As an agent, what are you doing now to create new pathways for future business? Here are a few ways you can keep yourself open mentally and professionally — and some ways you might be closing yourself off to opportunity.
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Month: August 2020
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A recent Clever Real Estate report looked at the national trends that were spurred this year by COVID-19. Here are a few of them — plus the top five metros with the biggest increases as well as drops in buyer demand.
As a team leader, you have a responsibility to guide your team from panic to assurance — especially in challenging situations. That’s why they look up to you. Here are a few strategies to help you be the supportive leader they’re looking for.
No. 17 Bremer St in Griffith goes to auction on August 15.
Recently transformed by renowned Canberra architect Tony Trobe, this spacious Griffith home showcases a seamless blend of classic and contemporary design.
“It’s the best extension of an original Canberra cottage that I’ve seen,” said agent and auctioneer Robert Westropp-Evans of Blackshaw – Manuka.
“The home has been tastefully renovated and would very much appeal to downsizers looking for a low-maintenance property where all the hard work has been done.
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Stylish.
“It’s a great alternative to a townhouse or top-end apartment and is all on one level, which is what people want. The current owners were downsizers so they’ve thought of everything.”
Among the floorplan’s clever modern functionality is a touch of flair – most notably, in the showpiece ensuite with its own ‘fernery’ atrium, nestled beside a large, luxurious walk-in robe.
The stylish open-plan living area has high ceilings that draw in ample sunlight, with an easy indoor-outdoor flow to the large courtyard and tranquil water feature.
A classic facade.
The well-appointed kitchen is part of this central hub, complete with Caesarstone benchtops, high-quality cabinetry, a gas cooktop and a breakfast bar.
Following the extension, the home features three bedrooms, a study, two bathrooms, a formal lounge room and a double garage with storage capacity and internal access.
The kitchen.
Mr Westropp-Evans said the location is “very convenient in the prestigious inner south”, just a 10-minute walk to Manuka Village, and close to good schools and the lake.
“It has a price guide in the vicinity of $1.7 million,” he said.
No. 17 Bremer St, Griffith will go to auction on Saturday 15 August at 1pm.
The post Architecturally transformed Griffith cottage with a ‘fernery’ appeared first on realestate.com.au.
Real estate coach Mike Pallin shares how he broke into the field, why he keeps prices low and why eight is the magic number for group sessions.
Property in regional locations such as Wagga Wagga are becoming more popular.
COVID-19 has encouraged property investors to cast a wider net in their search for deals and a third are seeking properties more than 200km from where they live.
Investors are also increasingly shunning their home suburbs, with only 6.9 per cent buying property in the streets near where they lived, according to a MCG Quantity Surveyors study.
The research analysed the details of 1000 investors who commissioned depreciation reports in the year to May 2020 to get a picture of their buying habits.
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About 36 per cent bought within 10km of their primary residence, while about 30 per cent bought more than 200km away. Investors in the latter category purchased an average of 293km away.
MCG director Mike Mortlock said the proportion of investors buying locally was well down from 10-20 years ago and was a sign many were putting aside familiarity in the pursuit of “potential”.
Buyer’s agent Cate Bakos said investors were embracing technology.
“There’s been a tradition among Aussie investors to buy where they know and, in general, they know where we live,” he said.
“The idea of wandering too far from your ‘locality of comfort’ frightened investors in the past so an average distance of 293km is substantial.”
The trend of investors buying in further flung areas would rise as COVID-19 driven work from home arrangements sped up people’s embrace of remote technology, Mr Mortlock added.
“Online information, combined with easy access to independent professionals like buyer’s agents, has made it a cinch to confidently buy in national hotspots regardless of where you reside.”
Real Estate Buyers Agents Association of Australia president Cate Bakos said investors were using tools like Google Earth and Street View to suss out properties and were more comfortable viewing properties without physically being there.
Some investors were buying in regional locations to limit their land tax bills.
“It’s easier to make informed decisions without being there and the experience with online technology because of COVID-19 has made investors more comfortable with that,” she said.
Ms Bakos added some investors were looking interstate to lessen their land tax burden – many states charge higher land tax on investors who own more than a stipulated number of properties.
“Various regional markets in different states are becoming more popular,” she said.
Investors once dominated inner city sales across Melbourne and Sydney, with investor buyers behind nearly 60 per cent of purchases in the NSW capital over 2016.
Buying activity from investors dropped in the years after as banks tightened their lending policies and, with rents plummeting in some inner city areas, investor activity has been largely subdued during COVID-19.
Lending restrictions were also driving investors to cheaper regional markets, Ms Bakos said. “The limitations scaled down what you can borrow and this meant many investors started going for regional properties.”
The post Buying habits: the new areas property investors are targeting due to COVID-19 appeared first on realestate.com.au.
The Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and husband Andrew Upton have bought a house with a sordid past – and it’s not just any haunted house. The manor was once a squalid drug den painted with witchcraft symbols.
No, you did not read that wrong. Cate has shacked up in a famously haunted house that has been a drug den, a meeting place for pagans and a hide-out for criminals. And she paid $6.25m for the privilege.
Prior to its renovation, Highwell House was squalid and run down. Picture: Knight Frank
Previously known as Potters Manor or Steep Park, in 2016 the English manor, located in Crowborough 90 minutes from London, is now named Highwell House.
The Victorian manor was built on the sprawling estate in 1890 and began to fall into disrepair in the early 2000s before it was extensively refurbished in 2015.
Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett weren’t put off by the spooky past of this English home. Picture: Getty
The place was literally falling apart and looked like some kind of squat straight out of a movie set.
While the home today is light, airy and has been restored to its palatial-like glory, before it was refurbed it was listed as Britain’s 13th most creepy abandoned house in 2015.
