{"id":135378,"date":"2021-08-12T17:44:31","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T17:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=135378"},"modified":"2021-08-12T17:44:31","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T17:44:31","slug":"buyer-tries-to-stop-us-billionaire-peter-thiel-selling-luxury-queenstown-home-to-rival-purchaser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/buyer-tries-to-stop-us-billionaire-peter-thiel-selling-luxury-queenstown-home-to-rival-purchaser\/","title":{"rendered":"Buyer tries to stop US billionaire Peter Thiel selling luxury Queenstown home to rival purchaser"},"content":{"rendered":"
A Queenstown resident has taken a caveat out against US billionaire Peter Thiel’s multi-million dollar clifftop home in a bid to stop it being sold to another buyer.<\/p>\n
Brian McGee told the Herald he had taken issue with the sale process for the home, which boasts sweeping views over Queenstown’s Lake Wakatipu.<\/p>\n
He said he registered the caveat to stop the house being sold until his dispute is resolved.<\/p>\n
McGee claimed he had been told by an agent verbally his offer to buy the house had been accepted, before the house was sold to another buyer with a higher offer.<\/p>\n
The real estate agent told the Herald he disputed McGee’s version of how sale negotiations took place.<\/p>\n
The agent said he could not discuss the matter further because he was bound by confidentiality towards his client, the home’s seller.<\/p>\n
Industry regulator the Real Estate Authority said all contracts to buy land in New Zealand must be in writing and that verbal agreements cannot be enforced.<\/p>\n
Thiel bought the property – nicknamed the plasma house – in 2011, having secured New Zealand citizenship after spending just 12 days in the country.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He put it on the market just over a week ago, with the agent saying the Covid-19 pandemic had made it harder for the home’s overseas owner to visit New Zealand.<\/p>\n
McGee said that led him to offer to buy the home last Tuesday for about $6 million.<\/p>\n
He claims he was told his offer had been accepted. He and an agent toasted the sale with a drink on Wednesday evening as they looked over Lake Wakatipu from behind the home’s 15-metre wide landscape windows, McGee claimed.<\/p>\n
But a purchase offer from another buyer, who flew into Queenstown last weekend to check out the home, was later accepted, McGee claimed.<\/p>\n
“It is understood that Thiel subsequently accepted an offer from a third party at a considerably higher sum,” he said.<\/p>\n
McGee acknowledged he had not received anything in writing confirming his offer had been accepted.<\/p>\n
McGee also said he was contacted on August 7, three days after he claimed his offer was accepted, informing him that a prospective buyer had made a higher offer, it was now a “multi-offer” situation, and inviting him to make a higher offer to secure the home.<\/p>\n
McGee said he refused because he was unhappy with the developments before lodging the caveat.<\/p>\n
A Land Information NZ spokeswoman said the caveat had been “lodged by a purchaser to protect their interest in the property”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Real Estate Authority (REA) chief executive Belinda Moffat could not comment on the specifics of the case.<\/p>\n
But under New Zealand law, all property contracts must be in writing, she said.<\/p>\n
“Verbal agreements to buy land cannot be enforced. Until the vendor has signed a written offer from a buyer, the vendor can negotiate with other buyers and accept a written offer from another buyer \u2013 even if they have verbally indicated they would accept an offer from another party.”<\/p>\n
Moffat said it was important to remember selling agents were working for a home’s seller, not its buyer.<\/p>\n
That meant their primary responsibility was to get the best sale price for the seller.<\/p>\n
“In a multi-offer situation the licensee needs to be careful when communicating with potential buyers about the status of a verbal offer,” Moffat said.<\/p>\n
“Even if the vendor has said they will accept the offer, the agent should explain to the buyer that a verbal acceptance is not binding, and there is always a risk something could change before the vendor signs the sale and purchase agreement.”<\/p>\n
Moffat said it was important real estate agents dealt fairly with all parties, including buyers, and did not mislead them.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The five-bedroom home was sold to Thiel’s company, Second Star Ltd, 10 years ago for $4.8m.<\/p>\n
Sitting on an outcrop, it offers stunning views from its lounge room and is noticeable around town for its line of gleaming windows fronting the lake.<\/p>\n
Another agent reportedly raved about the view last week saying he thought it was “the best view I’ve ever seen from a house”.<\/p>\n
He said while some homes in Queenstown had doubled in value over the past decade, that wasn’t necessarily the case with this home and the vendor expected “a little over $6m for it”.<\/p>\n
“It comes down to [the vendor] being realistic, they’re not just trying to make a whole lot of money out of it.”<\/p>\n
Thiel first visited New Zealand in 1995 when he was 28. Immigration documents show he first applied for an investor visa in March 2003, then again in 2005.<\/p>\n
He was granted citizenship in 2011, despite having spent only 12 days in the country.<\/p>\n
A venture capitalist, Thiel is reported to have made around US$2.3 billion from his early investments in Facebook and PayPal.<\/p>\n
– additional reporting The Otago Daily Times<\/p>\n