Are you a homeowner looking to boost the value of your property? Look no further! In this comprehensive guide, we will provide you with expert tips and strategies to increase the value of your property. Whether you are planning to sell in the near future or simply want to enhance the market worth of your home, this guide has got you covered.
Articles
How Make An Offer On A Property (NSW)
Sick of auctions? How to make an offer on a property that is irresistible to the vendor
Do real estate agents have to disclose deaths
This tells you once and for all what real estate agent have to disclose in regard to death and the sale of property
Complete Guide: The hidden costs to buy a house
A complete guide to the costs of purchasing property
Do real estate agents lie about other ‘offers’?
Real Estate Agents are always under scrutiny in their day-to-day dealings. This is because of the nature of their industry, the stakes are at their highest. We are talking about the biggest asset purchase or sale in both the vendor’s and buyer’s lives. We are talking about risking their own money and debt. There is only one property available and there can be only one winner and everyone else is the loser. There are no prizes for coming in second.
Should I Buy or Sell First?
Should I Buy or Sell? The answer lies with you and your circumstances
What is a buyers agent
A buyers agent or buyers’ advocate is a licensed real estate agent who is procured by a prospective property purchaser to facilitate the acquisition of a property based on achieving the specific goals of the buyer. The buyers’ agent is tasked with sourcing, evaluating, appraising, negotiating, and securing property on behalf of their client.
What are buyers agent fees? How are they calculated?
In NSW, commissions are completely deregulated; meaning the fee and the structure is completely negotiable and this applies to buyer’s agents not just real estate agents.
Why are we still nervous in the face of economic uncertainty? Is now the right time to buy?
With the election over, have we become more certain about the future? Probably not.
Looking to ‘add value’ to the attic space of an apartment [Cautionary Tale]
A common marketing strategy for agents that sell top floor apartments is to spruik the potential to use the attic space as the main draw card for the property. But be careful, I’ll tell you why.
Why you shouldn’t worry about interest rates and elections
Did you see any of the following events coming before they happened? COVID, 9/11, the GFC, The Great Depression. Probably not, no one had these events on their radar but look how these unforeseen events have affected us.
Here’s how to pick the top of the property market [Realistic Guide]
What do Ash Barty, Keith Miller, and Shane Gould all have in common? Yes, they are all Australian, but they are all athletes who retired at the peak of their careers. Keith Miller famously remarked “I wanted to retire when people were saying ‘why did you?’ rather than ‘why don’t you?’,”
‘Rentvesting?’ [3 Tough Questions to Ask Yourself]
The phenomenon of "rentvesting" has been popular with people wanting to get their foot onto the property ladder while not giving up their particular...
What Real Estate Agents Don’t Want To Answer [3 Questions]
Real Estate Agents are tasked to present the properties in the most favourable light. By highlighting the desirable attributes while disguising the...
How to Lose Money in Real Estate [Parody]
If you are sick and tired of making money from real estate and seeing constant success stories all through the media. There are certain steps that you can take to ensure that you lose money. Sydney property prices have had a strong thirty-year surge and it’s quite difficult to lose money when the whole market rises but if you follow all these steps there is a good chance that you could end up in the red.
What are the deal breakers in buying property and what really aren’t [Searching for Property]
When we inspect properties on Saturday, our knuckles bruise from constant ‘wall checks’ and our knees hurt from constantly jumping up and down ‘checking the foundations’ we look to see if the property is structurally sound despite most of us having very little experience in construction.
Why can’t you place property around the world in the same bag [Educational]
Bubbles in asset prices usually come through a mixture of low-interest rates, credit supply, and a gap between supply meeting demand. It is further perpetuated by hubris, relaxed government measures, speculation, and the famous ‘FOMO’ (fear-of-missing-out).
BLOCKED: Are you buying a property with a view? [Guide]
The view from the open house that you walked into last Saturday seems enticing. You can already imagine yourself lounging back, watching the sunset...
Why the property price results of few distort the perception of many- [The $9 Trillion Residential Market]
The residential housing market value in Australia has reached an estimated $9.1 trillion, gaining $1 trillion in just 5 months, but where are these figures coming from?
