The law of gravity has been repealed, what goes up stays there and it’s 120 days to Christmas.

OK, it’s Melbourne in Spring.

We, as advocates, spend a lot of time clenching our fists and squeezing our eyes closed and willing, willing , willing a crack to open in the market and for prices to come tumbling down.

Hasn’t worked.

There are more powerful spells being cast: scarcity, subsidy, insulation (especially for some at the top end) from downturns.

And so the choice available and the numbers of transactions have been rising week-on-week; and with those, illogically, the prices.

As we have argued before, the bedrock of all real estate is the value placed on the land beneath it; and that is soaring:

• Malvern: Two months ago you would have said $320-330 a foot in Haverbrack Avenue was as high as it could go. Today? Think $375.
• $550/foot in Sargood Street, Toorak? You’re having a lend (probably a big one if you bought it). Three months ago what went at the weekend for $3,870,000 would more likely have cost you around $2.4 million. Bring on gravity.
• $430+/foot in Chastleton Avenue, Toorak. Chastleton Avenue? No way. But do the sums: 7,000 square feet, $3,020,000 …

And then, back in the real world …

• 6 First Point, Port Melbourne. Modern, with its own beach, passed in on a vendor bid of $4,750,000. No quick profit here.
• 10 Hawthorn Grove, Hawthorn. 2 storey Victorian terrace, good address, good home yet the best it could do was a vendor bid of $2,100,000.

And some which sold about where we think they should have:

• 25 Glassford Street, Armadale. A period home in need of work, it sold for $3,584,000 (they have been trying to get $4 million for it privately for some time).
• 12 Grandview Grove, Prahran. A 2 storey Victorian which sold off-market for $4 million within 24 hours of being placed on the market. A fair price, but when so many are  soaring so far above fair, you have to wonder what it may have gone for if the vendor had waited for an auction.

There’s also an increasing number of private sales; especially properties which have failed to sell for some time. Toorak alone had five kast week.

And then there are boardroom auctions – which we have been promoting to sort wheat from chaff, reality from emotion – which are becoming more common. But three in as many nights? Each two weeks ahead of a scheduled auction and bringing as many as four bidders to the table. No drawn out going once, twice, etc, here; and no place for the faint-hearted. It can all be over in 10 seconds.

What’s in store? The yearly build of pre-Christmas anxiety and desire for a hearth next to which can stand the Christmas tree. The whiff of agents’ newly dry-cleaned Armani’s, their suffocating clouds of cologne. The smell of cheque books in the air.

David Morrell

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Bayside: $1 million plus …

Damian is away. Here’s a taste of what he’s missing.

Beaumaris

• 3 Bodley Street $1,335,000
• 30 Wellington Avenue $1,205,000

Bentleigh

• 19A St James Avenue $1,180,000

Black Rock

• 13 Prospect Grove $1,135,000

Brighton

• 7 Blairgowrie Court $2,040,000
• 42 Were Street $2,200,000
• 4 Gray Street $1,650,000

Brighton East

• 219 Were Street $2,000,000

Hampton

• 2 Ocean Street $1,155,000
• 31 Imbros Street $1,520,000

Sandringham

• 3A Victoria Street $1,007,000

M&K in the news:

Rulings sought on late bids - The Age – But another buyer’s advocate, David Morrell, said auctioneers brought the problem of late bidding on themselves because they took too long to knock the …

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What’s happening? Without a lot of warning, the favoured few are kicking the ball out on the full. Geelong, St Kilda, real estate. The certanties are suddenly less certain, the confidence evaporating.

How can we tell?

• Those vendors whose expectations have moved higher than the market are lonely as shags on rocks.
• The lemons are being passed in (ignore the statistics – they’re made to make markets).
• Expressions-of-interest campaigns are failing to arouse.
• The temperature at inspections has fallen in line with the weather outside.
• Post-auction negotiations are now stretching out again. Two or three weeks ago we’d try to wrap things up as quickly as possible and leave no time for other bidders to have 2nd thoughts. Now, if you know the ground-rules (that is, mostly, knowing the true value of the property and being able to make a fair estimate regarding the depth of those other pockets) and are patient, there are significant savings to be made.
• Unusual settlements and deposit structures are now being accepted more readily by agents and vendors.

They’re all signs that the ratio of genuine bidders to properties on offer is declining; and that in turn should lead to pressure on prices. Glen Stevens’ and Kevin Henry’s words of wisdom over the last week may also be leading to an outbreak of sense.

