23 Loch St St Kilda West - Rodney Morley of TBM moved 8 bidders from $3,000,000 to $4,100,000 and a sale.

A lot has been happening in Port Phillip (Elwood, St Kilda, Albert Park, Middle Park, Port Melbourne) with 18 buys over a million in the last week. The thing we have been happy with as buyers is the amount of quality stock – we know everybody tells you that’s low and Bidderman is saying there is not enough to go around but if you look closely enough and are prepared to fight at the 2010 price levels then good homes are there to buy.

This last week there has been 5 major sales over $2,000,000 on quality properties
Three big renovation projects at
23 Loch St St Kilda West ($4,100,000); TBM Auction with Rodney Morley – under the hammer
89 Harold Street Middle Park for a tad under $3,000,000 – Michael Szulc of Cayzers – Private Sale;
27 Canterbury Road Middle Park - after auction believed to be between $2,700,000 and $2,800,000. John Holdsworth of Hocking Stuart
A modern offering
249 Beaconsfield Parade Middle Park ($2,685,000) - Lisa Jarrett of Abercromby’s strikes again (doing some business in this area now);
A ready to move in period home
10 Anderson St South Melbourne ($2,900,000). A strong result for Anthony Grimwade of RT Edgar. We loved the street, the decor and the whole home and so did the eventual buyers moving upwards by $500,000 post auction. That’s 1/2 a million – a great post auction negotiation.

Land as we see it in Albert and Middle Park is now a minimum of $5000 per square metre in our calculation. And whilst on a warm Wednesday morning having coffee with John Holdsworth – Albert Park’s legendary selling agent - when our conversation turned to values we found we were in agreement.

Lisa Jarrett of Abercrombys sold this modern offering for $2,685,000 mid week

Elwood is no different as far as supply goes with 4 offerings between $1,450,000 and $1,900,000 being bought this week. Mostly period homes with various degrees of renovation.
46 Rothesay and 122 Ruskin (new home) - Sam Gamon of Chisholm and Gamon. Oren Flamm of LJ Hookers got 13 Foam St Elwood away and 8 Addison sold under the hammer (see report below) through Kaine Lanyon and Nathan Waterston of Bennison Mackinnon.

We are calculating land at a minimum of $3000 per sqm in the good parts of Elwood. And in the good spots eg Ruskin, Addison or along the beach in Foam, Beach, Selwyn etc $1,800,000 is the benchmark for a good side by side well renovated 3 to 4 bedroom home on 400 sq metres of land (with car park). Elwood specialists Sam Gamon and Torsten Kasper who are knocking over some deals in this area concurred in recent phone calls when they were assisting us price another property.

When you think about the action or lack of it this time last year you would say things are positively buzzing in Port Phillip

Buy Well

St Kilda West: 22 Park: Great day for an Auction: Well we thought so but nobody else did: Passed In

While Inner East flies Bayside still presents buying opportunities -

Three Facts about our Bayside – Beaumaris, Brighton to Port Melbourne

• 58% Clearance rate on 36 auctions yesterday – that’s low.
• Less than one bidder auction today. That’s right Bidderman below one – that is a falling market if it continues.
• Some of the nicest buyer agents live there.

Beaumaris: 29 Haydens: Hey Jen! Steve I'm focused! Jen, where have those bidders gone? Steve Tickell & Jenny Dwyer. Passed In

If you hate the beach, love traffic and have got plenty of money stay looking for your double fronteds in Armadale and Hawthorn – only trouble is the coffee shops are full in between open times with fellow depressed non-buyers; oh and Maserati dealers looking for selling agents (that was unfair). No, no, no young men go South and take your woman with you – show her a good time at Hampton’s Brown Cow and while you are gazing into her eyes nodding that yes you really do get “Happy Wife – Happy Life” drift off into the clouds and dream about your mortgage lender’s expression when he realizes you’re not going near your limit to buy your dream home.

The $5m+ market is alive and well in Brighton and in fact has been stronger all year, than it’s “wealthiest suburb” challengers Hawthorn, Canterbury, Toorak and Malvern; however the $1m to $3m market is not as strong especially in the fringe suburbs of Hampton, Sandringham and Beaumaris.

This is best evidenced by a sample Saturday’s results

James Auction Reports

54 Shasta Brighton East – Bought Afterwards – no bidders during auction
Auctioneer Peter Kennett of Hocking Stuart was not able to elicit any response from the crowd and passed the development property in on his second vendor bid at $1.7m

29 Haydens Road Beaumaris – Passed In – No bidders
A crowd of about 50 gathered around the outside pool in glorious sunshine to watch this auction. Despite the lovely setting and a chatty crowd, there were no bids forthcoming. Auctioner Steve Tickell opened with a vendor bid of $1.12 million but there were no takers and the property passed in at this price.

19 Chatsworth Brighton – Bought Afterwards – 2 bidders
2 bidders joined in on top of the opening vendor bid of $2.6m from Jason Gill of Hodges. Passed in at $2.89m and sold after at $2.95 million. Almost a $500,000 improvement on when it sold late last year.

33 The Avenue Hampton – Bought Before

52 Black St Brighton – No bidders
Small crowd saw no bids at all come forward to auctioneer Jonathan Dixon.

5 Manor St Brighton – Bought – 3 bidders
Auctioneer Leigh Hallamore of Buxton opened with a vendor bid of $1.2m and 3 bidders from the crowd of 50 joined in until it was sold at $1,705,000.

16 Tennyson St Sandringham – Bought – 2 bidders
A picnic atmosphere prevailed here, with many of the 100-strong crowd sitting on the lawn to watch proceedings. It was the first time in 50 years that this house had been offered and that generated a lot of buzz from the crowd. Auctioneer Mark Earle opened with a vendor bid of $1.65 million and two bidders joined in. There seemed to be a lot of happiness from the crowd when a family bought the home for $1.861 million.

47 Reed St Albert Park – Passed In – No bidders
The sun was hot but the vibe was cool at this auction. Auctioneer Oliver Bruce opened with a vendor bid of $2.3 million and followed it with a second vendor bid of $2.38 million after no-one from the 40-strong crowd offered a bid. The property was passed in at that price.

290 Cecil St South Melbourne – Sold After – One bidder
In front of 30 people, auctioneer Andrew Stuart opened proceedings here with a vendor bid of $1.6 million. The sole bidder made a bid of $1.61 million and the property was passed in at that price.

