I met with an owner recently, and he asked me to appraise his home with the view to possibly selling in the future.

I said sure. I asked when the current listing with the current agent expired, as it had been on the internet for about the last 2 years. The owner looked at me puzzled, and said that the listing ran out 6 months ago.

I was adamant, and said "nope", it is plainly marketed for all to see on that company’s website.

The owner firmly told the other agent to “get it down” as he acknowledged that this was harming the value of his property as there was a perception that is was “A dead duck” or stale. He was right, it was.

Then it occurred to me I had seen this recently with several other agents, meaning that the habit of falsely advertising client listings without valid authorities was becoming common practice.

I saw in an agent window a listing recently where the owner absolutely did not authorize the listing which had expired 6 months earlier, and another time listed a block for auction which the previous agent authority expired 6 months earlier, yet the sign and internet was keep “up” for the agent benefit without a valid written authority to do so. Indeed my owner was amazed and surprised this was so. Our code of conduct is specific that agents shall not advertise properties without a valid written authority to do so.

Now I understand that there is a little known "grey area" where a listing can go on forever on a "non-exclusive" basis after it expires until a seller terminates it in writing. I get that. In all 3 cases above however, the sellers thought their listings had expired and did not know that the agents were continuing to market them. I dont't think that is good business practice or ethics, AND we would never do it.

Conclusion: I am so grateful that I have adopted an old fashioned, old school mentality of “only clean business” where that behaviour would never be tolerated in our office. It would be dismissal for a sales agent and not negotiable for the office generally. Why would we need to have ghost or bogus listings on our books that the sellers did not know we had?

Only valid, written agreements for listing, marketing, advertising, showing or representing properties or not at all.

I do not for the life of me understand why any agent, and many of those above are long established, supposedly reputable ones, would do otherwise? It is easy to get an extension if the listing is legitimate.

If it is not in writing, then it doesn’t get marketed at Evolution. When the other becomes the norm, it is time for me to do something else for a living. I am content to remain boring and straight. J Only clean business it is. Thanks and see you in the market place.

At the risk of sounding like real estate hype, I have to say 2012 has without doubt started as a cracker. (personally, our clients and for our office).

We have made as many sales in the past 5 weeks, volume and number as what some agents do in a year, and nearly as much as in the previous 6 months.

Home open numbers have in some cases resembled 2007, with over 50 coming through 3 home opens last weekend.

Recent sales for me have been in 11 days, 5 days, 18 days, 5 days, 42 days, 31 days and 13 days. (and a few that were longer, more in line with typical market conditions). All were the result of strong marketing campaigns, many with video, and most with our “no price marketing” method.

In this way buyers get to focus on the benefits of the home as a starting point, not all focused by “What sort of discount” can I get? Sellers benefit too as they get a chance to see what the “Real” market value is before they get too entrenched at a position. I also think the risks of overpricing and starting high in this market for a seller can be a disaster, so a “no price” strategy makes a lot of sense.

Given the Applecross market is upwards of 230 days now for the unsold stock, and Mount Pleasant 147.5 days for all of the unsold stock, there is without doubt two markets.

To be able to create results like the above for Evolution (personally) and for my sellers is a real thrill, as we are obviously bucking the norm.

I say to those sellers that are unsold after such a long time, time for a plan B.

It is time to do something different. We have proven buyers will buy and results can be created.

Albert Einstein once said “the definition of insanity was to continue to do the same things and expect a different outcome”, or words to that effect.

It constantly amazes me how some homes stay listed with some agents 2 plus years, and nothing changes. Mmm,  Interesting!

We at Evolution will continue to innovate and lead, as we are relishing this current market condition, and welcome any engagement from buyers or sellers that want some direct and frank conversation around how to move forward and make something happen.

Thank you and see you in the market place.

Traditionally, New Year always means a fresh new impetus in the property market.

Buyers and sellers alike set goals to move on, interstate transfer happen and people want to get the kids settled for the new school year.

Homes present well with the summer weather, and generally people are more active.

I am particularly interested in recent years with the New Year, as I think a break from all the negative press of the previous year, is also a good thing. Also, people tend to look forwards after Christmas, whereas there was a lot of crystal ball gazing and rear mirror reflection of the events of 2011 going on late last year.

