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TOM ESZE – MOST ABUSIVE AGENT
In a working life, never encountered worse.OPINION by Neil JenmanREADING TIME: 7.5 minutesThis time last week, I had never heard of an agent called Tom Esze.Tom who? That was my first response to his name.It was also the most common response when I started asking about him.Tom who?Come on, surely. Someone must have heard of […]
SELLING WHEN A BOOM IS OVER
Dropping your price must be your last option.by Neil JenmanREADING TIME: 8 minutesOkay, the property market has changed. The madness of the boom is over.And you’ve got your home for sale.Already, the agent – and half the neighbourhood – is making you feel like a loser. Not to mention the media and, worst of all, […]
PAYING FOR FAILURE
MOST SELLERS RISK PAYING TWO COMMISSIONSby Neil JenmanReading Time: 5 minutesImagine this: You want to sell your home. You hire an agent who makes you the biggest and best promises. Let’s call him Smirking Sammy.But Sammy is a dud. He fails to sell your home. Never mind that he conned you into paying $5,000 for […]
PROPERTY’S PRICKLY PEAR
HOW AGENTS ‘GUILT’ SELLERSby Neil JenmanReading Time: 8 mins apxVPA – ‘Vendor Paid Advertising’. It’s now the most common scam in real estate.More than 90 per cent of agents perpetrate this scam. In some areas, it’s 100 per cent – all agents are conning all sellers.Except those sellers who know the truth. And those who […]
THE BOOM-BUST BLUES
How sellers can still sell well! by Neil Jenman Reading time: 7.5 minutes Suzie is a friend of mine. She’s been looking for a home for months. Last weekend, she finally bought one. A lovely terrace in the inner-city. She’s so happy. The home was for auction – the worst way to sell at […]
Is a Quick Sale a Good Sale?
BE CAREFUL: Early offers are often the best offers. When you sell a property, what is more important: the time it takes to sell or the price?
WHY AGENTS LIE TO HOME BUYERS
by Neil JenmanReading time: Apx 6 minutes When home-buyers attempt to buy a home, one of their greatest shocks is the crooked element of the real estate industry. It’s not only infuriating, it’s depressing. What is supposed to be one of life’s best experiences – buying a home – can be a living nightmare.Rather than get […]
HOW NEIGHBOURS CAN MAKE YOU HAPPY AND RICH
by Neil Jenman READING TIME: 5.5 mins apx Whether you are a homebuyer or a seller, this article can have a major impact on your happiness and your finances. First, let’s talk about buying a home. And your happiness. May 23, 1994, was a Monday. The big news story was the weekend arrest of a […]
OFFERS YOU MUST REFUSE
by Neil JenmanReading Time: 3.5 minsWhen you are selling your home, you may receive offers. Indeed, offers are almost part of the pre-sale process.But there is one common type of offer that you must always refuse.Most agents – especially incompetent negotiators (which is most agents) – encourage buyers to make offers. These agents think the […]
How To Negotiate Commission With A Real Estate Agent
by Neil Jenman Reading time: Apx 5 minutes Introduction Real estate involves negotiation. Knowing the basics of negotiation can add tens of thousands of dollars to your selling price. It can also save you thousands of dollars on your expenses. The biggest expense when selling a home is usually the real estate agent’s commission. And […]
HOW TO GET THE BEST SUPPORT TO GET THE BEST PRICE
by Neil JenmanIf you are selling your home in 2022, this is a brief article you must read. It will likely add tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of dollars to the sale price of your home.Please forgive me if this sounds like a promotion. It is. I don’t know how else to tell today’s home-sellers […]
REAL ESTATE IN 2022
INVESTING, SELLING OR BUYING, PUT SAFETY FIRST by Neil Jenman Reading Time: Apx 7 mins If you plan to have anything to do with real estate in 2022, your first goal should be safety. The real estate world is a dangerous place. Most people who enter this world get ripped-off or emotionally traumatised. Or both. […]
WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?