And then there’s quality; which is always another story. Those which tick all the boxes still have queues wanting to tick them. At the very top end there are still not enough sellers to meet the demand ? and those who are considering selling are now not often in a hurry. They will move if the price is as high as their expectations, but otherwise are comfortable staying put.

And, as in all things, there is news from China. (When the Chinese government’s own house organ is reporting on top end Australian real estate, you can assume their interest is not in a one-night stand.)

Good homes found good buyers? Consider:

• 78 West Toorak Road sold for $4,010,000 against a mid- to high-3s expectation and four bidders. Toorak Road. With four bidders. Amazing.
• 17 Glenbrook Avenue, Glen Iris sold before auction for nearly $4 million. $4 million on the east side of Bourke Road. More amazement. Has someone lost their compass?
• 49 Wentworth Avenue, Canterbury. Modern. $3,053,000.
• 40 Denbigh Road, Armadale. A good Victorian, two bidders ran out of puff at $1,920,000 but it sold soon after for $2 million.

And then a reality check:

• 65 Heyington Place, Toorak failed to get a buyer after an expression-of-interest campaign. Rumour has it the owner is looking for something that starts with a two. That works out to more than $470 a foot at the bottom of Heyington Place and opposite the railway line. Dream on.

And it was on again for investors vs 1st-home buyers at 72 Donald Street, Prahran. Quoted at $800,000, seven(!) bidders fought it out to $1,017,000. (We always thought it would reach $1 million.) It demonstrates again the market’s appetite for quality.

Next week? Close to 700 auctions and maybe faltering confidence. We’re buying shares in litmus paper.

David Morrell

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Bayside: most biz is in the Brightons

Most of the action in Bayside over the past week centred on Brighton. There were no auctions in Beaumaris or Sandringham (although Sandringham did have two sales prior to advertised auctions) and not a lot more happening in Hampton.

Black Rock bucked Melbourne’s 80%+ clearance rate of the past few months with a 100% pass-in rate. Three out of three are still looking for buyers.

And then there was Brighton, and Brighton East: 16 sales for the week and half of those through auctions.

The highest price was 59 Bay Street, Brighton. A well and extensively renovated timber Edwardian with a pool on 825 sq m, it was passed in on a solitary bid of $2.25 million before later selling for $2.36 million ? that’s a fairish price, but considering the property was listed earlier this year by another agent at around a somewhat ambitious $3 million, it looks like Brighton Bay Cellars will not be running out of champagne any time soon.

103 Martin Street, on 786 sq m, sold for a more respectable $1.7 million.

A quality brick period house at 1 Westley Avenue changed hands for $1,584,000.

The real action? Private.

A seriously well built new house at 39 Black Street, on an average size allotment, sold for $3.42 million ? a sizeable discount to its initial expectation in the high threes. Being close to public transport (next to Middle Brighton station) didn’t work in this case; it’s a lot of house for the money.

The double-act of the week was the pigeon-pair at 90 and 92 Male Street: cleverly designed and well finished, they’re side-by-side town houses with a common wall; each on no more than 500 sq m. Even before completion of an EOI campaign, number 90 sold to an interstate buyer for a remarkable $3,050,000. Just to show that wasn?t a fluke, the losing contender for number 90 stumped up an offer the same owner of adjacent number 92 could not refuse. Yes, $3,050,000. If you see a new Ferrari parked in Male Street, you may assume there’s a smiling vendor not far away.

And then …

In November last year, in the depths of the GFC, 17 Byron Street, a nicely renovated and extended 1930?s home on generous land with four bedrooms, two bathrooms and assorted etc, was passed in – not a buyer in sight – on a vendor bid of $1.55 million. A month later a bargain basement offer of $1.3 million was reluctantly accepted. On Saturday, the same property was sold at auction for $1,735,000. That’s a cool $435,000 premium ? a lift in value of 33.4% ? over 9 months. Maybe it is timing, not time in the market, after all!

And now the weekly homily …

We note with interest how various players in the industry are dealing with the hot topic of the moment: quoting.

Some of the majors have issued constructive protocols on how and why they have arrived at a particular figure. While some of these are a little clumsy, there are at least some genuine attempts being made to increase the transparency of information given to buyers. The problem is that different agencies have differing methodologies and these can produce different results. A simple and universal pricing convention would make things so much simpler for buyers, sellers and their respective agents, but that may be asking too much for the moment.

