Hot Tips for Winter Opens

With summer turning into a season of cold and rain, there’s no logical reason to avoid a winter listing. Interior designer Tim Leveson shares some styling tips for dispelling the gloom and presenting your home as a warm and cosy haven.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
Winter does a dark home no favours on a gloomy day but there are some ways to brighten up. For starters put high wattage light bulbs in your fixtures and if you’re worried about power bills or the environment just do it for the duration of the Open House campaign. Also switch on bedside lamp and table lamps which shed a nice mellow light. Remember that there’s warm light and cold light, so to give bedrooms and living rooms a golden glow, go for yellow LED’s.

MIRROR MIRROR
A large mirror placed facing a window doubles the light source giving a room an instant brightener. Ideally it will also reflect an attractive view such as the garden or water but that is less important than the lightening effect. You don’t need to spend a fortune. Ikea has a great range of attractive mirrors that you can take with you when your home is sold.

The difference between a good and a bad agent can be up to 10% on final sale price. When selecting an agent there a number of choices you will need to make. Like everything else in this world today the options can be a little daunting. So what should you look for?

Great Negotiation Skills
A great agent can make the majority of the impact on price when they first start negotiating with a potential purchaser. People dig in for arrogance and give in to courtesy; the days of the bullying agent are over. Agents with a polite but educational manner tend to get the highest price. All agents claim their skills are superior to their competitors, so how can find out who’s really the best? Test them! Suggest you would like to role-play a negotiation on your house and say you’d like to make an offer (make it nice and low). Watch how different agents handle it.

Sell or Buy?

Marketing Strategy
You don’t get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression. Running an effective marketing campaign for your property is essential to attracting a large number of the right buyers. Once you have multiple buyers on a property the pride shifts from getting it for the cheapest price, to just getting it! A marketing campaign should be well thought out and consider the target market of the home and the likely places they will look. A great agent will be able to demonstrate to you which advertising vehicles will reap the best rewards.

Local Market Knowledge
You can get a good feeling for an agents knowledge by asking them a few check questions. No doubt you will have inspected other properties similar to your own before choosing to sell, ask the agent if they know much about them. Market knowledge will allow the agent to correctly price your property and defend that price in tough negotiations.

Good Reputation
Ask the agent’s to provide you with some references of their past sales. Some agents will provide numbers of past clients and giving them a call will give you great feedback, other agents at the forefront of technology will have video references available on their website.

Things to watch out for
You want to leave your home with the most amount of money, so choosing the agent that’s suggesting your property is worth more, while charging least to sell it is the right choice, right? WRONG!  When discussing the current value of your home, ensure the agent makes reference to specific properties. Can you believe that some agents will lie in their opinion of value just to get your home? Surely not! After they tell you which homes their opinion of value is based on, dig deep to check your property is really comparable. In a competitive market most agents will normally negotiate on their fees, the average fee is around 2.2% including GST. Be wary of an agent that is quick to offer a cut price commission, if they’re so fast to do that with their money, imagine what they’ll do with yours come negotiation time.

The highest sale price of these was $990,000 a 3 bedroom house in Pittwater Road, and the lowest was a 2 bedroom unit in Pittwater Road for $418,200.

In celebration of our new section ‘Lifestyle & Training’ we would like to offer you the first session free, just contact Petr on 0403 478 250 and mention Sales&Statistic to receive it. How do you find the new section? Like it? Loathe it?  Let me know on our facebook page – www.tinyurl.com/RWFMFacebook

Warm up tonight with a lovely chocolate self saucing pudding. Thanks Aimee for sending it in.

We produce Sales&Statistics for Freshwater (units & houses), North Curl Curl & Manly Vale. If you would like to receive other editions please let me know.

To view our Quarterly Report which includes sold properties, market statistics and the quarterly recipe please click here.

Pro’s of buying first

• You have a home to move to, ensuring you do not have to move twice.
• You can spend all the time you need in finding your next home.

Pro’s of selling first

• You know for certain where your current property value stands.
• Sudden market turnarounds will not put you into a nasty situation.
• You won’t run the risk of expensive bridging finance.
• You can wait until you are happy with the price offered on your current home.

