There was a surprising sale this week that showed the value of buyers keeping ahead of the competition.

This was the sale, two weeks before auction, of 177 Mills Street Albert Park, through Michael Coen of Hocking Stuart Real Estate, in the range of $2.3 million to $2.5 million. On the corner of Mills and Ashworth Street, just a stone’s throw from the beach, this well renovated property offered good accommodation for a small family or a single couple looking to be close to all the seaside action and the CBD.

The house had been up for sale as an “off market” property for some time. James Buyers Advocate architect Adam and I had inspected it earlier this year and rated it as 680, a good score.

The sale happened when the vendor decided to raise the profile of the property by taking it from an “off market” to an advised campaign. The buyer hadn’t been aware of it during its off market campaign and saw an advantage in purchasing before auction, taking any potential competition out of play.

What this shows is that as supply tightens buyers may need to adjust their strategies. Price thoughts and buying strategies may need to remain flexible as the market is still awash with “the unloved” but at the same time properties are selling before auction and a number of auctions are moving beyond conservative price thoughts of many buyers.

If you are unsure about a property’s value, or what strategy to use in buying your dream home – talk to us.

This week I will be visiting 309 Balaclava Road Caulfield North – designed by award winning DDB’s architect David McCallum for himself and family. Agent Darren Krongold of Garry Peer Real Estate mentioned that early interest was strong with 200 groups going through the first open on Saturday. Quoting $2.2m plus.

The other is 175 Canterbury Road Middle Park – a rare double fronted terrace only minutes to Fitzroy Street and the beach.

Cafe of the week is Giddiup in South Melbourne –a little space pinched from R.G.Madden in Coventry Street (corner Francis Street).  With great coffee from “Single Origin” (Sydney), a range of sandwiches and salads, it has a strong following.

There’ve been limited properties going under the hammer since Super Saturday (March 31^st) but the sale of these three properties after auction shows that sales are occurring despite stock levels being 30% lower than this time last year.

• 35 Canterbury Road Albert Park – the sale was managed by Gerald Betts of R.T.Edgar Real Estate.    A two storey terrace, liveable now and with plans for an extension, double garage and studio. Good front room proportions and light. Passed in at auction on the 24/03/12 and sold on the 16/04/12 in the range of $1.55m to $1.65m

• 79 Beaconsfield Parade Albert Park – the sale was managed by Paul Western of Cayzer Real Estate.   On land of 409m2 this circa 1970’s property (STCA) offers a rare opportunity to rebuild your dream home. Passed in at auction on the 3/03/12 and sold on 4/04/12 in the range of $3.2m to $3.5m

• 57 Esplanade West Port Melbourne – the sale was managed by Simon Graf of Hocking Stuart Real Estate. A bright two storey new build, centrally positioned to access the beach and the Port Melbourne life style. Passed in at auction on the 31/03/12 and sold on the 1/04/12 in the range of $1m to $1.15m.

With low auction stock levels seemingly being the norm you will have to look outside the box if you are looking to buy a property – off markets is one such solution. Last week we were involved with an off market purchase in the Gaslight Park area of Albert Park. The sale was managed by Kaine Lanyon of Marshall White Real Estate; a single fronted Victorian terrace with second storey extension. The property was purchased on behalf of an overseas client in the range of $1.6m to $1.8m. The client engaged us because we were able to advise them about a number of off market properties.   This is becoming an increasing way of doing business as stock levels remain low in Port Phillip.

What a pleasant surprise it was when I visited, the former Gasworks Cafe, now known as PJ’s in Port Melbourne, to find a couple of old buddies from my old restaurant days in Bronwyn Stuart and Emma Binks (still of Hot Honey in Armstrong Street, Middle Park) now running the show. The menu is great if you want a quick snack or a long lunch. Fresh and healthy just the way I like it and eating outside in Melbourne’s autumn sun was a delight.

If you are looking for a home in Port Phillip possibly talk to me about off market properties.

Cafe Guy

James Private Client Briefings contain far greater and more client-specific detail than what you see below and are available for full service James Search and Negotiate clients throughout Melbourne.

