Written from the trenches of Auckland real estate by Amit Sharma — Bayleys agent, 10+ years marketing experience.
An open home is a rare twenty minutes of direct access to the person who knows most about the property. Most buyers spend it looking at the kitchen. The questions below cost nothing to ask, and the pattern of what you get back — including what an agent will not answer — is often as useful as the answers themselves.
A note on how to ask, because it changes what you get: agents work for the vendor and have legal obligations to be accurate, but they are not required to volunteer everything. Direct, respectful, specific questions get real answers. Vague ones get marketing. And write the answers down — by your fourth open home on a Sunday, you will not remember which house had the leaky skylight.
Why is the vendor selling? You may not get the full answer, but the way an agent responds tells you a lot.
You are listening for urgency and for timeline. A vendor who has already bought elsewhere is in a different position from one testing the market, and that difference is worth real money in a negotiation. A smooth non-answer is itself information.
How long has it been on the market, and have there been any price changes? Long campaigns and price drops are leverage at the negotiating table.
Ask whether it has been listed before and withdrawn, not just how long this campaign has run. A property that was on the market last spring, came off, and has reappeared with new photos has a history — and that history usually explains itself once you know to look for it.
How many offers have been received, and were any conditional? "Strong interest" is a phrase. Numbers are facts.
Push politely for the number. There is a large practical difference between three offers and one, and between an unconditional offer and one subject to the sale of another house. If the answer stays qualitative after a direct question, price the property on your own assessment rather than on the implied competition.
Has a building report or LIM been done by the vendor? If yes, ask to see it. If no, factor the time and cost into your offer.
If a vendor-supplied report exists, read it properly and check who commissioned it and when. A report prepared for the vendor is still useful, but it is not the same as one you commissioned, and many buyers get their own regardless — particularly before an auction, where you have no conditions to fall back on.
Are there any unconsented works? Decks, internal walls, garages converted to living space — all common, all need checking.
This is the question with the largest downside if you skip it. Unconsented work affects what your insurer will cover, what your bank will lend against, and what it will cost you to put right — and it becomes your problem the moment you settle. The LIM is where it shows up, so if the answer is uncertain, that is a reason to make sure you see one.
What is the body corporate fee, and what does it cover? For apartments and townhouses, this is often the deal-breaker buyers miss.
Go further than the fee. Ask for the body corporate minutes, the long-term maintenance plan and the current balance of the fund. A modest levy alongside an underfunded plan and a re-clad or a roof due is a large bill arriving shortly with your name on it. For a unit title you should also receive a pre-contract disclosure statement — read it.
How is the property heated and insulated? Healthy Homes compliance matters even for owner-occupiers — you will live with the bill.
Healthy Homes standards apply to rental properties, so if you are buying to live in, the compliance question is really about your own comfort and running costs. Ask about insulation, the type and age of heating, whether there is extraction in the bathroom and kitchen, and whether the windows have ever shown condensation problems. An Auckland winter in a poorly insulated house is expensive in a way that never appears in the listing.
What stays and what goes? Heat pumps, dishwashers, curtains, the spa — assume nothing.
The chattels list in the agreement is what governs this, not the conversation. If something matters to you, check that it is named there before you sign, and be specific — "curtains" without naming rooms has caused more settlement-day arguments than almost anything else on this list.
When does the vendor want settlement? If your timing matches theirs, you have an advantage.
This is one of the few things you can offer that costs you nothing and is worth a great deal to the right vendor. If they need a long settlement to line up their next purchase and you can accommodate it, that flexibility can be worth more to them than a few thousand dollars from someone else.
Have any neighbours objected to recent council notifications? A two-minute question that has saved buyers hundreds of thousands.
Related and worth asking: what is planned or consented nearby. A vacant site next door, an intensification zoning change, or a consented development down the street will shape your outlook, your light and your resale. The council's property and planning information is public, and your solicitor will look — but knowing early saves you paying for a report on a house you would not have wanted.
What is the agent's honest read on offers in the next week? Most agents will tell you more than you expect if you ask directly and respectfully.
Is the vendor open to a pre-auction offer? Sometimes the best price is the one that stops the campaign.
Understand what a pre-auction offer usually triggers before you make one: if it is accepted as a qualifying offer, the auction is typically brought forward and every other interested buyer is told there is now a bid to beat. It can win you the house, and it can equally set the floor for someone else. Talk it through with your agent and your solicitor rather than deciding on the driveway.
Last one, and ask it of yourself rather than the agent: what would make me walk away from this house? Deciding that while you are calm and standing in the hallway is far easier than deciding it three weeks later with a deadline in front of you.