2 March 2008

Real estate sales in ACT

| vtr1k
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We have been trying to sell our reasonable family home at Gleneagles Estate for 6 months now. There is nothing wrong with it, we have just outgrown the house. What I can’t understand is that people are saying in the papers, the net and other forums that they cannot get a decent sized house on a good block of land for a reasonable price in Canberra.

Has anybody else come across this?

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im no advocate for real estate agents but when I had no choice Mitchell Carney at Maria selleck Properties Helped me so much and now my view has changed

Sorry, who are you ?

Blow in.

Shinigami-Gus1:25 pm 05 Mar 08

Maelinar is a hater… forget what he say’s… I think he comes on the site just to pick people apart because it’s an environment where he can’t get his ass kicked for his arrogance and ignorance… your the poser maelinar, I bet you vote liberal don’t you?

VTR1K – Special G hit the nail on the head – 14months on the market means you have brought an overpriced elephant.

GP – here’s where you could be useful and describe the property valuation triangle to VTR1k, I’m not going to bother as my rudimentary interpretation would either confuse everyone or have everybody in stitches – and you are the self-confessed supposed resident ‘expert’ on real estate. Time to put your money where your mouth is.

I’m with Thumper though, its pretty priceless you show up attracting more heat than a tin of dirty uranium in Iraq, then have the gall to imply that you are a reasonable poster.

Poseur more like it.

You forgot to mention location close some good places to take the firestorm.

If the house took 14months to sell last time me thinks there is something wrong with it.

All credit to Potts for sticking around even if he is a pompous ass

n vtrk – we all know how it feels to be locked out of the Sydney property market, but it must be worse if you did it to yourself!

Keep burying yourself vtr1k. 🙂

GP – thanks for the advice, my cousin Jim at Eastview mentioned you were a smart cookie.

Nyssa67 – do you own or rent? From the gist of your conversation, I think the answer is rent.

We moved from Sydney (sold a two bedroom townhouse and bought in Canberra – with plenty of change)with the intention of bringing our children up and then retiring somewhere nice. Well all good plans change, we want to sell our house and will wait for the right buyer for the price we want – this may take time (it took the original owners of our place 14 mths to find us). We don’t have a mortgage so interest rates don’t affect us (thank god for all our buying and selling over the years)and therefore we can wait. All we want is to provide for our children some of those things we did not have.

So instead of bashing the suburb, house prices or people, maybe you should put the energy into buying now – any property will do!

And by the way, yeah I may be mad, deluded and crazy, but I own my own property, and the size of my d$%^# does not matter – it used to work as I have a wife,4 kids, and a vasectomy!

Over to you

I quite like that part of Kambah – quick to Woden and Civic on the parkway, and yet really close to the river and the bush etc. Out of my price range though.

Location, location.

Gleneagles has always struck me as a bit of an imposter. Kambah round a golf course, sold at premium prices, it really has not established it’s location credentials. I have the same feelings regarding Jerra, but have (probably illogical) horrors at the thought of NSW governance.

At the price you’re asking, that 6 months would have allowed you to discount some $30,000 in interest forgone…. if it isn’t selling, there has to be a reason. Small house near me just sold for $750,000 after one day on the market (inner city)

I wish you guys wouldn’t chase new posters like Margo Kingston away.

I’m sure she would have had some interesting stuff to say.

What Ant said. (quite a long way back in this thread).
Times 1000.

I have to tell you. This guy is a real nutter.

He logged onto my teaching blog and used my real name to post a piss-poor comment.

I mean WTF? Seriously that is like SingleWhiteFemale crazy.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy5:01 pm 04 Mar 08

The reason I buy in the range I do, is because it seems easier to me to find properties that are somewhat more ‘resistant’ to price drop because of location and demand, and that yield well from day one with good potential for yield growth over time. To me, I would feel too exposed on the higher end properties (such as Glebe Park), which is why I don’t buy them.

