Posts Tagged with Brisbane real estate agents
Posted by admin on 7 November 2011
Home buyers often run in fear that a real estate agent might “make” them pay too much. When all your friends are telling you there’s amazing discounts everywhere it can be daunting making an offer on a place. What if you pay too much? Successful bargain-hunting earns you the ultimate social status in 2011, like a victorious marauder returned with the spoils of war. But what if you liked it so much you paid full price, or bought as the only bidder at the auction? The social shock and horror….
So it’s no surprise we’re seeing more and more fact-searching before buyers submit an offer. Online resources have expanded remarkably over recent years and one site’s now released “Guesstimates”, providing an instant “value” of any house in Australia. Even they call it a “guess” and it follows a model similar to an American tool called a Zestimate. We first wrote about them almost 5 years ago and they’ve since caused plenty of confusion in the Land of the Free (data). Guesstimates do use some science to come up with a price range. But it’s pretty rough – in both directions. One home we sold recently (so it’s not yet recorded in official data) sold for 20% or $100,000 less than the website tells us it’s worth. Must be a lousy agent! Inner-city buyers won’t get much from the tool because apartments don’t seem to appear in their data and nor do houses on community title.
And a tip for apartment buyers relying on online sales data: watch out for lot numbers versus apartment numbers. They’re often different and the official stats report lot numbers only. Announcing the Guesstimate launch their product manager said “To meaningfully price a property for sale, more in-depth information and local knowledge is required – this is where real estate agents and professionals, as local experts, have skill sets that are invaluable.”
So consider this: would a good agent spend their Saturday afternoons standing out the front of a home that’s 20% over the market? Home buyers do need to do their homework and be comfortable with their offered price. But as a wise person once told us, “Don’t let someone else buy the home for a price you were prepared to pay”.
Share that one with your friends.
Tags: Brisbane apartment prices, Brisbane home buyers, Brisbane house prices, Brisbane real estate agents, Brisbane real estate statistics, Guesstimates, Zestimates
Posted in Brisbane's sales market, real estate marketing | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 31 October 2011
How do you know when the market has bottomed? Only once prices go back up. So today’s announcement from RP Data that Brisbane dwelling prices went up 0.4% in September could be a positive sign for our local market. According to the new stats Brisbane has a median price of $415,000 and RP Data’s Tim Lawless says “Housing market conditions are starting to show some green shoots now.” He says that across the nation’s capitals the September data is the best we’ve seen since February.
Brisbane real estate agents ready to call a start to the next boom might do well to take a close look at the numbers. The September gain in our median dwelling price followed a 0.4% drop in August so year on year we’re still down 6.1%.
No matter how you spin it though you’d have to say this is a good time to buy.
Tags: Brisbane house prices, Brisbane median home prices, Brisbane real estate agents, RP Data, Tim Lawless
Posted in Brisbane's sales market | 1 Comment »
Posted by admin on 26 September 2011
Searching a large real estate portal this week we were growing increasingly frustrated by the time it took for the page to load. In 2011 we’re all supersonic, attention-deficit, time-poor freaks with our broadband and expect quick connections. But the delay on this site wasn’t loading the property details, it was the massive banner ads that dominate the pages. These guys run a business and there’s only so many agencies in Australia to pay them a subscription. We understand they need revenue. But if you’re like us you want to spin through the listings quickly and get the info you came for.
And luckily there’s a great new alternative. The Real Estate Institute of Queensland has launched our own search portal REIQ.com Our members own the site and we don’t need big, data-heavy ads from banks or mortgage brokers. So tenants and home buyers get a clean, fast-loading portal. The site already has more than 75,000 listings on it, making it the largest Queensland-based real estate portal.
Bees Nees principal Rob Honeycombe is a Director of the REIQ so we’re naturally big supporters of the site. Rob says the real benefit for buyers and tenants is the site’s industry ownership. “REIQ member agents are talking to them daily and we hear the feedback on what they want from a real estate portal. REIQ.com is the result of that and with agents owning and controlling the site we can make sure it stays relevant and fresh.”
REIQ.com are running a competition to celebrate the launch and you could win $20,000 by visiting the site and entering before 5pm this Friday. Here’s the link!
What can the REIQ do to improve the site? We’d love to take your comments back to them.
Tags: Brisbane real estate agents, home buyers Brisbane, real estate advertising, Real Estate Institute of Queensland, real estate portals, REIQ.com, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane, tenant marketing Brisbane
Posted in real estate marketing | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 25 September 2011
Our median sales prices are down on last year, but have retained much of the growth of the last decade. Overall we’d suggest it’s hard to call any strong price trend in South Brisbane’s market so far this year. One clear change is the number of transactions – the 2nd quarter of 2011 has been busier than the first but we’re still on track to record less apartment sales in 2011 than we’ve had in over a decade. Why? Market uncertainty, plus many local property owners have withdrawn their properties from sale (or not listed at all) awaiting stronger prices.
