Stonnington

Bidderman

1.4 Stock

LOW

Clearance

56%

Bayside

Bidderman

1.1 Stock

LOW

Clearance

53%

Boroondara

Bidderman

1.9 Stock

LOW

Clearance

80%

2023 Easter Land Prices

Spend Millions or Buy Well

With James Buy Sell learn how to break your bad habits and buy good fundamentals

Buying good fundamentals is a key approach to your family living a good life

As Buyer Agents we only buy good fundamentals (PPPs - price, property and position)

Welcome to James Marketnews posted every Saturday. Inbox every Monday

by Mal James

Saturday, March 11th, 2023

Long Weekend sees a break in our 100 Auction test — but we have for you, a ripper marketnews. All about new builds and renos and why buying and building fundamentals, your agent and market timings matter even more when you’re flipping rather than holding

A new build is a lot less about how much and a lot more about how you spend it. Toorak, Brighton and Kew are full of architectural and overdraft graveyards – but there are still some really smart gold diggers around. Today we show you those diggers and their gold.

The "Weird" Architect who's No 1

Speaking of gold diggers – Richard Blight is one – and a very genuine and smart man and the cruncher to show you he’s a bit different – he’s an architect AND he has a sense of humor. Enjoy the podcast – we did.

Maxwell House

we bought

$4m

he & client built

$5m

total spent

$9m

we sale managed

$14.5m

client gain

$5.5m

Crispy End Date Matters to Value

Let me give you some relationship advice of great value and I should know – I have been in 3 relationships that were strong at 5 years and over by 10.

My angles that attracted at 5 years were edges that repelled at 10.

I was on-song and hip at 5 years and off-key and dated at 10 years.

Why a drop in feelings towards me? Why at 5 years was there certainty; at 7 a question mark and too late by 10.

Why don’t I age like a good red wine?

Why am I more like bubbles – enjoy quickly before I go flat.

Why because I am a new build and you kept too long.

When a new build loses what we call its crispiness factor, that freshness; its price plummets like a pump-and-dump cryptocurrency.

The monument to all things glitz, and glam that extended your overdraft to the stratosphere, becomes a pile of concrete waiting for the next buyer’s bulldozer and is close to worthless.

But Why

Fundamentals (PPPs) is the answer.

When you renovate or build new you change the fundamentals of price – the price to land ratio – one of our three key measurements in assessing potential capital growth.

Times, tastes and people change – not on land – not on position – but on buildings.

And values are only about one thing – personal taste – in the eye of the beholder.

Building values decline in almost all cases and here are rule-of-thumb timelines.

Spec homes hold their values – meaning land + building costs for 2-5 years.

Higher-end archetypal homes hold values – meaning land + building costs for 5-10 years.

Specialist architectural homes hold values – meaning land + building costs – never to forever. Meaning some homes don’t even get finished before they are dated and others (very few) are classics and will last forever.

New apartments – almost never hold their value in Melbourne this century and that is because they are all build and builders profit and almost no land fundamentals. Any exceptions are specific to an individual development.

9 Towers Road Toorak building values will last forever – it’s a classic – it will never be bulldozed – it will go up in value for as long as people appreciate genius. But the money will be made by the current owner, the second one, as the first sold as the dream was completing. I had never met the architects, nor the original owners – we did not buy this home on the quiet, on reputation, or for glitz and glam, it was bought for our clients on substance – it was and still is a classic.

Maxwell House Toorak in the above podcast was a home that was sold on a timeframe to get the maximum crispiness factor – before any dating. The advice was given, advice was taken, and the numbers speak for themselves.

But it’s not all like this – another block of land we bought with an identical story, timeframe and $ spent on their architect and build – is at half the price – so instead of making $m, my guess is they are losing $m. It is truly a wonderful block of land.

We bought the block, and we heard little until we got an invite over to view the architectural new build a few years later. We were asked if $12m was possible – we said yes – we said yes because we believed it was possible. Nothing proceeded.

Four years later we were called in again – it had dated – it had gone past its use-by date. We said $9m and if you want $10m or more, then sell it off-market and be patient. We were quickly ushered out of the home and out of their lives.

