Statistics show that most Australian property investors are ordinary wage earners, generally with families, preparing for their retirement.

A typical couple might start on the path to property wealth when they buy their own home or apartment for say $180,000.
Depending on income, it may take this couple somewhere between 7 to 15 years to pay off their home, but what they may not be aware of is that the home loan does not need to be completely paid off before they start investing in property.
Most people should be in a position to start considering property investment after about five years of property ownership. By this time it is likely their home has increased in value, thereby increasing their equity and making the remainder of their home loan a small percentage of the total value of their home.
When thinking about investing in property, you might consider this simple test.
If you adopt the view that the interest on your home loans represents the cost to you of providing a roof over your head, then there is a way to work out at what point you might invest in additional property. If the interest is equal to or less than, the rental value of your home, then you have reduced your home loan to less than its “shelter value” and you could consider investment.
If the interest were above the amount you would have to pay to rent your home, then continuing to use disposable income to reduce your loan until it does reach that point is probably the best course of action.
It is not hard to establish the rental value of your home. If you contact our office, we can assess rental value for you.
The interest on your loan should include just that, interest only, not the total payments you make, which would normally include a repayment of principal component. For eg:

Home Current Market Value: $220,000
Home Loan Balance: $ 50,000
Interest at say 7%/annum: $ 3,500
Rental Value at $250 /week $ 13,000

In this case the interest component is well under the rental value of the home and indicates the owners could (or even should, depending on other circumstances) have invested in additional property sometime ago.
BY waiting, the built-up equity in the home remains passive for longer. Better still, it could have been leveraging that capital into ownership of additional property which may attract additional capital growth.
The benefit of more value growth may outwiegh the non-deductibility of interest on the already, less than “shelter-value”, home loan.

The emphasis is on space and flexibility with kitchen/living areas flowing onto rear gardens or terraces.

Houses have turned back to front. The focus is no longer on a formal “front parlour” or how the house looks from the street. Increasing density of living has made people more aware of the need for privacy. The result? Living and entertaining areas are now concentrated in the back areas of the house. Guests are even allowed into food preparation areas that would have been taboo in previous eras.

One of the reasons for the turnaround is that there are more women in the work force than ever before.

Working women don’t want to come home to solitary confinement behind the kitchen sink. family members share the cooking and guests and chefs make merry while the cooking is in the progress.

The Kitchen has coped by becoming more of a showplace. Technology has made cooking easier and devices such as the extractor fan keep odours from permeating open plan living spaces.

House size is the most striking change in the last half century. Families are smaller, yet houses are twice as big as 1940′s houses – they’ve gone from one hundred to one hundred and eighty square metres. Kids nowadays wouldn’t dream of sharing a bedroom. There’s more internal space per head of population, yet we expect to move on to something better every seven years or so.

Today’s home owners are more mobile, both geographically and socially. While most of our parents lived all their life in one place, we view houses as stepping stones to better investment and lifestyle benefits.

The motor car, highways, immigration, technology, feminism and the pill have all had an impact on housing structures. Houses reflect both technological and lifestyle changes. Modern owners have less sense of home as the family seat, belonging to the family for a lifetime or even generations. The modern home is an asset which, adroitly managed, can move us up the social ladder.

Some vendors complain that their are not enough inspections – others think the property has been shown to unsuitable people. For example, Mr & Mrs Vendor with steep stair access to their home might question their agents wisdom in bringing the elderly man with a walking stick or the young couple with the toddler in a stroller.

Professionals agents will always “qualify” purchasers before taking them to look at properties on their books.

But that doesn’t mean eliminating potential buyers from a property’s must to inspect list based on the agents own value judgements of who will suit what many sales are made to so-called unlikely candidates. Most purchasers have a wish list bigger than their pockets and after much soul searching end up sacrificing certain things in order to get others.

The couple who said they wouldn’t renovate ended up buying a house needing a new kitchen because it was near a golf course. The couple with the stroller fell in love with the panoramic view and reasoned that their agile toddler would soon be climbing the stairs for herself.

You should choose an agent who can demonstrate that they have a contact list of genuine qualified purchasers.

Ask them “how many genuine purchaser do you have currently listed on your books that you can bring through my property right now?” No agent worth their salt will be relying on the first ad to attract purchasers.

Vendors also need to be confident that their agent has the expertise to qualify purchasers when they receive an offer.

Some agents accept offers from people who are not in a financial position to proceed.

Misjudging the capability of a purchaser could cost the vendor valuable time and money. If a property is taken off the market as sold only to be back on the market because the purchaser can’t get finance, the optimum marketing period is often missed and the ultimate selling price lowered.

Stop/Start marketing at best creates unnecessary vendor stress and at worse may represent costly delay or missed oppotunity.

But is the dream holiday location always the ideal place for people to spend their latter years?