If you’d like a sales market update for your property please call our South Brisbane specialist, Rob Honeycombe on 0423 332 022 or 07 3214 6800
Tags: apartment sales south brisbane, apartments sales southbank, apartments South Bank, Brisbane home prices, Brisbane house prices, Brisbane property sales, Brisbane real estate agents, Brisbane sales market, home buyers Brisbane, homes in South Brisbane, house sales south brisbane, property sales south brisbane, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane, South Brisbane Real Estate Agent, Southbank Real Estate Agent
Posted in South Brisbane and South Bank | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 25 September 2011
While prices are definitely down from their peaks of a couple of years ago, buyer interest in West End property remains strong. The new projects along the river/ Montague Rd precinct are holding the median sale price high for apartments, albeit with some discounting on those buildings that had flood inundation in January. The number of sales is very low this year, partly due to the floods and partly the general economic uncertainty. There’s also many local property owners reluctant to sell while prices are down and this may be having the effect of putting a floor under prices. The second quarter’s sales volumes were stronger.
If you’d like a sales market update for your property please call our West End specialist, Rob Honeycombe on 0423 332 022 or 07 3214 6800
Tags: apartment sales west end, Brisbane home prices, Brisbane house prices, Brisbane property sales, Brisbane real estate agents, Brisbane sales market, home buyers Brisbane, house sales west end, property sales west end, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane, west end apartments, west end houses, west end property, West End Real estate agent
Posted in West End | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 25 September 2011
It’s not surprising to see a couple of new apartment projects popping up in Woolloongabba, given the growing buyer interest in the area and the strength of the local market. The graphs show prices holding firm for apartments but our experience is that many are taking small drops to achieve a sale. The local market hasn’t been immune from the broader discounting of the inner city. Houses in Woolloongabba continue to attract good enquiry. Sales volumes are still very low as many owners hold off from selling, although the second quarter has been a lot busier than the first.
If you’d like a sales market update for your property please call our Woolloongabba specialist, Rob Honeycombe on 0423 332 022 or 07 3214 6800
Tags: apartment sales woolloongabba, Brisbane home prices, Brisbane house prices, Brisbane property sales, Brisbane real estate agents, Brisbane sales market, gabba apartments, gabba property, gabba property sales, home buyers Brisbane, house sales woolloongabba, property sales woolloongabba, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane, woolloongabba real estate agent
Posted in Woolloongabba | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 25 September 2011
While real estate market-watching’s become a national sport, it’s hard to call any strong price trend in Spring Hill’s market so far this year. Our median sales prices are down on last year, but have retained much of the growth of the last decade. The number of transactions continues to below – the 2nd quarter of 2011 has been busier than the first but we’ve still had less than 100 apartment sales in the first half of this year. Overall buyer enquiry is sound and while prices aren’t setting records there are still sales to be had for those who want them. House sales volumes are so low as to make the median price data fairly meaningless. We do know that many house owners are holding off selling until prices improve.
If you’d like a sales market update for your property please call our Spring Hill specialist, Rob Honeycombe on 0423 332 022 or 07 3214 6800
Tags: apartment sales spring hill, Brisbane home prices, Brisbane house prices, Brisbane property sales, Brisbane real estate agents, Brisbane sales market, home buyers Brisbane, house sales spring hill, property sales spring hill, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane, Spring Hill Real Estate Agent
Posted in Spring Hill | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 25 September 2011
While real estate market-watching’s become a national sport, it’s hard to call any strong price trend in Highgate Hill’s market so far this year. Our median sales prices are down on last year, but have retained much of the growth of the last decade. One clear change is the number of transactions – the 2nd quarter of 2011 has been busier than the first but we’re still on track for just half as many house sales as we saw in 2010. Why? Many local home-owners have withdrawn their properties from sale (or not listed at all) awaiting stronger prices. Overall buyer interest remains fairly solid, albeit at softer prices than last year.