20 Asling St Brighton – Passed In – No bidders
A crowd of 70 saw Jonathan Dixon pass-in this home on one of two vendor bids at 2.5m.

22 Park Street St Kilda West – Passed In – One bidder
About 100 people attended this auction, which auctioneer Tony Pride opened with a vendor bid of $2.5 million. The sole bidder made a bid of $2.55 million, which was followed up by a second vendor bid of $2.7 million and the property was passed in at that price.

Happy Wife Happy Life

Oh and don’t forget Elsternwick
17 Regent St Elsternwick  Renovator - great spot and great bones.
http://www.domain.com.au/Public/PropertyDetails.aspx?adid=2008025585
James Auction Report: In front of 80 people, an optimistic bid of $800,000 started this auction. Lots of bidding and lots of entertainment here – seven bidders and the property sold for $1.39 million.
In Hawthorn this would have pushed $1.8m to $1.9m

Canterbury, 19 Rubens: Would you believe it? Missed by that much. Actually Richard James of Jellis Craig does not miss all that often. Four bidders. Bought for $3.301 million. Good result for agent Daniel Bradd as well.

It is 6pm Saturday and the James Auction Clearance Rate on the 32 $1m+ properties we attended and reported on today was 72 per cent.

The REIV’s clearance rate was declared at 82 per cent but they are missing around 200 auction results and our guess is the clearance rate has dropped below 80 per cent for the first time in a long time.

But, hey, there were 1000 auctions – it’s the Grand Final, the Melbourne Cup and the Masters of 2009 all rolled into one for selling agents. This is it – the big one; and things went pretty well for sellers and not so good for buyers who didn’t buy and were hoping for a little sign of decline.

What’s Hot x 2

• Family Homes in Boroondara and Stonnington in $1m to $3m range.
• 166 Mont Albert Road Canterbury - seven bidders – $4.01 million.
  James Auction Report: James Tostevin started slowly, taking a $2.95 million opening bid in front of a big crowd of around 80, all nicely spaced out around the tennis court. Seven bidders later, in what seemed like an eternity on the last few bids, saw the hammer come down a bit gingerly at $10,000 over $4 million.
• 20 Callantina Road Hawthorn- five bidders – $6.125 million.
  James Auction Report: About 130 people saw this auction open with a genuine bid of $4.9 million. There were five bidders and the property was on the market at $5.65 million. The eventual buyer was a determined bidder who stayed strong throughout the auction process and bought the property for $6.125 million.

What’s Not Hot

• This weekend: surprisingly, Malvern East’s Gasgoine Estate was dead as a doornail today, with three pass-ins from three homes (0 per cent clearance); as was Toorak, with only one from five selling, or 20 per cent clearance rate, but everywhere else in Stonnington was very strong.
• Bayside was definitely weaker than Stonnington or Boroondara. In Bayside, six out of 11 $1 million-plus auctions we attended sold, or 54 per cent clearance rate. In Stonnington and Boroondara, it was 16 out of 20, or 80 per cent for $1 million-plus homes.
• There are still some cheaper homes in Bayside. Hampton is cheap compared to Kew and Hawthorn.
• PPP (Price, Property, Position) ADVICE from our AUCTION REPORTERS
  If you hate the beach, love traffic and have got plenty of money, stay looking for your double-fronteds in Armadale and Hawthorn. The only trouble is the coffee shops are full in between open times with fellow depressed non-buyers; oh and Maserati dealers looking for selling agents (that was unfair). No, no, no, young men go south and take your woman with you – show her a good time at the Brown Cow at Hampton and, while you are gazing into her eyes nodding that, yes, you really do get “Happy Wife – Happy Life”, drift off into the clouds and dream about your mortgage lender’s expression when he realises you’re not going near your borrowing limit to buy your dream home.

De Ja Vu – Not Really – 2008 and 2009

19 Chatsworth Avenue Brighton auctioned pre-Melbourne Cup Weekend 2008 and then again today.

James Auction Report 2008: “Energetic comments from Leigh Hallimore didn’t draw any bids, despite his offer to take any bids prior to his opening and closing vendor bids.” Quote was $3,2 million. Sold sometime later for around $2.5 million.
James Auction Report 2009: Two bidders joined in on top of the opening vendor bid of $2.6 million from Jason Gill of Hodges. Passed in at $2.89 million and sold after at $2.95 million. Almost a $500,000 improvement on when it sold late last year.

As this is the big one for 2009, we have focused this edition on results, results, results. What is really happening out there in the trenches? From that, you should be able to work out what will happen in the run-up to Christmas. Here are our auction reporter summaries and these are their stories.

Gina – Bayside (attended auctions in Prahran, Albert Park and South Melbourne)

• Very quiet and quite flat atmosphere at auctions.
• None of these auctions sold and there were few bids (one bidder made one bid at Prahran, none at Albert Park and one bidder made one bid at South Melbourne).
• Most of the crowd at all three auctions seemed to be neighbours – most came on foot and didn’t hang around to see auction results.
• No Chinese bidders at any of these auctions.

Annette (four auctions – Hawthorn, Malvern, Malvern and St Kilda West)

• Good crowds – 70, 80, 100, 130.
• Good numbers of bidders – 6, 5, 5 (but just one bidder and one bid at St Kilda West).
• One Asian bidder at Claremont (but wasn’t the buyer). Largest presence of Asian people at these auctions was at Callantina but they were not involved in the bidding.
• Crowd at Park St, St Kilda West was a “younger crowd” but it also had least atmosphere – quite sombre, people were keeping hands in pockets.
• Crowd chatty and strong bidding and crowd interest at Claremont and Stanhope. Also big crowd interest at Callantina but it did sell for $6 million.

Jenny (two auctions – Beaumaris and Sandringham)

• Mixed atmosphere and results. Beaumaris had a chatty crowd but no bids. Lovely setting – held around the pool, people in crowd commented that they thought sunny weather and lovely setting would put people in the mood but it didn’t appear to. Passed in on the vendor bid.
• Sandringham – first time this house had been offered in 50 years, so generated a lot of interest. Crowd seemed buzzy and genuinely happy when family bought the house. Two bidders.

David (Bayside – Brighton and Hampton)

• Five auctions, plus one sold before.
• Four passed in.
• Small crowds.
• Flat overall.