And then there are agents who cannot or will not provide estimates at all; which only adds to the confusion. These are agents who are risking the ire of prospective buyers, and ired buyers are less likely to attend auctions or make offers; and ired buyers can have long memories.

Until next week.

Damian Taylor

M&K in the news:

Family to sue over $7.3m Brighton auction - The Age - August 15 - Buyers’ advocate Damian Taylor, who was at the auction, said bidding was hot for the five-bedroom mansion in Cole Street, Brighton, with spectacular views …

Crack down on real-estate underquoting - Herald Sun – August 8?- Buyers advocate David Morrell said: “Only the very dumbest agents would advertise below that price – and clearly there are many of those– but the rest are …

Spotlight on reserves as clearance rate hits 88% - The Age – August 3 – ?… mid-campaign increase to $1.4-$1.6 million, and an early prediction?from buyer’s advocate David Morrell that the house would go for close to $2 million…

Spring growth forecast for property - The Age – August 2?-  … in Hawthorn sold for $1.92 million after being declared on the market by Jellis Craig for $1.48 million, according to buyers’ advocates Morrell & Koren …

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The stock market has got up off its knees and is bolting Usainly. Melbourne house prices are taking off after them.

Which raises an ugly question: are we bubbling again? Are we heading toward another almighty pop?

Look at the fundamentals (does anyone still pay any attention to incomes, jobs, profits?) and there seems no reason to be breaking out the champagne, yet we’re near drowning in oceans of the stuff.

This lifetime sailor has learned the wet way to keep an eye on the weather. Same with the markets.

In the meantime …

Choice.

There’s precious little. At the top end stock levels are as low as we have seen in more than 25 years.

Secrets.

Over the past two weeks AAA-area (and not only 3141 to 3142) properties have been changing hands almost every day for more than $5 million. You haven’t read about it? Most have been off-market.

Doomsayers.

Those who foretold falls of 30% and more have fallen silent.

Land.

They’re still not making enough of it.

• 44 Berkeley Street, Hawthorn sold off-market for $5,950,000. That’s nearly $280 per foot for a large (21,400 sq ft) block. Prior to this we would have expected more like $250/260.
• 19 and 21 Vista Grove, Toorak sold at auction for close to $6 million for 13,500 sq ft. That’s C-grade Toorak at over $450 a foot; which is starting to seem like real money. (In fact it’s becoming hard to find any land in Toorak that starts with a 3.)
• 35 Avoca Street, South Yarra had a house on it which didn?t add any value and sold for land-value: $5.3 million. No surprise. It sold only a year ago for $5,060,000

Ready-to-wear.

Houses with everything done and ready to move into. Still in demand:

• 20 Viva Street, Glen Iris sold for $2,344,000. A weatherboard with the lot; although most people believed its price wouldn’t start with a 2.
• 26 Lambeth Avenue, Armadale A double-fronted Edwardian brick with a couple of issues; it sold for over $2.5 million after being passed in. About right.

Stubbed toes.

Even in the face of 80%+ “clearance” (see last week for a little more on that) rates, houses are still being passed in.

• 53 Hunter Street, Malvern A double-fronted weatherboard close to Malvern Primary (normally a huge driver) was passed in at $1,910,000.

Health report.

The pulse may be faltering. We’re not seeing as many bidders as we saw four weeks ago. In part that’s explained by the lack of to-die-for choice that’s available, but it’s also unrealistic to expect Melbourne to continue to soar when almost nowhere else can even rise to the mark.

There you go. This is Melbourne. Maybe football can explain our market.

David Morrell.

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Bayside: some bubbles runneth over

That distant popping you can hear is the sound of corks being launched at 9 Heathfield Road, Brighton East. A very large near-new weatherboard period style home with a basement garage. It sold prior to auction last February for $2.3 million and again over the weekend for just $530,000 more. That’s a 23% hike in six months.

Contrast that with 18 Walstab Street: the same agent had to place a vendor bid of $2.55 million and a later offer of $2.6 million was rejected. The vendor’s reserve is $2.79 million.

Still in Brighton East, 83 Baird Street, a brick veneer home of 8 main rooms on 680 sq m, sold for $1,680,000.

Brighton Proper had a quieter day following the big result achieved the week before at 2 Cole Street (and that’s a story which is not yet over).

