Lessons Learned

  1. Don’t let Covid cloud your judgement,
    • Fomo and high anxiety in buyer behaviour leads to costly mistakes.
    • Buying property unseen without physical inspection and check of connecting distance, frontage and depth against title plan
    • Signing contracts of sale without legal review
    • Agreeing to a price without reference to an independent valuation
    • Buying a house without a building and pest inspection
  2. Taking on the Debt For most people when you buy a house you take on debt. The debt needs to be manageable. Circumstances can change quickly due to unforeseen events, illness, job loss, and changes to family size.
  3. Underquoting As a seasoned buyer in the market, I see underquoting regularly , sometimes intentionally, sometimes not but it is more prevalent now. There is more non-transparent activity, blind bidding , overquoting, bidding against yourself. It’s a time to exercise caution and call out poor behaviour when you see it.
  4. Just because you signed The deal is not done just because you signed the section 32 statement, you agreed verbally to contract terms and conditions and you signed the contract and paid the deposit. It’s yours right? In most circumstances yes, but its not a sale until the vendor signs the contract Often when a buyer makes an offer in writing it can be used by an agent to push someone else’s price. In some circumstances it’s a good idea to get the vendor to sign the contract first.
  5. Highest and best offer What do I do here? Firstly engage a professional to act for you. I see buyers bidding against themselves and paying way more than they need to secure the property.
  6. Fast/ snap auctions These are auctions brought forward or designed to catch buyers off guard. They create tension and force buyers to act quickly. Usually it intensifies the competition. In catching buyers off guard some have not had time to get finance approval, legal review and structural building checks.
  7. Legal matters Is the contract a standard law institute contract? Are the general and special conditions standard? Is GST payable or not? Is there Land tax liability? Most buyers don’t check these things and find out the hard way.
  8. Time Kills deals I see this all the time. Time kills deals. No need to say more but it costs my clients good property.
  9. Auction Plan You need to go to an auction prepared. I devise an auction plan Thursday before the auction. There is no place for emotion. A well-executed plan usually wins. Most buyers have no plan.
  10. Price and terms Do some work around market value before the auction or speak to an expert. An auction is unconditional so set your terms, deposit requirements and conditions at least 3 days out from the auction.
If you are thinking of Buying or Selling, please contact Greville Pabst, your trusted property partner on 03 9589 3886 or email us.