#15: Cheap Flips, Hidden Damage and Other Buyer Traps

[00:00:11] Melbourne will be hot throughout the day reaching a high of 38 degrees with a late change and possible thunder in the evening with a forecast low of 17 degrees. First time, second time, third and final time, it's solved!

[00:00:35] Hello Melbourne! I'm Lisa Parker and together with Cate we are bringing you a dose of our property market in detail. I'm Cate Bakos. Lisa and I are both buyer's agents who work on opposite sides of the Melbourne market and we've clocked up over 40 years between us in the property industry. Join us each fortnight to hear some exciting stories from our coalface, market trends and some juicy auction updates. This collaboration has been a long time coming. We hope you enjoy.

[00:01:05] Hello Melbourne and welcome to today's episode of the Melbourne Property Hour. Lisa and I are going to unpack what a buyer's advocate notices in the first five minutes. So this should be a bit of fun. We've compared a few notes but we're also going to riff on a couple of these questions, aren't we? Mm-hmm. Let's see what comes out, hey? Well, we know our craft well. We've been doing it for a long time and there's definitely a lot of things that we notice as soon as we pull up at a front door.

[00:01:35] So I'm curious to know, Cate Bakos, when you first pull up at a property, what's the first thing you notice? Hmm. When I first pull up, well, I'm obviously looking at the neighbouring properties in the street as well. Because like you, I try and look at it online before I drive across town. I'm looking for a lot of things online. We'll go into that. But the first things I notice when I pull up is the street appeal and the neighbours.

[00:02:02] So that's before I've even set foot on, you know, within the property boundary. What about you? Yeah, look, I'm much the same. I'm looking at, you know, as I'm driving into the section, if I don't know that particular section, I haven't been there before, then I'm really paying attention to all of the houses and the streetscape and the general maintenance of the front yards and, you know, how many cars are parked on the streets and all of that.

[00:02:27] And then, of course, as I'm pulling into the street and looking at all of the neighbours, pull up at the front of the house and immediately I'm starting to clock maintenance items. So before I've even got out the door, I'm looking for the signs of the maintenance items. And I spend the first part of my inspection at the front of the home, just making a note of all of those maintenance items, because those maintenance items are things that obviously buyers need to consider when they're going to buy a property.

[00:02:56] It's money they're going to have to spend. And some of those maintenance items will add value and some of them won't. And so, you know, it's really important. I was at a property recently where on the video everything looked good that the agent had sent out to advocates. And we pulled up at the property and within the first five minutes of being in the front yard, I'd already clocked up about $18,000 worth of maintenance issues that needed to be attended to.

[00:03:26] And I knew instantly, I was walking across the street and I knew instantly this isn't going to be right for our client. And then I thought, well, I wonder what we're going to find when we got inside. It just got worse and worse. So, yeah, that's often the case. Yes, I totally hear you. Your heart sinks because the photos online can look so good. And it's very hard with high resolution and Google Street View because it's not high res.

[00:03:49] But yeah, I was just thinking through what I'm looking for or sensing for when I pull up. And aside from, you know, the street scope and the facades and the neighboring properties, I'm also listening. You know, can you hear anything that is a bit negative? Like is there freeway noise? Is there traffic noise that's closer and louder than anticipated? You know if you're on a flight path, so you hang about and you wait to see what it's like when a plane goes overhead.

[00:04:18] Or, you know, if you're near rail. So, you know, the listening thing is a big one. Also, how easy is it to get a park? You know, what time of day is it and can I easily get a park? Because if it's not peak time where everyone's coming home and I still can't get a park, it's already ruled itself out for me. I get really cranky with those houses. Yeah, no, that's a really good point about the listening.

[00:04:41] Sometimes we'll go and have a look at properties that by our standards appear to be too close to a freeway or a main road. And depending on the topography of the area, the noise kind of travels different. And I found that in some locations, it's interesting in some locations when it's raining or if it's particularly cold or windy, the noise travels in a different way than it does on a nice sunny, warm day.

[00:05:08] And so that's really interesting to kind of become aware of those things. Having done this for as long as we have, we become aware, oh, last time in this, I was in this street, I didn't hear those things. But today I can what's different. And I've clocked it now. It's weather, wind and the air temperature. It's such a good point. I remember when I was looking in Travancore, which is a suburb that's, you know, within four kilometres of the sea bay day. And so many people don't know where it is.

