Benefits for ail Access to key resources in development

Press, 15 October 1985, Page 27

Benefits for ail Access to key resources in development

“Home purchasers and sellers, real estate agents and the United Building Society will all benefit under the United Realty World operation,” says the manager of United Realty World, Mr Terry Donovan. He should know — he has spent the last two years researching the project. "The trends in Britain and the United States have been for the specialist home finance institution to become more closely linked with home purchases and sales,” he said. Mr Donovan found a keen demand in New Zealand for the United Realty World range of services. Most people — and women more so than men — prefer to deal with a multi-office or chain type agency. . “They obviously feel they are dealing with estate agencies that have better resources than a single agency,” said Mr Donovan. His findings indicate that the majority of agents would themselves prefer to

have links beyond their own area. “New Zealand is an increasingly urban and mobile society,” said Mr Donovan, “and the city to city referral and listing information provided through United Realty World will help agents capture a lot of this mobile business.” Unity Realty World agents will be able to refer their clients to the United Building Society for mortgage finance. “The agents will be able to assess on the spot whether a client is eligible for mortgage finance. Sales and purchases will be confirmed that much faster. Everybody’s time and effort will be saved,” said Mr Donovan. The commencement of United Realty World’s operations signals a new era in real estate services in New Zealand: “Friendly, personalised service backed by financial resources, expertise and new technology — in short the total package.”

With assets of $7OO million and 72 branches, United is clearly New Zealand’s largest building society. “We believe we’re the most progressive,” said Mr Tony Kunowski, United’s corporate affairs manager. To back up his claim he cited an impressive list of firsts: • United was the first New Zealand financial institution to introduce an online real-time banking system, which provides customers with an immediate update of their account balance following every transaction. 0 United was also first to establish a network of automatic teller machines, giving 24-hour-a-day access to cash withdrawals and deposits. 0 United was the first society to introduce Bonus Balloting shares through its very successful Blue Chip savings account, which combines high interest with 25 weekly chances to double the account balance. This led to the Blue Ribbon Term Investment account,

which currently offers 20 per cent for a 10 to 12month term. Mr Kunowski said that

another United first was the ambitious Lifecare Retirement Village project, where United plans to spend some

SIGO million during the next few years developing 10 to 12 villages throughout New Zealand.