In an industry dominated by men, Eve Prouse stands out. The 36-year-old from South Auckland spent six years training to be a property valuer and has many unique insights around the industry.

She also understands that property ownership is an investment in the future – having sold her first family home, she and her husband purchased a property with three free-standing homes, two of which she rents out.

Getting started

Prouse grew up in Manurewa, South Auckland. Her parents weren’t investors, and while she had an aunty who was briefly a real estate agent, she didn’t have role models in the industry as she was growing up.

She studied marketing and management after leaving school and found work in the industry. But she didn’t love it.

“I was working in a marketing assistant role at a global firm, alongside dietitians and nurses. I loved the people I worked with, but I wasn’t working in the capacity I wanted.”

She was also concerned about her living situation. He parents split up when she was in her early 20s, and she was living with her father.

“I was worried about my future living situation; I had two family dogs I inherited from my parents’ divorce, and I was struggling to find a decent rental because I had dogs.” she shares.

“I had this fear that I would be stuck living with my dad forever; it really gave me motivation to save and buy a house.”

By 2013, at age 25, she had enough money to buy a house with her partner, who she would go on to marry.

Located in Papakura (“conveniently close to my dad,” she shares) the brick-and-tile, four-bedroom, two-bathroom, double-garage home was secured for just $372,500 – a price that still irks her.

“I didn’t know much about property back then, but the real estate agent hustled me into paying that extra $2,500. Looking back, it annoys me how naïve and gullible I was in that situation. I know now that I should’ve got a valuation.”

Change of focus

Prouse was still working in marketing at this point, but she was keen for a change of career. A woman she worked with had sent her teenage children to a career advisor, and it got her thinking about her own future.

“I hired the same careers advisor, and she was great. I’d realised that property was my passion, so she worked out the industries that were suitable. I wasn’t interested in some of the jobs – construction or the like. But property valuer sounded interesting to me.”

In life, there are often moments of synchronicity – uncanny coincidences that can alter your course. Around the time Prouse attended her session with the career advisor one such moment occurred.

“I was chatting with the receptionist at the firm I was working for and told her I was interested in becoming a valuer. She told me her dad was one and invited me for dinner with him.

“So, I went to meet her dad [Tony] in his home in Mt Eden: I asked lots of questions and he was really helpful.”

Prouse has kept the piece of paper with the questions she wrote from that first dinner. It’s a treasured object for her.

“It’s a memory keepsake; both Tony and his daughter have passed away,” she shares. “But they were such an important part of my life and career.”

This meeting fuelled her desire to become a valuer. Qualification is a long process – three years of full-time studying, followed by three years of supervised full-time practical work experience, and a gruelling three-hour registration examination.

But she had to work at the same time, so found a job in the property industry, at commercial property firm CBRE.

Studying at night and working full-time during the day, the experience was intense.

But she believed that once she graduated from her course, she would be able to work at the head office of CBRE as a valuer. Sadly, she was made redundant after a restructure.

Fortunately, she found a job as an assistant valuer in Takapuna on Auckland’s North Shore. But living in Papakura and commuting to Takapuna every day was arduous. She decided she wanted out and contacted a local valuer to see if they had a position going. It was another moment of synchronicity.

“One of the valuer’s who owned the business and became my main mentor ended up being the cousin of the valuer I had met through my friend and co-worker, Tony. I got the job; and Tony called me on my first day at the office to congratulate me.”

Out on her own

Prouse is now a registered valuer with her own company. She specialises in commercial and residential valuation in South Auckland.

Her investment journey has seen her sell her original home and move into a site in Papakura that has three freestanding properties – the home where she and her family (husband and nearly 3-year-old son) live; boasting a total of eight bedrooms, four bathrooms, a study, three living areas, a single integral garage and double carport.

Having bought her first home for $372,500 she sold it for $670,000 in 2018, using the equity to purchase the three-home site for $980,000.

She has always educated herself around property and read many books on the subject. It made her aware of the importance of property as a tool for the creation of intergenerational wealth – three standalone homes on one site was an excellent opportunity.

She has not done much to the properties, they are “clean and tidy”, additions have been made to meet the healthy homes standards, and the smallest standalone property had a single garage conversion into two rooms.

They also popped up a fence around the properties to make them safe, and the rentals are pet friendly, which is great for attracting long-term renters. These long-term buy-and-hold properties have an impressive gross yield of 9.7 per cent, if calculated using the purchase price.

Valuable insights

As a valuer, Prouse understands how important it is to manage the expectations of her clients when it comes to the value of their homes.

She says that many people believe that she can make a quick decision about the value of a home the moment she sees it: “they don’t realise that going through the home is the easy part”.

The process of valuing residential property can take up to six working days – but depending on the urgency and complexity.

It’s a highly complex process and many factors need to be considered when making a valuation. By specialising in South Auckland, a place where she has always lived, she is able to offer her clients extremely accurate assessment of the homes she values.

And she believes it is very important for investors to have their homes valued, even if they don’t think they need to.

“My reports can help investors understand how to increase the value of their properties. I can flag any issues that might put off buyers – factors like bathroom and kitchen design, or homes that are not fully secure can reduce the value of the property.”

She says that the role is “intense, exciting, high-pressure, fast-paced, dynamic, detail-oriented, communicative, quantitative, and qualitative”.

And she is passionate about sharing her knowledge with others. “There is so much that people can discover through the valuation process – it offers investors far more than what they may expect. There is so much information contained in the documents that can be used to unlock unrealised value.”