[00:05:36] It's kind of wedged between Flemington and Parkville. So if you're going over the tollway and you're near those, you know, the potato chip things that stick out, the bright yellow things. Yeah, that's Travancore for anyone that's wondering. And it's a really interesting pocket because the terrain in Travancore is quite varied. It's hilly.

[00:05:59] And so depending on where you are on a particular street, you might be blasted with freeway noise or it will not be a bother at all. It's such a fascinating concept. It's so interesting. So when we get out of the car and we start making our way into the property, what kinds of things are you looking for as you open the front door? Yeah, this was cool because we chatted about this before we pressed record and we clocked different things that are our first impression.

[00:06:28] For me, as soon as I opened that front door, I'm looking at the floor. And I reckon flooring tells you so much about a house. You know, sometimes it's a beautiful period home and it's got the really yellow Baltic floorboards that, you know, have gloss on them. And that's been there for probably decades and they've yellowed nicely with the UV light. So, you know, it's a beautiful period house that's had its floors preserved or maybe it's really rugged and it's had lots of stiletto damage.

[00:06:55] And, you know, you can tell it's had high wear and tear and it's been an investment property. Or maybe they've done a really high quality reno and they've got that amazing engineered oak wide down and it's, you know, really nicely laid and it's got the beading along the side where they've sealed it properly. You know, that's a high quality reno or then you've got the really cheap hybrid floor that's actually plastic and it looks like it's floorboards until you look closely at it.

[00:07:22] And the joinery is awful and someone's laid it themselves. And that might be a quick flip because if you can smell that it's been freshly laid and it's poor quality, you know that you're just taking on something that someone's done a really cheap flip on and you don't want to be the mug that buys a bad renovation. So for me, first thing, there's lots of things that catch my eye, but it's flooring for me. What about you? It's really impressive, isn't it?

[00:07:46] When you walk into a home that has good quality flooring, you can instantly feel it and it does make an incredible difference to how sturdy and how prestigious a home feels. And there's nothing better than walking into a home that you just hits all the right notes. It feels so amazing. Yeah. For me, when I walk into a front door, I think the things that I'm paying attention to, like I'm already paying attention as I'm walking to the front porch.

[00:08:15] So I'm looking at, say, like the eave lining into the front porch and to see if there's any water damage through gutters overflowing and things like that. And just looking at the general maintenance of like the front door and the locks and the screen and whether they're all being well maintained and are working. And then as I enter into the front of the home, I think you get an immediate impression of the property. Like if you're looking, you're probably like me, Kate.

[00:08:44] I've looked at houses for myself in recent years and I've looked at houses as a buyer's advocate for my clients, obviously. And what I've noticed in doing it for myself compared to doing it for my clients is that when my husband and I have gone into a home that we're considering for ourselves, my buyer's agent hat is off. And I'm in there and I'm just taking it all in. And what I'm paying attention to is so different than when I'm on the clock.

[00:09:14] And it's quite funny. It is actually quite funny. And then I've got to go. And that's because we understand the risk and we're willing to be a bit more open to taking on risk because we know what it takes to resolve certain. Is that why you've got a different hat? Like you're more protective of your clients? No, it's been accidental. It's been, it's been, hey, let's check out this house and see if it's right for us. And because we haven't seriously been looking, it's been more of a, it's been more of a, what would you call it?

[00:09:44] Like more of a, hey, this looks really nice. Let's go and see if it feels right for us. And so I've just gone very casually and not, and just, I don't know, felt the home rather than looked at the home. And so it's been interesting and good to feel that difference. Obviously, I'd go back a second time if I wanted to pursue the property and then I'd put my buyer's agent hat on and I'd start clocking all the things I need to clock.

[00:10:12] But when I walk in for a client, what I'm looking for is a checklist of all of the issues and maintenance items for the property. Because sometimes the property can look good on the surface, but there could be so much money that needs to go into maintenance and bringing up the house to scratch. And you can really tell when a home hasn't been well looked after and it's just been spruced up ready for sale.

[00:10:38] That I'm looking for all those little telltale signs and you can tell by the paint job, you know, when you walk into the property, if it's a good quality paint job compared to if it was a quick, cheap spruce by a styling company with, you know, 73 different trades there at the same time. Slapping on the paint and then by the time settlement comes along, the paint's already going to be peeling off the architraves because they haven't prepped the paint work properly.