91 South Road – at $1,240,000 – was the highest Saturday could manage.

Meanwhile, in Edgar Street, a puzzle is being set:

• 6 Edgar Street sold at auction last weekend for $1,355,000 and that bought a 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom single level home with a pool.
• 4 Edgar Street next door, same land size but with a pushover old weatherboard, sold for almost $200,000 more at $1,540,000.
• On the other side of the street a contemporary attached townhouse on half the land sold privately for $1,510,000, making number 6 look relatively cheap; no small feat in this market.

Beaumaris and Black Rock had quieter days; no auctions but 20 Reserve Road, Beaumaris sold privately for $1,225,000 and 10 McKay Avenue, Black Rock for $1,250,000.

Hampton was also quiet: only five on offer. 38 Ludstone Street sold for $1,197,000 and 5 Nicol Street sold prior to auction for $1,024,000.

Elwood had mixed results: four passed in, six sold on the day and two sold before. While auctions still dominate in Elwood, there were also two private sales:

• 107 Ruskin Street was the standout at $1,710,000
• 61 Broadway sold for $1,020,000.

8 Dryden Street was passed in at $860,000. A later offer of $900,000 was insufficient and a probably optimistic reserve has been set at $1,065,000.

More work is also required at 2/19-21 Ormond Esplanade (sorry, no link). The highest bid was the vendor’s: $1,200,000 and from there it’s daylight to the reserve of $1,500,000. Good luck.

And a little praise is due …

It seems our pleas for greater accuracy in the price estimates of sellers’ agents is gaining traction.

Several major real estate firms in Melbourne have made serious efforts to tighten up the way they quote expected prices to buyers; and that’s a welcome change.

But, as always, there are still the clever kids who are trying to get away with blaming the messenger: “… the grandstanding and self promoting buyers’ advocates”.

Goodness gracious! Could they mean us?

Their reasoning is as flawed as their ethics: if there was no problem, why would we be raising it? And who do they think is on the other side of every transaction: it’s the buyers, people, the buyers who are expressing their frustration and anger at the time and expense you’re causing them to waste, those buyers who are keeping you in business.

If you have something to say, we’d welcome (and publish) your comments.

Damian Taylor

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The weekend’s news from the very top end? There was none – at least none north of Brighton. And what action there was lacked the passion of previous weeks.

But clearance rates are still soaring?

Yes. Sure. Providing you include houses which were passed in (often with no sign of a bid) then sold later and others which were simply not reported. This is an industry which survives on dazzling, and nothing dazzles more than talk of a market that’s rising. Clearance rates soaring off the Richter Scale are all part of the window dressing.

Eventually, everything returns to the long-term trend and at the moment that’s far below us. As Shane Oliver from AMP Capital Investors describes here.

Meanwhile, back on the ground:

• 23a Marne Street, South Yarra A townhouse with problems. Vendor bid $2.7 million, reserve $2.790 million (suggesting there’s a real seller trying to tickle some interest).
• 37 Armadale Street, Armadale Double fronted Victorian, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a pool. Passed in at $2.2 million.
• 7 Bowley Avenue, Balwyn The surprise of the weekend. A good family home, north facing and, given what has gone on in the last month, should have had a lot of interest and then … nothing. A vendor bid of $2.45 million for a house worth over $2.5 million of anybody?s money. Has the agent overcooked the pricing?
• 23 McKinley Avenue, Malvern Opened with a vendor bid of $1.9 million followed by one bid from the crowd of $2 million and then … silence. Passed in.
• 24 Royal Crescent, Armadale Sold, but for rather less than expectations.

If that is all you heard, you’d say the market had (again) hit the skids, but where there were quality properties in good positions, off they went:

58 Berkeley Street, Hawthorn A good 4 bedroom 30?s family home on Scotch Hill within a 9 iron of the junior school. “Expectations $2.5 million.” Yeah. Sure. We expected it to have a 3 in front of it and lo and behold it did. (The under-bidder was a well known real estate agent hoping to buy his own family home; and you would expect that he knew what he was doing.)

What’s the message? If it’s good and ticks all the boxes, there’s still phenomenal interest.

And then, particularly West of Bourke Road, and particularly among members of the Chinese community, there appears to be new interest in land on which to build new homes in Boroondara:

33 Cole Street, East Hawthorn sold for $1,467,000 which easily scales $200 per sq ft. The last comparable sale at auction was just over $170/ft. Four under-bidders suggest a valuation that is not going to disappear overnight.

Who is at the inspections?

Particularly below $800,000, investors are everywhere. Where were they late last year?

What will Spring bring?

At the top end, there’s not a lot coming to auction. There’s a little more going on below the surface, but the lack of quality on offer will still be a concern in coming weeks.

