The Persistence That Runs Through Everything
If you’ve been watching the property market, you’ll know Wellington continues to face a unique set of challenges. In Tony Alexander’s June column he noted that buyer confidence is slowly returning nationally, but our region is still feeling the effects of public sector restructuring, and with the election just months away, many buyers remain in a “wait and see” frame of mind.
“Why hasn’t our home sold yet?”
It’s an understandable question. For several years, homes regularly sold within days, with buyers competing for limited stock. Today’s market tells a different story – and that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with your home. More often, it simply reflects the environment we’re operating in, and it calls for patience rather than panic.
A recent sale reminded me of that. I had a property on the market for around six months with genuine interest but no offer. Eventually we withdrew it. Three weeks later, it sold – to buyers who’d loved the home months earlier but were waiting on funds from overseas. Their timing, not the home itself, had delayed the sale.
The longer I do this work, the more I notice that lesson isn’t unique to real estate. It shows up anywhere something worthwhile takes longer than we’d like – including in a cause close to my heart that has nothing to do with property at all.
For the past five years, since 2021, I’ve served as an ambassador for the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute (gmri.org.nz), a Wellington-based biomedical research centre founded by reconstructive plastic surgeon Dr Swee Tan, working on cancer, scarring and tissue regeneration. It’s slow, painstaking science, but it’s already producing amazing students and results that show real promise – the same patience I ask sellers to have every week, except the stakes are measured in lives rather than listings.
I wanted to bring that connection into Karori because so much of what makes this community strong is the same quiet persistence – people showing up for causes bigger than themselves, long after the initial enthusiasm fades.
It’s also why a portion of my commission from every home I sell goes directly to the Institute. Let’s face it, do we really need that extra pair of shoes, or do we need hope for the future of our health and the health of generations to come?
I’d encourage you to look into the Institute’s work at gmri.org.nz if it’s new to you. It’s a cause built on the same principle that gets a home sold in a slow market: not one big moment, but people who keep going.
Not panic. Not perfection. Persistence.