[00:11:04] And all of that paint's just going to start shredding off of all of the woodwork in the property. And just looking at the lighting and how the property feels the minute you walk in. And the big one for me is the smell of a property because I do have a sensitive sense of smell. And, you know, you can clock when there's been a dog in the property that they're trying to hide, you know, and they've got the oil burners going and the reed sticks and the plug-ins and the candles.

[00:11:32] And everything's trying to mask the smell of dog that I can definitely smell the minute the door opens. Yes. I love that. It's a superpower when you've got a sensitivity that not many others have. And, you know, we've got to capitalize on that and use it. Yeah. Smelling mould's another one. It's a really handy skill to have. Yeah. Amazing. Well, on that note, what do you think the biggest red flags are that the buyers miss?

[00:12:02] I think on the surface, the first thing is being caught up in the presentation of the property and not really paying attention to the fundamentals. And so how that can look is, you know, a home can just be so well presented with it's had a spruce and it's had styling. And the agent's got a little bit of music playing and, you know, there's a real buzz in the property because it's the first open for inspection and it's a nice sunny day and everybody's in a good mood.

[00:12:30] And the house leaves a really good emotional impression and it feels good. And that's what I think buyers subtly and also consciously, depending on the buyer, will observe. But what they might not clock at that inspection is how tiny the kitchen is, like the bench space, for example, the actual bench space. The fact that it was missing two linen closets that should have been there for the size of that property.

[00:12:58] You know, I've looked at family homes that are four bedrooms, two living rooms and no linen closet, which is ridiculous. It's annoying and it happens a lot, especially in those older style, you know, 70s houses that were smaller. Yeah. And you often don't have a place to actually fill one in. If you've got a place to fill it in, it's not an issue.

[00:13:19] Paying attention to the furniture is a really big telltale sign because if there's this teeny tiny dining table that's really not practical, but like, you know, people miss it. They're just taking it all in. What I'm looking at is how many chairs are around that dining table and how big is it in practice? Does it actually work and function as a proper family dining table? And often it doesn't.

[00:13:42] And then if you look at the configuration of the styling in the living rooms, you'll notice they'll use certain chairs and certain depths of coffee tables and things like that. When you start paying attention to that type of thing, you realize that the living area is actually undersized. But it doesn't on appearance look that way because at a quick scan, everything is there. You've got a couch, you've got a couple of couches, you've got a coffee table, you've got your TV. It's workable.

[00:14:12] But when you pay attention to the furniture they've used, you can see that once you move in with your different furniture, that's actually not a workable living room. That's such a good point. And that's how people fall prey to stylists. I mean, a good stylist is skilled to create these illusions. And I know that sounds like a really nasty thing to say, but it's true. I've seen buyers get really excited about properties and I've said, okay, fine, I'll go through.

[00:14:37] Because not every room and every angle is photographed in the listing. And you're thinking, okay, I need to get my head around this laundry or this kitchen. How many kitchens have you been to where you're thinking, yeah, okay, cool, the styling's great. Where does the fridge go? And then there's no room for a dishwasher. And in today's day and age, that's almost a showstopper for me if it's a family home. If it's a unit, you know, I might be able to get my head around it depending on where it is and what it is.

[00:15:04] It's a gorgeous art deco in St Kilda and it's oozing with 1930s charm and it's been renovated with superb tiles and great fireplaces. Well, yeah, you can wash your own dishes because that's art deco. However, you know, 60s, 70s house, if I can't find a way to install a dishwasher without doing a full kitchen refurb, it's losing a lot of points. I mean, that one's just like a surface level one, but there's a few sinister red flags in my mind as well. Kate, do you want to touch on a few of those?

[00:15:34] Yeah, for me, the things that buyers often miss and I'm always surprised. So your superpower is your nose. Mine is my balance. I can sense when a floor is a little bit out. I can sense when a builder will say, oh, you know, you're down 10 mil on this end, but it's within tolerance. I can sense when it's out of tolerance and a lot of buyers can't. So if you've got unlevel floors, it doesn't mean that you have to avoid the house or that it desperately needs underpinning or restumping straight away, but it might do.

[00:16:02] And it might have some really sinister issues. You've then got to explore, especially if it's brick, what's causing that movement? You know, is it a tree root issue? Is it water pooling? Is it unlevel foundations to start with? Is it sensitive soil? Is it the neighbour doing something? You know, they've put in a pool. Well, there are reasons why floors are unlevel and I think a lot of people miss that and it always bothers me.