One of the important concepts to understand here, I think, is that there is a difference between exclusivity (ie limited supply) and price, event though the two often correlate. When you can find properties that still offer a measure of exclusivity, but aren’t exorbitantly priced, then I think you’re on a winner. Of course, these properties are not common, but can be found if you know where to look. I believe that Braddon has had some such properties over the past few years, simply because of it’s location, and the fact that many properties were cheaper than what was available in Turner and O’Conner and the City. Sure they aren’t as new, but this means they are cheaper to purchase. And the Turner and O’Connor apartment wannabe’s line up to rent them…

I guess my point is that there are many paths to wealth through property. My preferred approach is to get good, middle of the road returns over the longer term with little effort and not much risk, all while having minimal outlay of my own $$. I don’t believe investing top end provides this. It obviously works for others, and good on them, but I don’t think I could be convinced to deviate from my current strategy, at least for a while.

maybe the penthouse in Glebe Park is the answer! LOL

in the last slowturn it was the $400k to $500ks that were the first to stop moving and had to be discounted heavily (my house was valued at $500k and six months later $440K it then recovered). This time I think folks will need to sell more (the previous slow down was not based on any change in econommic circumstances more the market got ahead of itself and everyone paused – this time there will be panic selling)

Oh Graham why are you doing the hard sell on Glebe Park? Not because you developed it through Independent? I am all for a bit of well placed product placement but the great thing about RA is we get a break from cash for comments! Put an ad in the CT if you need to sell some apartments not here!

The top end doesn’t fall first VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy I have not read that this has happened in any state and certainly in Canberra it is easy to work out the numbers from allhomes that the ‘ top end’ gets stronger and stronger as it is resistant to interest rate rises etc. + they can’t build any more houses on the lake at Yarralumla for example so the prices go up with demand. Out in suburb land they just build another suburb that looks the same that is why the western suburbs of Sydney has suffered the largest drop in prices unlike the ‘good’ areas which at worse levelled for a period then kept jumping up!

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy4:15 pm 04 Mar 08

Ha!

I think I was the first on her list in that diatribe…..maybe it is going to be Not Happy thetruth!!

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy4:05 pm 04 Mar 08

Hey GP – yield is a key part of my strategy. Not sure about Glebe Park though, I had a good look when they were initially available on the plan, but didn’t think the numbers worked for me, especially in terms of yield potential going forward.

“Whatever happened to margo?

Such a ray of sunshine in the world of logical political debate.”

Probably compiling a list of everyone she considers defamed her during her wonderful job of working to get Kerry Tucker elected!

GP – but you wont notice the change in the bulk area of the housing market due to its inherent volatility, hence why they were looking at the upper end (less movement, easier to spot trends).

I wasn’t talking $2 mil homes more $600k – $700k (aspirational homes). In Canberra the bread and butter homes are owned by public servants that don’t suffer income loss – not like the small business owners that in good times by the 600+ homes.

Either way i have made my bet and we will see

You couldn’t pay me to even learn where Gleneagles Estate is, let alone live there.

btw interest rates are now higher than nelson approval rating

She worked out that nobody will buy not happy john anymore (yesterdays problem), Seemingly everybody loves Kev (so not happy Kev would not sell) and nobody loves nelson (so who would care about not happy nelson).

The greens are irrelevant as a political force. Tucker could not unseat Humpheries in the great liberal rout of 07 – she is unlikely to do so in the future

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy3:24 pm 04 Mar 08

thetruth,

I agree my strategy is not as aggressive as it could be, but given yields rise over time, it’s a strategy I can replicate easily, and thus achieve my goals through scale rather than risk. Different strokes for different folks, is all. Personally, I think that anyone with a brain and some motivation can make good $$ from property…

Jeez I thought I was push the limits with Margo Kingston at election time.

Everybody needs to take a chill pill.

VY – we are in violent agreement. I think your strategy is a good defensive one (the upside in good times is not as great). I want to use the stagnation at the upper levels to buy in a better location. It seems that some properties that were once out of my league are now in it.

Your price is not reasonable. Take that hint.

It’s a 4br house in upscale Kambah.

Wake up to yourself.

As for the nerve hitting, no. You’re just an annoying boil on the butt of humanity. Someone needs to pop you.

Adios.

Dear oh dear – I have relatives in the ‘PS” who state quite clearly they are not PS whilst they work in the employ of either Federal, State or Territory govt. I must have hit a nerve with Nyssa67. By the way – I have agents selling my house.

My original question was “What I can’t understand is that people are saying in the papers, the net and other forums that they cannot get a decent sized house on a good block of land for a reasonable price in Canberra.

Has anybody else come across this?”

A couple of people on this forum have provided pointers/ or answered the question somewhat. Others have actually stated that they don’t want to spend that amount/live in the area – that’s fine, but does not answer the question.

