Dear Kiri and Peter
I don’t normally do this type of thing but this is an exception. I wanted to extend my sincere thanks to you at Barfoot & Thompson, for the services of Peter Tuki.
We are a South African family (both my husband and I are investment bankers) who moved to Auckland in Jan 2020, and were legally permitted to purchase a home a year later. We were introduced to Peter by his sister, and we met him in November last year.
As you know, the NZ property market is a unique world of its own, and we were not only plunged into the chaos of a heated market at the end of last year, but also into foreign suburbs, strange house building techniques, complicated buying procedures and an army of required property service providers. As much as we desperately wanted our own home, we were overwhelmed by the complexity of the process.
In swooped Peter. A Buying Agent (we didn’t know such a service existed). He took us in the palm of hand and held us tight until he bid on our behalf (for the fifth time he tried to negotiate a deal for us) on Thursday and we bought our dream home in St Heliers. From the time we met, he said repeatedly “I will stick with you no matter what, until we find you a home”. He didn’t let us down.
I wanted to tell you how Peter blew us away.
• He visited us the very night we rang him at our home, to understand our need
• He brought us homemade cupcakes (made by his wife Lauren) as a Christmas gift
• He took us (personally chauffeured us) to more than 100 homes for viewings (at least three nights every week and at least four hours on the weekend)
• He didn’t flinch as we changed our preferred buying location from the North Shore to the Eastern Bays
• He didn’t flinch as we changed our budget (after my husband procured a permanent job after being in contract for six months) and our home criteria changed
• He responded to us from 6am until 11pm 7 days a week when we sent him links to places we liked, and to provide us with detailed responses, motivation, and updates
• He scoured every possible property site and researched every layout to find us a house and layout he was comfortable to recommend
• He visited every house ahead of time so he knew what to expect, and binned houses he felt wouldn’t work for our family
• He phoned every other salesperson who was selling a property we’d like - to find out the background
• He set up every appointment for us (many of them) with the building inspector and was on-site to let him in each time
• He reviewed the legal docs before they went to our solicitor so he understood the contents as well
• He repeatedly visited us on Sunday evenings to sign docs
• He took extra videos in the houses we loved, so we were reminded of what we were bidding for
• He brought over donuts and pastries to soothe our broken hearts when we lost a house on auction
• He sent us names of where we could buy good quality outdoor furniture to cater for Kiwi weather conditions
• And along the way he patiently taught us, and taught us, and taught us. Patiently, empathetically, respectfully. About NZ, about areas, about the property market, about resale values and about construction.
When Peter won our home for us on Thursday, I heard the crackle in his voice. He was as invested in our new home search as we were. And we felt it. I can’t explain to you what a comfort it was along this journey, so far away from our lives that we left behind in another country, to know that someone in New Zealand sincerely cared for our family’s future here. It has meant the world.
Thank you for having such a remarkable human being in your business. He has touched us deeply and it is a privilege to have met someone with such level-headedness, such honour, such commitment, and such an impeccable service ethic.
We will remember Peter and Barfoot & Thompson always.
With warm regards
Karen