[00:16:28] The two big red flags for me are foundation issues and water damage and they are often the things that buyers miss. Yeah. And I think some of the things that go unseen by buyers as well are things that are unpermitted work. You know, you see people who have built, you know, built in a massive room at the back of the house that used to be a pergola, for example, and the home's being sold as a four-bedroom home when in reality it's a three-bedroom home.

[00:16:57] A dodgy extension. They've built in a pergola to make it a bedroom, which is completely fine. That house still might be something that a buyer chooses to walk forward with. However, if it's not permitted as a habitable room, it can become problematic down the track and you've got to be aware of that and take that risk. And so I think looking at what's been done to the property and whether or not it has the permits is important. Mm-hmm.

[00:17:25] That's a really good point and it is a red flag for me. If I can see online that the bathroom and kitchen look new, I will quickly do another search on our system to see the pictures from the last sales campaign. Are there new bathrooms and kitchens in those photos or was it original? Because you'll then work out which vendor did the works. And if it's the current vendor who's selling that did the works, I want to copy the contract before I drive across town.

[00:17:49] Because if they haven't declared what they've done, they either are missing permits or they're missing an owner-builder defect report and owner-builder insurance, I'm already nervous about this one. And you can argue it and say, oh, well, you know, Bob's friend at the footy club or his brother is a bathroom specialist and he did it. Okay, fine. Show me the waterproofing certificate. Because without waterproofing, all of that work is in vain.

[00:18:16] And a good new bathroom, circa $25,000 to $30,000, you'd be throwing that money into the air if it hasn't been waterproofed. We've joked about this before, but I'll bring it up again. Kate, isn't it amazing how many of these renovations were done over seven years ago and they cost less than $16,000? I love that. And, you know, our legislation's changing and I'm excited about that because you can no longer just hide behind that. Yeah, I'm actually excited. We should do an episode on those few changes.

[00:18:46] I think there's some great things that have come out of that and then there's some things that I'm not too thrilled about as a renovator myself. But, yeah, we should dive into that a little bit more. We should. One last- Juicy legislation. How exciting. One of the things that I think one of the last red flags that I'll tap into is DIY home renovations while we're on the topic.

[00:19:10] You've touched on it a little bit, but I always want to see that the work has been done by qualified tradespeople. And often you can see that it has been a DIY job. I remember being in a house that was an off-market listing. There was probably about six of us there. And somebody was asking the agent, oh, is the owner a builder?

[00:19:41] He should have known better. He should be in jail because this is the worst renovation I've seen. It was terrible. And, yeah, I was really surprised that they hadn't clocked how poor the workmanship was. And they thought that the owner was a builder and had done this amazing renovation. Yeah.

[00:20:02] Look, it's interesting to think what people are envisaging and experiencing as consumers that are not experienced at looking at property when they're wandering through something that is nice and bright and beautifully styled and really on trend paces. You know, you can just picture it. It's got the indoor plants and it just feels groovy, great art. It's hard for them to drill down and look at the sealant in the shower and it's black and it's messy. And you can tell that, you know, a five-year-old wearing a blindfold did it.

[00:20:32] They're not always looking at those details. And I can smash someone's dreams. You know, they go through a property. They call me on a Saturday. Kate, we saw this property. It's amazing. We'd love you to buy it for us. A property that I can't physically walk through. And they're the reasons why. I'll do my inspection video. I'll send them, you know, 11 minutes of sadness and, you know, uncovering and pointing out of things.

[00:21:00] And it can, you know, kill the dream pretty quickly. Yeah. Well, in this case, Kate, unfortunately, the person should have known better because they were actually a buyer's agent. So, I would expect for them to understand, you know, the difference between a DIY renovation and a professionally performed renovation. Well, that's really horrible. And it just goes to show, you know, experience counts for a lot. And there are buyer's advocates and there are buyer's advocates.

[00:21:30] We're not all cut equal. We'd love to hear how some of our tips are helping you on your property journey. If you'd like to get in touch with us, jump onto our website, themelbournepropertyhour.com.au. You can either leave us a written message or you can record it as a message. Let us know what you'd like to hear more of and tell us a little bit about some of your successes. If you're enjoying the show, please tell your friends and click the follow button on your preferred podcast platform.

[00:22:04] So, Lisa, how quickly can you tell whether a property is worth pursuing? Online, it's pretty evident to me. I mean, there's subtle things that I think we pick up as professionals that people might not necessarily see. I mean, I can spot, for example, chips in the kitchen cabinets from the image online.