Contact us: For a private, confidential and no obligation discussion on what is really happening in your street, precinct and suburb from a buyer’s perspective, contact Architect Adam on 0413 318 079 or Gina on (+613) 9804 3133 or
0457 835 255 or Mal on 0408 107 988 from James Buyer Advocates.

Alternatively if you see us at an open for inspection or an auction please feel free to come over and say hello – perhaps we could send you a buyer rating, a result or simply open diaries and work out a time to sit down and talk about
the market, values, negotiation, alternative homes or your needs from a buyer’s perspective.

For the record each of us is involved in 2 to 3 homes, around 20 inspections and attending/assisting/bidding on up to 4 auctions on a weekly basis – all in that specialist $M+ price range.

A sample of testimonials from satisfied clients http://www.jamesbuyeradvocates.com.au/testimonials.php

While there was a chill in the air yesterday, the action was warm at many auctions, with solid bidding. A 66% clearance rate for $1m plus is above the REIV reported average of 61%.

Of the 10 auctions we attended, there were 22 bidders in all – putting Boroondara Bidderman at a healthy 2.2.

Hawthorn /Hawthorn East performed with almost a clean sheet. There were 9 auctions, with 8 selling. Why is this ? Well, quite simply, demand continues to overwhelm supply. We attended three ‘volcano’ auctions – 7 Station Street (Richard Winneke, Jellis Craig), 39 Auburn Grove (Glen Coutinho, Hocking Stuart – good to see you back Glen!) and 33 Ryeburne Avenue (also Richard Winneke, Jellis Craig).

9 Invermay Grove (Campbell Ward, Jellis Craig) was the one that did not sell on the day, but is not far away from selling, I am told.

The other property in Invermay Grove to go to auction yesterday was no.40 – and I must say the result there was a good one, selling at around the upper level of the quoted range, which I and others thought to be ambitious. Well done to the vendor for having the courage to build something a bit different and to the selling agent, Nick Smith (Jellis Craig), for having the courage to quote it strongly.

An interesting land sale yesterday was 39 Sunnyside Avenue Camberwell (Debbie Silk, Noel Jones), selling quite well for around the $2300/m2 mark.  Although the rear was south facing, the land was as good as it gets in the esteemed Sunnyside Estate – wide and flat with a great hill position.

Another sale of note was 23 Winmalee Road Balwyn (Dominic Hlavacek, Noel Jones) selling for $2,800,000. This was on offer quietly before Christmas, passed in at auction about a month ago and then sold last week. With the same block of land selling next door recently for just over a million dollars, a large French Provincial home costs about $1.8m million (less costs), or so the market says right now.

With a great number of auctions next week (58) and some quality properties on offer, it will be interesting to see how things go.

Until next week…..

Design smart,

Architect Adam

James Private Client Briefings contain far greater and more  client-specific detail than what you see below and are available for full  service James Search and Negotiate clients  throughout Melbourne.

Contact us: For a private, confidential and no obligation  discussion on what is really happening in your street, precinct and suburb from  a buyer’s perspective, contact Architect Adam on 0413  318 079 or Gina on (+613) 9804 3133 or
0457 835 255 or Mal on 0408 107 988 from James Buyer  Advocates.

Alternatively if you see us at an open for inspection or an auction please  feel free to come over and say hello – perhaps we could send you a buyer rating,  a result or simply open diaries and work out a time to sit down and talk about
the market, values, negotiation, alternative homes or your needs from a buyer’s  perspective.

For the record each of us is involved in 2 to 3 homes, around 20 inspections  and attending/assisting/bidding on up to 4 auctions on a weekly basis – all in  that specialist $M+ price range.

A sample of testimonials from satisfied clients http://www.jamesbuyeradvocates.com.au/testimonials.php

James Private Client Briefings contain far greater and more  client-specific detail than what you see below and are available for full  service James Search and Negotiate clients  throughout Melbourne.

