BY MAL JAMES 19th April 2013
April 2013
We got a letter recently from a woman who wanted to engage us to buy a family home, but whose husband was sceptical about whether it would be worthwhile. “My husband says I am crazy to think about engaging a James Buyer Advocate when all deals are about is he who has the most [...]
BY MAL JAMES 1st March 2013
So the Melbourne Market has started hot and the pressure is on to make a decision and make it quick. There’s a home! Buy it! – Deal done! – Phew!
If that sounds like you, you might want to consider three key issues:
1) Were you born smart or were you born lucky?
2) Are all homes the [...]
BY MAL JAMES 1st December 2012
Here are our awards for 2012. Our criteria is that we must have dealt with the agent several times in 2012 and that we look at things from a buyer’s perspective – which we as buyers think is 50% of the game.
Our Best Four Auctioneers
We run into a lot of good auctioneers each weekend. In [...]
BY MAL JAMES 22nd October 2012
Published in the Weekly Review
It attracts more anticipation than a Grand Final, and a bigger array of stars than the Cup Carnival. And the results are more telling than the Bathurst 500: that’s what Super Saturday, October 27th represents to the largest array of buyers and sellers on offer this year.
This coming weekend was always [...]
BY MAL JAMES 21st September 2012
As we go into our Footy Induced/ School Holiday Auction Activity Hibernation we thought we would look at the key issues facing buyers’ right now in the Spring Marketplace. Here is our Top 5.
1. Underquoting
Is back with a vengeance. It is a real stain on our profession. Like dummy bidding it causes great angst [...]
BY MAL JAMES 19th September 2012
Upper end home values in general and Bayside in particular are being “raked over the coals” by the banks at the moment – not to put too fine a point on things.
Directives implied or specific have come from the banking bosses that the Top End, an in particular Bayside, is a little “fruity” for now [...]
BY MAL JAMES 18th September 2012
First Published September 2011 – republished September 2012: Agent Step Quoting is a contentious part of our industry: It’s how selling agents nudge buyers up the staircase towards a price their clients are hoping for. Done badly it can make buyers feel cheated and manipulated and invite accusations of under-quoting. Done well it’s a legitimate [...]
BY MAL JAMES 13th September 2012
It’s on the market at $1,550,000, it’s sold under the hammer at auction for $1,990,000. Only it is not.
Three times this year we have bought properties for LESS than what the home either cost, was sold under the hammer or was passed-in at auction.
Hawthorn East: In the first instance we bought a home in Hawthorn [...]
BY MAL JAMES 12th September 2012
Mal James joins Glenn Ridge to discuss emotional buyer errors at recent auctions. You can read the full story here (click here) on what happened at 8 Davis Avenue where the highest bidder under the hammer, didn’t end up buying the home because of a legal loophole in Victorian law.
Click below to start the [...]
BY MAL JAMES 18th August 2012
We live in an Information Age.
In our fast-paced environment, how can we discriminate the good from the bad in the information-saturated Melbourne property market right now?
At James Buyer Advocates, when we produce a full value rating, we look at hundreds of pieces of information.
We split them into 3 categories.
Facts – such as a sale price
Opinions [...]
BY MAL JAMES 11th August 2012
We might like to think that life is certain, but it is not. Neither is the market. History shows us that the market is on the precipice of uncertainty pretty much all the time. That’s because the market is actually a composite of people’s opinions. And opinions can change on a five cent piece.
Buyers and [...]
BY MAL JAMES 23rd June 2012
Making Good Decisions this Winter
How to avoid the Winter Home Hunting Blues
Why making Good Decisions are as important now as they ever have been
To buy or not to buy – the arguments on both sides
Ideas for some Good Goals
How to avoid the Winter Home Hunting Blues;
a. Take Stock: If you don’t have a lot [...]
BY MAL JAMES 22nd June 2012
Private Sale – It’s a game of Cluedo!
Methods of Sale (and non sale) are changing. Over the next few weeks our Masterclasses will be discussing Private Sale Value, Strategies and Tactics. It’s not what you know but who you know. Private Sale Negotiations rule 101 is know who you should be dealing with – the [...]
BY MAL JAMES 28th May 2012
So what do you do if you’ve found a home, it’s for private sale, and you want to make an offer? How you kick the ball into play, to use the vernacular, can be even more important than the actual amount – especially at the highest level. Too often buyers’ first efforts are way out [...]
BY MAL JAMES 7th May 2012
The Reserve Bank‘s interest rate cuts can have mixed results at the Top End.
The Reserve Bank gave us all a bit of a surprise with its recent rate cut of 50 basis points. But the impact of the rate cuts at the Top End could be mixed.
The diagram below shows the progress of two identical [...]
BY MAL JAMES 16th April 2012
With Easter 2012 over, many of you will be suffering withdrawals not just from chocolate but also from information about the property market – and more importantly from a lack of homes to look at.
Winter 2012 seems to have come early in terms of lack of properties listed for auction. Even with the holidays now [...]
BY MAL JAMES 29th March 2012
We’re in a tricky market pre Easter 2012. One minute there’s spark of life, the next the puff has gone. As a buyer you may be feeling a little confused. How can I buy well in this market?
First, let’s think about what buying well means. If you think it means a guaranteed market outcome, forget [...]
BY MAL JAMES 23rd February 2012
The auctions are back on again and the chatter about what is happening on the 2012 property market has started. By Labour Day the trickle of opinion on the state of the market will turn into a flood.
The big question for many of you right now may well be: should we buy the family home [...]
BY MAL JAMES 4th December 2011
To help us get a sense of what happened this year in Melbourne’s Top End property market, on both sides of the fence, we asked some of the greats of Melbourne real estate – our Legends – to give us their perspectives. We also asked them to take a longer historical view on how this [...]
BY MAL JAMES 8th November 2011
Negotiating on a property is all about balancing the risks with the rewards. In your quest for the reward of buying your dream home, you might run the risk of paying more than you needed to. But focusing purely on the reward of paying a lower price for a home might raise the risk that [...]