The advice also included – don’t market publicly and don’t transact in a poor market. Ignored – we were seen as knowledgeable four years ago and knowing nothing now. But it wasn’t about us – it was about the building.

When you build to your own formula (meaning not archetypal) and you hold it past it’s use by date and the markets change, then you have a recipe that bakes a very different cake to Maxwell House. That is in part, why the Energiser Bunny in the above podcast is a genius.

Expert buying advice matters and that needs to flow into a new build and selling horizons.

It’s a lot less about how much and a lot more about how you spend.

Tastes age, we age, buildings age. Fundamentals do not. We can help you.

5 – 10 years is a critical time in the life of a new build or big reno!

The world @ $30 million plus ........ click for more

Welcome, this world is ultra-high-end real estate. My name is Mal James.

Currently, we have six clients in that buy-sell range of $30 million.

One couple is looking to buy a Portsea clifftop and will then sell their holiday home.
A couple looking to sell in Sackville Kew and transition into something smaller.
Another is in a similar location selling at years end and moving to Brighton.
Brighton couple with home and court looking to move to Albert Park large land.
Toorak buy first $15m – $20m, then sell in the same suburb.
Selling a Toorak home currently – if the number is right, will need somewhere to live.

If we can find the right option at $30m, one couple would consider selling their home north of $70m – it’s a tall order. They have a great home now.

But we like tall orders, our clients have broken records in many suburbs and all-time records for Melbourne and Vic.

For these above clients, we have bought their current home or acted for them on other ones – these are people we do have a trusting working relationship with.

All or none of these families may transact in this current year, as it’s a very different one to last year.

Last year we completed a $65m interstate buy sell, a $24m beachfront buy sell, a near $30m purchase in East Melbourne, a $20m buy sell in Grace Park and $10m buy sells in Eaglemont, Hawthorn and South Melbourne. A different year.

Letterboxing, doorknocking, agent ringing, lawyer talking, marketnews advertising, party going (only a little bit), home open attending and a few pieces of magic like database matching, all get our mobiles lighting up. Followed by short text informing, private visiting, some due diligence and argy-bargying, perhaps resulting in another quiet and very private re-transformation.

Life is good – the pressure is nice pressure – the hunt, the challenge, the unknown, and the elation with some champagne or mineral water.

Our services revolve around values and finding quiet options, deal strategies (through you or us), on either side of the buy/sell fence but never on the same fence at the same time.

Commissions, agents the good and the bad, deadlines, ultimatums, and if-buts-maybes, are all grist in our mill and good subjects over a coffee, mineral water, or meal.

We are all getting older but as you can see from the current list no less engaged – the juices may not flow as quickly, but they are as strong – and that’s good for it allows room for more wisdom with fewer mistakes.

I love my job and what my clients at all levels achieve, but I especially like the Top End.

Confidentially my number is 0408 107 988 – WhatsApp +61 408 107 988 and I read my important emails.

If you want to know what’s off-market, what land values really are or you have a home for one of our clients or you are simply unclear on how to put a deal/move together to your advantage, then this could be a reason to make contact and no we won’t badger you back – life is too short and besides it’s not how good buy sells happen.

It can be one call and a yes or no in 10 minutes.

Warm regards

Mal James

0408 107 988

Melbourne's No 1 Auctioneer

Smart Reno's with Gina

461 Wattletree Rd Malvern East: Megan & Mark, with their 2 kids were returning from living abroad when we were engaged and bought this home after auction for them in 2014.

A large Edwardian home on a north-facing block – it had the olde-world charm in the front 4 rooms and a dated extension at the back.

But you could see things could be done for it and for, not too much. That’s the key: Buying Good Fundamentals. James Home Rating: Good floor plan and facade with car parking on a big block. Plenty of real potential.

It was a labour of love as Megan created a family entertainers paradise in collaboration with Linda Simons from LSA architects, breathing life back into this Edwardian. Smart job!

