Property Investment
7 min read
Author: Andrew Nicol
Managing Director, 20+ Years' Experience Investing In Property, Author & Host
Reviewed by: Laine Moger
Journalist and Property Educator, holds a Bachelor of Communication (Honours) from Massey University.
As a financial adviser, people often ask me: “Opes vs Property Factory - What’s the actual difference?”
It’s a good question because, on the surface, we seem similar.
Why? We both recommend New Build properties to investors.
So, if you’re thinking about buying a New Build, you might wonder, “Should I use Opes Partners or Property Factory?”
There are key 4 key differences that you should know about before you make your decision. Because there are differences in what you get as a customer and how the companies operate.
Now remember, you are reading this on the Opes Partners website. And I’m about to talk about a competitor. So I’ve got an incentive to say: “Don’t use Property Factory. Use us instead!”
I’m not going to do that. Because here at Opes, we believe in being upfront and honest. And here’s the truth: Some investors are better off using Property Factory rather than us.
It depends on what kind of service you’re after. So my approach is simple. I’ll explain the differences as simply (and as unbiased) as possible. Then I’ll take a step back. That way you can decide which is the right company for you.
And if you think I’m being biased. Let me know down in the comments section. That way you can keep me honest.
Property Factory is a Kiwi property investment company. They refer to themselves as a “specialist company.” In other words, they are real estate agents who specialise in New Build properties.
The company officially started in 2010 and has changed its name a few times. It officially became Property Factory in 2016. That was back when the company was run by Campbell Venning.
It was later sold to Andrew Wilson, who now leads the company.
Their team has 16 staff. And they work with developers like Wolfbrook, Golden Homes, and Mike Greer.
You don’t pay a fee to work with Property Factory. They are paid by the developer.
More from Opes Partners:
The Property Factory and Opes Partners both help investors buy investment properties.
And both companies are ‘free’ to use (we both are paid by the developer).
So, let’s go through an honest review of the differences:
The most important difference is how each company approaches property investment.
When you work with Property Factory, you work with a real estate agent. Their sales team are registered with the Real Estate Authority. They are individual real estate salespeople.
However, they are real estate agents who focus on New Builds. That’s why they refer to themselves as Investment Sales Specialists.
Whereas, when you work with Opes Partners, you’ll spend the most amount of time with a financial adviser.
Our financial advisers are not real estate agents. You can find all our financial advisers on the Financial Service Provider Register.
What’s the difference?
When you work with Property Factory, you start by diving into the properties. And they won’t provide financial advice.
Whereas when you work with Opes Partners, you start by creating a Wealth Plan (a financial plan). Then you look at properties.
I called Andrew Wilson (the director of Property Factory) while writing this article. He agreed. He said his company was “property first, financial-side second”. Whereas Opes is “financial advice first, properties second”.
There are also big differences in the service you get.
For instance, Property Factory primarily focus on finding the property from their stock list.
You can go on their website and look at their properties. You can even request a contract right there on the website. There’s one main service.
That’s good for people who want to go on a website, have a conversation with an agent and then buy the property.
Opes Partners works a little different. We follow our five-step Wealth Plan process, and provide a lot of wrap-around services. So we have:
This works great for people who want to work with one company to sort your investment portfolio out. Even though, you don’t have to use all our services. You can use one or as many as you like.
But, some people don’t like this. They prefer to work with lots of different companies and have a sense of independence between their professionals.
So if you are just looking for a property – then Property Factory could be the right fit.
If you want more of a wrap-around service, then Opes Partners could be the right fit.
To be clear, here at Opes Partners we do also have a real estate team (Opes Property). But you’ll primarily work with your financial adviser, rather than a real estate agent.
So to figure out which company to work with, start by asking yourself – “Do I primarily want to work with a real estate agent, or a financial adviser?”
If you’d prefer a real estate agent – then Property Factory may be the right fit for you.
If you’d prefer a financial adviser, then Opes Partners may be a better fit.
Both companies recommend New Build properties. These include houses, townhouses and apartments.
But, there are big differences in how and when you see the properties. So if you go on Property Factory’s website, most of their web-pages are property listings. They run a few webinars too.
But, the focus of the website is looking at properties. So the buying experience is you look at properties on the website, talk to a Property Factory real estate agent, then buy a property.
But, if you go on the Opes Partners website – most of website is content and education. There are a few properties we’ve recommended in the past. But, you can’t see any properties that are currently available.
Instead, we give away data, podcasts, videos, webinars, and articles. Then, when you’re ready to invest, we create a Wealth Plan and then start looking at properties.
You might think: “Why is Andrew talking about websites?”
Well, because some investors will prefer Property Factory’s approach.
They might think: “I’d rather just look at the listings and buy a property.”
Whereas other investors will say: “Yeah, give me the data and content, create the plan, then we can start looking at properties.”
So it’s up to you. Would you prefer to dive right in and look at properties? If that’s you, Property Factory may be the right fit.
Or, would you prefer to do some homework first before diving in? If this is more you, Opes could be the right fit.
There are also differences in the properties you can buy.
To keep things fair, I looked at Property Factory’s publicly available stocklist and compared it with Opes.
At the 31st of January 2025, Property Factory had more properties available on their public stock list, compared to our internal stocklist here at Opes.
We can see that both companies are strong in Auckland and Christchurch. But, Property Factory have more properties in Wellington. While, Opes has slightly more properties available in Queenstown.
A good part of this is by design. Here at Opes we deliberately say no to developers and locations if we don’t think they are the best investment.
For instance, we have far fewer properties in Wellington and Tauranga compared to Property Factory. It’s not because our team can’t find properties in those areas.
It’s that we are deliberately turning developers away because we don’t believe those are the right areas to invest in. And we believe we’ve got the data to back it up.
Some investors will say: “I don’t care about that. I just want to see as many properties as possible.”
That’s a legitimate way to think. And if that’s you, then Property Factory might be a better fit.
If on the other hand, you think: “I don’t care as much about looking at lots and lots of properties. Just show me the best ones,” then Opes’ approach may suit you better.
Ultimately, the right choice depends on what service you want, and how you want to find properties.
If you are looking for a one-off property transaction – you just want to buy a property. Then, Property Factory may be the right fit for you.
If, you’d prefer to create a financial plan, get wrap-around services and have an ongoing relationship with a company, the Opes may be the better fit.
So now that you know the differences between the two companies – it’s your turn. Which do you think is the right fit for you?
Managing Director, 20+ Years' Experience Investing In Property, Author & Host
Andrew Nicol, Managing Director at Opes Partners, is a seasoned financial adviser and property investment expert with 20+ years of experience. With 40 investment properties, he hosts the Property Academy Podcast, co-authored 'Wealth Plan' with Ed Mcknight, and has helped 1,894 Kiwis achieve financial security through property investment.
