\u201cFor overseas clients, we take lots of videos, and provide them with plenty of intel from our own knowledge of the local area,\u201d she told OneRoof. \u201cThey don\u2019t have to stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martelli\u2019s buyers were relocating to New Zealand with their three teenage daughters, so school zones were vital.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trust is exceptionally high. And I have a belief in my team. I always go, \u2018If it was your money, would you buy this home yourself?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are not just buying them a house. This is their first point of contact in New Zealand, which is a new culture, new climate, new lifestyle. It\u2019s new everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Riddell Road property had been on the market since 2023. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
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Martelli Buyers Agents founder Alex Martelli: \u201cFor overseas clients, we take lots of videos, and provide them with plenty of intel from our own knowledge of the local area.\u201d Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
The Riddell Road home had been on the market since 2023 with various agencies, and was priced to sell when Martelli\u2019s buyers swooped in. They paid $3.4m, just below the $3.495m asking price and more than $1.3m below the RV.<\/p>\n
Listing agents Myles and Peter Cleave, from Bayleys, had disclosed in their marketing that the vendor was prepared to take less than the build cost. <\/p>\n
Martelli said a lot of her work involved narrowing down potential properties, many of which are not openly listed on the market, to a focused handful to show clients. One client\u2019s list started at over 40 properties. Another saw just one house, said it was perfect, and the deal was done in three days.<\/p>\n
Some wealthy buyers like Martelli to front for them because they want to keep their identities private. \u201cWe\u2019ve worked with a few American buyers recently, who say, \u2018I\u2019ve got an American accent. I don\u2019t want agents to go, \u2018These guys don\u2019t understand the market\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Discover more: <\/p>\n
– Who bought Southland\u2019s mystery mansion? Foreign buyer deal leaves locals guessing<\/a><\/p>\n – $14.5m in just one week: Trio of deals in St Heliers as US buyers put pressure on locals<\/a><\/p>\n – Wealthy buyers flying in every two weeks: Lodge sells for $16.5m as Queenstown feels the heat<\/a><\/p>\n Bringing a dose of reality to buyers\u2019 wish-lists is part of her job. \u201cWe have a fiduciary duty to the buyer. You have to have a reality check and say, \u2018Look, I understand what you want to buy, but that\u2019s not actually achievable\u2019. And those are tough conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n Martelli often works with locals as well. Some are too busy to search themselves; others don\u2019t know enough about a new area to understand prices and values, while others call her in for final negotiations once they\u2019ve found a place.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a chap call me – he\u2019s a CEO of a very large firm. He goes, \u2018Alex, I\u2019m awesome at business negotiation … but I actually don\u2019t know how to negotiate property because it\u2019s not my area of expertise. If I don\u2019t know the market and the values, how do I negotiate this?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Prices for the over 80 homes Martelli\u2019s team has bought for clients range from $800,000 to over $10m. \u201cIf you\u2019re a first-time buyer and you\u2019ve worked your bottom off for years to save up, then that deposit is really important,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Some vendors prefer to market their homes only to international buyers, foregoing local markets. This luxurious Hamptons-style spread on 45 View Road, in Auckland\u2019s Campbells Bay, has a $32.5m price tag. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n \u201cWhen they are wealthier, [they] say, \u2018I don\u2019t want to be ripped off because I\u2019m wealthy\u2019. I\u2019ll be damned if I\u2019m going to be taken for a ride\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n She said buyers in the current market were particularly fearful of overpaying. Foreign buyers particularly struggled with the lack of asking prices in New Zealand.<\/p>\n She has learned that sometimes pricing can be arbitrary.<\/p>\n In London, where she worked as a buyer\u2019s agent, houses were rejected because the garage wasn\u2019t large enough to fit the Mercedes Maybach or the Phantom Rolls-Royce. Car parking can also be a problem in Auckland.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a house in Parnell we were looking at, and the Porsche and the Ferrari would scrape [getting into the garage].\u201d<\/p>\n Newly released data shows the government approved five property purchases by overseas investors in the last month, including three in Queenstown-Lakes, one in Auckland and one in Southland.<\/p>\n This brings the total number of $5m-plus property purchases by \u201cgolden visa\u201d holders to 25 since the foreign investment rules were changed at the start of March.<\/p>\n Bayleys chief executive Mark Macky told OneRoof that his salespeople worked with offshore clients through local buyer agents and through Bayleys\u2019 global partner, Knight Frank.<\/p>\n \u201cKnight Frank is the dominant player at the top end of the market and has an extensive private office that deals with the family offices of [wealthy people],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re on regular calls with those guys, sharing listings, sharing properties, sharing buyers.\u201d<\/p>\n Mark Harris, managing director of New Zealand Sotheby\u2019s International Realty, said that sometimes his agents here act as buyer\u2019s agents, particularly for high-end clients referred by the company\u2019s Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York offices.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the US, they work both sides over there; they have buyer agents and listing agents. It\u2019s something we\u2019re exploring here as well in New Zealand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Harris noted that some New Zealand vendors preferred to list their properties exclusively on the overseas market, not locally.<\/p>\n \u201cThey feel like possibly the purchaser is more likely to be an international … but also there\u2019s sometimes a level of discretion that they would like as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n NZ Sotheby\u2019s agent Malcolm Low is currently marketing one such listing to overseas buyers: a Hamptons-style five-bedroom, four-bathroom home on 45 View Road, Campbells Bay, on Auckland\u2019s North Shore<\/a>.<\/p>\n The contemporary coastal home, which is listed on luxury accommodation sites for $15,000 a night, has an asking price of US$19.045m (NZ$32.5m).<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/b245b606f3129bff18027326669000f0.jpg\")
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