Selling a home in Canterbury takes time at the best of times. When the property has earthquake damage, it takes longer. Buyers require builder’s reports and engineering assessments, lenders have their own requirements around damaged properties, and the conditional offer period — where a buyer can revisit the price — can drag on well beyond what anyone expected at the start.
For homeowners who need certainty and a clear timeline, the traditional route often isn’t the right fit. Here’s why the As Is Where Is path tends to move faster, and what you can do to help the process along.
Why earthquake-damaged homes are slower to sell through an agency
A buyer purchasing through a real estate agent is often subject to conditions — finance, a satisfactory builder’s report, an engineer’s assessment, and sometimes a due diligence period that gives them time to revisit the price once they’ve seen the full picture. Each of those conditions is a potential delay, and with a damaged property, the picture is rarely straightforward.
Lenders are cautious about properties with outstanding earthquake damage. Some won’t lend against them at all until repairs are completed or a clear remediation plan is in place. That limits the pool of buyers significantly, which means longer time on the market and less competition when offers do come in.
What makes an As Is Where Is sale faster
When you sell As Is Where Is to us, the conditional offer period doesn’t exist. We come to the property, assess it in person, and come back to you with a cash and unconditional offer — typically within 24 to 48 hours of the site visit. There’s no finance to arrange, no third-party reports to wait on, and no due diligence window during which the price can shift.
Once you accept the offer, the only thing left to agree on is the settlement date — and that’s set around what works for you.
The offer
After the visit, we go away and work through the numbers. We look at what the property would sell for once it’s repaired and on the market, and we estimate the full cost of getting it there. From that, we put together an offer — in writing, with the workings visible so you can see exactly how we’ve arrived at the figure.
The offer is cash and unconditional. There’s no due diligence period during which the number can shift, no agent fees coming off the top, and no hidden conditions. We cover your legal costs as well, so the amount on the offer is the amount you receive on settlement day.
Most people have an offer in their hands within 24 to 48 hours of the site assessment.
The settlement date is yours to choose
Speed doesn’t have to mean pressure. Some people want to settle quickly because they’re ready to move on. Others need more time — to find their next property, finish a build, or simply get themselves organised. With us, the settlement date is whatever you need it to be, including progress payments if you’re building and need funds staged across the period.
The point is that the timeline is in your hands from the moment you accept the offer, rather than being dictated by a buyer’s circumstances or a bank’s processing schedule.
What helps the process move quickly
The site visit is where we gather most of what we need to put an offer together. The more information you can share with us beforehand, the more straightforward that process is. If you have EQC correspondence, engineer or builder’s reports, a LIM, or any documentation from your insurer, having that available helps us build an accurate picture of the property before we arrive.
If you don’t have any of that, that’s fine too. We work with whatever is available and ask questions when we need to.
We have helped over 450 Canterbury homeowners move forward from difficult property situations. The feedback we hear most consistently is that the process felt stress-free, fair, and more straightforward than people expected — and that dealing directly with Kane and Ronan made a real difference. For us, it has always been about more than buying houses. It is about helping people move forward with confidence and giving them the fresh start they have been looking for.
If you have a property you would like to talk through, we are happy to have a conversation with no obligation on your part.
Call us on 0800 697 827 or visit mynewstart.co.nz.