David Morrell

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Bayside. Bonanza by the beach.

Do you have lingering doubts about the health of the very pointy end of the Bayside market? Get thee to 2 Cole Street, Brighton. In brilliant sunshine with the bay a shimmering backdrop, four bidders competed for this substantial waterfront house on 852 sq m. The house, while comfortable, requires a complete make over and it is understood the buyers intend to renovate the home for their own use.

Initially promoted at $5.5 million plus, the selling agents, perhaps reacting to the market sensitivity regarding misquoting, upped the ante in the week before the auction to a range $5.8 million to $6.7 million. It was ultimately knocked down at $7.31 million, although the reported contract price was agreed at $7.3 million.

The only sour note in what was an impressive sales campaign and result, was a hiccup towards the close of the auction: the auctioneer appeared to have sold the property at $7.25 million and then accepted what the crowd clearly thought was a late bid of another $50,000. A further bid of $10,000 again secured it amid rumblings of discontent from the buyer and a number of onlookers.

Elsewhere in Brighton and Brighton East, buyers were plentiful: 13 sales from 15 offerings.

In Brighton:

• 63 New Street: $2.11 million
• 26 Elm Grove: $1.61 million.
• 29 Whyte Street: $1.59 million
• 12 Lindsay Street: $1.53 million.
• 6 Edgar Street: One bid of $1.3 million, passed in, sold later for $1,355,000.
• 13 Lasswade Court. Passed in on a vendor bid of $1,050,000. Reserve? Mystery.
• 19 Meek Street sold privately: $1.85 million
• 30 Grandview Grove sold privately: $1.364 million.
• 12 Foote Street, available for private sale for 12 months, changed hands for $2.61 million.

In East Brighton:

• 23 Camperdown Street, a knockdown weatherboard on 900 sq m with a 20m frontage. Sold for $1,457,000. Developers and builders swarmed over this. Their presence and bidding suggests continuing strength in this sector of the market.
• 292 North Road was sold for $1.24 million.
• 13 Connor Street finally sold for a respectable $2,050,000.

Hampton was relatively quiet:

15 Olive Street a new town house, failed to hit the spot and was passed in with no reported bid and no reserve disclosed; although interest in excess of $1.2 million had been anticipated.

Sandringham was also quiet with 12 Heath Street the exception. A crowd of over 150 people saw bidding start at the quoted figure of $1.5 million and continue until the property was knocked down $300,000 later for $1.81 million.

Yes, it’s a good home in a solid and safe court location in Sandy, but this is still well over what is reasonable value. No supply and plenty of demand and a result at least $150,000 over the reserve.

And finally to venerable Beaumaris where private sales dominated.

• 432 Beach Road, a typical 1950?s Beaumaris style brick home on 851 sq m overlooking the bay, with a quoted price range of $2.1-2.2 million, sold for exactly $2 million.
• 16 Reserve Road, a near-new town house, lingered for some time and has now changed hands for $1.55 million
• 10 Hutchison Avenue sold for $1.42 million.

The surge in prices over the past few months appears both unsustainable and unhealthy. With the cost of money still very low and buyers confident the worst of the financial crisis is past, the issue of the supply of property to the market is crucial.

If the seasonal abundance of properties does not eventuate in the Spring, then buyers will be forced to pay more than is reasonable value and banks will be under pressure to review their lending and valuation criteria to avoid potential problems when the crunch does come … and come it must.

To those vendors thinking of listing in the Spring: your time has come.

Damian Taylor

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Who do you think can give you the most accurate estimate of what a house will sell for at auction? An estate agent or a buyers’ advocate?

No prizes for choosing the advocate, but why? Why are so many agents so wrong so often? Why can we, weeks ahead of an auction, so often predict what its result will be?

Truth is, too many agents just don’t know how to price the market. Their view is through rear-vision mirrors while we are looking at the three main factors at work in what a property will sell for:

• What the property is worth
• What it will be worth in the future
• What people can afford.

We typically get to 20 or more auctions every weekend. The apparent inability of agents to come close in their estimates is stark, stark, stark.

How do they explain results such as these:

• 20-22 Winter Street, Malvern Originally quoted at over $3 million (can we hear you laughing?). The land alone is worth $3.2 million and while the house has some problems, we told our clients it would go for around $3.5 million. It sold for $3.47 million.
• 2 Wynnstay Road, Prahran Originally quoted at $1,150,000. We advised our clients not to buy ( it had issues), but it should sell between $1,350,000 and $1.4 million. It did.
• 805e/126 Rouse Street, Port Melbourne A very good apartment, quoted at $750,000 plus. We had identified five bidders prior to the auction and told our clients they would need $820,000 to buy it. It sold for $816,000.

