Archive for the ‘principle loan’ Category

What is a housing bubble?

Recently, almost on a daily basis, we have been seeing property market commentary from “experts”, mostly economists warning of “Australia’s housing bubble”. Most people understand the concept but I thought I would clarify what it is and what it is they are concerned about.

According to Wikipedia, “a property or housing bubble is a form of economic bubble normally characterised by a rapid increase in market prices of real property … Read the full post »

Strategy vs Tactics

Over the past 25 years I have been a keen observer of the behaviour of asset markets and their participants. I have closely watched both the share market and the property market and have seen fortunes made, and plenty lost, in that time. When I look back over that period, a common trait of those who I have watched thrive is that they knew the difference between strategy and tactics.

The … Read the full post »

Great Ocean Report- July 2016

Our July report is always dedicated to a look back on the performance of the Surfcoast property market for the previous financial year. The 2015/16 financial year saw a very active coastal market buoyed by low interest rates and continued positive sentiment from the metropolitan property markets.

So let’s look at the performance of each of the towns during this period. As a reference these sales are house sales, that is … Read the full post »

Great Ocean Report February 2016

This is our first report for 2016 and is a good opportunity to report on what we have been witnessing over Summer, and also to try and do some crystal ball gazing as to what we can expect to see unfold this calendar year.

Obviously the major event that dominated our mindset, and those visiting the coast over the Christmas period, was the bushfire that claimed over 100 homes in Wye … Read the full post »

Great Ocean Report November 2015

Summer is almost upon us and it has been a busy spring for the coastal markets. Stock levels remain tight and we believe that this will be one of the drivers that should facilitate a buoyant summer market. However it will, in our opinion, be a less obvious driver that will have an impact in the lifestyle markets this summer.

Before we look at that, let’s have a look at what … Read the full post »

Sell or buy first

A common dilemma when you are trading your home for another is whether you sell first then buy, or if you buy first, then sell. The answer is quite clear…it depends! Which I know is not clear but it really comes down to how saleable your property is. This is determined by your price point and your price expectation relative to other properties in your area. It also comes down … Read the full post »

Pricing methods

When you come to sell your property you will be presented with several different pricing methods by different agents.

A small number will suggest not putting a price on the property. Their thinking is that if there is no price then the buyers have to ring and enquire. The agent can then get there details. The problem is that buyers find it annoying and research published by a leading real … Read the full post »

A buyers journey

It is really helpful, whether you are buying or selling, to understand the journey a buyer goes through when purchasing real estate. There are two distinct phases. There is the emotional attachment stage and the justification stage. The emotional attachment stage is all about finding the property they like. They start looking in the area that they like, and in the price range they can afford, and often the range slightly above … Read the full post »

Great Ocean Report September 2015

It is always interesting to watch the psychology of property market participants when there is a high level of volatility in the share market. In our modern media age, we are constantly barraged with headlines and those who are active in any investment market often find it difficult to find the right way forward, given the volume of incoming information. This large amount of information can be quite paralysing and … Read the full post »

Surf Coast Times Column. The principal or the interest? 20.08.15

With this week’s column, if your eyes glaze over after the second paragraph I certainly won’t be offended.

It’s about whether you should have a principal and interest loan or an interest only loan. I know..yawn. However if you are fortunate enough have a prime residence (your home) and an investment property and happen to have mortgages on both then it’s important that you have your loans correctly set up.

For those … Read the full post »