So once again I appreciate the time people have put into this forum and wish you all well with your house buying and life…

Holden Caulfield11:19 am 04 Mar 08

nyssa, yeah, I agree with much of what you say above, but the OP has proven himself perfectly capable of digging his own grave. And a solo dive is more fun than watching someone like that take another down with them.

Holden, um yeah ok. Whatever floats your boat.

I don’t proclaim to be the best teacher. I do my job and THAT is what I am meant to do.

Several people have told him that the price is too high. He’s gone and googled me and carried on like a nancy boy because I just happened to say it first.

He needs to build a bridge, cross it and then burn the bastard.

Oh and as for personal insults, you’ll see (if you read back) that the OP couldn’t handle reality and attacked several people.

I just couldn’t be f&%ked putting up with such an arrogant turd. Maybe it’s because I’m sick and I have a shorter fuse than normal, or maybe it’s because I have an issue with people who sit all high and mighty, shitting on others for sport.

Boats are the way to go. Prime example of luxury craftsmanship, and completely immune to the effects of global sea level rise, opposed to houses.

And it seems normal when you shoot people with spearguns, opposed to that chap in Adelaide who did it on land.

vtr1k – “My salary and options is about 50% per annum of what I want for my house”
If you earn so much, why are you so upset about dropping the price of your house?
Like people have said previously… drop the price into the $699k range and you’ll find a whole different group of buyers.

captainwhorebags10:28 am 04 Mar 08

Mael – perhaps Pottsy mentioned the website at a wine and cheese night?

get your hands off it…all of you. Whinge, whine, complain, bicker, argue. What are you lot? Children?

@vtr1k – Sydney, Brisbane, Wagga, Canberra, and a light colonel.

That makes you either a regimental stream, or a service corp, at any rate you are still stupid for buying in Kambah.

And there’s not much you can do about stupid. Try using your luck, since you appear to have had a lot of it in the past.

What is it with RA these days, there’s some flies with some serious house price issues, upwards of the $500k mark…

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy10:00 am 04 Mar 08

“Experience shows that the first impacts of a softening of prices is at the upper end. So I would not be talking about certain areas, but rather price ranges.”

thetruth,

I actually agree with you – would you believe the most I have ever paid for a Braddon unit is 322k? I have always figured that buying at or just below suburb median gets a better result that buying top of market. My plan is that as the top end softens there’ll be strong demand for lower priced properties that are still well located – my rental yields would seem to bear that theory out (so far).

I suspect you are correct about the market topping out in November – well done for picking it. My strategy is much longer term, and involves holding property for several decades. During this time I expect several property cycles to occur.

Holden Caulfield9:40 am 04 Mar 08

nyssa76, as a teacher of such self-proclaimed high standing, how on earth do you get off lecturing the OP about personal insults while you throw them around willy nilly yourself?

Like I said, watching people who should know better make fools of themselves is very entertaining. But even this spat between you and the OP is getting very, very tired.

Haha!

Nemo, yes dear. I have an issue with CANBERRA prices. I am LOOKING OUTSIDE CANBERRA as I have said MANY times. I won’t pay $700K+ for one house. It’s not financially viable, especially when you can get 3 houses for that price or even 1 good one and an investment property. It’s called living within your means.

Can you follow that?

Growling Ferret, here here. Some people just won’t listen, or get the point.

Thumper, what can I say that you haven’t? Thanks 🙂

vtr1k, have a look at their individual job descriptions. Teachers and police are vastly different, as they are both vastly different from PS desk jockeys (no offense Thumper). Whilst it takes me 3 days to write 200+ reports, it could take a PS 3 months to write 1.

The difference? I’d actually have complaints if it wasn’t done during a certain time frame.

Now, go focus on the selling of your overpriced house in upscale Kambah.

Thumper,

I to have been a soldier – 20 years, and yes even though I hate to say it I was a public servant – I was paid by those chosen representatives of the public to serve them and the country – which I did well, going from private to LtCol. I was not paid by a for profit organisation.

So teachers, soldiers, some nurses/Dr’s, police, politicians,etc are in fact public servants by definition.

Nemo – thanks for pointing out the obvious!

To all – sorry about the typos – some think that it is my spelling – it is actually my way around the keyboard!

Growling Ferret8:26 am 04 Mar 08

VTR – you live in Kambah. And 720k for anything is Kambah is overpriced.

Deal with it.

