Queensland New Pool Fencing Laws

Posted on October 21, 2010

Across Queensland the new Pool Fencing Laws will come into effect December 2010.

These strict rules and regulations will impact both properties up for lease and for sale. A summary of these news laws are:

Fencing of all portable pools deeper than 300mm
Mandatory inspections with certificates issued
Certificate of compliance must be produced each time a property is sold, and also must be completed and produced to new tenants each time a property is leased
If the pool does not have a certificate that is completed by a registered inspector penalties will apply and the property can not be leased.
All swimming pools will need to be included on the pool register, managed by the state, within 6 months of the commencement of the legislation

If you are selling a property with a non-shared pool before the 5 year phase-in, such as pools for houses or townhouses or units with their own pool or spa, a pool safety certificate must be obtained before settlement of contract or a notice issued before contract and before settlement advising the buyer that a certificate must be obtained within 90 days of settlement. If you are leasing your property, a pool safety certificate must be obtained before entering into the lease.

If you need more information check out www.dip.qld.gov.au/poolsafety

Cheers

Shawn

How to prepare your home for sale!

Posted on April 25, 2010

Ok, so you have made the decision to put your house on the market. You have decided on the agent to best represent your most precious asset. What now….

It’s now time to prep your home for sale. It is not necessary to do this prior to the agent viewing your home as they generally can see “through” a lot of things, but it will help them see it in its best possible light.

The biggest and best tip that I can give you is “Disassociation” (lets define that the state of being unconnected in memory or imagination). You need to change the way you “look” at your home. Make the decision to let it go. It will be someone else’s castle soon, and you will have a new one. You will take all you memories and heirlooms with you but the home will stay and your life will move forward. Why have I made this my first point, well everything else will become easier after you make this mental adjustment.
This step will be easier now, but it’s still a tough one. De-clutter! Over time, you will have accumulated a lot of different things, some loved, some useful, others not. Some items that you truly love and have hundreds of all over your home may not be everyone’s cup of tea. For example my Mother-in-law loves angels, and they are lovely, but they are everywhere in her house. I mean everywhere. You can’t even go to the bathroom without an angelic audience. When she had her house on the market, we carefully pack up her treasured angels ready for the next house. Think of this as an early start on packing. Try and clear bench tops and arrange cupboards. Yes, potential buyers will look in the cupboards to ascertain storage space, so keep that in mind. My rule of thumb is “if I haven’t used it in 12months do I really need it”? You can also look at this process as a money making venture. All those items you no longer need may have potential new homes. This is a great chance to have a garage sale, or sell some items on eBay etc.
Make any minor repairs, or call in the experts if they are bigger issues. Even things that you consider a small fix. Light globes need replacing (you would be surprised to how many lights are switched on and off during an inspection). Any walls need a fresh coat of paint. Painting can totally freshen up a house that may be looking a little tired. If you do choose to paint try not to let your inner Picasso come out at this point. Save that for your new home. Keep colours simple and neutral.
CLEAN! Clean like you have never cleaned before. CLEAN EVERYTHING! Windows cleaned – in and out, dust everything, remove spider webs from eaves, clean lights, clean fans, clean the filter in the air-con, clean your teenage son’s room (sorry had to add that because it’s a issue of contention in our house). Keep it as clean as humanly possible throughout the selling process. Yes potential Buyers will appreciate you are still living in the house day to day, but presentation is so vital.
Gardens. Trim back, weed, re-bark, mow, whipper snip – make Don Bourke proud! Gardens are an ongoing concern throughout the selling process as well, as street appeal is a BIG consideration to Buyers. People generally will not come through your home if they don’t like it from the street no matter how beautiful it is on the inside (humans are funny creatures). Is there something you can change easily on the outside of your house that would help this street appeal?
Consider getting a building and pest inspection prior to going on the market. This will help you highlight issues that you may need to address. The last thing you want is to spend time and money on marketing your property, find that right buyer, negotiate the deal only for it to fail due to an issue which could have be rectified before the process commenced. The old adage a stitch in time saves nine, can certainly apply here.

