Years ago we came back to NZ and bought a big house on the side of a hill.
Great views! Oh yes the views were amazing.
But I grew up on a farm with no hills. So I wasn’t gushing about the views. I was thinking about how steep it was. Plus I got edgy when it rained. All the water in the whole subdivision seemed to rush through big pipes under our house on the hill.
To top it all off we had a huge bluegum tree right next to the house. And every day at 4pm, when the northerly gale ripping up the valley directly into our house, I remembered what someone told me once: bluegums don’t have very deep root systems.
So there I was again. At 4pm, out by the bluegum, making sure the stupid tree didn’t fall over and squash our house. Pretty irrational really. There’s a name for it. It's called “geopathic stress” and it’s a real thing.
What’s that go to do with property law anyway?
This is what. My worrying was NOTHING compared to the anxiety that people out there are suffering now.
Young couples in their first home. It’s a big moment, walking into your home that very first time. You’re now underway in the game of life.
Three years on, they’ve just come off their 3 year fixed rate of 2.45% and are now paying 7%. They haven’t managed to chop any of the loan away like they thought they would. But in the two or three years since they bought the place, what was costing them $945 each fortnight is now $2,695. And that is just the interest.
They’ve started a family too. Now they can’t both be working full time. And when they go to the supermarket or gas station they come away at least a hundred bucks poorer than before.
Its not just young couples either.
Think of the best mates who set up business twenty years ago. Now “life” is costing way more – they’re all married up. Kids are on the scene.
Business is not getting any easier. Everything is costing more. Even good customers are shying away from getting the plastic card out like they used to. The bank manager wants to come and see them.
They’re getting it in the neck at home. There’s just not enough money slushing around, so what do best mates do? They fight. And because they were best mates twenty years ago and started the business on the cheap, there’s no shareholders agreement. No way of resolving the inevitable shit fight that’s happening now. Their friendship is over!
Maybe their marriage is also over. Pretty hard to have a loving relationship with someone who is angry all the time.
Then at the other end, getting your ageing parents into care is stressful. Fighting for the rest home subsidy. Chewing through the money paying for care. Then trying to keep the kids from each other’s throats once the olds have passed away. So sad and unnecessary but it happens when the cost of living is hurting.
Anxiety.
That’s what it is. Everyone is experiencing heightened anxiety. Including us lawyers because we’re now dealing with it every day.
Anyway, I’m no shrink. But I’m getting pretty good at spotting the signs.
So what can we do to help? Our clients are coming in and some of them are just not thinking
straight. Sometimes all we can do is listen. Get them talking. Sometimes that’s all they want.
What are the hot buttons right now that are eating them up? And if they ask us what we think, as long as they’ve opened up about what’s happening, sometimes we can see something they’ve missed. Remember they are like a possum in the headlights at this
point – frozen. Scared to make a move.
How much of their loan is on floating and how much is on fixed?
The fixed rates are lower, and if they’re not paying much off the principal maybe they should fix a bit more? Maybe. Or maybe not if they’ve already decided to sell. Break fees can hurt.
Can they get a boarder in? Doesn’t need to be forever but it might help now. And you’d also be doing your bit for the town because there are people out there who just need a roof over their head.
Do you really need that new car? New bed. Trip to Fiji. I mean, we all see people who, judging by their facebook page, are rich, famous and probably near to perfect. Life is not like that, not even for them.
Are they just hanging on for the sake of it? Would they actually be better to sell, regroup, and live to fight another day?
For our best mates in business there are levers they can push to get back on an even keel.
Start with a line by line review of expenses. An independent one. You can’t do it yourself because a lot of the time you can’t see the wood for the trees. Basically, are there things you are spending money on that are not worth it? Yes there are.
Then, are you actually spending time on the key things that grow the business? Like dragging new work in. Or are you spending all day doing anything but the things you need to do?
People worrying about their financial situation is one of the major causes of anxiety. Everyone has had that sinking feeling when you’ve just found out you’ve got to cough up for something.
Well, right now there are thousands of people walking around with that knot in their gut. All the time. Let’s all remember that. And I was worried about a bluegum tree!
It’s probably counterintuitive to suggest that when things are not good you pop off to the lawyer’s office, I get that. But we can at least help you get your ducks in a row:
- Get your Will done
- Talk to us about your Trust if you have one
- Are your structures in place to protect you from claims and creditors, relationship risk.
- Have you got a shareholders’ agreement for your business?
- When do your loans come off fixed rates and what are you going to do then?
- If you’ve only got one loan is it all fixed for the same fixed rate period? If so, why?
- What security has the bank got for your loans? Are there guarantees?
- Are all your loans with the same bank? Not saying its right or wrong, but… Why?
- Do you have enduring powers of attorney in place? Why not?
That’s just the scratch of the scratch. You’d be surprised what we can do to make sure you’re on track.
Contact us at Queenstown Law, phone 03-4500000 or russell@queenstownlaw.co.nz,