Reduce the risk – do both in parallel.

Delayed settlement strategy
The delayed settlement strategy can be undertaken during negotiations. Essentially you ask the buyers for extended time between exchange (when the contracts are signed) and settlement (when the money and ownership are swapped). Often we negotiate up to a 12 week settlement for our clients, allowing them 6 weeks to find a suitable property.

One button launch strategy
The one button launch strategy is when you prepare everything for sale, getting contracts, photos and the marketing prepared and then don’t release the property to market. You then wait until you have found a suitable property and release yours to the public market. If the marketing is done well, you are likely to receive an offer within a week or two. This makes it less likely your dream home will sell in the time it takes to sell yours. You can also start negotiations as buyers become interested in your property. If the home you’re looking for does sell, you can always decide not to sell or revert to the delayed settlement strategy.

My personal preference would be to sell first as I cannot stand the idea of giving the “greedy banks” any more money than they already get (bridging finance is an expensive thing!) I also like to play it safe with such large sums of capital, and know markets can turn overnight (think 911). By using one of the parallel methods above you can minimise the risk of the dreaded double move, while still playing it safe!

If you’d like more information about the two strategies above please give me a call for a quick chat. Written by Chris Shepherd 0413 974 594

National city dwelling value’s have fallen again in May by -0.3% seasonally adjusted (0.5% raw). In the three months to May the values fell by -1.2% s.a. (-1.3% raw) and -2.3% in the 12 months leading to May. The good news is the Australian price-to-disposable income ratio has fallen to 4.2 times, the lowest since 2003 according to Remark’s analysis.

Sydney has had significantly better results with a fall of median values by -0.1% seasonally adjusted (a raw increase of 0.1%) to $522,000 in May. Sydney continues to be the most expensive market. According to Tim Lawless of RPData “the weakness across equities markets is likely to be an important factor affecting the premium housing market.”

Freshwater, like neighbouring suburbs has bucked the falling trend. The number of houses & townhouses sold over the past 3 months has increased by 40% as many sellers adjust prices to more realistic figures. Many properties that have been on the market for a while are now sold due to these adjustments, blowing the average sold days on market to 59.8 days. The clearing out of old stock has seen a decrease in houses & townhouses on the market by 6 over past 3 months to 19. The reduced level of properties for sale, coupled with an increase in median price by 3.8% in the past 3 months shows the Freshwater market is a far sight better than many other markets. Currently the highest demand is for well finished smaller detached houses (for downsizers) and renovators delights (for the first house buyers).

If you are looking to move into a different area, now is the time to consider it. The comparatively strong results of the local marketplace will see you afford a better home in the more effected locations. Written by Chris Shepherd 0413 974 594

This is taken from Sales&Statistics Freshwater my quarterly market report. For sale prices & more details please register for your complimentary copy here.

You will know you are mentally ready when you are prepared to part with that disposable income and spare time in order to maintain your new purchase. While a new place may reduce your ability to enjoy expensive entertainment, your friends will love popping round and admiring it. You also need to have a good understanding of what it is you want. Researching on property websites is a quick and easy place to start and you can determine if your expectations vs. budget are realistic.

This brings us into the financial side of readiness. A property is an ongoing cost, not only with mortgage repayments but also due to maintenance costs. Even in newer properties there will always be those minor things that need fixing. Financially you will need;
• A solid deposit (generally more than 10% of the property’s value)
• A stable income that is capable of paying mortgage repayments with money left over for living
• A good financial fall back plan (parents, income insurance)

Always prepare for an interest rate hike when you are buying, even when analysts are predicting a fall. It is a very rare market when you can buy and sell a home within a year and break even. Another useful test to check you are financially ready is to live 3 months banking the equivalent of mortgage repayments (if you pay rent this can be included) to ensure it is possible to make the payments.

Owning your home can be expensive however it is also extremely rewarding. Property prices rise over the medium to long term. So the sooner you are mentally and financially ready the better! Just think, no more unexpected moves at your landlord’s mercy, or if it’s not your first home that bit of extra space/reduced maintenance you can achieve from owning your next home.

Happy Hunting!

Please find below the open times. If you would like more information about any of the properties please click on their address below.

Happy Hunting!

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