[00:22:30] And if the cabinets are out of kilter and they're not in, like, you know, the hinges are loose and need to be tightened. All of those things aren't a big deal. But when you start adding up all the little tiny things that you can notice in a picture, it tells you a story. And, you know, you can see unlevel floors, for example, in a photo. The big one is, you know, when you see tiles that are one size at one end of the picture.

[00:22:56] And then by the time it gets to the other end of the picture, they're really stretched out because of the wide angled lens. So, you know, that's a small room that's been, you know, manipulated to look larger in real life. And that's where the furniture and paying attention to furniture comes into it. Because if I think the dining room is probably small, I look at how big the table is in the styling to give me an indication if it's small or not. But I think you can pick up a lot in the photos.

[00:23:22] And a lot of it becomes quite intuitive as well because we've been doing this for so long. There is sometimes an intuition that comes with it where you may not have consciously clocked things, but you have unconsciously clocked a lot of things. And so you get that, you just know and you just have that feeling. It's very rare. It does happen, but it's very rare that we go to a property and it's different than what we thought it would be.

[00:23:48] Look, it does happen and it's because, and we go, I'm just going to go to this property just in case. You know, we have a feeling to still go even though we're a bit worried about it. And we even walk in and go, it was exactly what I expected it to be. Or I'm so happy it was actually so much better than I was expecting it to be. That's rare. The times when that tends to happen to me is when it's really lousy photography.

[00:24:12] So maybe it's an off market and the agent sent you some smartphone stuff or just a really bad effort with photos or they've used really old listing photos that might be 10 years old. You know, it's typically when the photography is low that the house might be a nice surprise. Otherwise, I reckon my hunch serves me 100% of the time. And the first things that I do before I, once I've looked at the floor plan, looked at the orientation, looked at the photos, I know the address. I'm straight into that planning website.

[00:24:41] I load it up with a satellite image. I'm looking at the zoning, the overlays, whether there are any easements running through the property and whether there are any sinister overlays that are close to it. You know, if there's a water overlay or a flood overlay that's reasonably close to the property but not touching it, well, you and I both know that the flood maps are getting updated all the time. As global warming is, you know, nipping at our ankles, those flood maps are encroaching a bigger and bigger space.

[00:25:08] So, they're the things I look for before I even get in the car and obviously street view. And we're looking to see, you know, is there high-density social housing nearby? Is there social housing like right next door or over the road or behind it? Quick rudimentary checks because I'm not driving across town to say something for a client who has already expressed that they're sensitive enough to social housing that they don't want to be next door to it. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:25:34] I think if we pull up at a property expecting it to be better than it actually is in real life, then I think as soon as we pull up out the front of the home, I think the front of the home tells us a lot. And then as soon as we open that front door, I think it becomes pretty clear most of the time. I think, you know, within two minutes of entering the house, I think we know straight away whether or not it's a good home or it's not. And then whether or not it's actually right for our particular client. Totally.

[00:26:04] So, Lisa, what clues tell you whether a property has been well-maintained? Yeah, that's an interesting question. I've got to tap into my little routines here and think about this because it just comes so naturally, you know, when you do this every single day and you walk in, you're like, wow, the property is so well-maintained. And you always tell, you know, it's usually the homes are owned by elderly people.

[00:26:31] There's just something different about that era, that generation. They get onto everything. If there is something wrong with the property, they fix it immediately. Not only do they fix it immediately, but they actually hire proper trades that execute it to a really high standard. And the types of things, if I just cast my mind back to a few weeks ago, a property that we bought for a self-managed super fund investor client.

[00:27:01] And this was the case for this property. And, you know, the garage floor is impeccably swept. All of the external doors are in good condition. You know how often the external doors to the garage rot and they need replacing? You know, all of them are in really good condition. And all of the fascia boards and the pergola, like the pergola is built to a really high standard with all of the right support brackets, the works, you know, really good quality,

[00:27:30] thicker sort of building materials than some of the DIY jobs that you see. It's on the right angle where it actually has fall. And they've also put, you know, the gutters and the downpipes, the downpipes are connected to drain to the stormwater. I mean, they just tick every single box. All of the woodwork is painted and it's been kept. It hasn't been, you know, you can tell the difference when we go and look at a property that has been spruced ready for sale.

[00:27:58] And yes, the fascia boards and all of the pergola might look painted, but what you can see beneath the paint is rotted timber. In a really well-maintained home, you don't find rotted timber. It's been replaced or it has been upkept to a point that it's just never rotted. It's just impeccable. And you open every cupboard, the doors open smoothly, you know, the doors are even. Everything has been attended to as it's happened. What about you? I love that.

