by Grant Wakelin
A little known and secretive government department until Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Kim Dotcom, cyberspying and mass surveillance became common concerns, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) is New Zealand’s online spy agency.
It's hardly a secret anymore.
You’ve heard the noise. Privacy is a big, big issue.
Google’s Eric Schmidt advice is 'If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.' Bottom line, there is no privacy.
When we chat to people about it many are amazed at how much information is available “out there” on them and their property. Much of it is by law public - you can’t hide it. And people will use it. To quote the erstwhile CEO again on Google's staggering collection of personal information 'Would you prefer someone else? Is there a government that you would prefer to be in charge of this?'
Ouch.
Part of the GCSB’s role is to stay in advance of the “bad guys” through information gathering and assessment, as well as employing countermeasures when appropriate. We can’t hide property information, what you can do is make sure it is accurate and be prepared to address any issues the data identifies before the sale proceeds.
We can be our own spy and we don’t need to belong to 5 Eyes and have XKeyscore or some other fancy spy system. Before you sell your home check out what's out there about it. Here’s some places to start:
Your Council Website
Council websites have a good deal of information about your property. Search by property address to see council valuations. While some sites only have basic information many websites also include basic title reference and legal description. Some have great extra tools you can use, like a GIS map system, zoning information, wind areas and so forth. Explore!
One important thing to do is look at the Capital Value (also known as Government Valuation or GV) - if you think it is too low (for the date of the valuation - remember it can be 3 years out-of-date) have it re-looked at. Like it or not buyers will. It can take some time for a successful objection to flow through - even though we’re in an online world the government still sometimes moves to its own cadence. Allow a couple of months for the complete process.
You do have some options to restrict personal information somewhat. For added privacy complete the (normally) online form to withhold personal details.
Google Search
Do a Google search (or Bing or whatever) on your property address. You simply must do this.
Check variations on the address and make sure you scroll beyond the first page. You may find information on resource consents, previous sales activity (even photos and old listing information), information on things tied to that address for example company registered offices. If there has been significant legal action related to the property you will likely find it, for example weathertight homes tribunal cases, or High Court cases.
Certificate of Title Information
You can purchase your property title online for $15-20. This will include a raft of information, including the full name of the owners, any loans (and the name of the lender) and caveats or claims registered against the property. If you thought the fact that you had a mortgage and the bank that provided it is private - think again. There are a raft of sites that provide this service, including the property information sites below. You can also get this via your lawyer or real estate agent.
Property Information Sites
These sites that provide online property information, normally for a fee. You can gather a basic level of information for free however. It is part of their business model - give you a little and charge you for more detail:
- QV.co.nz - shows you a range of information for free, including number of bedrooms, bathrooms, land area, building age and building type. You can see if recent work has been done that required council consents. They of course want to sell you a range of more detailed information about the property.
- Zoodle.co.nz - this website used to be better, but is now owned by Core Logic after its purchase of Terralink, the same company that runs qv.co.nz - so is probably in "run down" mode. This site shows a small amount of free data and has reports for purchase available.
- Watchmystreet.co.nz - if you live in Wellington you can look at www.watchmystreet.co.nz for information. It’s free! This site combines information from numerous sources including Wellington City Council, Land Information NZ, Statistics NZ, even sunlight hours. A great tool. If you don’t live in Wellington - go here and demand it.
Retail Banks
We don’t need to give you the banking websites, the brands and locations are well known. They regularly have either specials or programs designed to attract home buyers (they are in the business of mortgage lending after all). They may have free QV reports or similar that you can access.
While on the subject of Banks, go and ask whether your home is on a register they have access too - they may tell you it doesn’t exist - it does. If your home has monolithic plaster cladding a buyer may have issues arranging finance because it is on that list.
Other not generally available sources
We're real estate agents and the most important source of information is the Real Estate Institute statistics. It has the most up-to-date sales information and a lot of history. Chat to us about this one - we're happy to help!
There are other more commercial sites available that you as a consumer would not normally access. Maybe you’ve got a friend in the industry or a contact you can talk too. For example, Core Logic provides property information sites to real estate agents, banks and valuers. These sites have greater detail and cross reference data from various sources - at the moment including things like your telephone number/s.
Or, others
There are plenty of others - including these days a bunch of sites that offer free information on your property but are really just trying to get you to sign up for a real estate appraisal from an agent (which they pay for). Don't fall for that, unfortunately today it isn't just about getting information it is about evaluating the quality of the data used.
There is a lot of personal information about you and your home available online. Much more than many people think. There is little you can do to control the information that is potentially available to buyers. What you can do is make sure it is accurate and where potentially not to your advantage be prepared to respond - have your counter measures in place. To assume buyers will not do their own research is naive and dangerous.
Thanks to David for the initial suggestion on this post. I could probably have taken all the credit but as Eric says (and Ian is aware) - "we know the truth". Bugger.
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