Elite Agent
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REIQ demands ‘urgent action’ to protect property market
The Real Estate Institute of Queensland has called for the Palaszczuk Government to protect Queensland’s property market “as a new wave of contagion threatens to undo the state’s recognised efforts of containing COVID-19 to date”. The essential temporary measures being asked for include a 75 per cent reduction in stamp duty and extending the First Home Buyers Grant to established…
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Top tips from NZ agents on how to navigate Stage 4 lockdown: Gower Buchanan
Speaking from Auckland, Ray White Pononsby director Gower Buchanan is quick to reassure his Melbourne colleagues there will be light at the end of this tunnel. Six months on from Stage 4 lockdowns he notes…
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How Stage 4 lockdowns will impact auctions, inspections and real estate offices
Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) Chief Executive Gil King has confirmed that all real estate offices in Melbourne will be forced to close for at least six weeks. “We urge you to avoid assuming what will and won’t be allowed until the new directions are published,” Mr King wrote in a letter to REIV members. “We will advise you…
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Extending NZ mortgage holidays a ‘no-brainer’
Century 21 New Zealand owner Derryn Mayne has called upon the NZ government and banks to follow the lead of Australia and extend the mortgage holiday scheme, calling the decision a ‘no-brainer’. Close to 60,000 New Zealanders had deferred their mortgage payments by the end of the financial year, while an additional 80,000 had reduced their repayments. “Having supported over…
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Why ‘work/life balance’ is a myth
I think the most overused and misunderstood maxim is “work-life balance”. Work-life balance became trendy throughout the 1970s and ’80s in the US and UK and emigrated across the globe. It’s a catchy idea that you should learn to equally share your time between your professional and private life in order to establish a form of balanced sanity. To me,…
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Ex-AFL player kicking goals in real estate
Nathan Wright played for St Kilda Football Club between 2013-2018, before an injury sidelined his career prematurely. Now, he has gone on to join another stellar team, as a sales executive with Barry Plant Bayside, turning a hobby he held while playing in the AFL to a thriving career. “While playing AFL, I was lucky enough to purchase a couple…
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Supporting Australia’s growing rental marketplace with Val Brown
While Australia has traditionally been considered a nation of home owners, the share of people renting property continues to increase each year. We talk to REA Group’s Chief Consumer Product Officer, Val Brown who is…
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Housing values drop for a third month in a row
Australian housing values have suffered a third consecutive month of declines. CoreLogic’s home value index dropped 0.6 per cent over July, an ever-so-slight improvement from June’s 0.7 per cent drop, but a drop all the same. CoreLogic’s head of research, Tim Lawless, explains: “The impact from COVID-19 on housing values has been orderly to-date, with CoreLogic’s national index falling only…
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High-yield commercial property investments still in demand
Investment in high-yield commercial properties, especially those with long-term tenants, is flourishing despite the pandemic, according to RE/MAX U’s Deepen Khagram. “Investors are very focused on yields and we are achieving very good outcomes with commercial property that we are taking to the market,” he said. Mr Khagram recently re-sold a 7-Eleven Service Station in Burpengary East for $5.4m, representing…
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Be a flamingo – why we need to stop conforming and start standing out
In this decade of disruption there’s a great blanding of the marketplace, so if you want to get ahead you need to be visible—you need to be a flamingo. Currently we see many businesses and people all competing on ‘same’: same products, services and offerings. They look and act the same, market themselves the same, and often the only differentiator…
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HomeBuilder yet to halt downturn in building approvals
Despite the many incentives in play to help potential home buyers, residential building approvals fell by an additional 4.9 per cent in June. As HIA Senior Economist, Geordan Murray explains, this trend existed long before COVID-19. “The COVID-19 shock has occurred on top of a well advanced cyclical downturn in home building activity that began back in 2018,” he said.…
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5 simple steps to master the essence of great service
Once upon a time, service was easy. There was less pressure and fewer expectations to meet in order to provide what we’d call ‘quality service’. Being responsive was simple and satisfying. In the 21st century, however, we’ve become so focused on systems and speed that we’ve forgotten service still is, and always will be, about building long-lasting relationships. So the…
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Self motivation: Work out what drives you and why
Whether you are transacting with a buyer or a seller – the customer trigger, or the motivation, is essentially emotional driven. As a property professional, your capacity to understand the emotional motivations of your customer,…
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Angela Limanis: Data drives success
Years in the industry?I started in 1998 as a receptionist who couldn’t turn on a computer. The role evolved into marketing coordinator and property manager very quickly. I spent a few years in commercial real estate but I was quickly drawn back to residential. In total I’ve been in sales for 12 years, but with a few years off in…
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Government looks to extend First Home Loan Deposit Scheme
As the Federal Government readies to bring down its October budget, an expansion of the first-home buyer loan scheme could be on the cards, following a rush of demand. National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation figures show that over 40 per cent of the 10,000 available slots have been filled in less than a month. In comparison, the first 10,000…
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REIWA: Emergency period tenancy legislation “needs to end”
As the ACT becomes the first state or territory to extend its emergency period tenancy legislation, Damian Collins, president of the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA), has said there is no need for the legislation to be extended in Western Australia. Mr Collins believes the legislation should end as initially planned, on September 29, 2020. “The emergency legislation…
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Rent prices take first quarterly fall since 1972
In the first quarterly fall since 1972, rent prices were down 1.3 per cent for the June quarter, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The downward trend coincided with the biggest drop in consumer prices since 1931, with the consumer price index for the June quarter falling 1.9 per cent. “Weak rental market conditions…
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Building social awareness