Why are you paying so much? [Waterfront Properties]
Waterfront properties carry a certain lure of a lifestyle that very few of us could imagine. Back when we used to take holiday locally or overseas, a common place we visit is the seaside. We may hire a house right on a beach, or stay in a hotel with a private beach just metres away. We are drawn to the lifestyle that living by the sea gives as it may help us relax and unwind. However, what are the real costs to owning a waterfront property, and is it worth the hassle?
What would interest rates at 5% cost you? [Costs]
There have been murmurings of interest rate increases and with debt levels at their highest, the potential impact upon borrowers in their ability to make repayments could be devastating. There may be borrowers out there who will be squeezed as interest rates increase. But what is the real impact of interest rate movements and how likely are they to occur?
Opportunity Cost of Selling – You only get one Alan Bond in your lifetime and I’ve had mine [Kerry Packer]
This infamous quote was a remark from Kerry Packer on the business deal that saw Alan Bond buy the Channel 9 network for just over $1 billion in 1987 and sell it back to Packer for $250 million just three years later. I can’t help but see parallels between this quote and today’s residential property market but not in the same way of people losing out after buying but rather people losing out after selling.
What is really happening at Auctions [it will surprise you]
“I mean it’s just absolutely designed to manipulate people into idiotic behaviour” – Charlie Munger
Are You Thinking of Selling your Home? [Guide]
Selling your home is one of the most stressful times in anyone’s life. The uncertainty in outcome, the sheer amounts of money involved and the potential future use of the funds is enough to make anyone’s stomach fill with butterflies.
Sydney house prices to surge 23pc this year….[or will they?]
ANZ Research published its insights and prediction for the rest of 2021. With forecasted gains of 23 per cent in the 2021 calendar year, this is up from their previous prediction of between 15 to 20 per cent in March 2021. If you go back even further than that, this prediction is up from their November prediction of 9% for 2021.
The Unrealistic Buyer’s Journey [A Cautionary Tale]
The stories that I have heard from buyers in their pursuit of property although unique and individual in their own way, its uncanny how similar they all actually are.
What is the house price? $70 million! [prices from thin air]
A least once a year there is a property that comes to market and later sold for an incredible price. We furrow our brow to fathom how this price is seemingly plucked from thin air.
Why you should all get excited…… about statistics [Investment Guide]
I have been waiting for this for five years and anyone looking for an outlook into the way the property market is shaped by demographics should be excited as well
How can neighbouring suburbs have the best and worst price growth in Sydney [A Case Study]
Domain recently published an article about the suburbs with the highest price growth in Sydney over the last 12 months.
What would happened to Sydney if the Bubble Burst tomorrow? [Worst Case Scenario]
I generally avoid using speculation as a mechanism to help make decisions, it tends to lead to decision making toward hopeful outcomes with low probability. Speculation can help us understand the impact of possible scenarios when something changes outside of our control such as “What would happen to Sydney if the property values dropped 30 per cent tomorrow?”
Why you should improve your Due Diligence Approach and Avoid Missing Out [Guide]
Due diligence is a vague term used to describe a level of research taken prior to a decision being made. There is no legal requirement nor parameter of what this can entail. For the nervous or process driven, this could be a time-consuming exercise which could result in analysis paralysis, the feeling of being so overwhelmed with tasks and decisions that no action is taken and the property is sold. For the nonchalant, it could be as simple as a strata, or building inspection report review and a contract review by a solicitor.
Top 5 Buying Property Tips [Rule]
There are many rules, tips and adages in property. These, I believe are the most important property buying tips. 1. Know you need to compromise, it...
How to understand price. What would someone else pay?
The past six months have provided people little faith in understanding and participating in the property market with many current owners breathing relief they are not navigating this minefield.
When the goal posts keep moving: [Managing your own expectation]
As we earn more, we tend to spend more. Turning that wealth into disposable income, it’s natural to believe that all your hard work should be rewarded with a better lifestyle.
What will the new Transfer duty do to balance unequitable market?
The NSW government has continued it’s plan for property tax reform. In June it has released its progress paper which stipulates the changes proposed to be made in the next financial year.