If you’d like a sales market update for your property please call our Highgate Hill specialist, Rob Honeycombe on 0423 332 022 or 07 3214 6800
Tags: Brisbane home prices, Brisbane house prices, Brisbane property sales, Brisbane real estate agents, Brisbane sales market, Highgate Hill real estate agent, home buyers Brisbane, house sales highgate hill, property sales highgate hill, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane
Posted in Highgate Hill | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 20 September 2011
Last time you signed a real estate contract did the agent ask for your driver’s license? Probably not, but from now on that’s likely to be a more regular request. Those wacky guys who brought you the emails from Isabella Caromel (lone survivor of a tsunami with US$10.6m she wants to share), the tales of surviving insurgent rebellion with millions that need urgent transfer, and other innovative scams, are up to new tricks.
Last year a Perth property owner contacted an agent, listed a house for sale, signed an offer and received the proceeds on the subsequent $485,000 sale. Only one small hitch – it wasn’t their house. And this month a $1million Sydney apartment was listed for auction in the same style of scam, this time identified before its sale. Needless to say the legal gurus around Australia have been grappling with how this can happen. Could someone pretend to be you? While you’re on holidays or for your investment property? How much info would they need to give an agent to convince them they were the owner? The scary truth is it’s dead easy.
Many of our seller clients are interstate (Brisbane’s inner city has lot of NSW investors for example) and we never meet them. They give us their name and if it matches the title search we proceed. Their contact details are no guarantee as an email address can be set up in anyone’s name, no check needed. We don’t have anything to verify their signature against on a listing authority or contract of sale. So you’ll understand why identity confirmation is becoming more important in our process.
The lawyers who handle conveyancing have a few more challenges as that’s where the money changes hands and they’re the last gatekeepers. Especially if there’s no mortgage and no bank checking the transaction. It’ll be interesting to see what changes we see as a result of the scam.
In the meantime maybe Isabella will share some of her inheritance with that unlucky Perth property owner.
Tags: Brisbane real estate agents, conveyancing Brisbane, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's sales market, real estate marketing | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 2 September 2011
Brisbane’s inner suburbs have some of the best examples of this state’s unique timber architecture. But for such a sought-after style of house there’s almost no consensus on what we should and shouldn’t call a “Queenslander”. Real estate agents know that adding the term to an advert can spike the enquiry levels. Builders are working the word into their descriptions in fairly imaginative ways (one applies the name to brick homes with timber-gabled facades – really?)
Maybe if it’s built north of the Tweed any house can legitimately share the title. But today we thought we’d ask you to share your thoughts: what makes a Queenslander a Queenslander? Surely there’s 4 key elements: it’s elevated from the ground, has a hardwood frame and softwood linings, the main materials are timber and tin, and it has a verandah.
Looking back into our history there were plenty of practical reasons for elevating the homes: to keep residents cool in summer, to allow easy construction on sloping land, to avoid floods, and to keep the timber away from termites. Under the house used to be a place for playing out of the sun, hanging the washing and a bed for the dog (or even a not-so-welcome relative). In “modern” times we saw this as an opportunity for extra space for media rooms, studies and garages. Are these still Queenslanders?
During our early years there were plenty of variations on timber home designs. Those built from 1859 to 1901 are often called Colonials (for our time as a colony). Bungalow is the common term for the next generation of styles that were usually more elaborate and included gabled, asymmetrical facades. In the 1920’s we adopted elements of the Californian Bungalows – even way back then we were taking design cues from the USA. You’ll also hear them called “inter-war Queenslanders” and there’s a huge range of designs built through this era. Those with an eye for detail can often date a home from its verandah posts, balustrades and windows (see below). How simple was life when to keep up with the Joneses you just needed a bullnose tin sunhood?!
Not surprisingly the Great Depression saw more simplicity and conservatism in design and by 1933 bricks were considered a modern option. Fibro was first manufactured in Queensland in 1936 and its easy-care maintenance meant it quickly became a popular cladding material. We’re still ripping the toxic stuff out of homes today.
If you’d like a very thorough read on the topic try “Brisbane House Styles 1880 to 1940” by Judy Gale Rechner (1998). Maybe every real estate agent should have a copy so we can get the terminology right! There’s no doubt we’re proud of our Queenslanders and their rich history – whatever the name means to you.
courtesy: "Brisbane House Styles" Rechner, 1998
Please share your definition of “Queenslanders”.
Tags: Brisbane history, Brisbane houses, Brisbane real estate agents, real estate advertising, training for Brisbane real estate agents
Posted in architecture and renovation, real estate marketing, trends in Brisbane property | 2 Comments »
Home buyers often run in fear that a real estate agent might “make” them pay too much. When all your friends are telling you there’s amazing discounts everywhere it can be daunting making an offer on a place. What if you pay too much? Successful bargain-hunting earns you the ultimate social status in 2011, like a victorious marauder returned with the spoils of war. But what if you liked it so much you paid full price, or bought as the only bidder at the auction? The social shock and horror….