Julia (five auctions – Hawthorn East x 2, Canterbury, Malvern East, Malvern)

• Big crowds – 125, 60, 100+, 130, 200.
• Not huge numbers of bidders - one at Victoria Rd, four at Rubens Grove, three at Finch St, none at Central Park Rd and one at Deanlea Court.
• Of the four bidders at Rubens Grove, two were Asian and they were the final two bidders after the other two dropped out. The bidding got quite aggressive between these two and one bidder (who was eventual buyer) was very keen to buy it.
• With the other auctions, all felt buzzy at the start and like they would build into something big but then never did. There were four pass-ins and only Rubens Grove sold under the hammer.

Adam (three auctions – Balwyn North x 2, Hawthorn)

• Big crowds – 80 at each.
• Bidders – not many but they were quick-fire auctions. There were probably more bidders there than bid but they didn’t get a chance to get their hands up.
• Didn’t see any Asian bidders
• An anecdote: because it was such a big auction day today, all of the Marshall White crew and team working were supplied with bottles of water and snack packs to keep their energy up throughout the day.

Tom (two auctions – Toorak and Elsternwick – a tale of two cities)

• No real interest at Toorak but seven bidders at Elsternwick.
• Summary from Tom: “On Saturdays, I do auction reporting to get out in the fresh air and see the buzz of different parts of Melbourne, the people, the houses, the streets. I have always had an interest in houses and have a special interest in Californian Bungalows and 1930s Art Deco. Since March, the property market has been on fire with prices that defy my bookkeeper’s conservatism. The market seems to be back where it was in the last half of 2007 and I am surprised at how competitive it is at auctions these days. Well located family homes in the inner suburbs under $2 million is a very strong market – they never seem to go out of fashion.”

MORE ADVICE from our AUCTION REPORTERS
17 Regent St Elsternwick Renovator - great spot and great bones.
http://www.domain.com.au/Public/PropertyDetails.aspx?adid=2008025585
James Auction Report: In front of 80 people, an optimistic bid of $800,000 started this auction. Lots of bidding and lots of entertainment here – seven bidders and the property sold for $1.39 million. In Hawthorn, this would have pushed $1.8 to $1.9 million.

HISTORY LESSON – rewind one year to same pre-Melbourne Cup weekend 2008

James Market Insight, 25 October 2008:
At 5pm Saturday, just two of the 13 auctions we attended today have sold under the hammer, with another two or three expected to be sold overnight.

Here are three quality home auctions from 25 October 2008 – they would have all sold well today.

85 St Vincent Place Albert Park:
James Auction Report 25 Oct 2008: Biggest crowd I’ve seen this year to hear auctioneer Andrew Macmillan put on his first-rate routine: he starts quietly, forcing the crowd across the road to move to him, and he made some very humorous comments. So I, as usual, enjoyed the show, as did everybody else, except, at time of leaving, the owner. Class property, class auctioneer – no result yet.

28 Thanet St Malvern
James Auction Report 25 Oct 25th: “The opening bid from the crowd was well below the quote. Another bidder made one bid and then another offered a smaller increase, which wasn’t accepted. The property was passed in to the highest bidder – not sure this will sell unless there is major movement from either buyer or seller.”

1 Fairlie Court South Yarra
James Auction Report 25 Oct 2008: “Auctioneer Jeremy Fox started by saying this home was worth $5 million and then called out a $4.5 million opening vendor bid. There was no response from the crowd.”

Lots more detail below on each auction in our Market Wraps and NO MARKET NEWS NEXT WEEK on the Melbourne Cup Long Weekend. We return the week after for the run to Christmas.

Buy Well

Mal

Thank you for a huge effort today from many people:

A big thank you to all our auction reporters and auction and sale coordinators Melinda Brown and Simone Clarke – it is not easy dealing with grumpy advocates each week and getting a wide coverage of million-dollar-plus auctions up in a timely manner on a Saturday night. But you do it and do it well. Thank you.

Thank you also for the continuing support we receive from selling agents Marshall White, Benmac, Kay and Burton, RT Edgar, Hocking Stuart, Noel Jones, Biggin and Scott, JP Dixon, Jellis Craig to name a few. We published a strong article last week, which we 100 per cent stand by and we were challenged on a number of points during the week,. It was robust but polite discussion and no agent pressured us to stop writing opinion pieces and no agent stopped us reporting their results (good or bad) today. Thank you.

Here is a story from Margie Lane, one of our favorite clients. We think this is a really important story and Mal purchased Margie’s home before I came into the business as a full-time architectural adviser.

It is a mixed story – the joy of finding a home that you truly want to buy and the difficulties that may await you as a period home renovator and then, hopefully, the joy again upon the completion of something special.

We thank Margie for her story and we hope it doesn’t discourage period home buyers from a big step, but enlighten you as to what you may encounter on the other side when renovating that “quaint” home.

This is the story of council’s rejection of our council planning application and VCAT hearing for the house that Mal bought …

Our simple desire was to renovate this charming, albeit run down, single-fronted terrace in South Melbourne. With a teenage daughter living at home and older kids with their own children coming to stay from time to time, our hopes for extending the amenity of the property were perhaps a little optimistic, but having spent more than $1 million on the purchase, we felt that three bedrooms were indeed essential (at the very least for resale value). So our wish list included three bedrooms (including a small bedroom with ensuite and a master bedroom and ensuite upstairs), two downstairs living areas and a guest powder room.  Although single fronted, the total site area is 272.6 square metres, so there was a fair bit of room to work with. We also had a north-facing backyard (one of our primary criteria when buying) and planned to maximise light within the house.

However, there was the issue of the dreaded heritage overlay, which we initially thought would primarily restrict our ability to change the front of the house.  But we had underestimated how much this would limit the scale of the amenity (ie the number of rooms) that we were planning to produce.

In a short space of time, we and our architect became very familiar, with the help of our town planning consultant (Urbis), with Heritage Overlay Schedule 3 (HO3), which seeks to “conserve and enhance heritage places of natural or cultural significance … due to the area’s ability to inform present generations about a way of life now past, when communities were to a large extent self-contained as a consequence of limited personal mobility.”

We also knew that the Port Phillip Council are particularly conservative. In early discussions, they were keen to encourage a greater setback of the first storey extension than we had planned and used the example of the adjacent dwelling as an example of what they would prefer to see, which we knew would only accommodate one bedroom and small bathroom upstairs.