6 Wave St Hampton: We were engaged and bought this home for Cindy and her then puppy, Saffron before Auction in 2019

A single-fronted (free-standing) Edwardian on the rare wide frontage of over 9 metres. We really liked this. The little beauty was move-in ready and although the exterior size was generous, it was plain. So when 3 years later Cindy called Gina to talk about putting a pool in the backyard, the advice was clear – well-designed landscaping can add significant value to a property.

Fast forward to March 2023 and Cindy’s next call to Gina was an invitation to see the new tranquil yet family-fun backyard designed by Paul Pritchard.

Last Week - Australia's No 1 Agent on EOI's

March 18 - No 1 Mortgage Broker in Australia

Coincidentally since this recording, we have bought for the couple Grant talks about on the podcast as thinking they were “bank ready” but a few months ago were with other “advisors” and found they could not buy!

Multi-List Off-Market

Brighton

$3.125m

Elwood Style T/House

Lift & Double Garage

Sam 0425 702 574

Halli 0403 777 661

Simone 0403 857 266

Dating a Keeper

Let me give you some relationship advice of great value and I should know – I have been in 3 relationships that were strong at 5 years and over by 10.

My angles that attracted at 5 years were edges that repelled at 10.

I was on-song and hip at 5 and off-key and dated at 10 years.

I was a house, not a home!

Why what changed? I had the same slightly overweight façade – the same financial semi-competence and whilst I don’t want to discuss my backyard – I can say to outsiders, I felt the same deal.

Why then a drop in feelings towards me? Why at 5 years was there certainty; at 7 a question mark and too late and by 10, certainty again but on the opposite spectrum to 5 years ago.

Why don’t I age like a good red wine? Why am I more like bubbles – enjoy quickly before I go flat.

Why? Well, I am a house and not a home.

3 incarnations? How could I be delightful then despised – then to the next delighting then despicable and then more recently a delight till again a disappointment?

Renovation?

Is there another iteration, can one keep renovating to attract – is there anything to repolish to cover what is missing?

Am I archetypal rather than a classic? Is it me or my owners? Am I just too different for mass appeal?

Am I some strange building but not a home?

Times, tastes and people change. Maybe with all that change, I haven’t moved with the times. Maybe I’m a vendor still overpricing my value, yet again.

Maybe I am still a spa and or a butler’s pantry rather than the required mini basketball court – or should I be land, a big block of it, and then who cares about my street-appeal?

2 out of 3 tests ain’t bad Mal – but it ain’t enough.

No question that initially I had something. On the first date I attracted – the first impressions test passed. Obviously, I got through the sleep tests – only to fail at the longer-term gut test.

My PPPs

Positionally I am an agent’s nightmare; being into my 5^th decade having only moved 40 metres. All my relationships have been in Brighton, despite growing up a Donny Boy. Positionally I’m solid.

Price: I always pay market price, but I accept the value I offer in return is seen by some as unders.

So, it comes down to my P for Property.

As a Property I look good brand new and after 5 years I am still good, but seemingly without explanation by 10 years I’m dated and my resale without significant rework attracts no premium – in fact, there is baggage found and a discount demanded.

And this is my advice to you on whether you date a keeper….or not.

If they are not, if they are a house but not a home, then get rid of them at 5 years while the sparkle is still there, rather than go through the denial of change before ending in a loss to the market on a 10-year hold.

Tastes age, we age, buildings age. Land does not – but we are not talking about substance, we are talking about builds which in a shallow world are seemingly the main game.

Following on, if you buy “brand new” at 5 years thinking that in another 5 it will still be “brand new” then mmmmm – that is high-risk time for this uncertain dating period.

After 10 years it’s all so obvious and the market pays accordingly and almost only for the land unless some plastic surgery has successfully reinvigorated. But those renovations can be costly and not always successful – I know, I have supported a regime of therapists for years for little return.

Beauty is only skin deep – so to be a keeper – on the inside, you must be light and flow and have proportion, because whilst your façade attracts, only your substance maintains value.

A cunning plan – an out-of-towner – another culture – one that sees foibles as fruit from a different tree. Immigration does see some builds differently.

As one market is closing, accept the insanity argument of repeating again, think laterally, and look in different ones, for there is value in holding keepers – and 5 – 10 years is a most critical time!