Nyssa

Fact: EVERY time house prices are mentioned you whinge that they are unaffordable. On a wage of around $70k, and presumably a family income of well over $100k you have nothing to whinge about.

yes Nyssa76, you are right, I am wrong..over to you

vtr1k, as I said, you were either self employed or an EL1/2.

You’re still talking out of your arse.

Again, your need for personal pot shots degrades your quest for a home buyer. Thanks for looking up 10% of what I do on the internet. It’s amazing what 10% proves to people. Amazing logic there. How do you keep your company out of debt?

FYI, one read of this blog and no one would even contemplate exchanging contracts with you.

As for the job offer, no thanks, I have better things to do. Here’s a thought, why don’t you become a teacher? I can see you last 2 mins in the classroom. 🙂

ant, it’s ok. I’d love to say he has a small &^*% and that’s the root of all his problems, but it would be wiped and it would bring me down to his level.

Some people just can’t take the fact that what they want to sell it for isn’t what the public is willing to buy it for.

And it’s entertaining that someone comes on here (wiht a fake name, who seems to know everyone else) to complain about all the nasty customers who won’t buy their house, and greets every suggestion with a refutation and lots of exclamation marks, ends up laying in to a poster and calling them “negative”.

PKB.

And I’ve been in several of these Kambah Golf Course houses, and they are waaaay too big for the blocks they’re on. Wannabes.

VY

You may be right – I am banking on you not being so. Experience shows that the first impacts of a softening of prices is at the upper end. So I would not be talking about certain areas, but rather price ranges.

You Braddon units may be robust, but the 600k to 700k will soften quickly. Cuts of $50k to move will be the norm (as these properties do not rent well or for value)

I am cashed up having sold in early Nov (which has proven to be the height of the market) last month the average price fell $10k – I know one month does not make a trend but hey we haven’t seen the budget, the latest interest rate hike and the Government’s land releases hit. I hope Edward Karan is not right and that house prices will not fall 40% over the next two years. But I think Canberra will fall in the range of 10% to 12% in the next year from November last year, with higher priced properties falling faster.

el ......TECortina 250 Deathtrap10:28 pm 03 Mar 08

Agreed, Holden.

It’s remarkable that someone with such poor written English skills can be SO successful.

Holden Caulfield10:14 pm 03 Mar 08

I love the interweb! I especially love it when people, who should know better, start describing the length of their dicks. Figuratively speaking, of course.

😉

nyssa76

BTW – I’m not as PS – sorry to dissapoint. I commute Sydney/Melb each week to run an average size national organisation. An foir the sake of blowing my own trumpet, my salary and options is about 50% per annum of what I want for my house…so would you like a job as a tutor for my kids??? It would be quite good to say ” the kid’s nanny/tutor is a DR!!” (pay woul be a bit more than $71k and probably include a people mover!!). Your call

Nyssa76 – Anissa,

you are paid by a govt body to perform duties as directed by them – therefore you are at the service of the public and your salary/wage is derived from the public purse – therefore a PS!!!!!

What i have noticed is that you subscribe to many blogs over the years (SMH, the age the Australian etc)and all you seem to have is a negative perspective on everything (read that to be you whinge a lot). You must be one really unhappy person with not much to do in life but whinge.
Get over it and get on with life, otherwise you will wake up one day and you will be an old bitter woman…at 40

To everyone else – I have taken on board all your comments and really appreciate your time in making these comments. I will post back here when we sell.

FYI – the reason we are selling and moving from the ACT (which is a great place for kids) is because the we do not want our kids exposed to what appears to be a negative PS attitude based on PS rank that permeates throughout Canberra – life is too short to whinge.

No Nemo, it’s called making sure your facts are right before you attack someone. That, my dear, is the basis for ANY good argument.

FYI, it’s slightly under $71K before tax. Why in the hell would I buy a house for that price when there are plenty of better houses in and outside of Canberra which could easily cater to my needs without biting off more financially than I can chew?

vtr1k, you’re an idiot. Here’s the reality – teachers are PS. However, they don’t get treated as such. So before you make BS statements like that again, you’d better get your facts right. You must be either 1) self employed or 2) an EL1/2 with no brains.

Furthermore your obvious ignorance of your prospective buyer/s is overwhelming.

Perhaps you should spend more time reflecting on WHY your house isn’t selling and less time on being an arrogant shit.

