Experienced property investors Christine and Leo Berntsen always use new builds to build their portfolio.
After working with Generation Homes in Tauranga, they say they’ll never use another builder again and has plans to work with them again when the couple are ready for her next investment.
“They did a fantastic job,” says Christine. “Everything was done very quickly and very nicely.”
Having a fixed priced and strict timeframe made it an easy business decision.
CHRISTINE
We’ve been doing it for five or six years. This is the first one in New Zealand – the rest were overseas. We’ve always liked to buy pre-construction and then sell or rent.
CHRISTINE
We’ve always bought pre-construction properties because we know for a fact, and through experience, that as soon as the building is up and you get the keys in your hand, the property value is higher.
Builders give warranties which is good as we’re going to rent it – we were thinking of downsizing but at the moment we’ve put that on hold.
CHRISTINE
We were going to every open house every weekend for two months. We came across (Generation Homes sales consultant) Stephen Lim-Yock. He took his time to help me get what we wanted, and at that moment, we were in the market for what they had on offer.
We were looking to buy a show home. After all those weekends I thought, somebody must own these houses. So, I checked, and some builders do sell their show home and then rent it back from the new owners. That’s exactly what we wanted, and Stephen said “yep, we have one – we’ve actually got two!”
CHRISTINE
Stephen helped at the beginning but, after dealing with them we won’t buy from other builders. We will stick with Generation Homes.
CHRISTINE
It was very easy. If you wanted extras in the closet or shelving, or when they were ready for tiles and colours, all those contractors came directly to us. It was very smooth.
Even with my tenants in there, there were one or two very minor problems. But we just called Generation Homes, and they sent someone out and got it fixed right away.
We’ve dealt with other companies where we have to wait for weeks, then they send a subcontractor who knows nothing about the issue.
CHRISTINE
Every time we went to check, everything was done to spec. They sent us every report so we can go through them. The finishings are very nice. Everything was done properly.
Whereas some of the other houses we’ve bought, they say they’re giving you one thing, but they fix with something else. Generation Homes are more trustworthy.
It was very smooth and easy – there was good rapport. If we wanted to make any changes, we just had to call and they were on the ball.
CHRISTINE
We used their design which is great – it’s a very spacious home
CHRISTINE
We love the fireplace, and it has lots of windows – all double glazed.
CHRISTINE
We figured Omokoroa would be the next town booming in the Tauranga region and the timing was perfect. Bethlehem was already full, Te Puna had hardly any spaces. But we could see Omokoroa was very open, so a lot of houses were going to come up there. We had a choice between Ohauiti and Omokoroa and I’m so glad we chose the Omokoroa house.
CHRISTINE
We only buy when we know we can afford it, so at least Generation Homes gives you a fixed price. There are no hidden costs, so you can calculate your budget accordingly.
That’s very important for an investment property – you’ll be in big trouble if you can’t make the mortgage.
