Sunday Blog
Why do so many investors stop at one?
Australians are well known for their affinity towards property. We seem to have an obsession with it, from television shows to investor portals to podcasts. Interestingly, 27% of Australian property is owned by investors by number, and 24% by value. ‘Mum and Dad’ investors make up a huge proportion of property investors and property investors…
Read MoreWhat is a fair competitive stretch?
Yesterday was a Super-Saturday for Melbourne, officially termed for weekends with more than a thousand auctions. Not only that, but it was our largest auction number so far for 2019. A whopping 1400 auctions were held across our state yesterday. Most of us would have anticipated a slight decline in the auction clearance rate, given…
Read MoreWho *are* the buyers?
2019 has been an unusual year indeed. As stated last week by a auctioneer, it’s been a year of two distinctly different halves. The Federal election augmented our year on May 18th, and along with the surprise result came a surge in positive sentiment, pent-up intent to buy, and stronger capacity to do so with…
Read MoreUnderquoted? Or did the vendor re-calibrate?
It is peak auction season in Melbourne and despite some busy auction schedules for agency offices, we still have a relative undersupply of property for sale. When we overlay this with increased buyer sentiment, (ie. returning investors, cashed up baby-boomers, motivated first home buyers and upgraders), we still have a market imbalance. Our auction clearance…
Read MoreHow does street scape rank?
As Buyer’s Advocates, we carry a two-part criterion checklist with us every time we assess a property. Our list incorporates “must-haves” and “nice to haves”, and we constantly balance the art and the science that is required to grade a property. Elements like train station proximity, access to the city/airport/schools, walking distance to cafes/shops are…
Read MoreOne of my earlier property mistakes
Back in 1999, I bought my second property. It was no means my eventual dream home, in fact it was quite disgusting. We paid $97,000 for it, which at the time was an exciting achievement. It was the only remaining house on a generous block of land within 600m to the beach and near to…
Read MoreWhy a home that has been loved and lived in can be a great investment
We help clients buy residential property with all kinds of histories; from down-sizers selling family homes to subdivided lots, from renovated period houses to rugged blank canvases. There is one particular category of home that ensures any challenges and teething problems are minimised, and that is a home that has been loved and lived in.…
Read MoreHow a football game and a horse race determine a city’s auction schedule
Our auction clearance rates in Melbourne have grown quickly since the Federal election and the reason for this has been the perfect combination, (or perfect storm, as buyers would see it) of a heightened positive buyer sentiment and tight stock shortage. Vendors seem to be the last to catch on to the fact that a…
Read MoreResetting Price Expectations
When markets adjust abruptly, typical analytical routines can become very challenging. In the property industry, the reliability of relevant data such as comparable sales comes into question, and it’s not just agents who struggle to keep up. Buyers and vendors also experience confusion around price expectation because their data points are changing at a rapid…
Read MoreKnow your auctioneer
Most buyers would approach an auction with trepidation and caution. Plenty don’t have a firm plan. And very few would be on first-name terms with the auctioneer, but they should be. In most cases, we make sure we meet and greet the auctioneer every time before we bid. Knowing the listing agent and being familiar…
Read More