There, lesson over.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy9:18 pm 03 Mar 08

I stand by my comment above. Although outer areas will suffer a bit of a drop, and probably won’t move for a while, I think inner city areas (ie less than 5km from the city) will keep going up and up…

Nemo,

I agree with you – a poor overworked underpaid self important public servant(who probably takes home the same amount as my secretary)!

Nyssa

What I meant was that if your annual wage was 10% of $710 000, you should have absolutely no problem in buying a house…but then again you knew exactly what I meant and were just trying to be a pedantic bitch.

Hey just for the record – here is a series of posts from November 2007 (pre-election).

Hey I am on the record I have sold my Canberra house on the basis of this election. I made profit in 96. Selling high and buying after the slash and burn

I have also clearly stated that I will split my vote Labor reps and lib senate

Comment by thetruth — 18 November, 2007 @ 12:47 am

Hi thetruth,
Interesting discussion about house prices. Last time (1996) the Federal Government changed political colours and slashed jobs it took 18 months to 2 years for house prices in the ACT to bottom out. Can you afford to pay high Canberra rents for that long?

Comment by regularbrowse — 18 November, 2007 @ 4:59 pm

It actually didn’t take that long, I sold in Dec 1995 and bought again in much a better location 8 month later. Even better was that interest rates dropped at about the same time. This time we are in a rising rate environment – I am renting just outside of Canberra (so now my vote actually counts). I can quite happily wait for the triple impact of rising rates, razor gangs and belated land releases.

Comment by thetruth — 18 November, 2007 @ 5:51 pm

You’re sitting in a bedsitter rental in Queanbeyan, planning your assault on the Canberra property market?!

Comment by ant — 18 November, 2007 @ 6:16 pm

Yeah thats right bedsitter in Queanbeyan. cause that all that is there.

Comment by thetruth — 18 November, 2007 @ 7:10 pm

Well, there is rather a lot of overpriced bedsitters in queanbeyan, with that sprayed-on concrete ceiling stuff. I imagine though that you may have gone upmarket and got one with a bedroom.

Comment by ant — 18 November, 2007 @ 8:57 pm

such an angry socialist casting very hypocritical dispersions on the prolitariat capital of the region – have a bubble bath, a Chardonny and grumble about the injustice of the world.

Comment by thetruth — 18 November, 2007 @ 9:21 pm

Well, my postcode is 2620 too, but I do not live in Queanbeyan. Or in a flat, lurking hopefully rubbing my money waiting for the collapse of the Canberra property market!

Comment by ant — 18 November, 2007 @ 10:23 pm

and neither do I (and its not 2620 – that emotive image is one created by you to make youself feel better. This is nothing better than creating fictional “bad guys” – Liberals with tampa and Sudanese- unions with Bosses granting themselves pay rises in aboard meeting after stripping the virtuous masses of all their conditions won during the great crusades.

Like a puppet on a string on a string…..

Comment by thetruth — 18 November, 2007 @ 11:02 pm

If you’re waiting for a house price drop in Canberra, you’ll be waiting a while. The current budget already provided for 5000 extra public service positions, over half in Canberra. Supply side problems have not been sorted. And I seriously doubt any govt is going to clean house when there’s so much money floating around.

Meanwhile, the Braddon development news is good for my Braddon properties! Hopefully I can grab a couple more before the market moves to much.

Comment by VYBerlinaV8 — 19 November, 2007 @ 11:29 am

el, several of us have told vtr1k that but they aren’t willing to listen.

Money is an evil temptress.

Special G – so true.

vtr1k, why it’s slowly getting there. It makes my job so much easier when the same people continue to do the same thing and nothing is done about them. Talk about data…oh well, at least with a ‘Dr’ after my name I’ll be able to buy your overpriced house. 🙂

el ......TECortina 250 Deathtrap7:27 pm 03 Mar 08

If it’s not selling, you’re asking too much.

This is a pretty poor effort at a Canberra story. It’s more of a woe is me I can’t sell my over priced house story.

yes dad, will do!

Children, children, stop this incessant bickering.

Meh??

By the way how did your thesis on teacher Bullying go?

Thanks for your comments nyssa,

we do have many properties, they are in Sydney and Brisbanwe, as well as Wagga!

Once again we appreciate your comments and hope that you one day do get into Red Hill or Yarralumla!

vtr1k, ignorant? Are you taking your meds?

As for public servant, well I sure don’t have an airconditioned office, or take flex or use junkets to waste time or write reports in 3 weeks which could take 1 hour.