If you’ve ever wondered how well you fare when it comes to the topic of communication, the simplest way to gage your effectiveness is by analysing the response you get from the outside world – your colleagues, customers and competitors – how do they respond to you? And more importantly, do you communicate equally with all humans big and small,…
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New Australian homes will soon be required to meet Green Star status
Double-glazed windows, air filtration systems and LED lighting are some of the elements new Australian homes will have to feature in order to achieve ‘Green Star certification’. A draft of the Green Star Homes Standard was released today, as part of the Building Council of Australia’s Future Homes Strategy. “The Standard is being developed collaboratively with rigorous consultation and input…
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Almost 20% of new Victorian homes are sold to overseas buyers
Overseas buyers are snapping up new properties across Australia, according to findings from the National Australia Bank’s Q2 2020 Residential Property Survey. New development sales to foreign buyers rose from 6.6 per cent to 8.3 per cent in Q2, with figures for established housing increasing to 3.1 per cent from 2.4 in the first quarter. Victoria has seen the biggest…
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Build-to-rent incentives ‘a shot in the arm’
The Property Council of Australia has spoken out in favour of the NSW Government’s new measures to help boost the growth of the ‘build-to-rent’ sector. “The incentives announced today will help to attract institutional investment into new housing, giving the one-third of Australian households who rent their home more choice, certainty and better amenity,” said the Property Council’s Chief Executive,…
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How to practise self-regulation
Let’s face it, we’re in the business of people, and all the whiz-bang technology in the world is not going to help build that relationship if you cannot connect with your customer! Therefore, it is…
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Rent hikes ‘inevitable’ as vacancy rates soar
While the latest CoreLogic figures show that rental prices dropped by half a per cent nationally during the June quarter, projections suggest that a hike of rent prices is inevitable. The national vacancy rate fell to 2.2 per cent over June, according to SQM research, with Propertyology finding that only four of the 52 largest cities and towns in Australia…
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Laing+Simmons tackle mental health
Laing+Simmons has struck a new partnership with Making Meditation Mainstream to bring mediation to local people and help tackle the challenges of mental health in the community. Each Saturday at sunrise, Making Mediation Mainstream takes members of the community through a peaceful, and free, mediation experience. Since launching in 2018 on the Northern Beaches, the movement now operates from 14…
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National rent prices fell over June quarter
National rents have fallen by half a per cent over the June quarter. New figures from CoreLogic’s Quarterly Rental Review show that, although COVID-19 was a significant factor in the drop, the rental market was already weak. Rent values dropped 0.3 per cent in the month of June, and 0.5 per cent over the entire quarter, the largest quarterly fall…
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New Zealand’s tallest building is officially open for business
New Zealand’s tallest office building, the PwC Tower, opens for business today (July 27) on the waterfront in downtown Auckland, after eight years in planning and construction. Standing about 180 metres tall, the 39-level steel…
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Cultivate self-awareness in your business practices
When he wrote the breakthrough book Emotional Intelligence in 1995, Daniel Goleman identified the five pillars of Emotional Intelligence, in this article we look at self awareness and those things you can do to improve yours Being self-aware means being in tune with how you feel. It means you understand how your emotions and your actions can affect the people…
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Stamp duty relief welcomed by Property Council and HIA
The NSW Government’s plans to provide stamp duty relief for first home buyers purchasing newly built properties worth up to $1 million has been welcomed by numerous bodies. Under the new plans, from August 1, the stamp duty exemption limit will be lifted from $650,000 to $800,000 for the purchase of a newly-built home. The stamp duty concession will also…
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Aussie tenants to share solar power in world-first trial
The Salvation Army is involved in a revolutionary trial in which excess power from rooftop solar panels will be shared and traded amongst numerous tenants living in the same building. Melbourne based start-up Allume Energy developed the SolShare platform, which allows power from one single panel to be metered out to different residents. Previously such projects have stalled due to…
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The key to success
As a real estate agent, interpersonal relationships and sociability are at the forefront of your role. The ability to negotiate and dissipate tension and stress between buyers, sellers and other agents are essential. A supportive environment is an indispensable office asset when ensuring a successful and healthy agency. Being a real estate professional requires high energy levels and an optimistic…
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Let’s talk about the E word
When he wrote the breakthrough book Emotional Intelligence in 1995, Daniel Goleman identified the five pillars of Emotional Intelligence, in this article we look at empathy and those things you can do to improve yours. For leaders, having empathy is critical to managing a successful team or organisation. The reasons are plentiful but primarily because leaders with empathy have the…
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Regional house prices rise despite pandemic
While home prices in every capital city aside from Hobart and Canberra fell during the last quarter due to the continuing COVID-19 crisis, homes are rising in value across much of regional Australia. The latest Domain House Price Report shows that ‘median dwelling values’, a combination of houses and units, rose over the last quarter, albeit by 0.1 per cent.…
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NZ realtor offers no-commission sales
Mackenzie's Real Estate in Wellington are making the leap from commercial real estate into residential, and frankly, it couldn't have happened at a worse time. But owner Euan Mackenzie is hoping that a zero-commission offer…
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AFG teams with 86 400: Australia’s only digital mortgage offering
86 400, the first bank in Australia built for smartphones, has signed a partnership with Australian Finance Group Ltd (AFG), expanding its broker distribution network. AFG is one Australia’s largest aggregators, with over 3000 brokers, and a loan book exceeding $140 billion. 86 400 enables electronic signatures, digital ID verification, collection of expense and income information, plus is the only…
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Turn today’s problems into tomorrow’s road map
Knowing your business’ strong points and weaknesses can determine your long term success. I speak with a large number of business owners and heads of property management on a regular basis, and we often end up talking about data and its importance. Now, before your eyes glaze over and you think, ‘Wow, I don’t want to be caught sitting next…
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