Sunday Blog - Expert property investment insights

Melbourne’s auction clearance rates are still sitting between 50 and 60 per cent and at the coal face, many properties are passing in and selling after auction. Our auction clearance data is inconsistent depending on where it is sourced from and how sales are counted.  Core Logic count all sales including prior to auction, post auction…

Sourcing a reliable rental appraisal should be at the top of an investor’s list when considering purchasing an investment property. We aren’t talking about getting the highest number you can get on an agency letterhead; it needs to be an achievable number from a reputable agency that you can confidently base your cashflows on. There…

“Be greedy when others are fearful, and fearful when others are greedy”. Warren Buffett has famously quoted this line and has successfully applied it to varying asset class investment activity. Given that supply and demand drive market prices (whether it be shares, bonds, or property), it is vital for investors (and particularly speculators) to be aware…

In property, the term ‘villa’ is not completely unique, but it is confused. British, American and Europeans are often perplexed by our Melburnian reference to something that is broadly understood by them as a flat or a unit.  And their association with the word villa often conjures up a picture of a mediterranean oasis with grand architecture…

Bidding for investor clients in Ballarat’s beautiful pocket of Soldiers Hill yesterday required some fortitude when the rain arrived. Bracing for the downpour and congested on the little verandah, buyers, onlookers and neighbours gathered to watch the gorgeous two bedroom, renovated weatherboard cottage go under the hammer.   We had selected 303 Ligar St as…

Victorian property legislation has quite a few interesting quirks including the Cooling Off Period. The Coooling Off Period offers buyers the chance to change their mind for any particular reason for three days from the date of signing. There are two things about this benefit that are often surprising for buyers. The first is that…

Over the years I’ve helped several hundred buyers with their search for their home. Every single journey has been different, and some of the adventures have remained as terrific memories. Whether they anticipated it at the beginning or not, every single client had to work with me to initially formulate a plan. A road map.…

There is a strong investor consensus that houses on full blocks out-perform units or strata properties. In the same quality street within the same suburb this may be true, but this long-held investment philosophy has many angles. And often this philosophy is wrong. The four common reasons that influence buyers to hold this firm view…

Yesterday’s auctions in Melbourne were a challenge for agents and auctioneers when our skies turned grey and rainfall struck. Some auctioneers battled the rain as it came in sideways, with staff offering umbrellas and buyers taking cover under eaves and garages. Others chose to take the buyers inside, with their auction calls held in vendor’s…

Years ago as a young real estate agent I had a great boss who reminded us all that an offer was never an offer until it was on a contract. He also used the line “strike while the iron is hot”, and while these were good pieces of advice for selling agents, they are ingrained…

When searching and shortlisting for property in a familiar area, our strike rate for spotting an investment-grade property on the internet is around 25%. Out of a possible hundred properties, we can filter the off-the-plan options out, recognise main roads and reject them, spot a busy neighbouring allotment and skip past, recall a less desirable street, steer…

When we facilitate our strategy session with our new investor clients, we spend time discussing the importance of criterion. Any past client could cite me including ‘proximity to train station’ as a must-have criteria for a good investment property. And those who quiz me about locations in a public transport ‘blackspot’ will get my all-too-familiar “nope,…