Posts Tagged with selling a house Brisbane
Posted by admin on 5 January 2012
In this new world of the web we’re all led to believe that selling anything is about online traffic. If you haven’t got a thousand visits to your web ad there’s no chance you’ll sell your home. Or so we’re told. You can pay a bit more to get to the top of portal search results. You should use a professional photographer to get your hero shot to stand out from the rows of search results, and you should have a catchy headline that’s relevant to your target audience. You should be with the biggest and best sites. Get those thousands of eyes on your ad – it’s all about traffic, traffic, traffic!
Yet traffic of another kind is really the best value real estate advertising. It’s the potential buyers driving and walking past your property. The web is an important part of promoting real estate but for dollars spent you can’t beat a simple signboard stuck to the front fence. Home buyers love to trawl through the back streets of their favoured neighbourhoods, eyes peeled for an undiscovered gem. And despite the layers of data, up to the minute satelite imagery and Street View pics, those web ads just can’t tell you what it’s like to stand in that street. The noises, smells, breezes.
We often have seller clients say they don’t want their neighbours sticky-beaking through at an open home. And while we understand the desire for privacy some of the best word-of-mouth promotion you’ll get for your property comes from your neighbours. They live there and they want to share it with friends and family. They think homes in the area are worth more than they really are and they’ll talk the place up til the cows come home. They’re like real estate agents, only free!
So we’re not surprised how many buyers tell us they found their new home by its signboard. It’s the cheapest item on any marketing plan and it finds you buyers who’ve already chosen your neighbourhood.
Tags: Brisbane real estate agents, real estate advertising, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane
Posted in real estate marketing | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 25 November 2011
Home buyers love a good “forced sale” and we’re often asked if we have any mortgagee sales pending. But we just aren’t seeing that many in Brisbane’s inner-city. And a recent article from researcher Phil Ruthven of Ibisworld might help explain. “In the middle of the year, the nearly 9 million occupied households in Australia were valued at a net worth of $6.3 trillion – an average of $714,320 per household.” That’s a fairly impressive level of net assets and he comments that our average wealth continues to climb.
Brisbane-based property commentator Michael Matusik adds some valuable insight into why we’re not witnessing banks stepping in to sell up property: “Our higher saving rate is well documented, but exactly how it is being achieved doesn’t get much commentary. It is not just a simple case of saving more money. For the most part, Australians are saving more by repaying more than the minimum on their housing loans.”
Matusik never shirks from offering an opinion. “The fact that we are paying off our mortgages faster is often ignored by the doom and gloom merchants who predict a repeat here of what occurred overseas, and continue to preach about the pending mother of all property crashes. Yet, according to AFG, the average new loan-to-value ratio is a comfortable 67% and the latest ABS figures show that house prices fell just 2.2% across the Australian capitals over the last twelve months. Yawn. And yet we keep on reading about mortgage stress and impending doom.”
Bargain hunters might get tired of waiting…
Tags: Brisbane home loans, Brisbane home prices, Ibisworld, Michael Matusik, mortgagee sales Brisbane, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's sales market, trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
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 admin on 6 September 2011
It’s hard to imagine a time when we didn’t have full-streaming real estate data bombarding us. Now there’s a number of national and local commentators producing emails, blogs, newsletters, reports and updates. So to help you digest it all here’s a Cook’s tour of the latest:
RP Data say Brisbane’s dwelling prices went down 0.4% in July (or $1,700) for a total 6.6% dip over the past 12 months. Brisbane unit owners can punch the air – your median price apparently rose 0.4% in July, while house-owners lost 0.6%. Their Tim Lawless says the upper end of the capital city markets is being hardest hit and times on market have increased across the board. “If these soft trends persist, the Spring Selling Season is likely to open up some attractive investment opportunities for prospective buyers. In contrast, the selling environment is likely to be challenging for vendors, particularly if they have unrealistic price expectations,” Mr Lawless said.
Analyst Michael Matusik says the data suggests the worst may be behind us, with the monthly and quarterly results starting to trend upwards. “Even Brisbane, with the impact of the recent flood weighing down its property market, has fallen just 2.6% or by $11,600 since January. The Australian sharemarket can fall more than this in a single day.” Matusik says most property owners are still ahead. “Just one in 14 resales across Australia over the last decade made a loss. Importantly, close to half of the sellers since early 2000 made an annual gain of over 10% per annum. Keep in mind that capital growth can be deceptive as most measures exclude inflation, costs, taxes and charges. But still, such a positive result is encouraging.”
And first home buyer may be back in the market and taking advantage of good buying. Home loan approvals from first-home buyers jumped to 35% in June, compared with an average of 27%, according to mortgage broker Mortgage Choice. Mortgage Choice says a drop in first-home buyers during the last financial year made it hard for existing home owners to sell before moving onto their next property. Mortgage Choice CEO Michael Russell attributed the fall in numbers to the ending of the boosted first-home owners’ grant, which he says brought forward purchases in 2009 and 2010.
Tags: Brisbane median home prices, first home buyers, Michael Matusik, RP Data, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane, Tim Lawless
Posted in Brisbane's sales market | No Comments »
In this new world of the web we’re all led to believe that selling anything is about online traffic. If you haven’t got a thousand visits to your web ad there’s no chance you’ll sell your home. Or so we’re told. You can pay a bit more to get to the top of portal search results. You should use a professional photographer to get your hero shot to stand out from the rows of search results, and you should have a catchy headline that’s relevant to your target audience. You should be with the biggest and best sites. Get those thousands of eyes on your ad – it’s all about traffic, traffic, traffic!
