After a brilliant start to the week with regard to sales, all the fuss about the budget suddenly bought activity down a couple of pegs later in the week which I can only put down to a drop in consumer confidence and it appears that many people are now just sitting on their hands. Figures also suggest that the Melbourne market is starting to flatten out. Oddly we are still getting calls from people across Australia who have never been to Shepparton who are asking about properties valued at around $150,000 which gives them a cash positive investment although, as I have said in the past, we usually don’t sell houses to such people as they continually fail to go through with the deal. Besides all of the good ones in this range are now sold. Figures released this week show that rental growth is decreasing with 66,120 properties being vacant nationally which is the highest vacancy rate since figures were commenced in 2005. Over the past 12 months to May, average capital city rents recorded a 1.7% increase in asking rents and a 1.5% decrease in asking rents for houses. A report released during the week ranked agents at number 28 in a list of 30 professions based on ethics and honesty and we were just above advertising people and car salesmen. Bank managers held the number 12 position, lawyers 13, financial planners 17 and even State (25) and Federal MP’s (26) ranked above us. Shame as I certainly like to think my agency should be a lot higher on the list. In an effort to upgrade their service, one Melbourne based real estate group have employed mystery shoppers (pretend buyers) to attend open homes conducted by their agents to see what standard they are maintaining. Mystery shoppers are being given a comprehensive list of items they are assessing and agents need to pass in order to be able to conduct open homes. This seems like a great idea and I will certainly call in and see an open home conducted by the group of Hocking Stuart the next time I am in their area to see what we can also do to raise our standard locally even more. In the past I have heard of agents leaving homes unattended, conducting opens from their vehicle parked out front and eating lunch in front of attendees so mystery shoppers can only be a good thing. There are now only 2 blocks left at the Redbyrne Estate which are lots 9 and 11 so if you want to get one before they are all gone I certainly wouldn’t delay. In fact Lot 9 has a hold on it until later this coming week so in reality only Lot 11 may still be available. A report I read this week by the Reserve bank of Australia detailed how home owners in a quarter of suburbs believed their properties to be up to 20% more valuable that they really are. No-one is sure how it happened but a technical fault with the web site of realestateview.au automatically upgraded all of our new and modified listings to a feature property which looked really good as my office commanded the first 3 or 4 pages of the site with just our properties. Normally featured properties cost around $66 a month which added up to quite an amount. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and after the error is sorted out by realestateview.au our listings will go just back to being in the normal sequence of the date they were uploaded to the site. Meanwhile we will just enjoy the extra exposure. I mentioned a while ago that listings on realestate.au were increasing in price quite substantially and today we found out their new 30 day rates which are as follows: For Sale, Land & Rural Feature $260 Highlight $700 Premier $2,960 For Rent Feature $100 Highlight $195 Premier $560 How they think that people in Shepparton will pay $2,960 to upgrade their listing is beyond me. NB: Agents generally include basic listings as part of their commission with upgrades being additional. I hope that this is the last time I have to mention this but the following comment is warranted as I am still getting calls from people asking if I am related to the jailed Numurkah agent, Daniel McNamara from Maurice McNamara & Co who is serving three months for trust account offences. Please note that even though we are very distantly related I have no association with him nor have I ever met him. This week’s useless information is:- The average person spends 3 years of their life on the toilet The earth is slightly hotter during a full moon Twenty five percent of your bones are located in your feet. NB: What is red in color and looks like a blue bucket?……….a red bucket.. I am always available to answer any of your real estate questions on 5831 6405. Please feel free to pass this email on to any person who you think may be interested in its contents. NOTE: The advice given in this newsletter is to be taken as general advice only and should not be relied upon. Regards Ken McNamara. Footnotes: If you would like to receive this email automatically every Saturday afternoon please email our office with the subject line of ‘subscribe to newsletter’ Ken is the number 1 selling residential agent in the Shepparton area, was the winner of the 2011 Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award and was a finalist in the 2012 awards. Regards Ken McNamara Principal Estate Agent Ken McNamara Real Estate
Posted on: Sun, 25 May 2014 23:03:39 +0000
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