver, right? So we know about hermit crabs, and the hermit crabs scuttle along on the ocean floor and they find the most perfect shell, and then they line up their existing shell with the perfect new shell, and then they scuttle in, and they're the most at risk when they're exposed between the two shells, and that's why they try and get them lined up. And I always think of our clients a little bit like that because although they're not hermits, they the hermit crabs, they're moving from home to home, and they're usually they've grown too big for the previous shell, so they've got a real need to move home, and they need to make sure that their new home is the perfect home for them and they need to move quickly. I wouldn't want to be an agent who got an offer from a buyer and then waited five days before calling them back. Like that's just not how we work.
SPEAKER_02
Yeah. I love it. I'm just still stuck on a hermit. I know you've still got me there where I'm like imagining this little hermit trying to scoot along. That's so cute, Megan. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00
They are super, super cute. Yeah, if you find any YouTube on it, they are gorgeous.
SPEAKER_02
That's so cute. I'm gonna do that. I hope we can tee up a video of hermits to go with our podcast.
SPEAKER_00
Permit crabs.
SPEAKER_02
Oh, that's so funny. I'm making a mental note here. Love it. Megan, thank you so much for describing that because I believe that you know people need to know these things and they should be able to openly ask their agent.
Actually, we have paperwork. I was just pulling up that it didn't open for me. But we have a pre-tender procedure document. So if you want to make an early offer, there's a process to follow. And then there's also an acknowledgement, uh tenderer acknowledgement form as well, which says that you understand the process. So we provide it in writing, and we can also go through it verbally or like sitting with the buyer to say, this is the process. Are you aware that this is the process and this is you know what your obligations are, this is what the homeowner's obligations are. So we do, and then we get them to sign it. So yeah, we do try and help them out as much as possible to understand it. Okay. And we also recommend that they get legal advice, of course. My my constant theme. Get legal advice.
SPEAKER_02
You should put it on the back of your car. Sure. Beautiful. Megan, thank you so much. Really appreciate
it. And look, I just want to give a quick add to my own podcast and channel. If you're listening to this and you like it, please share it with a friend because that's the only way for us to grow. And I believe that the more people know these things, the better this world can be. And we can all get a little bit better. You know, I love when my friends send me podcasts of something they've listened to and they go, Oh my god, did you know about this? So if you could do that for us and return the favor, we'd really appreciate it. Thank you so much.