Of particular concern was the requirement that upper storey additions must be sited within an “envelope” created by projecting a sight line from 1.6 metres above ground level to the front parapet or gutter and taken from a point where the footpath meets the property line directly opposite the site; or within an “envelope” created by projecting a line of 10 degrees from the height of the base of the front parapet or gutter line on the main facade and extending to the rear of the heritage place. This meant that in order to comply, we could not fit a master bedroom, ensuite and second bedroom upstairs.

But all was not lost, for the Heritage Overlay also indicates that “in exceptional cases located in a diverse streetscape and the design of the proposed addition is considered to be an appropriate contextual response, the upper story may be sited at a line of up to 18 degrees from the height of the base of the front parapet or gutter line on the main facade of the heritage place”.

So, we were advised to employ the services of a Heritage Architect (Bryce Raworth) to assist with an application to VCAT in the likely event that our planning application to council was rejected.

Following a multitude of meetings and spilled cups of coffee over plans, a range of alternatives were drawn up and options considered, including different roof types (traditional 28 degree pitch roof; a lower pitched roof; skillion or mansard), materials to the first floor, the wall height and overall roof height, the setback from the east side boundary of the first floor addition and the setback from the front wall of the building to the first floor.  We also considered building a third bedroom and bathroom atop the garage as many do in this area, but we did not want to create more shading into the backyard or obstruct views of the city.

Our aim was to find the right balance between the desired accommodation on the site and the recognition of Council policy and a solution where the visibility of the addition was kept to a minimum.

Gradually, we shifted from our original ‘ideal’ design alterative, increasing the setback from the front wall of the cottage to almost eight metres in order to minimise visibility and reduce visual bulk.  The Heritage Architect’s report argued that the redevelopment realises the potential of the site whilst ensuring there is no impact on the heritage significance of the building and the overall Henderson Street streetscape. In particular, he noted that the site is small, and it is not possible to accommodate the typical requirements of a modern family on the site without some first floor component. 

As expected, the council refused to grant a permit and we proceeded to VCAT after addressing several objections by adding screening to further limit overlooking.  The hearing was not conclusive and ended with the magistrate intending to view the site and give it further contemplation.

After four long weeks of waiting for the final decision, we were elated to hear that VCAT found our proposed redevelopment acceptable with regard to heritage considerations, that it has been well designed as a polite insertion within its environment, with appropriate regard for Council’s policy in relation to setbacks and height of rear upper floor additions; rendering the first floor substantially concealed from the sight line of a person standing on the opposite side of the road.  VCAT came to the conclusion that strict adherence in this instance would not be appropriate and Council’s decision to refuse to grant a permit was set aside!

It’s 5pm Saturday and we are looking at a 47% clearance rate on the 19 $1 million-plus auctions we attended and reported on today. Following on from a seven-day clearance rate from last Saturday’s auctions of 64% with Nelson Road South Melbourne, Beaconsfield Parade Middle Park and Inverness Way Balwyn North selling post-last week’s auction, we feel we can say that March, to date, has shown a slight softening in buyer strength in the $1-$2 million dollar range. When we say slight, we mean slight, as buyer strength is still considerably higher than last year, owing to vendor price adjustments and improvements in buyer confidence.

The non-auction market above $2 million is stronger than 2008 and this is evidenced below in a detailed piece written about off-markets and the upper, upper end segment (more than, say, $2.5 million).

There is also a feeling of more quality stock coming onto the market; however, our advice is not to assume a change (lots more stock forever) is occurring, as agents are trying to get their homes to market and sold in the run before Easter. If this leads to buyers holding off a little, as they feel more may be around the corner - which results in price drops - then non-forced sellers will again exit the market, thus tightening stock levels even further.

At present, we do have a small window of overall market price stability after a 10% to 40% drop last year and a 0% to 5% rise this year in the $1 million-plus market.

Adam’s article on acoustics is worth a read and, this week, we would like to thank Scott Hamilton from Buxton for his pearls of wisdom in an interview that took place at Brown Cow a week or so ago.

Buy Well

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Geoff with his silver hair is the most recognisable agent and auctioneer in Albert Park, having been round for decades. He always has a smile on his face and in our opinion genuinely trying to help all he comes into contact with especially his selling clients. His auctioneering style is warm and humorous and most of all effective. When speaking with us we have found Geoff’s quote on vendor expectation, price and eventual result to be as close to 100% accurate as anybody can be. We don’t get that many calls from business owners about properties for our clients but we do from Geoff. One quirky point – never seen him on a mobile and we’re not sure if he has one.

Mal: Family Status and where do you live?

Geoff: Married with 2 daughters and have lived in the Middle Park area for some 30 years.

Mal: How long have you been in real estate and what is the company you work for?

Geoff: I have been in real estate since 1976 after being a live stock auctioneer for some 13 years, and formed Cayzer Real Estate in 1986.

Where do you mainly work (area) and what types of homes do you specialise in?

Our company specialises in the inner city precinct encompassing Albert Park, Middle Park, South Melbourne, Port Melbourne, Docklands & St Kilda. Most of the houses in these areas are of a Victorian or Edwardian nature on small allotments

What makes a good investment?

A good investment in one that gives you consistent return or capital appreciation

What makes a good family home?

This could be best described as one that has a good balance of house to land, and offers good accommodation for the quiet enjoyment of the occupants.  The location of such a home is important as are the services and sporting facilities surrounding that immediate area.

What makes a good buying decision?

The decision to buy is something that people consistently put off.  Over that period the property market has generally increased naturally depending on the area.  It is important to be positive with the purchase of a property that meets your criteria and price range.  Only time will tell whether that was a good buying decision or not.

Best investment decision you made?

My first house which was deemed to be the most expensive in the street at the time

Worst investment decision you made?

Buying shares

What are the top 3 precincts in your area, how big is an average block, what type/style of home, what is the dirt price and how much for a renovated home today?

Answered on audio

3 underrated streets in your area for family home buying (where, price, type and style, would they have to renovate)?

These 3 street offer a blend of renovated and un-renovated homes and are varying in their land size.

The three underrated streets that I would nominate would be:

Beaconsfield Parade, Albert Park/ Middle Park ($1 – 3 million)

Hambleton Street, Albert Park/ Middle Park ($700K – 1.4million)

Henderson Street, South Melbourne ($800K – 1.3million)

What would you say to a young couple with $800,000 looking for a family home specifically in your area – eg (where, type and style, would they have to renovate)?

If a young couple had $800,000 looking for a family home in our area we could only direct them to a single fronted property of 4 main rooms.  One of the problems we are striking is that young couples are outgrowing their homes and purchasing in run off areas such as Port Melbourne, St Kilda East and Elwood.