[00:28:28] Yeah, very, very similar. And you can look at the contract and you can see that, you know, anything that we know was not done when the house was built, they'll pop the permits in even when they're older than seven years. So you've got, you know, that gorgeous pergola. You've got the builder's invoice there. You know, they're typically people that retain records really well. And it doesn't just stop with how they've maintained their property.

[00:28:55] They tend to be people that maintain gardens and maintain cleanliness as well. You can go into, as you said, a garage, you know, the floor is swept and it's neat. They've made sure that the car hasn't dribbled oil. You know, there's people that maintain their cars as well. And often their garages and their laundries, they're, you know, they're utility spaces and they're really neat. They've got all the shelving. They've got the paint tins on the paint shelf. And, you know, I get excited about a house that's really well maintained like that. And it extends to the fences.

[00:29:26] And the thing that I love about a well maintained house is it can be original. And they've, when they've done the external repaint, you know, they've sanded all of the boards back properly. And then they've prepped it with the right number of coats. And so instead of having a, you know, 10 year old painting system, people that look after their houses like that can get away with 20 years. And you can typically pick it because the colours that they've chosen back then when they painted are a little bit dated.

[00:29:55] So while the house is in pristine condition, it's, you know, circa 1990s, same goes for kitchen cabinetry. It might be, you know, that redwood or blackwood kitchen. And I do get really excited when I know it's been so well maintained. The building inspector will ring up and say it's perfect. And that's invariably what happens. It is. It is. And guaranteed those paint tins are all labelled. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:30:19] And bathrooms, you know, that's a big one for me because deterioration happens when you're not maintaining and cleaning your bathroom spaces. And it might be that you're not re-grouting when you should be or you're not scratching it out and reapplying fresh silicon. And you can see when grout and silicon has been affected by UV and, you know, other things like hair dye or mildew or whatever, they change colour.

[00:30:42] And you'll often see a house that was built in the 1960s and that shower looks like it was constructed yesterday. And that's someone who's been really house proud and looked after it. Yeah. I'm like you. I get very excited by those really well-maintained homes because they're probably, what, one in a hundred. They're not, you don't find them often. But when you do, you just know that your client's going to move in and everything's going to work and you just feel really confident about it.

[00:31:12] But I'm wondering, Kate, in regards to home versus location, what do you pay more attention to? Well, initially it's location. I mean, it's not going to land on my short list unless the location is right for the client. But once I'm there, you know, I've already worked out the location. It's then down to the micro location. Is the streetscape actually okay? Are the neighbours okay? After that, it's all about the house.

[00:31:41] I'm the same. I mean, the house you can improve and change easily, but you can't change the location of the home. So I know some buyers will really want that house and perhaps they're just short budget-wise to get the house in the area they really want. And they're not renovators by any stretch. They don't want to do anything at all to a property.

[00:32:07] And so they'll compromise and be on a busier street, for example, or be in a pocket of the suburb that's not as popular or not as accessible. And that's a considered compromise they're prepared to pay. But I think location, I mean, the first thing I do is on a listing is go down to the map and look where the property is on the map and then go back up to the photos. So that's how important location is to me. Yeah, totally. Absolutely.

[00:32:35] Like, why would you bother looking at 10 photos when you can have one quick glance at a map and yet not the right location or too close to something? You can see it on that map. Yeah. When you walk into a home, do you walk in and instantly know whether or not the property is right for your client or not? Yeah, pretty much. It's either a yes, proceed, yes, proceed, yes, proceed, you know, from room to room to room or just a hell no.

[00:33:02] And it's very rare that I'll get a bad impression and then find a way to forgive the home. It would be very, very rare unless, of course, you know, the facade and the front hall are in not such great condition and the rest of the property has been updated. You know, occasionally you stumble across a property that has been renovated to a really high quality and they've run out of money. Yeah. And it might mean that depending on your client's financial position, they could finish that work.

[00:33:31] We've got to make sure that all of the certificates are there. It wasn't something structural. It's not a case of a builder walking off the job. But, yeah, I've seen plenty of, unfortunately, separations and divorces that have happened, you know, at the 80th percentile mark on the renovation plans. Yeah. I'm wondering, you know, when we walk into a home, how we feel compared to how our clients feel.

