OPINION
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Stamp duty: A bad tax that has to go
You have to look long and hard to find a notable figure who had a good word to say about taxes. One such person was US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr who in 1927 declared, “Taxes are what we pay for civilised society”. There’s plenty of truth in that statement, but who pays and how much is a…
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What does Agent 2020 look like?
Technology In 2016, as the industry sat on the precipice of major disruption, Ouwens and Casserly posed the question, by 2020 will the world’s largest real estate service have no agents? Uber owns no taxis. Alibaba owns no inventory. Facebook employs no publishers. Airbnb owns no properties. Was real estate headed down the same path? The pair predicted the relevance…
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Here we go again
The housing downturn gave us a two-year glimpse of what it takes to achieve housing affordability and not all of us liked what we saw. With rates of home ownership in decline and a boom that had gone on too long there was justified alarm as the housing affordability crisis took its toll, before the downturn finally happened. But while…
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Call for industry to stop using the term ‘off market’
A real estate expert has spoken out against using the term ‘off market’, claiming it is confusing and misleading customers. Starr Partners CEO Douglas Driscoll urged agents to reassess their use of ‘off-market’, which is used to describe properties up for sale without being advertised on the major property portals. “There’s no such thing as an off-market property – in…
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Auctions aren’t simply for the top-end properties
Sellers who have taken their homes to auctions in spring have been scoring results well above the median prices for their respective cities. Analysis from Domain showed the median price for properties sold at auction in Sydney on Saturday was $1,177,500. The amount is in stark contrast with Sydney’s median home price of $805,424 (CoreLogic).…
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Are your landlords the right fit for your business?
I spoke at the PPM National Property Management Conference on the Gold Coast in June and posed the question “who is the real boss”?
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How to differentiate in your listing presentations: Alex Ouwens
Different dynamics are at play in the real estate market in cities across the country. The eastern seaboard has tanked with prices dropping, while Perth is going through a recovery phase. In South Australia and Tasmania, the market has been more resilient and even growing, while Brisbane has remained reasonably steady. It’s important to remember no two markets are identical.…
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What happened in Vegas: Dave Stewart
Last month I made the long-haul flight (in cattle class) over to the States to attend the Inman conference. For those of you who don’t know, Inman has two major conferences a year. One in January in New York and one in August that was, up until this year, held in San Francisco. This year they ramped it up and…
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The myth of urgency: When time is your friend
In our industry, and particularly in real estate sales, we guide our clients through periods of change. We are taught to act quickly as agents and, over time, our natural instinct kicks in to often tell us to act urgently. It's what we think we must do, which can cause us to adopt a mindset…
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Morton & Morton: Culture Kings
This isn’t an article about stress balls, workplace yoga and office zen zones that miraculously transform your business into a place where every employee is eternally happy and shares a united positive energy.
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The importance of your real estate company’s strategic plan
The real estate industry is changing at an ever-increasing pace, with agencies and agents facing the prospect of being here today and gone tomorrow. Ouwens Casserly director Alex Ouwens explains how a strategic plan could be your saviour.
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Where are the next tenants coming from for ‘high street’ shopping strips
The typical ‘high street’ shopping strip is really now becoming a neighbourhood village where the traditional retailers of fashion-related businesses (clothes, accessories, handbags, jewellery, etc) are really no longer viable to due online retailing and the choice offered at shopping centres. This is most evident in legendary fashion destinations, where fashion shopping streets such as Chapel Street have reigned supreme…
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18 things that will make you a better leader: Chris Hanley
Don’t ask successful people what they do now; ask them what they did back then to go from there to here. What did they change and what did they implement? I have found most people know what they need to do to be a better leader or salesperson or musician. When tested on what they need to do, most people…
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What goes on tour lasts long after the tour: Hannah Gill
One of my favourite things about our industry is the focus on and range of professional development opportunities. We have no shortage of conferences, forums, round tables and resources to choose from. There are also so many quality and diverse trainers, speakers, coaches and facilitators, we’re spoilt for choice! In the last few years, I’ve been fortunate enough to attend…
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How much will the first homebuyer scheme really help first homebuyers?
In the lead-up to the recent Federal election the Coalition announced the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme. The scheme will provide up to 10,000 loans to first home buyers each year and will offer first home buyers better access to finance without having to save a 20 per cent deposit. Additional details about the plan include: The Scheme will be…
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Purple Rain: 7 marketing lessons for any business
Purplebricks spent roughly 900 days on Australian soil, reportedly spent roughly $200 million in marketing, yet couldn’t make their business model work. With my marketer’s hat on, here are what I hope are seven useful and practical lessons we can all take away from the experience. 1. There is no point branding unless you can convert Homer Simpson can’t live…
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The federal election, the property market, and the elephant in the room
The Labor Party has pledged to make sweeping changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, while the Liberals have suggested they will be relying on the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates in a bid to regenerate market activity. But what both parties have yet to fundamentally address is just how much the property industry serves the…
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Sponsored content versus editorial coverage
The media landscape has become increasingly complex over the last five years; however, the options and outlets to promote your brand have increased dramatically. Knowing when to use what tactic is vital in promoting your brand and utilising your budget in the best possible way, but at the same time the landscape can also be challenging to navigate. When I…
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Always the bridesmaid, and that’s OK…
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. It’s a saying shrouded in negativity. It highlights that you’re forever in second place, the supporting actress and not the star. You’re the 2IC but never the boss. It’s a phrase that popped into my mind recently as I walked down the aisle, teetering on heels as high as Mt Everest, in support of…
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Negative gearing is not the biggest issue our property market faces: Charles Tarbey
The Australian property market has been consistently disrupted by false and misleading predictions which coupled with a widespread tightening of credit policy has created the real issue impacting our industry. A fallout from the Banking Royal Commission saw banks apply stricter lending requirements that made it difficult for consumers to obtain finance, particularly for investors. Whilst I have the greatest…
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An ongoing success: Mark Sinclair
We recently facilitated a sale of a business as a going concern with positive outcomes for both buyer and seller. While there was additional due diligence and settlement requirements, this deal was relatively seamless for everyone involved. With so much interest from agency owners keen to understand each selling option and which is best for them, we wanted to share…
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Making your time make you money
No matter what industry you’re in, once you’re looking to grow and take success to the next level, you’re no longer a real estate agent, lawyer, builder, baker, or business consultant. You’re a marketer. And your product is you.