What would you say to  a downsizing couple with $1.5m specifically in your area (where, type and style, would they have to renovate)?

If a downsizing couple had $1.5million to spend, they could obtain a comfortable Victorian or Edwardian terrace home of 6 rooms (3 bedrooms).  The cross section of homes could be 2 storey balcony terrace, small double fronted Victorian or a Victorian Double fronted weatherboard with good land.  Another alternative may be to buy a new fully renovated town house of 20 squares of more.

Buyer Agents yes or no?

We strongly endorse the suggestion of Buyers Advocates in the support of purchasing a property by inexperienced buyers lacking confidence in their ability to research specific properties

Apartments or Houses?

We would recommend the purchase of apartments or houses across the board.  These are two entirely different markets and are in most cases price driven.  It is not usual for a purchaser to commence looking at a house to find that their budget does not align with the asking price.   They therefore can purchase similar accommodation in the apartment form which may have extras such as elevation, balconies and car parking.

Auction or Private Sale?

We strongly recommend the auction system in our specific area.  It is often said that an auction is a private sale with one extra line stating the date and time of the auction.  In most cases all the procedures set for a private sale are done for an auction also.  There is no three day cooling off period with an auction as there is with a private sale.  Any offers made prior to, at or within three days of the auction, must be of an unconditional basis.

How can a seller maximise their value at sale?

To maximise the value of the sale a vendor must do all things necessary to attract multiple buyers and create competition for their house.  In a lot of cases values are not reflective of the accommodation offered but more the presentation of the product.

What are the do’s and don’ts for buyers when dealing with selling agents?

We would strongly encourage that a prospective buyer forms an association with a couple of agents in their selective area that they can trust and be confident on the information provided.  Agents will provide extra information that is relative to the sale if encouraged to do so.  Be the agents friend!

The do not’s would be not to try to outsmart the agent at his job because they will beat you every time.

What do you think are the opportunities now with us?

Now is the best market that our Company has seen over the last ten years in which to purchase a house/apartment.  Interest rates are at their lowest point and stock prices have been reduced considerably since last year.  Be positive in your endeavours to find the house that suits you and broaden your geographical base.

Where is the market going in 2009 in your area?

The market this year will continue in its normal style with more of the same.  It is best described as a very true market where buyer and seller are prepared to negotiate a reasonable outcome. Please don’t expect vendors to dramatically reduce their price as they may not be in a position to do so.

Who will win this year’s premiership and why?

St Kilda will win this year’s premiership as they have been trying for over the last 40 years and it’s their turn!

If a potential seller would like an appraisal or wishes to sell their home then please contact Geoff Cayzer on 9699 5999 or 9690 9782 (after hours) or via email sales@cayzer.com.au

There are a myriad of questions and issues to consider when thinking about moving from the prized family home with the typical Aussie large back yard to the more confined spaces offered by the alternative style of apartments or warehouse conversions. From a longer term investment viewpoint, we understand this type of property to be a lifestyle decision as history shows land outperforms buildings.  Apartments have not had a great history compared to land.

Some of the issues we think about when buying apartments are -

• Suburb – water views, parkland views, or industrial views (if warehouse conversion)
• Street – busy (such as Beaconsfield Parade) or quiet (such as parts of Port Melbourne)
• Position to shops – walking distance to supermarkets and coffee shops
• Position to rail (train or tram)
• Developer/Builder – track record
• Architect – other projects – well known architects on some boutique projects have performed well reasonably time
• Views – can they be built out
• Quality & finishes & specifications
• Floor plan – must be logical and work
• Parking – how many car spots needed – some apartments now have car stackers
• Parking – distance from car park to lift
• Lifts – private (direct to the apartment) or shared
• Amenities & common areas
• Natural light
• Body corporate fees (now called Owners’ Corporations). Is there is sinking fund or any work scheduled in the near future that could cost you money
• Security gates & intercoms
• Street appeal – front of building
• Front door. How strong is the security?
• Disabled access
• Gardens – if you buy on the top floor, how important are gardens in the grounds of the property
• Heating, cooling & insulation
• Rubbish disposal
• Storage
• Noise & sound proofing
• Resident mix – family
• Renovations to be done
• Furniture & power points & data cabling
• Natural air flow
• Insurances
• Ceiling heights – important in larger, open spaces
• Window cleaning – exterior

Three properties we visited during the week -

18 Tennyson Street Richmond. This is a serious transformation and one of the best warehouse conversions I have seen. Great living areas, great use of light via the several sky lights, unbelievable kitchens and bathrooms, great use of the original building structure. Three bedrooms, three bathrooms (and powder room), two living areas and separate dining area.

The streetscape is not great, right in amongst factories and warehouses, but these are all normal factors of this style of living. See www.jameshomeratings.com.au for our rating on this property.

Agent Anthony Cantor from Kay & Burton is quoting $1,500,000 and the auction is Saturday 31st May at 11.00am.

15/182 Albert Road, South Melbourne. Want a great view of Albert Park and the lake? Gerald Betts from Marshall White and Robert Marden from Buxton are selling this apartment with stunning views and private lift access, literally across the road from Albert Park. Couple of drawbacks; the master bedroom is smallish, at the rear and has no views. The ceiling height is low and does give a slightly enclosed feeling. However, it has a warm, homely feel that a lot of apartments lack and the real WOW factor is upstairs – a private, rooftop terrace with amazing views, great for entertaining. The pre auction quote was $1,800,000. The property passed in at auction on Saturday 24/5 at $1,800,000 against a reserve of $2,050,000.

19/156 Beaconsfield Parade, Albert Park. Just as the Albert Road apartment had great views of Albert Park, this one has spectacular and uninterrupted views of Kerferd Road beach and Port Philip Bay. The overall living space is adequate but not large, but this offset by a study (with views), a master bedroom with equally as good a view as the main living area, and a balcony made for entertaining. The complex also includes a lap pool and gym.

Agent John Holdsworth from Hocking Stuart is quoting $2,400,000 – $2,600,000 and the auction is next Saturday 31st May.

Market News

To say the market is experiencing incredibly growth in capital values is an understatement.
Last year we reported values increasing by as much as 30% despite what the stats people were saying and there are ever greater increases this year. These large increases as per most of the rest of the world are largely confined to inner suburban quality properties. Land itself, meaning land where homes can be pulled down, is particularly well sought after in all Melbourne Bayside and inner eastern suburbs

What is driving the market?
It is being driven by overseas buyers, stock market wealthy buyers, buyers whom have seen large increases in their own properties and buyers who are confident in their future.