Now wander through your home with your “BUYERS” glasses on and change anything you think a buyer wouldn’t want to see.

As a final note, remember that you and your agent are working together for the same outcome. Don’t be shy to be involved in the process but also allow the agent to do their job and take into consideration what they say. Don’t be afraid make course corrections throughout the sales process and adjustments to keep to goals on track. Similarly a good agent should always work in consultation with their client.

Best of luck

Shawn Kristofer

Be Cautious of Real Estate Agents “Buying your Listing”

Posted on February 11, 2010

I remember several Federal elections ago, a reporter was talking to people on the street, asking who they thought should be the next PM? It was amazing how so many made comments like “I don’t like him, his eyes are too close together” or ‘I don’t like him, he’s short” or ‘he’s boring”. Forget the fact that the short fellow may be an excellent leader and just what the country needs, let’s vote for the Politician who looks great on TV, but has no substance at all. If you vote for a PM who has nice hair over the candidate who has substance, don’t complain when things go south. This is what is meant when it is said ‘the people get the Politicians they deserve’.

And this leads me to my point about buying listings. If you are looking to sell your home, you undoubtedly have done the research on what you home should fetch. When you are interviewing Agents, your sole purpose should NOT be what price they think, it should be what do they offer, how are they different, how would they market your home to get the sale and WHY they think this is the best way – it should all be justifiable.

Firstly, let me make a point. It is very difficult to use LISTED prices only to get a bearing on what a home should sell for in the market. The actual SELL price should be used primarily as this is the real value. Just because someone lists high, it doesn’t mean it will sell for that, so be cautious using such values as yard sticks.

Unfortunately too many people focus solely on the price and IF the Agent can basically guess the number in their head. The trouble is, as an owner you will usually have a higher expectation of your home than the market and secondly you are encouraging the Agent NOT to give an honest opinion, but to ‘buy the listing’.

What do I mean by buying the listing? Let’s assume a property should achieve $500,000 to $520,000 in the current market. Agent A knows this and suggests this range. The Owners of course feels their home is probably at the high end, but if they have done their research, they’ll generally agree. However Agent B also knows this. So this Agent B adds another $50,000 onto the price opinion. Greed takes over the Owner, and they list for $570,000 and the property sits there.

Eventually the Owner brings the price down over time but most of the Buyers have passed it by as being overpriced. Eventually it will sell, and most likely for less than if they listed it correctly the first time. This is because often when buyers dismiss a home, they don’t look at it again, or if they see a house on the market for a long time wonder what’s wrong with it or if it is on the market a long time, see an opportunity to pressure the owner with low offers as they ‘must be desperate’ as they dropped the price so much.

Hence, when interviewing Agents;

*Don’t get caught up on the price. Ask the Agent to justify with FACTS why they feel that price is appropriate.

*Don’t compare your home to others using listed prices only – use actual sales. All Agents should have access to these databases and should offer such at listing presentations.

*Be cautious of anecdotal ‘evidence’ and urban myths. Work off the facts.

*Selecting an Agent isn’t about them guessing the price you want. YOU set the price, the Agent doesn’t. The Agent’s job is to facilitate the sales process through to completion. This is where you should focus your questions. Ask what they do and WHY they do it – look for REAL reasons behind the actions. How does what they do assist you to help sell your home the best possible way?

*As tempting as it is, don’t get greedy. If you think your home is worth $X, and Agent A says $X but Agent B enthusiastically says $X plus $50,000 because ‘everyone else has undervalued your beautiful home’ – be careful. Overpricing your home will cause more pain in the long run. Remember just like with politics, you get the Agent you deserve.

Shawn

Housing Market alive and thriving, Australian Property Monitors report.

Posted on January 28, 2010

According to Australian Property Monitors’ (APM) Quarterly Housing report, the property market posted a 12.1 per cent rise in median house prices for the year to December 2009

Although first home buyer demand sustained the market in the early part of the year, it was upgraders and investors that drove the strong overall result, as activity in the more expensive suburbs benefited from the surprisingly resilient jobs market experienced in late 2009 and a strongly rising share market.