[00:33:57] You know, when buyers are shopping on their own and they find the property and they walk in, they know it's the one. And I wonder how we feel compared to they feel because, I don't know about you, I'm pretty sure it will be the same for you. But when I walk in and I know it's the one for a client, I'm like, yes, it's the one. I am so damn excited. It's not funny. Like, I'm like, yes, yes, yes. It's like every room I walk in, like you described.

[00:34:25] I'm like, it just feels so good. And I go, I drive back from the property and I'm just, you know, yes, we've got it. This is the one. I know it's the one. And I'm so excited. Yeah. I wonder if it's the same for clients. Sometimes. And it depends on the client. I mean, you all know these people that they had an idea in their mind and it's never going to completely align with what they find. Not because they're unreasonable. It's because their vision might be so acute.

[00:34:54] You know, they're thinking about a house they missed out on or a friend that's got a house that's got XYZ features. And so they're not going to find that twin house. And you take them on the journey and you walk through one together and you can tell that it's got all of the attributes. And I mean, I had a lovely buyer who was looking at Richmond and I went through a property and thought, yeah, I think this is the right house for her. But it's reasonably early in the search.

[00:35:22] We're only into like week two or three or something. And she just didn't really love the colour of the floor. And in her defence, it played a huge part in how the house actually felt. It was a painted concrete floor and it was painted grey of all things.

[00:35:41] And I knew from the pictures and the properties that she'd liked that if you'd put down, you know, a nice floating floor that had a beach kind of colour, it would lift the colour throughout the property and also changing curtains and stuff. So all of that was, you know, well within the realms of her budget to do those changes. And I didn't challenge her too hard the first time.

[00:36:05] And then after doing the rounds, she kind of circled back and said, oh, I really think that one with the three bedrooms, you know, that could have been the one for me. And I needed her to, you know, to come to that conclusion herself. And then we went back through together and then I used AI and just used the photos and asked chat to change the flooring and the curtains. Bam, loved it. And that was the vision that she had.

[00:36:29] So sometimes we have to take the clients through the vision and the things that they could do to change it and get them to visualise it in a way that's, you know, some people can't just walk into a room and visualise. They do need the chat GPT photos. And, you know, that's our job not to push something on them they don't want, but to show them a hidden gem that could become what they want with very little expense. Yeah.

[00:36:53] I think just if I reflect on my own recent experiences, as I mentioned, when we've been looking at homes for ourselves compared to having my buyer's advocate had on doing it for clients. I think probably the difference is, you know, we all get that feeling and get excited, like this is the one.

[00:37:10] But I think the difference is when a home buyer who is directing the search themselves find the one, I think fear and doubt actually come in, like nervousness and fear and doubt. Whereas when we're acting for people as buyer advocates, we get that excitement and the, you know, the adrenaline of, oh my God, it's the one, I'm so excited.

[00:37:34] But the fear and the doubt doesn't creep in because we've got our professional hat on and we go through our due diligence, which we've both got like robust frameworks for. So we know we're not missing anything. And so we have that confidence and we don't ride that emotional wave that a home buyer would ride because we've got a job to do. And so we're, you know, we've got our, we've got our job hat on and-

[00:38:00] It's also the benefit of a lot of properties in our heads, in our property library. You know, we've had that experience and we've seen so many and we've experienced so many client journeys that the benefit of all of that helps us determine whether this really is a high score or how rare is it? How close to your brief is it?

[00:38:22] We've had, you know, many properties that we've seen and that, that really helps us determine, you know, when a client's holding out for a unicorn versus when they're holding out for something that could justifiably score a few more points. Yeah. So I think to wrap things up, I think we've got some, two questions that I think our buyers can take away, our listeners can take away from us. If our listeners could learn one habit from a buyer's advocate when inspecting a property, what would you like them to learn?

[00:38:51] Get online first. You don't need paid portals to do that. You know, whatever you're on, street view it, have a really good look on the map, have a look at the satellite imagery if you can and carefully check those photos. Don't look at what you want to see, sign in on them and have a careful think about whether that property is going to be a waste of your time driving across town. If it's not even in your preferred location, why are you doing it? And also be prepared to dig a bit deeper.

[00:39:20] I think street view tells you a lot. The number of clients that find that property that they think is the magic unicorn. Oh my God, Kate, I found it and it's in the suburb that I want and it's, you know, under the price that you told me I needed to be at. It's got the same number of bedrooms and it's renovated. Yeah. Google street view it. Do you really want to live on that street? And sometimes you can see the printed arrows on the road outside their letterbox.