However rather than focus on what is now being largely reported in the press we thought we would dedicate this newsletter to showing what we are buying and what we can do to help you.

Why Use an Advocate?

Buying the right property is an art and a science. Think of a few houses in similar areas with similar characteristics and ponder what they were worth 10 years ago. What are they worth now? Will they have increased or decreased in value at the same rate? If that is a priority for you (and it should be) James Buyer Advocates through our ratings, processes and experience show you the good ones.

Strategy is vital to buying the right property. How to buy, how to minimize cost, what to buy, and where? How do I make an offer? What do I really want and how do I get it? Where do I want to be financially in the next decade? Why do some people own multiple properties without a mortgage and others have one property and are struggling? The answer is strategy. James Buyer Advocates helps you define and execute your action plan to buy the right property.

We will save you money – and make you money in a highly competitive market. This is the number one reason why most people think about advocates in the first instance, and in many, many cases we do just that. We know this is of primary importance in all business negotiations but it’s interesting to note that clients we’ve surveyed after the buying process often rate savings as the Number 3 benefit in using James Buyer Advocates. Buying property well is as much about MAKING money as it is about SAVING money. We’ll be happy to explain this in detail at our first meeting.

Understanding the true value of a property is tough. Working out what a property is worth is a lot more than looking up a few statistics. And we definitely need to talk some more if you think saving money is about finding a cheap place “below valuation”. In many cases if you are not crystal clear about property values, you could well be negotiating at a level that will not buy the dream home you want. It might also leave you with a compromised property in the long run. Another expensive and distressing mistake a buyer can make is to pay way too much or never buy at all.

We help ease the stress and emotion in buying property. Buying a home is about as bad as it gets. It’s emotional, exhausting and sometimes terribly discouraging. You only need to miss that perfect property, drive for miles to find the picture on the brochure didn’t nearly match your expectations (or what you’d been told), have agents leave you hanging or be gazumped in the negotiation stage. It hurts. At James Buyer Advocates we provide a barrier.

“Hidden” properties do exist – so understand ALL your options. “Hidden” properties do exist – so understand ALL your options. There are hundreds of places out there you may never find or get to see. Quiet sales, private transactions, sales without boards. There are places you won’t be given the opportunity to inspect because they aren’t advertised. We deal with agents every day. We find “hidden’” houses that will never be listed because agents and vendors approach us quietly all the time. And we are involved in a number of property purchases “off market” without any publicity or fanfare.

Agents are not your friend, mentor or guide in the buying process. We actually like and respect many selling agents, but they act for sellers or vendors, not buyers. They work exclusively for the vendor. James Buyer Advocates works exclusively for the buyer.

Your privacy is guaranteed. Most agents don’t know who you are, and it’s a good idea to keep it that way. That’s because if you don’t buy today, you might buy something else tomorrow. It’s not in your best financial interests if an agent knows “what you were prepared to look at before”. Our role as a buyers advocate is to keep you ahead of the game without revealing your hand.

Finally, if you are looking in this market at the million dollar and above level

1. You will be negotiating against a selling agent who has a strong level of experience – have you got that?
2. The selling agent will be very good at his or her job of “slotting” you into a home and into a price that fits nicely with the seller – but that’s not you! Good selling agents work diligently for the seller first not you the buyer; otherwise they are breaking the law.
3. Other buyers will have professional help whose job it is to purchase for their client – often before you have a chance.
4. If it’s an easy buy with a smiling agent then well ………

What are some of our money-saving tips?

Don’t confuse saving money with buying the wrong property. What happens if it’s not the right place and you have to sell again in two years? An inner Melbourne home in a good suburb will cost you $100,000 to $200,000 in stamp duty and agent fees, not to mention the cost of moving and stress. If you think negotiating is all about money and arguing the edges then you will not buy or negotiate well at Melbourne’s higher levels unless you are a very lucky person. Higher end Melbourne agents in the main (eg companies like Kay and Burton, RT Edgar, Marshall White, Bennison MacKinnon, Jellis Craig, Hodges, JP Dixon, Buxton, Hocking Stuart to name a few) have very good top end agents.

We all need expert advice, strategy and tactics sometimes. Would you go to court without a lawyer? Or would you handle the court case yourself and just call a lawyer in for sentencing? It’s a bit like that getting somebody at auction to put their hand up when they have done no research into worth, the seller, the agent, other buyers or more importantly, your needs. We have the experience to know what, when and how to make an offer.

Paying the right price is about establishing the value of the property. Are you happy getting $50000 off the asking price when you could have got $500,000? Do you know how to make a low offer and not risk losing out to another buyer? Are you paying $800,000 too much for the wrong place? It may take you a long time to recover from these decisions if you are wrong. If you think homes with similar price tags are similar homes with similar long term outcomes then many selling agents with poor homes would love to do business with you now. You need to know the sometimes subtle differences between a $2M home and $4M home and unfortunately for some buyers (selling agents call them wood ducks) the only difference was the price you paid.

You will save the most money by matching the correct property to your needs. You don’t want to pay $1.5 million when a house is worth $1 million, but similarly you don’t want to not pay $1.1million if it’s the right property for you. Understanding your needs can take less than 48 hours to do, but it needs to be done.

Renovating or re-building will not always save you money. Say there’s a 10,000 square foot property and the price is more than $2 million. The house is arguably a knock-down job. If you had $2.5-$2.7m to spend, would this be a good buy if you could put a new home on the block for $500,000? The answer is probably no. You couldn’t put a half-decent home on the block for that money that would be viewed by new buyers as value when it came time to sell.

Buying property is all about achieving capital growth. There’s no point saving money on the asking price if you don’t make money in the long-term. The major part about buying property is that it is all about making money. None of us have money to waste, and we can stop you spending more than what is fair.

What we have bought in recent times at James Buyer Advocates

Our Property Focus Areas

Some changes

With growth comes decisions and at James Buyer Advocates we faced accommodation and client service issues. After a few months obtaining advice from various consultants Ian, Antony, Justin, Sam, Courtney, Catherine, Denise, Craig have moved to Hawthorn Road Caulfield to focus on a streamlined investor and owner occupier approach to buyer advocacy. Ian can be contacted on 0418 131 636 or through his website www.jpp.com.au. His new company will cover investors and a far wider geographical area than we have in the past.