Why I don’t live in Sydney is none of your business. You can take personal pot shots all you like but the point of the matter is, the price you want is not what people WANT to pay. Live with it.

Oh and I would rather have 3 properties than pay an exorbitant price for 1.

Gleneagles is nothing special. If it were for Red Hill or Yarralumla, I might be more forgiving but Gleneagles is just UPSCALE Kambah.

Holden Caulfield4:35 pm 03 Mar 08

I have a theory — based on nothing except my own experiences and gut feel — that once you’re out of the (true) inner south or inner north Canberrans want new, or near new, homes.

My belief is that you probably have a 5-7 year period from build date where you can sell a “new” home, after then, it just becomes another house that the buyer will see as needing work to meet their tastes/standards or requirements.

Despite recent sales, $700K+ is still a lot of money for a house. And while Gleneagles may have been all the rage at the time (late 1990s?), $700K now will buy someone a brand new house elsewhere in town that is probably comparable to your own and just as close to Civic, or most likely closer, if that is the buyer’s appeal. So your competition is probably more extensive than perhaps your first thought.

Anyway, we’ve only sold a house once (2004) and we found a buyer within three weeks. Given we had already committed to our next home and were the typical “motivated” vendor, the sale price and speed of sale were a great result. I can’t imagine the frustration you must be going through after several months.

All the best, I hope you find a buyer soon!

A lot has changed since your last appraisals. We’ve seen a new year, new government and tax rises. I would be looking at new appraisals and set a new price accordingly.
At the end of the day if your property was such a bargain it would already be sold.

JD114,

we have an agreement as you suggest in place already. Thanks for the advice.

Make your agent work!

First trick is look at the Times weekend listings and see whose layout you like best. Chances are others will too.

Get the agent to write, or have professionally written, a professional piece suitable for the Times as well as Allhomes. Get quality photos taken, clutter free is a must. A certain percentage of buyers have no concept of how a house will look AFTER they move in, they base their appraisal on how it looks on the day, right down to the kid’s toys scattered around a bedroom.

Work an agreement that rewards an agent who can close for a higher price, for instance you might set $720k as your bottom price and agree on an $8000 commission up to that ppoint, then you could offer 20% of anything over that as an incentive to try harder.

Buyers are very picky in your price range, if there are rooms that need painting, outside areas looking tired etc, you could probably recoup a $10,000 makeover if that would make it appealing to the segement who aren’t lloking for any post purchase jobs.

Mr Evil,

friends of mine live in Forrest and another set in Dunlop. Funny thing is they make the same comments as you did about Gleneagles about the suburbs they live in!

Grahjam,

I just averaged out the five appraisals we had done at the beginning of December – $733,333. We are asking less than that. Therefore according to you we must be seeking a sale at a bargain rate!

Further to this, I have spoken to real estate people that I know and have told them that if they introduced a buyer who purchases our house, I will personally pay the agent/agency an agreed some as well as still paying the agent we are listed with. What this means is that no one misses out, we get a sale, the buyer gets a deal and the agents get paid!

I agree that the $500k-$900k market is slowing – but my interpretation is that those people who thought a few months ago that they could get into that market, now cannot and are therefore staying in the sub $500k market. Plenty of properties in that range are still selling (maybe the buyers looking at buying properties over $1 mil have now revised down).

Graham,

point taken – maybe you could be one of those three agents!

A friend of mine lives in Gleneagles, and he said he’s never met a more pompous, stuck up bunch of neighbours in his life!

He had a dinner party last year and two of his neighbours had lived opposite one another for 10 years, but that night was the first time they’d ever spoken to one another!

Also, water restrictions don’t seem to apply out there and when you want to get rid of your lawn clippings just do what one of my mate’s neighbours does – shove them down the stormwater drain!

Anyway, just drive up the road, and the bogans of Kambahdia are waiting for you! 😉

Thanks guys for all the advice. Property was taken off for a few weeks in Nov and relisted with negotiable – no buyers hence the new ad and my original question.
In short – we have to sell and we will accept $720k. This is a bargain for the area, just look at recent sales and if still interested, take a drive and physically check out the recent sales.

Once again thank you all for the advice and if there are any genuine buyers, see you soon!

VYBerlinaV8 the_one_they_all_copy9:04 am 03 Mar 08

Hi vtr1k – I’d recommend pulling the house off the market for w few weeks, then relisting, and with a slightly different price. If you can price it at, say $695k, then people shopping in the 600’s will give it a look.

