Posts by Cate Bakos

Over the weekend, we missed out on a superb, family home for an investor client of ours. This result in Glenroy got me thinking, and it is worth unpacking. The home sold under the hammer for $968,000, above a reserve of $935,000. There were four bidders; three of which were owner occupiers and we represented…

I regularly speak with buyers who include this in their key criteria: “We want to be in a top school zone.” Sometimes they have children, sometimes they don’t. And increasingly, investors are adding it to their criteria too. It’s understandable. The idea of securing a strong public education without private school fees is compelling. In…

In just one month, our market has made a complete shift. January started out strongly in Melbourne, with strong investor enquiry and first home buyer activity defining the start of the year. But throw in two interest rate hikes, a US led Middle Eastern conflict, a pinch of inflation wows, a shake of wallet shock…

When it’s tax time, as investors we get a glimpse into the outgoings and emerging patterns across our property portfolio. With Victoria’s rental law changes that have been applied over recent years, it’s easy to see that operating expenses have increased. We modelled out the list of expenses for each property as a percentage of…

In the southern hemisphere, we talk about optimal orientation for property as being north-facing. Watching British renovation television programs always reminds me of our universal need for natural light when they place an emphasis on capturing their south-facing sun. Many of us like to enjoy the benefit of sunshine all year round in our homes. A well orientated…

We face this question every single time we assist a purchaser with an offer that is subject to an acceptable building and pest inspection being done within a short timeframe following the acceptable offer. Building and pest inspections offer buyers peace of mind, and in a lot of circumstances we arrange them prior to making…

For the last two years, Melbourne’s outer-ring, fringe suburbs have been delivering outperformance capital growth in the house market category. While we have incentivised first home buyers with the broader rollout of the Federal Government’s 5% deposit guarantee, and stamp duty concessions remain in place, there is another reason why these areas have delivered growth.…

I’ve talked extensively about my personal experience in property long before my career in Buyer’s Agency began. I’ve shared plenty of ups, and plenty of downs. Most importantly, I have enjoyed sharing my learnings, because there is a lot of merit in saving someone else the hard lesson, (and the repercussions). I have purchased not…

Earlier this week, I was asked by a client, “Cate, how do you and your team shortlist my properties?” Our client was wondering how there are so many out there, yet we have just provided her a detailed list of only two properties that meet her criteria. Is her search particularly fussy? No, not at…