Assessing Access- Why you should look to always be turning left [Guide]
There is not much worse than sitting at a busy ‘T’ section waiting for an opening to cross traffic and turn right on a busy road, this is made even worse during peak times. It may be easy to brush off this inconvenience at first sight.
Why it’s not how much it is, It’s how you use it. [Guide to Land, Rents and Value]
What you think is the land value (the land without the improvements on top) for the Apple Flagship store on George Street? It sold in 2016 for $158,016,586 and has a land size 1,676sqm
Rental Yields: Are they an accurate measure for analysing investment property? [Question]
Most recent ATO statistics show the cost of negatively geared rental properties had climbed to $13.1 billion in the 2017/18 financial year. In 2017 the proportion of negatively-geared properties fell to 60%. If the majority of properties in Australia are costing investors money then why are the rental yields always positive?
Should I Wait and See or Buy Now [A Guide to Decision Making]
Every weekend, I drive around the eastern suburbs from auction to auction, I see hopes crushed and dreams come true , confusion and elation. For the few that buy, there are far more that don’t buy.
Why sunlight is such an important aspect [MUST READ]
When we talk about aspect what we are really talking about is sunlight. Aspect infers the potential amount of sunlight from a compass bearing where direct sunlight would hit and enter through the windows of a property.
What is Company Title: Unrealised Opportunity or Potential Pitfall [Question]
Company title was the answer to the property law problem of airspace subdivision prior to the implementation of Conveyancing (Strata Titles) Act 1961. Company title was a system of ownership where the owner does not actually acquire an estate or interest in real estate. What is actually owned is a number of shares in a company. That company owns the building and land as a whole and each owner of shares would be assigned certain rights of exclusive use for their apartment.
What is Australia’s Best Invention?
Australians are an innovative bunch, the cochlear implant, and wi-fi technology are just two Aussie inventions that have changed the fabric of the world and the lives of billions but what is the most important invention for Australians? We’ll have to go back in time to answer this question.
Houses are Cheap [Counter-Intuitive Thinking]
I don’t really believe people really understand how lucky we are in Australia. I have travelled all over the world seeing poverty in its extreme, corruption at its worse, and life at its cheapest. Yet I still receive comparisons of how much the Sydney median house price could purchase a French Chalet or a Caribbean island in newspapers. I understand that these ‘articles’ are click bait but the level of buyers frustration through auction results has given a real sentiment that people feel that they are paying too much for property.
Which was it? [worst house on the best street] or [best house on the worst street]
The old property adage of ‘buying the worst house on the best street’ has stead true for many Australians in their property journey. However, what most people really ascertain from this is to buy the cheapest house on the most expensive street.
Living Spaces v Dead Spaces [Architecture]
Urban planning and architecture are centered on the notion of creating living spaces that facilitate human interaction, ease tensions, and excite the senses. The value of these spaces is not in the building materials that comprise it, nor the planning controls that regulate it. Its value is derived from its ability to create events within it. The idea transcends from the smallest rooms to entire cities.
Hopeful or Hopeless: [Regional House Price Growth]
“Property Prices are rising by up to $100,000 a month in Casuarina- Kingscliff area north of Byron Bay." “Austinmer, about 70 kilometres south of...
Why the ‘fiscal cliff’ won’t affect house prices [Three Graphs]
The ‘fiscal cliff’ refers to the cut in government stimulus payments that are due to occur at the end of March this year. Buyers may have convinced...
Why you will always pay more at auction [The Winner’s Curse]
The Winner’s Curse is a tendency that the winning bid at an auction will generally exceed the intrinsic or inherent worth of the item. A great...
Buying Property: Why its more about what you do not do
In any amateur tennis match. Players inspired by watching the Australian Open will struggle to recreate the shots that led Novak to victory. Despite...
Housing accounts for 52.6 percent of household wealth [Wealth]
Australia’s housing market is worth an estimated $7.5 trillion last month. The RBA suggests that the value of the housing market account for 52.6...
The Psychology of an Auction [Guide]
Sweaty palms, lump in the throat, heart beating out of your chest. This is exactly where you don’t want to be. Out of the vendor’s arsenal of sales...