A Facebook page dedicated to Potters Manor House is said to feature pictures from people who visited the home and claimed to have captured images of ghosts or spirits.
The house was previously dilapidated and in need of love. Picture: Potters Manor House / Facebook
There are even photographs that show a pagan pentagram, commonly used for seances or wicca magic, painted on the floor at the time.
Local residents are said to be very happy that Cate, Andrew and their four children have moved into the home thinking that by them being there the area is made safer.
The home itself is exactly the picturesque manor home you’d expect to find in England. The exterior has been lovingly restored to its Victorian-style glory and looks beautiful set against the surrounding greenery.
The post Cate Blanchett’s home a haunted English manor house appeared first on realestate.com.au.
COVID-19 is not deterring house hunters on the Gold Coast with 33 bidders battling for a Broadbeach apartment at auction, with the hammer coming down just shy of $1 million.
The property, a “neat and tidy” two-bedroom residence at 3/17 Broadbeach Blvd, sold for a building record of $960,000.
3/17 Broadbeach Boulevard, Broadbeach.
“The response to this property over the last three weeks has been nothing short of record breaking,” marketing agent Tolemy Stevens of Harcourts Coastal said.
“We had over 70 inspections which led to 33 cash bidders.
“The auction started at $500,000 and eventually sold under the hammer for a record price of $960,000.
“It sold well in excess of the reserve.”
The block is tightly-held – the last sale in the building was $652,500 in 2015.
3/17 Broadbeach Boulevard, Broadbeach.
Mr Stevens said the apartment’s appeal was widespread.
“It’s just such a nice all round opportunity,” he said.
“It appeals to all buyer demographics including first home buyers, renovators, owner-occupier, as a holiday home, a returning investment or potential for a landhold for redevelopment down the track.
3/17 Broadbeach Boulevard, Broadbeach.
The unit block, named Pacific Sound, is a block of only six apartments – apartment 3 is on the second floor and has an easterly aspect with spectacular ocean views.
It was built in the 1960s with units well-maintained but in mostly original condition.
“The building is very sought after and ticks a lot of boxes so I always knew it would attract a lot of interest however I certainly wasn’t prepared for the sheer volume and active number of cash buyers that were trying to secure the property.”
3/17 Broadbeach Boulevard, Broadbeach.
Mr Stevens said he believed Queensland’s low numbers of COVID-19 when compared to NSW and Victoria was only fuelling demand for property.
“A result like this is a testament to Queensland’s low numbers of COVID-19,” he said.
“A lot of interstate buyers are seeing the Gold Coast as a bit of a safe haven and seeing the Gold Coast as secure spot to invest their money.
“Of the nine registered phone bidders we had at Wednesday’s auction, five of them were from Sydney and Melbourne.”
The post Huge number of bidders line up for Gold Coast apartment appeared first on realestate.com.au.
Auctions are rolling out across Melbourne as real estate agents fast-track sales campaigns and stage four restrictions kick in.
More than 60 auctions were brought forward to Wednesday night before further coronavirus restrictions began, which have forced the industry almost entirely online.
Properties are going under the hammer every day this week, including more than 130 still scheduled for Saturday, according to realestate.com.au.
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Ray White auctioneer Arthur Mitsinkis selling 1091 High St, Reservoir.
Online auctions are rolling out every day this week.
Last-minute sales on Wednesday night produced strong results across the city, including for a two-bedroom unit at 1A Elizabeth Street in Bulleen.
Phillip Webb auctioneer Anthony Webb said the property soared $171,000 above reserve to sell for $771,000 as nine bidders competed for the keys.
“It almost felt like panic buying,” Mr Webb said.
“With the uncertainty of the property market looming, the buyer indicated they were going to keep bidding almost irrespective of the price.
“The bidders seemed determined to get something before the next six weeks, which are full of uncertainty for real estate.”
1A Elizabeth Street, Bulleen sold for $771,000.
There were nine bidders for the home.
The low-maintenance home sold $171,000 above reserve.
A three-bedroom Reservoir house sold $42,500 above reserve at an auction held on Google Hangouts an hour before the 8pm curfew kicked in.
Ray White Preston agent Ian Dempsey said 21 Croft Street attracted seven registered bidders and 30 bids to achieve a strong $892,500 sale.
“(The buyer was) a middle-aged lady who had been looking for a while,” he said.
“She’d never done an online auction before, so I had to give her a bit of coaching.”
21 Croft Crescent, Reservoir sold for $892,500
Inside the three-bedroom home.
Mr Dempsey said a lack of available housing stock had ensured buyer demand remained high for quality properties, despite Melbourne’s escalating COVID-19 lockdowns.
He said he had notched a 100 per cent clearance for online auctions over the past three weeks.
But the stage four shutdown had already caused new appointments with prospective sellers to “pretty much stop”.
1/61 Darling Street, South Yarra is scheduled for auction this weekend.
27 Morphett Avenue, Ascot Vale is also due to go to auction.
Buxton Hampton East agent Paul Sibley said his office had sold eight of 10 properties that were scheduled to go to auction this weekend.
He sealed a deal for 67A Raynes Park Road, Hampton above its price guide for $1.39m on Thursday morning.
“There might be a few selling online this Saturday that were seen enough times by buyers to be comfortable,” Mr Sibley said.
“But any new campaigns will be put on pause, as we’d be very surprised if anyone buys a property without seeing it first.”
67A Raynes Park Road, Hampton sold ahead of its scheduled auction.
2/126 The Boulevard, Thomastown will go to auction on Saturday.
A terrace in Ascot Vale, a Thomastown townhouse and an apartment in South Yarra’s renowned Beverley Hills building are all among properties still going under the hammer this weekend.
Online auctions and virtual inspections are permitted activities during Melbourne’s stage four lockdown.
— with Samantha Landy
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