Posts Tagged ‘Selling Real Estate’

When media reports start talking about static or falling home prices, many homebuyers think that it’s a good idea to watch the market and wait for it to reach the bottom. They feel that if they postpone their purchase long enough, they are likely to see prices fall further and snap up a ‘real bargain’. 

While bargains do exist, of course, for people who are in the right place at the right time, there are often more people who miss out by using this strategy than gain.  Most homebuyers buy their family home and live in it for, on average, seven to ten years.  And when we’re looking at averages, the property market continues, in the big picture, to rise. Based on historical property cycles, property may undergo periods of static growth and periods of galloping growth, but on average, well-located, well-selected residential property doubles in value every ten years or so. Certainly, if we could always pick the lowest time to buy and the highest time to sell we would do very well indeed, but the only buyers who need worry about the immediate state of the market are the real estate speculators who wish to buy then sell again straight away, or those who are too highly geared or who have entered into unrealistic amounts of debt. For everyone else, the chances of strong long-term capital gain are virtually assured, provided they buy well-selected property in well-selected locations.

It’s famously difficult to pick the ‘bottom’ of the market. Often buyers who wait find themselves having little to choose from as listings get scarce – and a sudden flurry of competition for the few desirable properties actually on the market for sale often causes them to sell for higher prices than expected, even in a market described as a difficult one for sellers.  Buyers end up paying more than they bargained for if they  keep on watching and waiting;  because the ‘flurries’ they waited out were signalling an upturn in the market or the end of the halcyon days for buyers.
 
Purchasers who wait too long for a ‘bargain’ or the ‘lowest point of the market’ often only realise that the lowest point has already been reached once they can look back on it with the 20/20 vision of hindsight.

This blog post is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Ragement Expertseal Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts.

Raine & Horne South Australia CEO, Kevin Magee answers the top real estate questions every month including “HOW’S THE MARKET?” in South Australia and “WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR ME?” in the process identifying real estate opportunities, clarifying trends and providing property market tips for Raine & Horne members, Buyers, Sellers, Investors (Landlords) & Tenants.

For ongoing & concise property updates, media scoops and tips follow Kevin on Twitter @rhSA_CEO or contact Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts.

“It’s sometimes hard to work out when interviewing a new Glenelg Landlord, why they may feel vaguely dissatisfied with their incumbent property management service” said Ms Bonet Principal – Raine & Horne Glenelg.

“When you sart talking to them you know straight away it’s not working for them, but you can’t put your finger on why?”

“Our experience with our Glenelg Property Management business is that most property investors want to communicate with one person for their day-to-day needs” said Ms Bonet. ”They don’t want different jobs to be managed by different personnel (task management); they want their whole portfolio to be looked after (whether they own one property or several) by one person who is responsible for all tasks relating to their properties – arrears, re-letting, repairs and so on”.

When it comes to hiring a property manager, here is a checklist you can run through to reassure yourself that your agent is doing the best thing by your investment. Here’s a checklist thatall Property Investors should ask themself;

1. Does your property manager talk to you on the phone or does he/she send emails or text messages? Most landlords are baby boomers and prefer to discuss things directly when there is a problem so if you feel your property manager is hiding behind emails or text messages when you need to talk, let them know.  
    
2. Do they respond to your requests quickly? Property managers who take longer than half a day to respond to phone calls and emails are letting you down.
    
3. Most landlords prefer minimal vacancy; it’s obvious that even a week’s vacancy is money that will never be recouped.  If your property is vacant, don’t let your property manager ‘give it another week to see how we go’. If it isn’t rented in 10 days, it’s time to drop the rent by 10%.
    
4. Are you getting the best referenced tenants? Keeping the rent at 95% of market value minimises arrears, vacancies and maintenance – and therefore increases net return although the rent is slightly below market. Landlords who go for the highest rent lose money in vacancies and repairs – so check that your agent isn’t setting the rent too high.
    
5. Does your property manager keep you informed about further ‘good’ investments? This could be via an email with links to their website and properties for sale.

This blog post is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts.

Watch this Video to hear from Raine & Horne SA’s CEO Kevin Magee, to find out what is happening in the SA Real Estate Market in January 2011.

This blog post and video is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts

Watch this Video to hear from Raine & Horne SA’s CEO Kevin Magee, to find out what is happening in the SA Real Estate Market in November 2010.

This blog post and video is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts

Watch this video … to get the latest in the South Australian Property Market Updates

This video is to brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts

Read the latest comments from Angus Raine CEO of Raine & Horne about the hike in interest rates…

The decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to increase the official cash rate by 25 basis points proved the major talking point for the property market in October.

The increase pushes the central bank’s cash rate to 3.25 per cent and the RBA governor Glenn Stevens said the increase was as a result of Australia’s continuing growth.

Raine & Horne CEO Angus Raine says the increase was the market’s worst kept secret, given the regular snippets of more favourable economic news coupled with the fact interest rates remain at historic low levels.

Nevertheless with the financial markets pricing in more rate rises by Christmas, the Raine & Horne chief is not convinced home owners can stomach more increases, especially as the Federal Government is also phasing out the First Home Owners Grant Boost (FHOB).

To this end, the Real Estate Institute of Australia says when a similar stimulus package was phased out in July 2002, the presence of first home buyers in the market fell by around 38% from 13,000 to 8,000 per month.

See what John Symonds of Aussie Homes has to say…

However Mr Angus Raine remains cautiously optimistic for the property market despite the challenges. “After an interest rate hike, people usually go back to the drawing board and work out what they can afford. There’s usually a time lag of a few weeks and then they’ll go out hunting again.”

REIA President David Airey is squarely in Mr Raine’s camp, and says caution is required regarding further decisions on rates.

“While the economic indicators suggest that Australia is on the way to recovering from the impact of the global financial crisis, these are early and tentative signs and we should be wary not to slow economic growth by increasing interest rates prematurely,” said Mr Airey.

PriceFinder Chief Operating Officer Kent Lardner, says, most home buyers need to be aware of inter­est rate movements, and urges them to allow for a servicing buffer for loan repayments of up to 3%.

 “The rise in interest rates is a positive sign of a strengthening economy. From PriceFinder’s perspective, our biggest concern over the last 12 months has been jobs losses and the effect that could have on property markets.”

 “The good news on the job front to-date will continue to help buyer confidence and even with the expected interest rate rises in the coming 12 months, our rates will still be relatively low,” adds Mr Lardner.

This article was republished from Raine & Horne Terraine October 2009.

Watch this Youtube Video about how Raine & Horne Glenelg can help you with all of your investment needs…

Monika Bonet is the Principal of Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agent and Property Management expert.