[00:39:44] Like they're on a, you know, four lane road with a right turn that will mean they'll never be able to pull out of their drive without sitting there and playing chicken for five minutes. Yeah. I think for me, the biggest thing I'd love for people to take away from what we do is to look past the cosmetics and to really look at the foundations of the house. Not the foundations as in what the house is sitting on, but that is important as well.

[00:40:11] But the fundamentals, you know, is the kitchen large enough? Does the floor plan flow work correctly? Does it actually have all of the elements that you need in a home? Because we can fall in love with a home because of its aesthetics, but it doesn't mean that in practice it actually works for us.

[00:40:57] Yeah. It's easier said than done, huh? Well, I touched on this earlier. It is easier for us because we've got a professional hat that we're wearing and we've got systems and processes that we've developed that makes us really confident in our decision making. And, you know, when we know it's the one.

[00:41:19] And if I try to put my personal hat on and pretend I'm not a buyer's advocate for a second, I think my best advice would be to take a step back and to remove yourself from any pressure. If there is pressure in the sale, i.e. a lot of other interest, the agent, you know, ringing and saying you've got to put your offer in.

[00:41:42] And I think you've got to slow everything down in your world, whether or not it's leaving work earlier, taking a longer lunch break, whatever it is. And really just taking some deep breaths, getting calm and really looking at it from a practical point of view. Is this house the right house for us? And what is the real value of this home to us? How much are we prepared to pay for this home before it no longer makes sense for us?

[00:42:10] And then just stick to it. Like just you create your, I guess, game plan and the rules to the game that you're playing. You create your own rules and then you just stick to it. And if it's not the one, it's not going to be the one. Yeah. You move on. Such good advice. What do you think? There's always another one, right? Plenty of fish in the sea. Yeah. I mean, we don't want to be flipping about it because really good quality homes are difficult to find. But we also don't want to lose our head.

[00:42:40] And sometimes it is worth really stretching for a home if you really understand the market and you understand how often those types of homes come up. You make a calculated decision. Yeah. I guess my point is just make sure it's calculated and well thought out. Make sure that you're making, put yourself in a position where you're in your logical brain and you've removed your emotional responses out of the equation.

[00:43:06] So for some people that might be going for a run, going to the gym, whatever it is for you that gets you out of your emotion, your emotional self and gets you into your pragmatic thinking brain. That's what you've got to do. Yeah, absolutely. What do you think, Kate? I've got a couple of suggestions on this one. First and foremost, when you've got a solid strategy before you go shopping, perspective really comes together.

[00:43:32] I find that people have their emotions cloud their judgment when they think they've found a unicorn at a bargain price. And every time that happens, the disappointment when they do their, you know, when they reconcile where they need to be and what the property is worth or when they put in an offer and, you know, gets beaten every time. That can be really hard. So I think having the strategy firm from the start helps you avoid finding those properties that look like they're too good to be true.

[00:44:02] And the next point that I've got is don't just see one and then assume that your search is done. I think you owe it to yourself, even when you think you've found the perfect property, to make sure you've canvassed a handful. And that's not to say drag your feet and don't commit to something that's great. But if you're going out looking at properties on a Saturday, don't just see one. Try and see, you know, four or five.

[00:44:25] I often say to clients in that first week of searching, once you've completed your strategy and you know where you should be looking and what's falling within your budget, you should be able to dig up somewhere between two and five good properties that will be eligible for you. So that's the way that I tackle avoiding having emotions cloud your judgment. And don't assume once you've seen it that it's going to go all the way through.

[00:44:50] You often find that your due diligence can, you know, really hamper your excitement and your plans going forward. It might be a showstopper once it hits the building inspection or it could be a showstopper as early as getting the contract review done. So tamper your emotions and just remember that it's not over until you've done all of those checks. I think that wraps up another session for us, Kate. Now, I think in the next couple of weeks we're going to do a listener Q&A because we've had a few questions come through from some listeners.

[00:45:19] And we'd love to invite our listeners to submit some more if you'd like to send us a DM on our Instagram page, the Melbourne Property Hour. If you'd like to email Kate or I directly to send your questions through, please send them through. And we really look forward to tackling them quite soon. Oh, that sounds so good. All right. Well, I'll put my thinking cap on and break down some of these questions and send it over your way.

[00:45:50] Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the Melbourne Property Hour. We hope you've enjoyed the show and we look forward to you joining us next time.