Forum Replies Created
When they start fining for overquoting prices – then we will see a more level playing field.
To my thinking Hipe and averages around now are still coming from the boom
No, in fact the averages are based on properties sold over the last three months. Not much fresher than that.
If they don't like your price tough find someone else that
Yep! Thats one way. Let me know how many properties you buy over the next 12 months. I know, I know – you only need one. I'm sure it's out there with your name on it, you keep looking. On the side though – what's your hourly rate worth?
Dear Tee,
The first lesson on how to deal with Agents is to ignore most of what you read on Investment forums as you will only ever hear the bad stories and in fact most of them are only bad because the investor did not get their own way. The fact is Agents are actually real people just like you and I believe that if you treat them with the same respect that you expect, you will have a good experience. Tell them what you are trying to achieve (No of Bedrooms. Bathrooms, size of land, location etc) and how much you would like to invest. Get them to show you some properties and you will quickly learn fair market price and have more confidence to place an offer on the property that eventually takes your fancy.Many people will try to tell you that the profit should be made on the purchase, however I will tell you that the profit is made when you purchase. There are many investors running around that would've, could,ve or should've but they couldn't get the price down to where they thought was a good buy and the other person who was prepared to pay the extra is sitting back counting their profit and the other buyers loss.
I chuckled after posting this question though, I must have been the only person in the country offering anything on anything last week of all weeks .
Not at all, I sold two last week and enquiry from genuine buyers has increased quite a bit. Good properties priced well are still selling to genuine purchasers.
As to your 20% below list offer – you may well think that it is a good price (for you) but I can assure you that as an agent, it would not get me jumping to help you. RP Data have an interesting calculator that shows the average difference between Advertised price and actual sale price and in the area that I am servicing the average discount is 5.8%.
Not making excuses for agents, and if this person has not contacted you, especially after an written offer, I can't believe it. Did you leave your name and contact numbers? Is this a regional area?
Wealthyjvd.
If you take the time to read the following report including spreadsheets, you might find a little enlightenment.
http://jonchown.topproducerwebsite.com/real-news.asp?p=52
You will however need to increase your combined income a bit.
Hi Tony, Unfortunately, I can't be of much assistance with contract law in NSW or Vic as both States have dfiierent contract law. I was under the impression that the Lawyers drew up the contracts in NSW not the Agents and I have no idea about Vic. Given that people move around Australia so much now days it would make sense if contract law was the same throughout this fine country, however when it comes to common sense and lawyers or politicians, it is usually lacking.
Sandy,
Obviously my statement 'maximise the return on the investors dollar outlay' doesn't make sense if you are not aware that there are computer programs available that can assist you to ascertain almost the exact return on your investment input. No crystall ball required, just some common sense and the ability to be conservative.
Somersofts PIA is just one example. Smart Investors won't leave home without it.
Tony, As an Agent, I am always happy to take any reasonable offer in writing, however if I feel that the Buyer is simply out of touch or way off target, I preferr to make the offer verbally. Playing games with low offers does not assist in getting the eventual sale price down, it only gives the Buyer less credibility and gives the Agent the ability to promote the low offer to other prospective buyers and create a dutch auction. I'm sure that everyone dislikes this process as much as I do, but our job is to get the most for our Seller.
While verbal offers are not necessarily binding, you may flush out a likely sale figure and proceed to formal offer if it is in your price range – if it's not, what have you lost? You were never going to buy anyway.
While a cash offer is good, has it got other conditions such as Building and Pest? If so it does not necessarily equate to a dsicount in price – All properties that I sell go for cash money eventually, provided that they pass the Building and Pest clause or any other clause a Buyer may wish to place on the contract.
Event Horizon, I have no agenda and have never said that units are better than houses in all cases, however as this is an information forum, I do believe that the statements given should be factual so that people reading are given the opportunity to make an accurate and informed decision on creating wealth through property investing. Many first time investors here have limited starting capital or borrowing power and hence buying the house and land in my opinion may not be in their best interest. The statement that buying land with an investment (while there is some merit in it, it needs to be clarified) is better than units is just a crock. Depending upon the style of investment that the investor wishes to become involved in – buy and hold, renovate and sell, buy and add value etc the main theme should be to maximise the return on the investors dollar outlay. On a buy and hold plan Inner City units will out perform Inner City houses almost without exception. (Leaving riverfront out of the equation). That’s is not because I have an agenda to sell units, it is just a fact that I have discovered while researching growth in houses and units in various Suburbs around inner Brisbane.