Contact us: For a private, confidential and no obligation  discussion on what is really happening in your street, precinct and suburb from  a buyer’s perspective, contact Architect Adam on 0413  318 079 or Gina on (+613) 9804 3133 or
0457 835 255 or Mal on 0408 107 988 from James Buyer  Advocates.

Alternatively if you see us at an open for inspection or an auction please  feel free to come over and say hello – perhaps we could send you a buyer rating,  a result or simply open diaries and work out a time to sit down and talk about
the market, values, negotiation, alternative homes or your needs from a buyer’s  perspective.

For the record each of us is involved in 2 to 3 homes, around 20 inspections  and attending/assisting/bidding on up to 4 auctions on a weekly basis – all in  that specialist $M+ price range.

A sample of testimonials from satisfied clients http://www.jamesbuyeradvocates.com.au/testimonials.php

James Private Client Briefings contain far greater and more  client-specific detail than what you see below and are available for full  service James Search and Negotiate clients  throughout Melbourne.

Contact us: For a private, confidential and no obligation  discussion on what is really happening in your street, precinct and suburb from  a buyer’s perspective, contact Architect Adam on 0413  318 079 or Gina on (+613) 9804 3133 or
0457 835 255 or Mal on 0408 107 988 from James Buyer  Advocates.

Alternatively if you see us at an open for inspection or an auction please  feel free to come over and say hello – perhaps we could send you a buyer rating,  a result or simply open diaries and work out a time to sit down and talk about
the market, values, negotiation, alternative homes or your needs from a buyer’s  perspective.

For the record each of us is involved in 2 to 3 homes, around 20 inspections  and attending/assisting/bidding on up to 4 auctions on a weekly basis – all in  that specialist $M+ price range.

A sample of testimonials from satisfied clients http://www.jamesbuyeradvocates.com.au/testimonials.php

ALBERT PARK, 39 Geig St, Greg Hocking (Greg Hocking), passed in, $1,500,000

James Private Client Briefings contain far greater and more client-specific detail than what you see below and are available for full service James Search and Negotiate clients throughout Melbourne.

The Boroondara market yesterday was patchy. On the surface of things, our statistics (eg clearance rate, Bidderman) had fallen off previous good form of recent weeks, yet the overall offering were average and we were returning back from the Labour Day weekend. It certainly is a an interesting time of the year, isn’t it? The weather is pleasant and, even if you are not a motorsports fan, you cannot avoid it really – with the high-pitched engine screams of the F1 cars heard in the distance and F18 jets overhead.

Of the 8 properties we reviewed, 4 sold – 1 under the hammer, 1 before auction and 2 post-auction. In total, 6 bidders at 8 auctions –  putting Bidderman at 0.75, almost half of Melbourne’s average today of 1.3. Of the 27 auctions we monitored, 16 were bought, so the clearance rate overall sat at 59% (in line with the REIV report for the day), a hiccup from the previous 3 weeks where we saw the clearance rates consistently at more than 70%.

It was interesting to see 11 Mayfield Avenue Camberwell (James Tostevin, Marshall White) up for auction again yesterday. This is a neat single level home with impressive street presence and no real backyard, in a quiet location. It last sold back in April 2009 (when things were just picking up after the GFC) for $805,000 then sold basically in the same condition yesterday (save for some cosmetic work) for over $1,000,000.  This probably would have sold for more in April 2010, but a 25% return in 2 years is not too bad at all a reasonable case study for the market.

In the background, properties are getting sold – of those we can report Sam Wilkinson from Kay & Burton sold a sharp modern townhouse at 35a Peate Ave in Glen Iris via an Expressions of Interest campaign for around the $2.5m mark and Jellis Craig sold an off-market property in Russell Street Camberwell in the high $1m’s. At JBA, we continue to be shown through many off-markets and are buying more this way than we have before.

The focus now looks towards March 31, not only for the the start of the AFL season but also where we will see the greatest number of $1m plus Saturday auctions for the year – 58. Previous high was on February 25, when there were 43.

Until next week…..