I’m sure your house is lovely, but personally I don’t see the attraction of Gleneagles. The blocks and houses are nice, but the location is nothing special.

What I think we’re seeing here is the very beginnings of a market that wants to stagnate. I strongly suspect that over the next 5-8 years our property market won’t do much price-wise, although I expect rents will continue to increase.

Good luck with selling the house. If you really can’t shift it for a good price, perhaps you could borrow against it for some shares or other property (something higher yielding), and convert it to an investment property. If you can hold it until the next boom (and yes, it will eventually happen), buyers will be back in droves, because the proportion of available properties on larger blocks will have dropped in the meantime.

vtr1k, i’m sure there are plenty of people who have read this thread that wouldnt mind living in gleneagles, if the right property and price combination came up. 320 people read this article over the weekend, not just the 30 (31 including me) that commented on it

el ……TECortina 250 Deathtrap

yeah – Kambah and peoples ignorance (see nyssa76)

Nyssa76,

then stop talking and buy the three properties – like all PS – you talk the talk, but find it difficult to walk the walk!

I can also see why you don’t work/live in sydney

Not for that price.

I can buy three other properties outside of Canberra for the price you are asking for just for 1 house.

el ......TECortina 250 Deathtrap7:40 am 03 Mar 08

It’s just Kambah.

After reading all the comments, I get the impression that none of you want to live in Gleneagles! Thanks for your time…vtr1000

I still reckon its 200k over priced but thats the market i guess.

Nemo, it’s 10 times not 10% of my wages. If you’re going to put an argument forward, at least get the figures right.

vtr1k, no thanks. I don’t want to assist in forcing the housing prices higher. I’m looking elsewhere.

And no, I am not Canberra born and bred. I am originally from Sydney, spent some time in Broken Hill and Inverell and now in Canberra.

Oh and Sol gets that money because that’s what the board pays him. The ACT Govt pays me a set wage. Unlike Sol, I don’t get ‘bonuses’ for every student I keep in school or who I teach to read at their age level or for the number of fights I break up.

Thumper, good call.

vtr1K
The market is not slowing as badly as some think, properties that are priced right are selling. The house is worth what the market will pay for it, not what recent asking prices (And note I dont say selling prices) dictate it should be .

When people see that a home has been on the market for a while, they think two things 1. whats wrong with it and 2. I can get a bargin here. Stop chasing the market down and review your pricing. Just because you need a certain amount to move on doesnt mean that you house is worth that much…

I look at real estate every day and openings/auctions every weekend. That area is nice our friends live there, although I look around the inner south the principles are the same. If you do not get your marketing and the price right the first few weeks you ‘kill’ the market as people have the often mistaken belief that there is something wrong with your property. Take your property off the market and relist with a very good agent like Richard Keeley. Some agents are crap and some actually take your house sale seriously – get someone who really works it for you (I haven’t checked out who your agent is but yoiu need to give the house a ‘break’ and start again if you are not desperate to sell. If you go to openings good agents will become very obvious to you. So many people try the do it yourself approach which is nuts you cost yourself time and money. Did you list it yourself and if so why would you think you could sell a huge asset like a house?? What agents are good for is closing the deal something that is difficult without practice. Having said that if you have a giant block in Forrest/ Red Hill/Yarralumla with a shack on it I think you could just put a sign on the tree and sell it in 1 day! The top areas seem to get more and more demand placed on them as there is no more land to go around! Good luck.

Deal, $20 get’s you the brass numbers on the letterbox!. For another $719,980 you get the letterbox and the house!

Give you $20 for it. There’s 5 offers for you – but that is where I start negotiating.

Sepi,

thanks for your kind words

Shauno, I agree, ours is a 4 bedroom with pool for $720! five min from Woden, 15 to civic

Sorry to say to it but the price is to high. Thats the problem at the moment the market rose so high in the last few years that its unsustainable. 700k for a 3 bedroom house in north cooma is ridiculous.

I know the frustration – we had a rental going begging for ages during the Canberra rental squeeze. It’s so annoying to read about the real estate crisis in Canberra all the time, and to be experiencing the absolute opposite.

I’d say you are just suffering cos the house has been on the market a long time, so people assume it has a defect.

And your 4 buyers were probably just dreamers, who can’t really afford that area, but aren’t resigned to moving to banks just yet.