2012 is no different. No doubt there are new buyers emerging, as evident from last weekend’s home opens, buyers that have just entered the market. Several offers on various properties and lots more phone enquiry than we saw late in 2011.

All in all, a great time for sellers to consider a move as there is good buyer activity, and often more new listings coming on for the buyers.

If you are looking for a move, contact the team at Evolution Realty and we would be delighted to assist you with your moving aspirations.

I recently attended with my wife Agnes, a Thai Restaurant for dinner. This particular “Franchise chain” restaurant had received some favourable press (obviously paid for) so I thought we would check it out.

Fancy looking shop front, lots of people, big brand, big adverts, perception is it would be a good place right?

Wrong.

When I arrived we looked at the sign that said we were to wait to be seated, and I waited to be greeted. After a minute a young staffer asked me to take a seat pointing to one that we noticed was not wiped, and “sticky/ greasy”. As the staffer went away quick and pronto we decided to move to an adjacent less greasy table.

At that point, I noticed a general lack of cleanliness elsewhere in the restaurant. I was less than settled and had a grumble to my wife.

Guess I am spoilt with my regular Thai that I noticed the gap.

After what seemed like 5 minutes we were greeted and handed menus. Yet when we looked around there were plenty of staff on duty, 4 of them were congregated around one table watching one staffer trying to clean a table, not too well either, and giggling.

We ordered 5 minutes later, I asked for a soft drink and we ordered the food. It was a reasonable menu, good variety.

Agnes was served her entree, an oyster egg thingy that didn’t make sense at all. She said it tasted Ok. I didn’t get my entree till she was nearly finished hers. (That always annoys me). Then we noticed no Pepsi Max yet. How hard can it be to bring out a soft drink? (Ours took 20 minutes).

To cut to the chase, the food was pretty good. (Not great). Due to the poor first impressions it seemed slow, but I acknowledge it was probably there in ten to fifteen minutes; just the overall experience by now was not good.

Price, inexpensive given the brand perception, maybe half what I pay at my favourite Thai restaurant.

We finished the meals quickly as I wanted to leave.

I paid the bill with the young staffer who has not yet been trained in eye contact, warmth or how to make me feel like I even matter to this restaurant.

Q. Which is better value??? The more expensive one or the owner operated smaller one restaurant business.

The cheaper one is far more expensive.

Why?

At free, I would not go back to that place, ever. Too “production line”. No heart, no soul. A bunch of staffers that do not have the passion for the business like an owner will. I didn’t like the experience, didn’t love the food, and didn’t feel like I mattered. I felt like it was “fast food” Thai. I rather think they want to be taken serious as a restaurant, but sorry that didn’t happen to me.

I like to be treated well when dining out, like to feel like I am a valued customer.

By contrast, my favourite restaurant is a “one restaurant show”, owned and run by the owner, a highly credentialed and experienced operator.

But the difference is massive.

1.      The owner greets you personally

2.      You immediately get placed at a clean table

3.      Water out to you instantly

4.      The staff have what I call “hustle”

5.      Food is outstanding

6.      Your glass is never left empty more than a minute

7.      If I arrive 5 minutes early before opening the owner opens and asks us to come in, he cares

8.      We always get a special thank you at the end, sincere

9.      Great ambiance, warm, clean

10.  Even at twice the price, it is better value for basically the same food.

11.  In short the smaller, hands on owner-operator outperforms the big franchise by 100 percent.

So it is in life. A passionate hands on owner operated business CAN compete and often does with the big boys, and in this tight market I feel there is a need and demand for personalised attentive service.

What do you think?

In what is a tough, difficult period in the local property market where we continue to see large gaps in expectations between buyer and seller alike, the ability to get the deal together is often a case of how the negotiation is handled?

I have found recently several sales occur where the dates between first offer and final offer, for the same buyer was anywhere from 7 -90 days.

The large gap in expectations is due to many factors.

1.              Newspapers

2.              Internet articles

3.              Doomsayers predicting the sky falling

4.              General fear and uncertainly

5.              Global factors

6.              Agent has not educated seller properly

7.              Opportunism

8.              Seller and/ or buyer with unreasonable expectations

Sometimes, early offers come in and the seller is yet to understand or accept the reality of the current market. Often, once the seller is certain that they are in fact dealing with what may indeed be “highest fair market value” in many cases sellers will do a deal with a genuine buyer, even though the offer may be lower than what is ideal.