“The price growth seen in the more expensive suburbs in 2009 has largely been a recovery of the price falls that have occurred since late 2007 and early 2008. This top-end recovery has been completed in most capitals with median house prices surpassing pre-GFC highs for the first time in the December quarter in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth,” APM economist Matthew Bell said.

Mr Bell said the increase in median house prices in Brisbane was the highest recorded in the city since the end of 2007 and early 2008, just before the global financial crisis hit.

REIQ chief executive Dan Molloy said there had been a “soft landing” in the Brisbane market. “Looking at the performances of Sydney and Melbourne, it is interesting that Brisbane went pretty well in terms of the last cycle. When the southern markets were languishing in 2007, the Brisbane market continued to perform pretty well,” he said.

Hobart was the second strongest market nationally with median house prices rising over 14 per cent in 2009 while prices in Darwin lifted 13.5 per cent and Brisbane’s 7.7 per cent.

This report factualises what some Real Estate agents were reporting in their patch.

In all it looks like the Brisbane market has faired well. The growth should continue into the end of 2010 with confidence growing again.

For more information please check out the APM report at http://www.homepriceguide.com.au/media_release/APM_HousePriceSeries_DecemberQ09.pdf

Cheers

Shawn Kristofer

2010 The Recovery Year

Posted on December 15, 2009

Phew, aren’t we all glad to see that as the headline in many articles! This time last year we were all heading into 2009 with trepidation, but we have rallied through the storm and here we are looking towards a bright 2010.

Australia has proved herself stable, being one of few advanced countries with a positive GDP growth.

Shane Oliver reports the following:

Outlook for 2010

In direct contrast to the doom and gloom of a year ago, the outlook for 2010 is reasonably bright. Sure, the aftershocks from the global financial crisis – such as high unemployment, periodic debt blow-ups (Dubai, Greece, etc) and constrained bank lending – will linger. But as 2010 progresses, the global recovery is likely to become increasingly self-sustaining. In this regard, the key themes of relevance for investors for 2010 are likely to be:

A self-sustaining economic recovery. Leading economic indicators point to continued growth over the year ahead. But most importantly, signs that labour markets are starting to turn the corner – notably in the US – suggest the recovery is on its way to becoming self-sustaining. In other words, fiscal and monetary policy has primed the pump and the private sector will now take over. 2010 is likely to see global growth of around 4% (up from 0.8% in 2009, which primarily reflects the late 2008/early 2009 slump).
2. Stronger growth in the emerging world. Thanks to stronger domestic demand and less in the way of structural constraints such as debt and demographics, growth in the emerging world is likely to be 7% compared to around 2.5% in advanced countries in 2010. China is likely to grow by 10%, India by 8% and Brazil by 6%.
3. Benign inflation. Inflation lags economic activity because it reflects capacity utilisation, which is below normal well into an economic recovery. This time is no different except that excess capacity is greater than normal, with the result that underlying inflation is likely to continue to fall in the year ahead.
4. A gradual move to wind back the stimulus. Along with the economic recovery there will eventually be pressure to wind back budget deficits and raise interest rates. Talk of higher interest rates and uncertainty about how aggressive the wind back will be, will no doubt fuel occasional corrections in asset markets over the year ahead, particularly in those markets that have benefitted the most from low US interest rates. Namely, emerging markets, commodities and commodity currencies – much as occurred in 2004 when the Federal Reserve (the Fed) last moved to tighten. However, tightening will be a very slow process in advanced countries, given memories of premature tightening in the US in the 1930s, still very high unemployment, and falling underlying inflation. Global central banks will first move to unwind the liquidity stimulus before starting to raise interest rates during the second half of 2010. Interest rates will still be very low by the end of 2010 – maybe around 1.5% in the US. China is likely to move a bit more aggressively to tighten, but it is not as dependent on stimulus measures.
5. Earnings recovery. As the economic recovery becomes entrenched, earnings growth will return and take over as the key driver of share market gains. Profit growth is likely to be in the order of 20% in the US and Australia, and 30% or more in emerging countries.
6. Australian economic growth to rebound but underlying inflation to slow. The rebound in business and consumer confidence, a housing construction recovery, numerous mining projects, and increased public infrastructure spending are expected to underpin GDP growth of around 4% through 2010.

