Research shows that one of the most common traits of a real estate agent that people are wanting when they engage an agent is complete honesty. I don’t need to tell you that real estate agents have a reputation of blatantly lying and in my time as an agent, there’s no doubt that I’ve seen […]

Two weeks ago in my blog, I offered my ‘Top 10 Predictions for 2019’.  I’ve had a few comments that my predictions may be a little brazen but I’m happy to be held accountable for what I’ve written as 2018 comes to a close.  Clearly, the only certainly here is that the Eels will take […]

For us at ‘Innov8 Property’ and ‘The Michael Spillane Team’, we’ve had a huge year (in fact, our biggest year ever in terms of our results). It’s no secret that the addition of Tina Chun to our team has made a huge difference and any of our clients that have dealt with her would understand […]

Whether it be tradespeople to complete renovations, staging companies to help with furniture hire or more directly related businesses such as finance brokers, Conveyancing companies or building and pest inspectors, there’s often an artillery of contacts that can be utilised. So how does an agent acquire such a large list? For me, 17 years in […]

My message – now is a great time to consider selling. There’s no question that enquiry levels are dropping (which is not a seasonal occurrence as this time of the year is generally quite busy with lots of inquiries). Right across the board, open home numbers are starting to drop as well but the good […]

It seems like such a long time ago (and I guess it was), but when I was first started in real estate sales, you could obtain a ‘No Doc’ loan whereby you simply showed 100 points of I.D. and signed a Statutory Declaration to state that you could afford the repayments and with a clean […]

Based on the recommendations handed down, we have already seen a number of changes that have a significant impact. Firstly, the banks are scrutinising every single application with great due diligence and as a result, finance is taking an increasingly longer period of time to be approved. Where many of our clients used to obtain […]

You can almost have your head in the sand and still be bombarded with articles in newspapers, websites and TV news bulletins…and like many things in the media, there’s never a shortage of sensationalism and opinion. One thing that I think is always something to remember if you’re looking at buying and selling is that […]

It’s certainly a conversation topic amongst buyers and sellers every time the auctions are conducted and from the turnout at the open homes in Melbourne and from the number of viewers that watch the show religiously, it certainly doesn’t seem to be losing its’ appeal. So how did the results fare so well for the […]

I can promise you that it would make my life a lot easier if it did! 😊 There’s a misconception that an agent knows precisely how much a home will sell for…and this can be a long way from the truth. Just recently, I listed a home for sale and after the first two weeks, […]

Certainly, it should come as no surprise that the Sydney and Melbourne markets are now in decline and there’s been plenty of media attention focussed on how far these markets will fall…some economists say as much as 40% whilst others are suggesting falls of somewhere between 10 and 20%. As I discussed in my blog […]

Whether it be new carpet, fresh paint or basic landscaping, it’s often that the money spent on these sort of improvements will be one of the best investments you could make. If I were to place a dollar value on it, I believe that every one dollar spent could bring you three to five dollars […]

”I want to market my home to a cashed-up Sydney buyer. Our properties are cheap compared to their properties. How do we market directly to them?” On the surface, this train of thought seems logical enough – a 4 bedroom home 15km from the Sydney CBD might be worth $1.5 million down there…and a similar […]

This was supposed to be my topic for this week but given the story on Channel Nine’s current affairs flagship program “60 Minutes” last Sunday night, I felt that this needs to be pushed to the top of my list…especially given the huge amount of discussion that this story seems to have generated. In case […]

Here’s a recap of Tony’s question… “I really enjoy getting your e-newsletter every week and find it very helpful. I’ve moved to the Gold Coast a few years and am now about to sell our home. The agent we have been recommended to is trying to convince us to market our property in the newspaper […]

I’ve received a great question from Tony regarding the marketing of his home for sale. Tony asks… “I really enjoy getting your e-newsletter every week and find it very helpful. I’ve moved to the Gold Coast a few years ago and am now about to sell our home. The agent we have been recommended to […]

Last week, I shared a story of one of the more bizarre listing appointments I’ve ever done. In case you missed it, the short version was that I was finally granted access into the main bedroom and discovered a reasonably sophisticated snake breeding program…and at least 100 snakes in this tiny 9m2 room! But the […]

I’m often asked questions from people who are thinking about entering real estate sales and after many of these discussions, I am continually surprised to discover how many misconceptions there are about what a real estate agent actually does. Today, I’m going to share the first of a three part series entitled “The Top Myths […]

To be honest, I’m really surprised how busy the market is when this time of year is normally a little quieter. What are the reasons behind this? I’m not entirely sure but I’m not going to argue with it! Today, I’ll complete my final installment on “Top 10 Seller Myths & Misconceptions”…   “I’ll list […]

Traditionally, the weeks leading up to the end of the financial year tend to quieten down but we’re experiencing a real spurt of activity right now. There’s also more evidence to suggest that there is a slowing of new listings coming on to the market so if you’ve been contemplating selling your property, I can […]