VZ REAL ESTATE

A good agent can make a stressful situation tolerable, even enjoyable. By Peter O'Malley     As a seller and a buyer Knowing what constitutes a good agent, as both a vendor and purchaser, will assist you in achieving the best outcome for your sale or purchase of real estate in a stress free manner. Make no mistake; the wrong agent can turn a stressful situation into a downright dreadful situation. But a good agent can make a stressful situation tolerable and sometimes even enjoyable. What constitutes a good agent for a seller may not necessarily mean that they would be a good agent for a buyer and vice versa. For example, if an agent is incapable of achieving a buyer’s highest price for a property, the seller’s loss becomes the buyer’s gain. It is therefore very worthwhile identifying separately, what makes a good agent for a seller and what makes a good agent for a buyer. From a seller’s point of view  A good agent will always tell you what you need to know and

How to avoid the worst and select the best When it comes to investing in real estate, the greatest fear after buying the wrong property is selecting the wrong agent to manage the property. Many investors have found that it is better and safer to actually self-manage their property. However, this is not always a practical solution for investors and therefore finding the right agent is imperative. The success of an investment property is largely dependent on the property manager. The market conditions may rise whilst you own the property, but if the tenants are constantly in arrears and flee with rent owing whilst the condition of the property deteriorates due to neglect, the success of the investment will be diminished. A pleasant gain is turned into a painful lesson. To select the right property manager for your asset, it's important to work toward a set criteria. Salesperson vs Property Manager Selling a service and managing a property are completely different skill sets. It

        Negotiation skills are essential for success in real estate Incredibly, almost unbelievably – most real estate sales people have never studied negotiation. Research shows us that less than 5% of real estate sales people have read a book on negotiation.  This is disgraceful! Throughout the world, home sellers are losing millions of dollars due to the lack of skill in the crucial role of negotiation. We believe it’s unethical to be an estate agent and not make every effort to become a skilled negotiator.  If an agent sells a property for anything less than the buyer could have, would have or should have paid then the agent has failed the client.  Negotiation is a part of day to day life, politics, world issues, at work, with our kids etc. Anyone selling a property can put an advertisement on the internet or arrange a sign board to attract buyers, but the area most people struggle with is the negotiation. Unless your agent can display superior negotiation skills t

First home buyer aspirants often save for a home without knowing how much deposit they actually need. Learn how you can cash in your chips for your first home. How much deposit do I need to buy my first home? As a rule of thumb, you’ll need at least a 10% of the purchase price of your future home as a deposit to qualify for a 95%  Loan to Value Ratio  loan. This allows for the often overlooked upfront costs of  Lenders Mortgage Insurance , a once-off payment which allows you to borrow more than 80%, and stamp duty, a state government tax on property purchases, to be capitalised on to the principal of your loan.    On a house price of $300,000, a minimum deposit to get by is $30,000. There are two exceptions to this, firstly as QLD, NT and WA don’t have stamp duty, which reduces upfront costs. Secondly, everywhere but QLD and NSW have first home buyer grants for established properties, which provide a handy deposit cash injection to the budding first home buyer. If by a

Home owners and landlords will have to pay for asbestos certificates before selling, leasing or renovating properties, under a federal government proposal to be negotiated with the states. Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten gave his personal backing to the asbestos-alert strategy. ... He said one in every three homes built between 1945 and the mid-80s contain asbestos, a mineral fibre that can cause the lethal lung cancer mesothelioma. “If I was purchasing a home, I would want to know if it contained asbestos or not,” he told News Limited. “Obviously I am conscious of the additional cost implications associated with mandating such measures.” Mr Shorten said the government would work with state and territory governments, the Australian Institute of Architects’ Architecture service, and consumer group Choice. His department’s Office of Asbestos Safety is seeking public comment on a proposal to require an “asbestos content report” from a licensed assessor before properties ar

YOUR WORD IS YOUR BOND BY AN ANZAC’S GREAT GRANDSON Handshakes, promises, commitments.   Are they what they used to be?     Remember the spirit of pride and loyalty that made Australia so great?     Remember when we used to “shake on it”? Would our ancestors be proud of us today?   Would they be proud of you?     On Anzac Day we share a common pride in Australia, not just a pride of young men that went to war but a pride of our nation and the values that shaped us and what so many of those young men felt about the future.   Well the future is here.   We are in the future now in 2013.   My great grandfather, Arthur, fought at Gallipoli and I’m proud of that.   I know what sort of a man he was and the values he had.   I try to uphold those values today in all aspects of my life and if you know us at VZ Real Estate I hope you’ll agree that our word is our bond.   Test Us!   Old – Fashioned values at   VZ Real Estate      

THE THREE OUTCOMES When your home first goes for sale, or each time you adjust the ‘Asking Price’, there ane usually only one of three things which happen. FIRST, you may have no interest and no offers. This means the asking price is too high. SECOND, you may get lots of interest and no offers. Again this indicates the asking price is too high or there is something inside the home which the buyers dislike. And THIRD, you may have lots of interest and lots of offers, in which case, you focus on the buyer who makes the best offer...

One of the strongest pointers to improving markets is the lift in affordability. Here's why housing affordability is so strong at the moment: the median dwelling price has dropped 5% since September 2010; average weekly earnings have risen ... 7.45% in the same time frame; and the benchmark interest rate has dropped from 7.12% to 6.03%. All three components have moved in the right direction over the past two years to arrive at the best affordability levels in three years.

Buying behaviour has changed forever as a result of technology. This has caused many unintended consequences in the marketplace. One of those is the agency location. The location of the real estate agent’s office is no longer a relevant criteria for home sellers when selecting an real estate agent. The reason? Because it is no longer relevant to a homebuyer where the agent’s office is located. Once upon a time, buyers would walk up and down the main retail strip of the desired suburb looking in real estate agents offices. Research shows that only 2% of buyers now walk into an agent’s office during their property search. Buyers are attracted to properties, not agents. Recent surveys highlight this trend: in excess of 80 percent of homebuyers found their homes on the internet, signboards or by direct agent communication. Print media was responsible for less than five percent of sales. A lot of buyers that use print media also use the internet, making print an unnecessary and exp