For the whole article by Shane http://www.smartcompany.com.au/economy/20091214-2009-has-been-a-year-of-recovery.html

Market Perception Today

Posted on November 27, 2009

Market Perception Today

I had a recent email from a client, noting how she was unsure where the market was now or where it was heading. She commented that prices seem to be going up, and contemplated whether she should she hold off buying until the First Home Owner’s Grant (FHOG) reduces further and/or see if there is an impact of expected interest rate hikes?

I can only make comment of what I have seen in my patch of the woods, the East side of Brisbane. So let’s look at her first query – have Sellers increased their asking prices? Well, yes and no.

Up front it should be said if a property is priced to meet the market, it will sell. I have seen, even as of today, new properties listed at an attractive (or sensible) price, which I know will be snapped up quick.

I feel the problem with some new listings, is some Sellers have started to get a little greedy. That’s fine, I too would want to sell my house for as much as I could get, but if I wish to sell my house, I still have to meet the market. This principle will always remain no matter what the state of the market.

There has been recent press saying how the housing sector has bounced back extraordinarily well from the doldrums created by the GFC. I listed an article dated October 20 on this blog noting this very thing. Unsurprisingly, when a Seller sees this type of press, their eyes light up.

But first we need to look at where the press obtain their figures of growth? If it is via Government Departments (this is where database s such as PDS Live, RP Data gain much of their information) there will be a lag time. If a house sells in August, with processing time, the information may not reach a database until September to October. Keep this lag time in mind for the moment.

Personally I believe the turning point in the market was around July/August this year. Homes valued below $430,000 started to get picked up, and momentum increased. As properties in these lower brackets began depleting and confidence grew, Buyers started looking a little further up the price range and a ‘trickle up’ effect could be seen. However I haven’t seen this trickle up effect go much past the $550,000 bracket just yet.

Hence if the market was heating up in August, we hear about it in October (due to the lag time). Sellers start thinking it’s a Seller’s market and start upping listing prices.

Another interesting point I have noticed, is during this initial surge, the majority of interest was from Investors, not particularly first home buyers. They were certainly present, but the Investors seem to be the most active.

There will always be people who need to buy and sell property no matter what the market, due to external factors (say moving interstate for work) but Investors have the luxury of picking their mark. When they feel the market has bottomed out, they jump, as they of course wish to purchase at the lowest point to maximise their growth.

But have Investors interested in purchasing property already done so by now, and left the market, thereby reducing the Buyer pool for the Sellers just as they thought things were kicking along? I don’t think so. I still have quite a number of Buyers on my Database looking for investment properties, but they are specific and know what the right price should be. If you are a Seller and list too high, you may get good numbers enquiring as there is still much interest out there, but there will be no offers, and your property will sit.

There is also the theory by some the FHOG has artificially increased the costs of lower price bracket property. Having had few come across my path, I can’t see Sellers asking that much more because of a perceived flood of easy cash in the system. It’s just not happening.

If there are several interest rate hikes, the market may slow, possibly for a short period, but I feel most people are sensible enough to acknowledge interest rates are incredibly low, and there will be expected movement up. This is of course assuming the RBA and Lenders don’t get silly.

I was speaking with the local Loan Market Mortgage Broker, Simon Winters, who said his market felt the likelihood of interest rate increase in December was 50%, where everyone was saying 75% just a few weeks earlier.

Sellers pricing sensibly are selling quick as there is still much interest in the market. But list high and you will struggle for an offer. There are still plenty of keen Buyers out there, Investors and some new home buyers getting in before the FHOG reduces. Interest rates don’t appear to be making any dent. Similarly for Buyers, there are still many properties correctly priced in a market which appears to have recovered from the GFC. I don’t see a return to the 2007 times (which is a good thing) so all in all, at present, it is probably a reasonably equitable market.

Please feel free to leave a comment. Perception, by its nature, is an individual thing, so I am always interested in other people’s thoughts.

Shawn Kristofer – Real Estate

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