Well, I managed a bit of time away with the family this week.

We got up to the Sunny Coast and caught up with my extended family and also hung out at a kid friendly resort in Caloundra.

It was good to relax and spend a bit of time focussed on the kids, unfortunately when working in real estate people expect your attention 100% of the time, so there’s likelihood that I had some sellers go to other agents during this time as I was unable to answer them within 10 minutes.  Many people understand, however some do not.

We’re finally seeing the media report that we’re past the bottom of the market, I’m not 100% sure if we officially ‘off the bottom’, but we’re certainly at the plateau.  I’ve seen more investors come back into the market, and house prices have stabilised through a lack of stock and availability for buyers.

We’re still seeing some very ambitious prices for properties, I like to be optimistic but also keep a realistic opinion as to what the buyers are going to be looking at in comparison.  There’s always variation of course.  

I strive myself on doing the best for my clients to achieve the best price in any market, however sometimes things are missed in explanation or understanding – keep in mind I’ve sold a lot of houses over the years, versus people that have sold a house every 10-30 years, and most times these people sell with smooth sailing, other times not so smooth.  Well, I’ve got a bit of a bumpy one to explain, we had discussed a plan on the way forward, but things outside my control caused me to recommend a change to the strategy in agreeance with the seller – prior to launching online.  The issue was I hadn’t explained the full process behind the strategy and even though I’m likely correct in what we’re doing, because I didn’t explain 100% the process there’s a level of misunderstanding that occurred – the seller thinks I may have jeopardised the sale price.

It’s an agent’s job to market the property and negotiate the price.  If a buyer doesn’t make an offer, there’s nothing to negotiate, so it’s the agent’s job to get people to make an offer.  If a buyer doesn’t want to make an offer, an agent can’t force them to sign an offer, and the reason a buyer doesn’t want to make an offer – they see better value in another property elsewhere.  So, it’s the agent’s job to show the buyers where the value lies.   We do this through marketing and communication with buyers.  If we do either of these poorly, the extra value that may exist may not be seen.

If you want to have a chat about the buying or selling process, please don’t hesitate to reach out.