Thanks for that Nemo,

quite correct, the “profit” we may make is going towars a house that can fit all 6 of us in! Maybe Nyssa can buy our house – Nyssa, do you want to buy my house?

Nyssa

It’s not profit unless you are moving out of the market. If you sell a house, more than likely you will also be buying a house, which has moved up in price as well.
If $710 000 is a bit over 10% of your wage, you really should stop whinging about the price of houses and buy one.

Heavs,

might do, though he may want me to put in a wine cellar like he has!!

Nyssa76,

I assume from your comments that you are born and bred Canberra person – look up all the houses for sale in Glenaeagle on allhomes and you will also find what someone paid for it!

Using your argument, why does Sol from Telstra earn millions per year (probably 100 times your salary…

$710K?

And that folks is why buying in Canberra is so overrated.

Just out of curiousity – because I’m like that – what did you pay for it?

I’m really interested to know how much of a profit you will make based on current trends.

Perhaps then I can justify why someone would want to sell some bricks, mortar and dirt for over 10 times my yearly wage.

ant,

have done that with the leaflets at recent auctions, 2 & 4 Clarke Place (982k and 830k respectively). 122 MVD reserve is $710 and 10 MVD is at $729 (I believe they will accept $720).
Based on that, a decent 4br house on large block is around $710000…

any further thoughts

Quite simple really. The reason you can’t sell is because you aren’t in Forrest. Ask Pottsy, he’ll hook you up.

Thumper – I think you hit the nail on the head!!

I also tyhink that Canberra buyers think that there will be a decline inb the market (generally no true when taken accross the market – may happen in some isolated areas). In the meantime the houses these people may have bought have increased in price and these buyers have paid out more in rent/mortgage whilst waiting for their dream home to drop in price!!

Seems to only happen in Canberra…

Funny thing is we have had about four offers, and we have accepted everyone of them. Once it has been conveyed that we have accepted, the potential purchaser has withdrawn, excuses randing from wife has new job so bank will not give us the money, to we have decided the rooms are the wrong configeration.

Of vourse if we knocjk $50 k off the price it will sell – but we are not going to give our property away!!

I think that potential buyers have to pull there heads ou of the sand – tanother place here is a 3 bedroom and is going for auction – reserve is $710,000. It is much smaller than ours!

If you think a 30 sq home on 1000 sq m is a large home on small block, then you may be right. Gleneagles (we are the original stage 1) is on Kambah Pool Road, surrounded by Murrumbidgee Golf Course and about 1km from the Murrumbidgee.

There are no small blocks here. I think min size is 950 sq m = quater acre…

Harrison and Forde are the largeb house small block (and Kingston, etc)

Your house is only worth what someone else will pay for it.

Where is Gleneagles estate? Not that the location should make much difference, Canberra’s Canberra. Oh, I remember! It’s that golf course thing beyond Kambah. Hmm. Large houses on small blocks, from memory. Still, it’s in a nice spot, quite upmarket, and free golf balls appearing in the garden.

I think that, whenever you can’t sell something, it’s due to that one thing: price. What you’re charging isn’t what people are prepared to pay for the place.

I just went to Allhomes and looked at the Gleneagles listings. Not sure which yours is, the two that aren’t auctions and aren’t under offer have been up less than 4.5 months.

They all seem to be similar prices (729k to 749k). Has your agent suggested that upper-price homes have started moving more slowly, perhaps? Have you tried viewing the listings of upper-price homes, and seeing how long they’ve been listed? You might see a pattern forming.

I notice a couple of your neighbours’ homes are being auctioned soon. You could go hand out leaflets to the bidders! There’s a bunch of people who want to buy in your area, but only one can win. That will give you an idea of the market, too, what they’re bidding to.

Growling Ferret9:31 am 02 Mar 08

Yeah. Your price is too high. Knock 50k off your price and you would sell it in a week.

Or maybe the buying public now realise Gleneagles is part of Kambah….

The property has been with a reputable agent (we sell for what it is worth!) for 4.5 months. They are happy with the price (which is what the professional valuation came in at, and we are happy to negotiate.

Any ideas

I would suggest the reason you cant sell your house is because one of those things you claim is reasaonable, to other people is not. Most likely your expectations on price.

If you havent already engaged a reputable agent, stop dicking around and go get one.

If you were sick, you’d go to a doctor, for tax advice you go to an accountant. Why on earth you wouldnt engage a professional sales agent to sell your (most likely) biggest asset is mind boggling.

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