ErikH says
It is supply-demand that drives prices and the question unit or house is too simplistic and so is the much heard comment that buildings only depreciate and only land appreciates.Thank goodness that some can come to grips with this statement. The person who coined the phrase 'Land appreciates and Buildings depreciate' must have had a personal dislike for Units. The comment just doesn't make sense in general terms.
Show me a house built in 1980 for $30,000 that has depreciated to nothing. Those $35,000 houses that I used to sell back then must be real cheap by now.
Steve, While I am not completly familiar with property values in the Whitsundays, this deal looks very attractive to me considering we would be hard pressed to even build a two bedroom townhouse including land in Brisbane for that amount let alone make any profit.
Linar said'
I would think that seasoned investors would be very wary of anything that promises a guaranteed rent. Most people on this forum know that the "guaranteed" rent is built into the purchase price.There are rental guarantees and rental guarantees and a smart investor would attempt to find out what the benefits may be before dismissing them as 'being built into the price'. When a large development settles there can be a large number of properties available for rent at the same time thus upsetting the balance of supply and demand and either forcing rental values down or increasing the vacancy rate and lengthening time taken to let. This is the time that investors are most vulnerable and I believe that a Developer who supplies this type of rental gaurantee is acting ethically.
Good luck with the Development,
With properties in a Community Title, generally what you do inside is up to you provided the changes are not structural. From what you have said in your last post, it would appear that you will be filling in a void (how you propose to build the floor will be the telling point here as this will require an engineer to ascertain what effect it will have on the supporting walls) which technically will increase the GFA of the unit and as such Council may well require approval. If it were me, I would probably take the punt and do it anyway as it is highly unlikely that anyone will ever know. Many properties in Australia would fail a Council inspection if everything was taken to the letter of the law.
Provided that you have informed the Body Corporate that you will be doing renovations and have the necessary insurances in place and that the work will be built to engineers specs there is no need for Council approval.
The difference in Terrys friends case was that they were in fact increasing the GFA (gross floor area) of the Building which I suspect was already at maximum.
Hey, that's a rye one Rye.
In fact it’s the most used site by property buyers in Australia to look for property.
I wonder what RealEstate.com would have to say about that statement?
Good luck to you, selling property for $3000 commission makes me wonder what you do for the Client for your money.
They are one and the same thing. Community Title Schemes cover all Strata Title registrations and as such they will have common property areas which will require future maintenance hence the requirement for a 'Sinking Fund'. In Queensland these funds have a prescribed method for calculation and are the best thing that has happened to Community Titles since Adam was a boy. Don't think of them as an evil but as a forced saving to pay for maintenance to your asset as it is required. It is after all money in the bank (your bank). Properties with little money in the sinking fund are worth less than equal properties with a healthy balance.
Jon
Why on earth would anyone want a list of foreclosure Properties. If you think that you are going to get any special deal here then guess again. Try following any Public Trustee auction and you will see that in many cases they get more than the property is worth just because so many people go to these auctions in the belief that they are going to secure a bargain and they continue to out bid each other to above real value.
The Seller/Auctioneer have a very strict duty of care to make sure that they obtain best value for the property in order to stop the Original owner sueing the forcloser for underselling their property. Stop and think about how you would feel if the shoe were on the other foot and it was your property being foreclosed. Would you like to think that the Bank did everything in their power to make sure that you got the best price? I'm sure you would.
There are three sides to all stories, Your side – There side – and the truth. I am sorry to say that it would be rare that anyone is placed on Tica for no reason. You may well see it as the Agents fault and obviously the Agent sees it as your fault. Is there any money still owing and if so paying this amount will get your name of TICA. I am equally sure that once you become a landlord, you may well appreciate a list of nuisance Tenants.
Let me also assure you that the Tenant very much gets the support over the Landlord or Agent in most cases.
In my opinion a Developer giving a rental guarantee for the first year is a positive move. Depending on the number of units in the development, it is often the case that at time of settlement there will be a short term glut of rental properties which will force the real rental value down in the short term. After 12 months, there will only be spasmodic rentl units available and thus true rent can be achieved.
Jon
Are they Brick or timber? Some of the earlier single level have Brick exterior but timber party walls and floors. These can be a problem to get fire rated.
Jon
Sorry, I can't comment on Parramatta. I'm in QLD. Have a think about the following example.
You purchase a 2 bedroom dual key unit for $300,000 which grosses 7% rent return or $404 per week. For the purpose of this exercise the annual growth for a two bedroom unit in this area is 8%. This would mean that the new value after 5 years would be $440,798. In order to maintain the 7% rent return you would need to be getting $593 a week. Unfortunately this does not often happen.
Saying all that, I have seen some good examples. You must be thorough in your analysis.