Peter, Adam, John and Mal remain at 9 Hillcrest Avenue Brighton with a focus on personal, one on one service for higher end clients – that is clients who are wishing to purchase properties in Inner Melbourne. Our office phone number remains the same 9596 8822. We have launched our new and improved website at www.mjba.com.au

Overall the market for good quality family homes is currently in a spike – this spike is similar to the “good quality home” spike just after the last federal election. By spike we mean sale or purchase results well above the existing upward trend line.

Balance this with our opinion that the outer Melbourne market is now and has been at normal transaction mode (since spring 2003), which would be regarded as slower than the inner city market. The Peninsula markets (since early 2003) are now and have been almost dead except for high quality offerings and some surprise results.

So what does this mean to the buyer of homes in the inner Melbourne market?

At the moment, you will have to pay more to purchase your “dream home” than you did say, just before Christmas. How much more? Nobody knows for sure but maybe 10% and maybe a bit more in some circumstances if your home is in the ‘over a million’ category. Maybe 5% more if you targeted home is around $500,000. The figure of 10% is our opinion only and very hard to substantiate. It comes from purchasing about 20 properties since we last sent our newsletter, probably missing an equal number for a variety of reasons.

In December 2005, the market was transacting strongly. We purchased 7 properties in 8 days:

•  Townhouse in Clarendon St Armadale

•  Family house in Sunset St Jan Juc

•  Family house for overseas client in Balmoral St Sandringham

•  Family house in Regent St East Brighton

•  Townhouse in Grey St Clifton Hill

•  Development house in Park St St Kilda

•  Family house in Glenora Drv Vermont South.

The last couple of weekends have been the biggest auction days for this year and during this time we have bought 5 properties:

•  Investment house in Rae St Fitzroy North

•  Family house in Milton St Canterbury

•  Townhouse in Ross St Toorak

•  Townhouse in Paxton St Malvern

•  Townhouse in Bendigo St Richmond

Only two of those were bought at auction (see Auctions article in the newsletter).

Extreme example of spiking – 20 and 22 Church St Malvern.
Both properties are quality timber period homes, out the back of the Malvern Hotel and on good pieces of land (about 8000 sq feet). One sold late last year pre auction for about $1.8 million, which we thought was around the right money. It’s almost twin sold at auction a week or so ago for $2.5 million!

The combination factors that are causing this current spiking are:
1. Stock market gains mean buyers at the upper end have money; and
2. Big shortage of quality housing stock means buyers have little choice.

The market is in favour of the sellers at present for good quality family homes and in fact , despite what you may read, the market did not falter in 2003, did not miss a beat in 2004, continued up strongly in 2005 and has burst out of the blocks in 2006. Here, we do agree with what selling agents are saying.

Solution? Our suggestions have always been to secure the right property when you can. If you currently are not able to, then you have to be patient and search diligently. It will happen if you don’t give up. Last year we purchased just under a 100 properties and a few of those took a while to not only find, but also purchase. The alternative would be to opt from the market and wait until it drops. We do not agree. Some people have been waiting since 1998 for the market to drop.

Even if you buy with a long term view, you may see some dropping in prices in the short term. Then again, you may not. You may need to have a buffer (eg additional line of credit or savings) for any interest rate increases (not obvious to us but who knows).

It’s an interesting time for buyers. Another recent example, 80 & 84 Linacre Road Hampton .
Both were thought to be worth about the same say, two years ago. In fact, 80 Linacre Rd was sold about 2 years ago for $860,000. It sold in February 2006 for $1,330,000 (we were an underbidder). No changes had been made to the property since it was last purchased. It was a great house. Two doors up was up for auction at the same time and didn’t get a bid at $850,000 (we were not interested either, although it was a reasonably presented Californian Bungalow). It is now on the market for private sale.

Everything we have said above applies to homes with WOW. You need to know if others share your WOW rating before you dive in and purchase. O therwise, you may be spending $150,000 unnecessarily.

Auctions

We would get on average 2 calls a week to go and put our hand up at auction on behalf of the caller. We ask the callers a number of questions:

• have they received pest and building inspection reports?
• have they completed some sort of property valuation or detailed Property Report
• have they checked or had the Section 32′s and contracts checked by a solicitor?

By this stage the callers are usually getting a little short with us. All they want is someone to go to the auction and bid for them. We make two strong statements on this matter:

1. We have only bought two properties on auction day this year (one was at post auction negotiations) and last year, of the hundred or so we purchased, less than a handful were at a Saturday auction. Why is this? A re we scared of auctions? No, we love the theatre. There are very good reasons for buyers to avoid auctions in these markets if they can .
2. Hiring an advocate to put their hand in the air completely unprepared is like getting a lawyer to act for you at sentencing only. You have already stuffed up the research and pre-trial negotiations, failed at trial and been found guilty and now you want someone to keep your jail time to a minimum. Hey, we know it’s not that serious, but allow us a bit of colour when making this point.

At the moment, auctions favour the seller if they are being run by skilled agents. We believe that avoiding them is better than participating (if you can).

Case Studies – Due Diligence Completed in 48 Hours

We receive a number calls from people who are wanting to purchase a property but are not quite sure how to handle the negotiations. On most occasions, time is of the essence due to a forthcoming auction or the agent has rung them to say that the property that they are interested in has an offer on it.

This particular client called us on Tuesday. Here’s a snapshot of what happened:
Tuesday – first meeting with client.
Wednesday – went through target property, had paperwork checked by a solicitor and completed a full detailed Property Report . Second meeting Wednesday night to discuss Property Report .
Thursday – building inspection was already completed. Third and final strategy meeting on Thursday morning to discuss our recommendations and by Thursday lunchtime, we were sitting in the agent’s office when the deal was concluded.

We unfortunately didn’t purchase the property but our due diligence was completed within 48 hours and our client had a sound foundation for their decision not to purchase above a particular amount. The property was in Anderson Street South Melbourne .

Another example.

A client contacted us on a Tuesday to help him buy a property that had failed at auction.
Wednesday – we viewed the property, completed a Property Report and received the legal paperwork
Thursday – we discussed the Property Report with our client, looked at all possible negotiation strategies and received a legal opinion on the paperwork.
Friday – after agreeing on a strategy, we instigated it. After multiple calls with the agent we ended up in the estate agents office at 5.00pm with the vendors in another room. By 7.00pm we had completed a successful negotiation with our client leaving with a duly signed contract of sale. The property was in Paxton Street East Malvern.

