Viewing by month: February 2011
Preparing to buy and sell Real Estate in Autumn
An RP Data study conducted in the middle of last year showed that autumn, followed by spring, is the busiest season for real estate, attracting the largest number of sales. As we are now heading into autumn, this means that there are is a large amount of people who are currently preparing to either buy or sell real estate, or both. For those selling, it is important to make sure that your property stands out amongst all the other listings on the market. Chris Gray, in...Read complete post
Readying your garden for the cooler months
If you’re like me, it can be hard to find the motivation to go outside and work on your garden when the weather turns cold. But by the time spring rolls around, this winter neglect often means that I have a badly damaged garden and must start work from scratch, sometimes even replanting large sections of outside areas. But this could be totally unnecessary by taking some simple steps to prepare your garden for the cooler months. Not only will this allow you to have a...Read complete post
Are your pets suffering in the heat?
The past couple of weeks have seen soaring temperatures in different areas right around Australia. If you’re like me, you’ve been doing whatever you can to stay cool – operating fans and airconditioning units around the home and office, wearing lightweight clothing, staying in the shade when it becomes necessary to venture outside, and so on and so forth. But what do you do when it comes to your pets? How can you ensure that you have taken all measures to keep your animals in...Read complete post
The benefits of knowing your neighbours
These days, I think it is fair to say that there is less of a neighbourhood culture than there has been in the past. I suppose this isn’t a surprising progression – people tend to lead busier lives, there are not as many people at home during the day and with the increase in apartment living there is less of that familiarity you get between people seeing each other out on the street on a daily basis. While not unexpected I still think it is a bit of a shame that people aren’t as ‘n...Read complete post
Housing supply remains an issue
The issue of housing supply is contentious at the best of times. It is not unusual for seemingly conflicting data and reports to be released almost concurrently – sometimes we are told that there is too much stock on the market and people aren’t buying, at other times it is that there are not enough homes and prices are skyrocketing. It is important to understand that the residential property market has both a short term and long term outlook, both of which can be affected by...Read complete post
What to renovate - Kitchens and Bathrooms
It is not uncommon for people to renovate, or ‘spruce up’, a property before selling it. However, the dilemma that many sellers come across when doing so is determining which areas of the home to invest in so as to add enough value and come out ahead in the increased sales price that you achieve.Over the years that I have worked in the real estate industry, I have seen a number of methods used to determine the best areas of the home to work on before selling. One of the...
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More Australians are going solar
Over the years that I have been involved in the real estate industry, I have seen a great number of property trends and changes evolve before me. These have involved the colours people are using to decorate with, the popularity of certain rooms over others and many more. But one movement that has caught my attention and pleases me greatly is that of the increasing residential use of solar power. And according to the Clean Energy Australia 2010 Report, released in December 2010...Read complete post
The RBA leaves interest rates on hold
At its meeting last week, the Reserve Bank of Australia decided to leave the official cash rate unchanged at 4.75 per cent. This choice is good news for the residential property market and will definitely help to ease the pressures felt by many Australian home owners and prospective buyers. From where we sit at CENTURY 21 Australia, this decision was the appropriate one for the RBA to make. Parts of our nation have recently been devastated by flooding, the full impact of which...Read complete post