Design smart,

Architect Adam

James Private Client Briefings contain far greater and more client-specific detail than what you see below and are available for full service James Search and Negotiate clients throughout Melbourne.

James Private Client Briefings contain far greater and more client-specific detail than what you see below and are available for full service James Search and Negotiate clients throughout Melbourne.

Contact us: For a private, confidential and no obligation discussion on what is really happening in your street, precinct and suburb from a buyer’s perspective, contact Architect Adam on 0413 318 079 or Gina on (+613) 9804 3133 or 0457 835 255 or Mal on 0408 107 988 from James Buyer Advocates.

Alternatively if you see us at an open for inspection or an auction please feel free to come over and say hello – perhaps we could send you a buyer rating, a result or simply open diaries and work out a time to sit down and talk about the market, values, negotiation, alternative homes or your needs from a buyer’s perspective.

For the record each of us is involved in 2 to 3 homes, around 20 inspections and attending/assisting/bidding on up to 4 auctions on a weekly basis – all in that specialist $M+ price range.

A sample of testimonials from satisfied clients http://www.jamesbuyeradvocates.com.au/testimonials.php

Tricky day in the rain yesterday, but the wet weather certainly didn’t damper auction crowd numbers and bidding. Of the twelve auction we reviewed ten sold, given an overall clearance rate of 83% and the overall Boroondara $1m-plus monitored market sat at 76%.

Boroondara Bidderman sat at 2.2 yesterday (up again from last week) and there were quite a few ‘volcano’ auctions out there. 13 Jaques Street in Hawthorn East (Peter Batrouney, Jellis Craig) was another one of these. We attended two volcano auctions namely 7 Ross Street Kew (Greg Toogood, Jellis Craig) and 11 Wiringa Avenue Camberwell (Scott Patterson, Kay & Burton) but there could have easily been more. 59 Urquhart Street Hawthorn (Richard Simpson, W.B. Simpson) was one of these – 120 people don’t often turn up in the rain for fun. Only three bidders there, but the pace was frenetic and bidding passed many people by (see our auction report). What a quality offering! I doubt we will see another one like that in a while.

Enjoy your Labour Day mini-holiday.

Design smart,

Architect Adam

James Private Client Briefings contain far greater and more client-specific detail than what you see below and are available for full service James Search and Negotiate clients throughout Melbourne.
Contact us: For a private, confidential and no obligation discussion on what is really happening in your street, precinct and suburb from a buyer’s perspective, contact Architect Adam on 0413 318 079 or Gina on (+613) 9804 3133 or 0457 835 255 or Mal on 0408 107 988 from James Buyer Advocates.
Alternatively if you see us at an open for inspection or an auction please feel free to come over and say hello – perhaps we could send you a buyer rating, a result or simply open diaries and work out a time to sit down and talk about the market, values, negotiation, alternative homes or your needs from a buyer’s perspective.
For the record each of us is involved in 2 to 3 homes, around 20 inspections and attending/assisting/bidding on up to 4 auctions on a weekly basis – all in that specialist $M+ price range.
A sample of testimonials from satisfied clients http://www.jamesbuyeradvocates.com.au/testimonials.php

James Private Client Briefings contain far greater and more client-specific detail than what you see below and are available for full service James Search and Negotiate clients throughout Melbourne.
Contact us: For a private, confidential and no obligation discussion on what is really happening in your street, precinct and suburb from a buyer’s perspective, contact Architect Adam on 0413 318 079 or Gina on (+613) 9804 3133 or 0457 835 255 or Mal on 0408 107 988 from James Buyer Advocates.
Alternatively if you see us at an open for inspection or an auction please feel free to come over and say hello – perhaps we could send you a buyer rating, a result or simply open diaries and work out a time to sit down and talk about the market, values, negotiation, alternative homes or your needs from a buyer’s perspective.
For the record each of us is involved in 2 to 3 homes, around 20 inspections and attending/assisting/bidding on up to 4 auctions on a weekly basis – all in that specialist $M+ price range.
A sample of testimonials from satisfied clients http://www.jamesbuyeradvocates.com.au/testimonials.php