When you are thinking about making a major financial decision like upgrading or downsizing your home, buying an investment property or even buying your first home, you will often do research as to whether the timing is right to make such a move.

You will soon realise when you start your research that there are so many conflicting views on what the future holds, often in the same publications, that … Read the full post »

The general reaction in most people to the words “financial planning” usually ranges between a combination of eyes glazing over and complete confusion as to where to start. Many are living week to week and as long as the bills get paid, life rolls on.

If you feel that you may be in this situation and you know you should be doing more than what you are to take control … Read the full post »

What to do when you don’t know what to do

We all have to make decisions every day of our lives. We are all different in our ability to be decisive. Some are happy to “go with the flow” while others find it an anxiety ridden process where their fear of an incorrect decision leading to a negative outcome can almost be paralysing.

This can get amplified when it comes to … Read the full post »

We often get asked when is the best time to sell your property. Like anything in real estate there are no absolutes, it is a judgement made on the basis of probabilities of many factors. Winter is generally regarded as the low season for selling on the coast. This judgement is mainly made on the decreased foot traffic that the coast experiences at this time of year. Interestingly in the … Read the full post »

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 »

Bidding at auction can be quite intimidating for those who have never done it before. In reality, given that most people only transact in real estate once or twice in their lives, the opportunity to practise is quite limited! There are a few tips to it though that I’m happy to share.

The first tip I will give you is – don’t do it! If you can hire a professional … Read the full post »

As a business we are always looking ahead to try and identify trends so we can plan for them and also provide quality advice to our clients. I do a lot of reading about social demography trying to understand why people act the way they do.

Social demographers have applied labels to different groups in society depending on when they were born to help them understand what influences them. Although you … Read the full post »

As we are about to roll into Summer and the end of 2016, we are now in a position to reflect on the significant market influences that have been driving, what has again been, an extremely buoyant year for the real estate market on the Great Ocean Road.

Stock levels (properties available for sale) are at an all time low. Having multiple interested parties in properties for sale has been very … Read the full post »

Be Curious

One of the best aspects of our profession is that we get to meet an incredible range of different people over the course of any year. After some time you start to see themes appear and you sub-consciously start to group together different personality types with their common traits. It just seems to happen automatically as you try to best cater for their real estate needs.

We see everyone from … Read the full post »