Sometimes buyers might try on a low or cheeky initial offer, only to realise that a property they want might not be available at a certain level, so increase their offer as they realise that they need to pay more in some cases to get what they want. (Not all sellers will take any figure that is offered).

My advice in this market for buyers and sellers. - “Never be the first to walk away.”  Often, good agents need time to "nurse" the offer through as each side comes to terms with what is the actual situation. Rejecting an offer achieves nothing in most cases. I have sold properties to buyers that had offers "not accepted" only to represent and repackage them later in terms agreed by the seller. In other words, the sellers did not walk away first.

Buyers need to understand that many sellers may be “shocked” by some of the market feedback in relation to expectations and need some time to take all of that in, especially new listings. (Despite how much factual information the agent may have provided the seller).

Sellers need to understand that buyers will obviously be in this market empowered and in many cases do not fear prices going up in the short term, and will often try a lower offer to see how genuine the seller is. (Riskiest when the seller sets overly optimistic or aspirational prices).

I believe that if the initial asking price is about right on day one, the seller has the best real chance of a premium sales price as the buyers will know that the seller is very genuine, very serious and therefore will have some fear of loss. They usually then make their first offer a serious one.

Recently we sold 2 properties at the $1M market segment in 44 days and 32 days respectively. This was in my opinion due to, through appropriate motivation by the sellers and the right asking price strategy, caused by being able to communicate to the respective buyers that the sellers were very pragmatic, reasonable and motivated in relation to price. The buyers therefore had no reason to wait and procrastinate waiting for the price to come down.

Net result:

·    Buyers get a good property at a fair price.

·    Sellers get a result and can move on and at what I think it usually a higher price than the poorer cousins (other properties) that sit on the market 3 months to 2 years as some sellers are praying for better times past that are now gone.

Moral of the story, get it right the first time. Price right to sell, and you will. Buyers love it and sellers do to, as they get more and can actually move on.

2.      Mistaking cheap fees for quality service

In property management we see many property investors making the mistake that all real estate companies are the same, and all offer the same service so the best way to differentiate between them is to get cheaper fees. However we have found a common pattern among agents is the cheaper they get, the lower their service levels.

Often we hear of owners that select an agent based on a half a percent or one percent cheaper.

EXAMPLE: A $500 per week property

• 0.5% cheaper = $2.50 per week
• 1% cheaper     = $5 per week

Almost always, we find that the agents that are cheap are so because the service levels are less.

e.g.

1. Poor property condition report details
2. Poor management of rental arrears
3. Poor routine inspection procedures
4. Poor in communication
5. Poor in follow up with maintenance matters

We have seen properties that we have taken over where owners saved a few dollars a week, just to find that they have lost thousands due to the inept skills and follow up of previous property managers that meant even after they went to court, the owners could not recover the money as the tenants could not pay.

A first class property manager will never let this happen. As in life, you really do get what you pay for.

Here is a simple step by step analysis of how cheap fees lead to poor service levels;

1. Cheap fees is the starting line- unfortunately the perception is that agencies all do ‘the same thing’, we collect rent, get repairs done and find a tenant. With this perception we then might be attracted to a cheap agent, or one that substantially discounts their fee to impress you to win your business. 
2. The property manager must manage more properties- because the agency has a much lower revenue base now because of their cheaper fees, the property manager is now well overloaded with too many properties to justify the same salary as the other ‘more expensive’ agency down the road. 
3. Burnout and resignation- the overload of managements causes the property manager to become disillusioned, not coping and causing ‘burnout’, struggling to meet investor expectations of service levels, with the end result being resignation.
4. Good property managers now avoid this agency- once word of mouth spreads amongst property managers that to work at this agency you must manage so many more properties and so the good property managers steer clear of this business. Therefore the only people the principal can employ is either inexperienced or poor performing property managers who can’t get a job in good agencies.
5. Poor service levels- due to this factor of now lower expertise levels, the result is poor service all around and disillusioned property investors who thought they had a ‘bargain’!