Most holiday makers have never experienced their favourite getaway in the off-season. A sunny, pleasantly bustling holiday town where cafes and shops are constantly open can look quite different on a rainy winter’s day. (Or in hot climates, the opposite may be true. A town that enjoys temperatures in the 20′s in winter may turned humid and unbearable in summer.) While long-term residents may look forward to the end of the tourists season, many city-condition new-comers find the dullness of the off-season hard to get used to.

Some retirees report that it didn’t occur to them to check out whether the clubs, sports and hobbies they’d always enjoyed in the city were available in the small town. It is a good idea to research the availabilty of specialised activities you’ve always taken for granted. Activities such as, china painting and other art or craft classes, seniors’ exercise classes, chess clubs, bridge, gardening clubs, theatre and so on may not exist in a smaller marketplace. Leisure activities are all important for those who have given up a lifetime of working and what once squeezed into weekends and evenings ends up being the focus of the day or week. While most retirees enjoy excellent health, they need to take into account the availability of hospitals and medical facilities; many people who have lived close to a range of specialist health-care facilities all their lives without needing them move away just as they start to have special needs in that area.

For some, the decision to move away from the city is a financial one – the money they get from selling the family home often finances a home and income. But in many cases it is possible to scale down and still stay closer to friends and facilities.

Certainly, getting away from the environment where people have spent their working life is not always the wrong one, but many people would do well to rent before they buy. That way they can keep their options open until they feel confident that moving away from everything thay have taken for granted is the right decision.

Consumers selecting a real estate agent are entitled to be offered something more concrete than promises to go on. Experienced home sellers report that many agents simply offer the anedotal “We have lots of buyers waiting.” Very few show references from satisfied clients let alone proof of qualified purchasers. A would-be seller is perfectly entitled to ask a potential agent to demonstrate that he/she has a bank of genuine buyers. Consumers should ask agents to show them a printout of all genuine purchasers for property similar to theirs. While privacy legislation prohibits an agent from actually handing the list over, there is no reason why prospective sellers can’t ask to view the document. A professional agent will also have documentary evidence of satisfied clients – the names of both sellers and purchasers who have been so happy with the service and results that they want to say so.

While there is no guarantee that the right buyer for you is already on an agent’s books (you may still need to advertise) the professionalism of the agent who provides documentation to support their assurances augurs well for a successful transaction.

Professional agents understand that busy vendors don’t want to keep their home picture-perfect all day and that they want buyers to view the property at the time of the day when it looks best, but most will advise against severely restricted access.

Most offices have a lot of walk-in traffic and experience has shown that the most impatient property seekers are often the most impetuous buyers. They walk in throught the office door, expecting to look at a certain property and walk out again just as quickly, disappointed – and they won’t come back at the vendor’s convenience.

Some limiting of access is reasonable – what’s the point, for example, of a first visit at night when the location, outlook and orientation to natural light will be unable to be assessed? On the other hand, a purchaser coming for a second or third inspection may well want to see if the interior and exterior lighting are adequate, particulary if they have special requirements in that area.

Restricting access to sunny days or moments of serendipitous weather and natural light conditions may be worthwhile in some cases, but not at the expense of missing out on an inspection altogether. The futility of insisting on perfect viewing conditions often becomes apparent when prospective purchasers want to inspect at different times of the day before making a final decision.

No reasonable agent will expect round the clock access to a property listed on their books for sale. Vendors with special access requirements should make sure they clarify the details with their agent, and ask advice on what is a resonable level or restriction that won’t alienate potential buyers and cost sales.

In the regional property markets, Cairns saw healthy growth of 4.6% in the median house price for the September quarter. Townsville however recorded a minor drop of -0.7% which can be attributed to a decrease in sales activity particulary at the upper end of the market. Despite this, Townsville has seen steady growth over the year with the September quarter 2002 median price 4.0% higher than it was for the same period in 2001. The median price for units/townhouse price in Brisbane experienced a healthy increase in the September quarter, recording a rise of 4.8%. The Gold Coast’s median unit/townshouse price also saw a steady increase of 3.0% – up from $167,000 to $172,000 over the quarter.

In the regional areas, Cairns’ median unit/townshouse price dropped by -2.7% in the September quarter after recording a gain of 25% for the June quarter. This volatility is largely due to the performance of Cairns’ two townhouses markets – the suburban sector and the City and coastal sector, The suburban market’s lack-lustre performance is starting to show small signs of potential growth while the City and coastal market has been in greater demand, This difference has created an unpridictable effect across the overall market however it seems the declining growth is easing and it looks more positive for the next 12 months. In Townsville, the median price of units/townhouses declined by -3.4%. This trend can be attributed to a drop off at the end of the market with a decline in new stock sold throughout the quarter.

Queensland median residential prices published in the March, June, September and December quarter 2001 editions of Market Facts were based on quarterly settlement date prices. The REIQ amended those Queensland median prices, and will base all future Queensland median residential prices in accordance with sales prices recorded at the date of contract during the quarter.