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Leave no stone unturned
In a recent case brought in front of the Supreme Court of Queensland, the Court had cause to consider whether a Deed of Settlement and Release entered into between two parties could be set aside for fraud. The parties to the Deed were an employer and their employee. The employee was the office manager, who had been responsible for managing…
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The million dollar myth: Caroline Bolderston
As a coach, I constantly hear agents talking about the Million Dollar goal, almost as if it is expected and that anything less is not a worthy pursuit. I have seen firsthand what chasing the million-dollar dream takes and, in many cases, what it costs. Here’s the bottom line: most agents are not cut out to be million-dollar writers. I…
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Life by Design
I SPENT A significant portion of my time over the weekend doing one of my favourite things: packing bags for our upcoming family holiday. Now don’t get me wrong; I am not so sadistic that I rate the physical act of packing exhilarating (although I must admit after being on the road for 15 years I do get a kick…
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APRA’s ‘unnecessary’ intervention causing ‘economic destruction’
Propertyology Head of Research Simon Pressley said that the extent of recent intervention by APRA was completely unnecessary and that Australians should be concerned about its effect on the national economy. “The grip that APRA have on national credit supply is so tight that we now have a significant blockage in a major artery of the economy. If the Federal…
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Would a shorter auction campaigns get more attention?
Drifting in a sea of listings, it’s harder for agents holding onto the four-week campaign life-raft to be rescued come auction day. CoreLogic data from the four weeks to 28 October showed the volume of listings in Sydney (30,397 listings) was 18.6 per cent higher than the same period in 2017. In Melbourne (36,526) the figure was 19.5 per cent higher.…
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Why off the plan agents can earn a higher commission
With average residential real estate sales commissions generally around 1.5 to 2.5 per cent, earning six per cent on every sale sounds pretty attractive, right? Nice work if you can get it? As a suburban agent, your ‘work’ is primarily to secure listings. Get the listing, negotiate the advertising budget with the vendor and sell the property when the right…
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Why your buyers are being slugged with higher rates: Nick Bendel
Interest rates are rising. In the past few weeks, ANZ, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac have hiked their rates. So have ING, Suncorp Bank and Adelaide Bank. Your buyers might find this hard to accept, given that the last time the Reserve Bank increased the official cash rate was in November 2018 – almost eight years ago. If your buyers ask…
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Why you need off-field and on-field support to succeed in real estate: Kate Strickland
The real estate industry is fast-paced, there’s no doubt about that, which is why it’s important to manage the high expectations that we set for ourselves as agents. The top-performing agents are hard workers, but driving yourself into the ground is not sustainable. Believe me, I found out the hard way. I am committed to ongoing professional development, implementing processes…
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37 lessons to 10x business growth
Before its acquisition by US powerhouse Douglas Elliman, California’s prestigious Teles Properties experienced 10x growth in just five years. Realising success leaves clues, Sharran Srivatsaa summarises a decade of learning into 37 actionable takeaways.
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Is there a place for ego in real estate? Kate Strickland
Let’s talk about ‘ego’. The concept of ‘ego’ can translate to many different things. For the purpose of this article I am referring to the drive to think about yourself in a positive light, your level of self-promotion and a sense of your own importance. People often talk about ego as if it’s an evil beast; however, from where I’m…
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Smoothing the path to settlement through eConveyancing
From searching for the perfect property to bidding at auction and ultimately negotiating and settling, purchasing and selling their home is a stressful and complicated process for most buyers and sellers. And, despite a property’s booming sold sticker, the purchasing process often continues long after the auction hammer has slammed. Real estate agents are the public face of the property…
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How my pit crew has helped me get to where I am today: Kate Strickland
Growing up as a competitive athlete I have always worked to implement the most efficient tactics to reach peak performance. Operating at a high level is not about working harder and exhausting yourself – it’s about working smarter. But what does that even look like? In business, we should be working towards this same ideal. If you consider any elite…
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How to make outsourcing in the Philippines work for you
The idea of outsourcing often conjures up images of large factories or warehouses with bad working conditions, but the Beepo offices in the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone in the Philippines look much the same as any you would find elsewhere in the world. Split across two levels, with offices upstairs and a reception, canteen and break rooms downstairs, the…
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