Greenslopes Real Estate News: October 2011

Friday, October 28, 2011

Curb Appeal Matters When Selling Real Estate

First impressions matter most. This is one concept that many homeowners trying to sell their homes or rent property fail to understand. Curb appeal is the first impression when it comes to a house. This is the place that you as an investor or seller want those driving buy to think of as home. For this reason you should pay careful attention and spend some degree of time and effort making the outside of the home inviting and appealing to potential buyers or renters.

One of the first things that people will notice is crumbling paint and bland or tired and faded colors on the exterior. If the outside of the home is rather unimpressive potential buyers are unlikely to discover the diamond that is the inside of your home.

Another thing you can do to add curb appeal is plant low maintenance flowers and plants around the exterior of your home.

Another thing to keep in mind when making the upgrades is to clean the footpath and driveway. It is amazing what a high power pressure washer can do to your driveway and front porch. Don't stop there however; take the time to make sure your doors and windows are clean as well. These little things often make the biggest impression. If you care properly for the exterior of your home and keep it nice and shiny chances are (in the buyer's mind) that you will have taken the same care of the inside of the home that they are quite possibly now considering.

Taking the extra time to ensure that the outside of your home is attractive to buyers can translate into higher and quicker offers than neglecting the essential real estate between the front door and the curb. Do not overlook this powerful piece of advice and you should enjoy a little more success in your efforts to sell your home or investment property.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Interest rate cut on Cup Day is odds-on bet

THE Reserve Bank will cut its official interest rate on Melbourne Cup Day - reversing the increase of last Cup day.

It would be more than surprising if it didn't. It would be almost literally out of character. The "character", that is, of governor Glenn Stevens.

For it appears he just can't let the day pass merely as only for the race that stops a nation. He has to "stop", and occasionally "start", it as well.

Stevens has had five Cup days so far as governor - next Tuesday will be the sixth. And on all previous five he has led the RBA to change its rate.

Four of them have been increases - most famously when he hiked in 2007 in the middle of the election campaign and (helped) "stop", so to speak, John Howard's prime ministership.

The only Stevens Cup Day cut was in 2008, amid the fear and loathing of the global financial crisis. With the prospect of GFC Mark Two, or maybe just Mark 1b, that's an interesting but hopefully not an ominous portent.

In 2008 he sliced the rate by 75 points. Absent a European meltdown over the next few days, next Tuesday's cut will be only 25 points. And at this stage it will be intended as a one-off. To "normalise" interest rates.

In real analytical terms, it's actually 50-50 line ball between a rate cut and leaving rates unchanged.

Indeed, there's a stronger argument to leave them unchanged - that we still most likely face an income and investment tsunami next year requiring rate hikes.

But yesterday's CPI numbers just blew all that away. The optics suddenly became crystal clear.

There is no way the RBA could leave rates on the restrictive side of normal after underlying inflation printed at just 0.3 per cent for the quarter - that's an annual rate of 1.2 per cent.

There's some uncertainty about the quality of that number.

The ABS's CPI numbers have been all over the place in the last couple of months.

But in very simple terms, how could the RBA maintain a policy aimed at fighting too-high inflation, when if anything inflation is pointing towards being too low?

read more at couriermail.com.au

Friday, October 21, 2011

No recovery for home building sector

Land sales are still well below where they were last year, suggesting there will be no recovery in the new home building sector until 2012, a survey shows.

The Housing Industry of Australia (HIA) and RP Data said the volume of land sales in the June quarter was 25 per cent lower than the same quarter in 2010 and 51 per cent lower than the peak in June 2004.

"The profile for residential land sales remains weak, indicating that the earliest we can expect a turnaround in new housing starts is the March 2012 quarter," said Harley Dale, HIA's chief economist on Thursday.

The HIA-RP Data Residential Land Report also found that the volume of land sales in the June quarter had increased by 18 per cent.

"It is encouraging that land sales have stopped falling, but there is a long road ahead to ensure a sustainable recovery in new home building to levels commensurate with the housing requirements of Australia's population," Dr Dale said.

The weighted median land value in Australia fell by 1.3 per cent in the June 2011 quarter to be 3.5 per cent higher than the comparable quarter in 2010, the report found.

Read more at news.com.au

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Investment Buyer? Do The Numbers, This Adds Up

The sellers of 5/29 Lilly Street, Greenslopes are serious about selling and have slashed the price to just $299,000.

This 2 bedroom unit is renting for $340 per week until May 2012.

There is some urgency to securing a sale (the asking price tells that story). Call me on 0424 149 026 to arrange an inspection or come along this Saturday, 8 October 12:30-12:50.

Kitchen or bathroom renovation: which adds more value?

It’s a well-known fact that bathrooms and kitchens offer some of the biggest opportunities to add value to your home or investment property. But if you had to choose between upgrading one or the other, which would give you more bang for your buck?

The answer, according to renovations expert Ana Stankovic from renovateandprofit.com, may surprise you.
“Most people will look to renovate a kitchen within a home, but you should be careful with how much you spend on a kitchen renovation,” Stankovic says.

“On average, in Australia, renovating an existing kitchen is only the fourth or fifth add-value technique, depending on suburb.”

Importantly, she adds that investors must note that in different suburbs – and in different types of homes within those suburbs – there will be a specific order of which renovations are going to add the most to your profit line.

“Let's have a look at a family house in Mount Waverley, for example. In this area, renovating an existing kitchen is going to be the fifth highest-returning renovation that you can do, and even that is going to have specific design and functionality requirements you need to adhere to in order to create a profitable result,” Stankovic says.

“However, if you wanted to add significant value, you might look at adding a second bathroom. In this particular suburb, doing so will add much more in value compared to how much it costs, rather than renovating the existing kitchen.”

So how do you figure out which area of the property to makeover in your own situation?

The answer, Stankovic says, is to do your research and be strategic. “Because the property market is currently a bit flat, guesswork and complexities need to be reduced as much as possible, and you need to follow a detailed and strategic approach to everything you do with your renovation in order to guarantee success,”

New To The Market This Week - Tremendous Tarragindi Value

38 Monash Road, Tarragindi is priced to sell! At $665,000 this offers real value for family home buyers.

The sellers have made other plans. To make it all happen they have put a “can’t say no” price on this 10 year old home. Constructed over two levels and incorporating a perfect combination of modern design with character features typical of a "Queenslander" style home. This is definitely one property you do not want to miss!