Please note that the REIQ has also reviewed the geographical boundaries of the inner, middle, and outer zones of Brisbane. Inner is now classified as suburbs in the 0-5 km radius of the CBD, middle is suburbs in the 5-10 km radius of the CBD while outer is suburbs in the 10-20 km radius of the CBD that are still within the Brisbane Local Government Area. As a result, historical data for these zones is not yet available.

Unfortunately, not all agents are going to give you their best, but if you do your homework first, then you’ve taken the biggest step towards a successful sale.

There are a few simple things you should do before signing an agent. Firstly, ask are locally – speak to family and friends who have bought or sold in your area; an enthusiastic and hard-working agent will always leave a good impression.

Look through your local newspapers to see which agents have the best marketing strategies. After all, if nobody knows about your property in the first place, even the best agent in the world won’t be of much use!

Also, find out whether the agent is a member of ann industry body and bound by a Professional Code of Ethics, ensuring that your agent is up to date with changing legislation.

Don’t be left in the dark..

There’s no point handing over your hard-earned money to an agent if you have no idea what it is that they are doing for you in return. At Professionals, we make sure that our clients are well-informed every step of the way. We provide feedback on a day-to-day basis and have weekly meetings with our Professionals Sales Team to discuss each and every property that is listed.

We’ll do the hard work for you!

At Professionals Real Estate we understand that the thought of selling or buying a home can be daunting. Whether it be current market conditions, presentations advice or financial appraisal, our Sales Consultants will ensure that your sale is stress-free.

And we won’t just equip you with one dedicated agent – you’ll have a whole team of Professionals staff working for you, from the receptionists to the Principal.

Eenie meenie minie mo!

Now that you’ve found the right agent, it’s time to decide on a selling method. As you know, it would be foolish to try and fit a square peg into a round hole, similarly it is a waste of tim e and energy to sell your home using the wrong strategy.

There are four primary methods of selling property:

Exclusive Agency – is the method recommended by the REIQ. This option will give you the complete attention of your agent and often attracts some added bonus’ for the marketing of your property. Your Professionals agent will discuss this most successful, industry recommended method with you.

Multilisting – is an agreement between your chosen agent and other multilist agents who agrees to work together to sell your property. The commission you pay is no higher than if you were to have a sole agent. If you believe in the phrase ‘two heads are better than one’, then this may be the method for you.

Auctions – are rapidly becoming an exciting way to market all forms of real estate in Queensland. TV shows like HOt Property, Location Location, and Auction Squad show just what can happen when a property is well marketed. Talk to Your Professionals Agent about whether your property is ideal for this exciting marketing program.

Open Listing – occurs when you list your property with several real estate agents in your area. This method of sale often includes handing out several keys for your home, plus several ‘For Sale’ signs. Industry evidence suggests this is a high risk, low return method of sale.

READY, SET, GO!

Well, the hard work is done – you’ve found yourself a fantastic agent and have agreed on a selling method. All that’s left to do is sit back and enjoy the excitement as the Professionals team go to work for you. Proceed!

IT’S ALL IN THE METHOD….

There are many ways to sell a property, but in selecting a selling method, you need to keep in mind that not all of them will achieve the best possible price for your property. Professionals can advise you on the best way to achieve your goals within your time-frame.

THE PRICE IS RIGHT….

Pricing your home too high may cause you to miss out on half the buying market, whilst too low may jeopardise your chance of getting top dollar! With knowledge of your local market your agent will assist you to set a price that will attract te optimum number of buyers.

HOWDY PARTNER…..

Now that you have an agent, a selling method and an agreed price, it’s time to form a partnership with your Professionals Sales Consultant. All you have to do is authorise a listing agreement and we’ll getv the ball rolling. Remember, the Sales Consultant works for you and will be there every step of the way.

IF YOU’VE GOT IT FLAUNT IT….

It might be time to add a bit of shine and polish to your home! First impressions will be lasting so it’s important that your home looks it’s absolute best inside and out.

TO MARKET, TO MARKET

It’s our job to make your home shout ‘Buy Me!’. We’ll put together a marketing plan that will show off all the best features of your property, marketing it irresistible to prospective buyers.

BE IN THE KNOW….

Naturally you will want to know what progress is being made while your property is on the market. Professionals have developed a Weekly Reporting System so that you receive feedback everytime we take a viewer through your property.

WEIGHING IT UP……

While it’s important not to rush in at the first sign of an offer, nor is it wise to let the grass grow under your feet. Waiting for that ‘one last offer’ could see you miss out on a sale. Your Sales Consultant will help you to weigh up all the offers so that you receive the best possible price and conditions to suit your own plans.

SIGNED AND SEALED….

Congratulations! You’ve accepted an offer, the buyer has paid a deposit and the ‘Sold’ sign is up. Your Professionals consultant will keep an eye on any sale conditions, keep you informed of any conditions that need to be met and forward the relevent paperwork to your lawyers to take care of the conveyancing matters.

GETTING A MOVE ON….

In all the excitment of selling your home, it’s easy to forget about the big move ahead. But don’t worry… we’ll provide you with a checklist and plantey of advice to make planning your move as stress-free as possible.