Co-incidentally, both of the above happened last week.

Skilled Agents

The government is considering relaxing the rules on who can be an agent. Bring it on. Why? Because that would mean even more properties would not have a skilled and experienced selling agents selling them.

It would be great to get rid of those pesky selling agents who are skilled at their job because they DO make a huge difference to the end price. By all means, please encourage the unskilled, inexperienced and unqualified to sell as it makes it (for us) so much easier to buy.

Here are two recent examples of how the skilled make a difference. In the last few days, we have bought from Jeff Gole of Gole Peden (Paxton St Malvern East) and Scott Patterson of Jellis Craig ( Milton St Canterbury ). If we had been buying off unprofessional agents, a good result for both parties would probably not have been achieved.

How Do You Value a View?

There are views (eg view of the surf) and false views (eg glimpse of the water). When pricing a view, these are the things we consider:

•  Immediate foreground (eg nature or roofs of houses)
•  Middle or hinterland – do we see surf, beach or just large expanses of water
•  Background
•  Distance from say, geographical feature , water or valley
•  Distance from shops, transport etc
•  Supply restrictions – it might a good view but are there hundreds of similar views (eg Docklands , Queensland )
•  Land prices in immediate vicinity without the view
•  Possibility of being built out.

Views are “priceable”. We have just finished a 5 week post auction negotiation in Queenscliff where the view and the issues connected with the view were the main points of discussion. Here is another example of a property not being bought at auction (it was passed into us) and a price result vastly different from the vendor’s initial expectations. But it took 5 weeks.

Is Timber Making a Resurgence?

We don’t think it ever left us. It’s just that in Australia , for many, many years, timber has been regarded as the poor cousin to brick.

We have been involved with a number of timber properties recently including:

•  a $2 million spectacular timber home in Canterbury
•  a timber property in Linacre Road Hampton , which sold in excess of $1.3 million
•  a single fronted weatherboard which sold for $1.43 million in Prahran
•  a $1.75 million timber home late last year.

Here are a few reasons why we personally love timber:

1.  It does last – look at the single fronted Victorians that have survived and been revived throughout Melbourne .
2.  More prone to termites? There is plenty of timber in brick homes.
3.  More maintenance? Maybe a fraction more (eg painting) but brick cracks and is susceptible to rising damp.
4.  There is usually more light in timber houses because there is less support required for larger windows than for brick.
5. They are easier to renovate.
6. The jury is out on the insulation arguments. We can’t find any evidence that really shows that timber is not as good when well insulated.

Timber. It’s back – but maybe it never left us.

Buying For Your Children

We are getting more and more of these types of jobs from parents. We believe a good property to buy your children is a single fronted period home. Why?

1.  It can be rented out until your children leave home (or should we say, if they ever leave).
2.  They are usually cheaper than most bigger blocks with homes than aren’t much fun to live in.
3.  They are ideal for students.
4.  They can have a second storey put on when a family comes along (if a family does in fact come along – if it doesn’t, then unlike a big home, there is no extra unused space).
5.  Later in life, the property is not too big for a retiring couple.
6.  Make sure you are near shops, transport and parks.

Buying for clients’ children is an increasing market. Why shouldn’t it be?. It’s all very well for the many of us who have moved from say, outer areas to Bayside areas, but is it fair that our children have to move from Bayside areas to some new development on the outer edges of Melbourne ? Or worse still, rent all their lives? Think about it. Our children of course need love and an education, but they may also need a hand in housing as it has become unaffordable for most without assistance.

The Great Pool Debate

In many cases, pools can reduce the value of a home, especially if they dominate the backyard or are , let’s say “unclassy”. However pools with WOW, water features, gazebo’s, green space and privacy can add significant value to a property. They can even disguise some other faults of the property.

A classic example is 70 Rosedale Road Glen Iris (located in the real Glen Iris not Malvern/Glen Iris or Burwood/Glen Iris) which sold two weeks ago. It eventually sold at auction for over $1.4 million and in our opinion, the classy pool, gazebo, fencing and landscaping (which would have cost $100,000 +) covered up some design issues connected with the house.

Commercial Property

We have noted that a few financial planners are starting to push hard for clients to consider investing in commercial property. While we personally love commercial property (in particular, buying your own business premises) there are some ground rules. Here are 5 really important points:

1. Commercial properties ARE more risky purchases than residential properties and you should buy at a discount, NOT at a premium for the RISK involved. Up until a few years ago when there was not much super fund money around, commercial properties were bought on an 8-12% return. Now they can go as low as 4% return.
2. If you are getting 4% return and there is not a logical additional reason to purchase commercial, then why not buy the residential house down the street. Lower risk for the same return and maybe higher growth expectations.
3. A tax advantage is a plus, not a reason to invest. Growth is the reason to invest . If it isn’t going to grow, don’t buy it or understand you are making a lifestyle decision.
4. Growth in commercial property relates to rental amounts, quality of tenant, term of lease etc.
5. Renting commercial properties have completely different legislative requirements attached to them.

We buy commercial property. But not a lot. Good commercial is harder to find than good residential.

Investment & Competition

We got a glazed look from a new investment client recently when we said we love to see other bidders at what we want to buy.

Many “investors” think that buying a property investment is all about buying at a “discount” or buying off the plan for tax savings or other things. Many first time investors also think buying an investment property is buying a “special or different property”. This is NOT TRUE.

Property investment is all about paying $1 now and getting $2 or $5 in the future. It is about buying something that more people will want in the future (demand) and that there will be less of (supply). That means price will go UP.

A really good indicator of the future is what is happening now. If you don’t want to live in the property now, why would a tenant want to live in it now or the future? If you don’t like the property now and you are a normal person, then why would lots of other normal people (ie buyers) like it in the future?

If you are seeing developers advertising really cheap deals on units in say St Kilda Road or Queensland , then why are they so cheap now? Because the developer is running a charity ? Because there has been such incredible growth in the past? No, because they are hard to sell at a higher price now and they will be hard to sell in the future at a higher price.

So if you are normal and other normal people are bidding now, that should make you feel good that in the future, others may well be bidding. It’s a simplistic way of making our point. Don’t be scared off by real and sensible competition when you are buying an investment property.

And also remember buy what you like, understand and have researched. A boring house, in a boring a suburb, next to a boring train line and boring shops with a boring agent and maybe two other boring bidders would be a good start.