How to protect your valuable asset. by Neil Jenman The author Earl Nightingale once told how the famous philosopher, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, on a visit to London was asked by a journalist: “What’s wrong with people today?” The doctor paused for a moment and said: “The trouble with people today is that they simply […]
HOW TO SPY ON AGENTS
And avoid the worst ones!by Neil JenmanReading time: 5.5 minutesIt’s happened to all of us. You’re outside on a beautiful day, soaking in the atmosphere, feeling good to be alive. Suddenly, it’s dark. As if someone turned the brightness down 80 per cent.A dark cloud had blocked out the sun, that was all.This is how […]
THE BATTLE TO BUY IN A BOOM
by Neil JenmanReading time: 15 minutes apxPity today’s property-buyers. Especially those battling to buy their first home. If they want to buy in one of the Eastern capitals – especially Melbourne and Sydney – they face multiple obstacles, the worst being rapidly rising prices.Another obstacle is fierce competition. No matter how much a buyer offers, […]
WATCHING REAL ESTATE COMMISSIONS
Are you paying too much for too little?by Neil JenmanReading time: 4 mins apxEvery day, home-owners ask us to find a good agent. They want us to watch over their sale process to make sure they get a good result – in price and in commission.These sellers are “on my watch”.Last year, in 2020, some […]
THE PROPERTY BOOM WILL END
What I tell family and friends about investingby Neil JenmanReading time: 15 mins (and worth it!)In 1972, I was an office boy in a real estate office in Yeppoon, a Central Queensland coastal town. The area had been booming for years. But, for me, it was too late. I had missed my chance. I should […]
HOME-BUYERS SAVE THOUSANDS
WITH “LOVE LETTERS”by Neil JenmanReading time: 5 mins apxIn these days of escalating prices, things keep getting tougher for home-buyers.But when a home sold in the Gold Coast hinterland the other day, the owners gave the buyers a generous discount. Although another buyer offered a few thousand dollars more, the elderly owners said, “This young […]
THE ‘BUSINESS’ OF FLEECING CONSUMERS
by Neil JenmanReading Time: Apx 8 minutesDenise Brailey is the most famous ‘unknown’ woman in Australia. But, to those who do know her, she is their hero, the Florence Nightingale of real estate and finance.For decades this now seventy-something woman has devoted almost her “working life” to helping the victims of financial scams.And for what?Most […]
HOW TO OVER-SELL YOUR HOME
10 Ps TO A POWERFUL PRICEby Neil JenmanFor years I have been saying it: Most home-sellers under-sell their homes. They lose tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars. On high-priced homes, sellers can under-sell their homes by millions of dollars.But not sellers who get great help and support – from someone with two major attributes: […]
ARE YOU BEING “USED”?
How agents exploit sellersby Neil JenmanREADING TIME: 3.5 mins apxSome agents are deliberately delaying the sale of homes to suit their own agenda. They are “using” the sellers and, in doing so, causing sellers’ homes to sell for lower prices.In an industry powered by solipsism, agents’ interests take priority.What you are about to see is […]
GOOD OR BAD PROPERTY INVESTING
One way to spot the difference!by Neil JenmanReading time: 4 mins apxThis is a story of two different couples who each invested in property at the same time (2010) with vastly different results.The first couple bought a property for $1.9 million.Last week they sold it for $3.8 million.That’s a gross profit of $1.9 million.The second […]
LOCKDOWN REAL ESTATE
Time for on-line window-shopping by Neil Jenman Reading time: 3.5 mins Cooper is 21-years-old. Last Saturday he bought his first home – an apartment in the North-western Sydney suburb of Kellyville. His parents are so proud. To have saved $70,000 for a deposit is a grand achievement for any young man. As with most home-buyers […]
LEARNING FROM LOCKDOWN
by Neil JenmanReading time: Apx 11 minutes Something wonderful happened to me on the weekend. In a moment, I will share it with you because, I’d like something wonderful to happen to you too.One thing’s for sure right now, near the end of July 2021: With half the country locked-down, many people are suffering. Many people […]
TIME TO DITCH THAT DOG
by Neil Jenman Reading time: 3.5 minutes apx They’re known as “dog properties”, the dregs of the real estate world. They’ve got so much wrong with them, so many drawbacks and disadvantages. They’re almost embarrassing. If you rent them, it’s near-impossible to find good tenants which then compounds the pain – bad tenants who won’t […]
YOU ARE NOT GOING TO HURT THIS GIRL
by Neil JenmanReading time: Apx 17 minutes(But well WORTH IT if you’re selling your home!) Aside from my wife, there is no person with whom I am closer than Paula, my little sister.All my life, Paula has been my loyal supporter. With 18 months between us, we were inseparable as children. Even in different boarding schools, […]
AGENTS’ COMMISSIONS
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW by Neil Jenman Reading time: Apx 7 minutes One of the biggest concerns for home-sellers is knowing how much commission to pay an agent to sell their home. But that question can lead in a dangerous direction. The cheapest agents are rarely the best agents. But neither are expensive agents. If […]
AUCTION’S ‘TRANSPARENT’ TWIST
How to discover the highest value of your home.by Neil JenmanREADING TIME: Apx 7 minsAgents love to tell sellers that “auction is the most transparent way to sell a home”.The word ‘transparent’ makes us feel comfortable. It means nothing is hidden from us. It is supposed to make us think a process is fair and […]
HOW DO YOU BUY YOUR FIRST HOME IN 2021?
THESE CRUEL HOUSE PRICES by Neil Jenman READING TIME: 15 mins apx In 1976 I bought my first property. It was a new one-bedroom unit opposite the big Catholic Church in Tranmere Street, Drummoyne. The price was $28,750. I was 21 years old. Always a saver, I had scratched together a deposit of $5,000. I […]