1. Landlord Insurance- Tenant Performance Can’t Be Guaranteed

Like any investing where we seek a financial return, there is a risk that an unexpected financial loss may occur. When we have an interest in investing in property, there are also risks to our investment return.

When our return comes by renting a property to tenants, it would be fool hardy to think that a tenancy poses little to no risk, even with we have secured what we believe are great tenants! Even the best tenants can have an unexpected change of circumstances that can result in rent arrears and in some extreme cases ending in eviction.

Most property investors understand this risk and therefore take out landlord insurance to cover against financial loss like rent default, malicious damage and other tenancy related losses. However you need to ensure you have the right landlord insurance!

Be Aware of ‘Bank’ Landlord Insurance

When a property investor takes out a loan, they are usually offered landlord insurance also by the financial institution. This gives them peace of mind until, at claim time they realise that the ‘bank’ landlord insurer now requests from $300 to $1000 as an excess for rent default!

It makes sense that your property manager has access to the best landlord insurance cover, not the bank! So when you are looking at Landlord Insurance, perhaps consider these important questions:

• Can I claim if my tenants are on a periodic lease agreement?
• Can I retain the bond for re-letting expenses?
• What value are my contents covered up to (carpets, curtains, light fittings and blinds?)
• What are the excesses for loss of rent, malicious tenant damage and accidental tenant damage?
  
  Feel free to contact us should you have any questions. Legally we are not able to give you any advice, but we are happy to give you the facts of what our preferred landlord insurance cover.  

Well we found him. The Elusive Booragoon Bomber. It was like unmasking of one of the super heroes, but we finally discovered who that top tipper really was. Alex Yurkov from Booragoon, and guess who he supports?  “The Bombers”.

As it turns out Alex is one of our clients so it is great to have him win.

The prize is a substantial $500 dining experience at the Raffles Restaurant, and earnt this due to his exceptional tipping during the year.

Alex had 158 right tips, and was a full 5 tips clear of runner up Jack Warman.

The amazing fact is Alex claims he didn’t once win a weekly prize, so for the second year out of 3 the main prize winners were the most consistent all year without any weekly glory.

Congratulations Alex for your superb tipping. Please enjoy your dinner on us.

To everyone that participated in this year’s competition, thank you. It was fun, and yes we will do it again next year. Bigger and better.

We would like to hit 200 plus participants. We will be ramping things up even better with even more value in the prizes, and hopefully a whole lot more tippers to boot.

We can all have a few months off and see you in early 2012 for the Evolution Realty footy tipping competition 2012.  

At Evolution Realty we very much feel privileged to be a part of what is a wonderful community in the City of Melville.

• Mount Pleasant Primary School
• Melville City soccer club
• Applecross Heat Basketball team
• St Vincent De Paul Society
• Red Cross Red Shield Appeal
• Red Kite

It has been years in the making. I have long wanted to offer the latest, content rich, expert information and tips for buyers, sellers and property investors and here it is.

Evolution Realty is proud to announce and launch our FREE E-Books range.

Three detailed, content rich, easy to load E-Books bursting with information for all segments of the real estate process, based on dedicated research and personal practical hands on years of experience.

1) BUYERS- Got questions? - All of the answers right here.

An 18 page FREE E-Book titled “The 21 Essential Home Buying Tips” filled with all the best, relevant, local information and tips required to help you navigate through the existing property market. Click on the links on this page. Simply download straight onto your computer or print of you like.

2) SELLERS- A 19 page FREE E-Book titled “The 21 Irrefutable Top Home Seller Tips” filled with all the best, relevant, local information and tips required to help you get the best outcome when selling. Click on the links on this page. Simply download straight onto your computer or print of you like.

How to avoid the pitfalls when selling and achieve the following.

* Maximum price
* Minimum stress
* MINIMUM TIMEFRAME

3) SELLERS- A 23 page FREE E-Book titled “The 21 Must Know Home Staging Tips” filled with all the best, relevant, local information and tips required to help you get the best outcome when selling. Click on the links on this page. Simply download straight onto your computer or print of you like.

This is all part of our ongoing commitment at Evolution Realty to innovate, add value and lead in the local real estate market in which we operate. I hope that you enjoy these FREE tools and resources.