The lesson for the day:

If you do your homework – if you study what similar properties have been selling for in the same area, if you question other people you see at inspections and find out who the real bidders are, if you get a feel for what their budgets are – you will be far closer to the likely result than any indication an agent will offer you. It is then that you can approach an auction with a realistic bid in your pocket and have a real chance of success. But if your budget only meets the agent’s figure, disappointment beckons.

And then came …

52 Avoca Street, South Yarra Offered privately for some time with expectations of around $10 million. $7 million is more like it, we thought, the place is as dark as a cave. It finally went up for auction on Saturday, was passed in at $6,850,000 then sold for just over $7 million. (It sold to someone who had seen it for the first time that day – just shows how well a mammoth advertising budget can work.)

News from the war zone:

A couple of weeks ago, we opened a new front in the underquoting war. Since then the ACCC has announced that serious-money fines are on the way. Now Consumer Affairs Victoria has (at last) entered the fray and raided the offices of a number of agents who may have been underquoting, the REIV has hit reverse gear and it appears they’re trying to put their house in order; and it looks like quoting price ranges is history.

All well. All good. But the real cure – mandatory publishing of reserves – is yet to be implemented. That simple step would end agents’ overquoting to vendors to get their business and then underquoting to buyers to entice them to auctions. And, judging by the number of bids made even after properties are declared to be on the market, it would not depress results.

David Morrell

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Bayside: Excitement takes a break.

With the expected exception of Bentleigh, there was quite a lot of not very much happening in Bayside over the weekend. Not many bidders, not many watching.

Bentleigh? Two passed in out of 15 offered. Cain’t win ‘em all.

Beaumaris had just one auction – 14 Cromer Road $880,000 won it – and two private sales at over $1 million: 1 Anita Street sold for $1,060,000 and 1 Reid Street for $1,150,000.

In Black Rock, 28 Iona Street sold for $1,230,000. 52A Stanley Street sold after auction for $1,330,000 and 53 Second Street was passed in on a vendor bid of $1,220,000 against a reserve of $1,300,000.

Brighton had mixed results, but nothing outstanding:

25 Lynch Street sold prior to auction for $1,570,000

14 York Street is still available. A vendor bid of $1,100,000 was later matched by a genuine $1,100,000 bid which was declined. Reserve? Undisclosed. Why?

7 Esplanade Avenue again went to auction but did not fare much better than its previous attempt in February. Once again it was passed in $1,450,000. No bids, but at least this time a later offer of $1,465,000 is on the table. The vendor is holding out for $1,550,000.

Brighton East performed a little better than Brighton Proper: five sales from five auctions, if you include 15 Marriage Road selling before auction for $2,760,000.

12 Mackie Grove was the best result on the day. $1,389,000 bought it. (The agent’s quote was $1,150,000 plus.)

Hampton had one scheduled auction at 71 Service Street, but pre-auction negotiations resulted in a prior sale at $935,000.

Private sales were more the go in Hampton: 1 Bronte Court sold for $1,250,000, 39 Imbros Street brought $1,520,000 and 1/35 Willis Street changed hands for $1,470,000.

Next Saturday brings a true test of the Brighton upper level auction market: a rare beach-front property at 2 Cole Street. Local intelligence suggests that despite the agent’s quote of $5.5 million plus, they have $6 million well and truly covered and have hopes of $6.5 million.

Underquoting? Well, a mill here, a mill there …

Yet there are signs the message is getting through, at least to some agents. There are those we have spoken to who acknowledge that there is a problem and that it is one they have made for themselves. And then there’s the indignant few who continue to defend the indefensible and blame everyone from the media to the buyers’ advocates.

Kids, we did not create this problem and we’re doing you a favour by trying to put an end to it. If you’re looking for someone to blame, take a hard look in your mirror.

And of one thing you can be very sure: if you don’t fix it, others will.

Until next time.

Damian Taylor

M&K in the news:

Media Watch. You may have seen the ABC story Dirty Little Secrets about Fairfax bowing to the agents and taking down Marika Dobbin’s story about the Dirty Little Secrets of real esate agents. If you read the story itself (here) you’ll see its source: David Morell

The Age. It’s about agents not knowing what a property is worth (again).

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