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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 […]
BEWARE OF “THE BEST” AGENTS
Most are also the worst agents!by Neil JenmanREADING TIME: 8.5 minutesReal estate agents who describe themselves as “the best” are the worst when it comes to looking after home-sellers.Not all of them, of course. But certainly, most of them. They may sell the most homes, but they rarely sell homes for the most money.According to […]
RIDICULOUS ADVERTISING RIP-OFFS
by Neil JenmanREADING TIME: 5 mins apxIf you are selling a home and an agent is asking you to pay money up-front for “marketing costs,” here’s a message for you: Don’t pay. Find a better agent.It is ridiculous how agents are scamming so many home-sellers. Well over a billion dollars a year is now “spent” […]
THE ‘BUCKS’ BEHIND ‘THE BLOCK’
How to learn to sell for a “blown-away” price!by Neil JenmanReading time: Apx 15 minsIf you watched the final of the 2021 season of Channel 9’s top-rating show, The Block, here’s what you would have seen.Five couples had worked hard over twelve gruelling weeks, building, and renovating five different homes in the Melbourne suburb of […]
THE ‘RULES’ OF REAL ESTATE INVESTING
Break them at your great peril!by Neil JenmanReading Time: 5 mins apxThis morning something unusual happened to me. I saw a property on-line that, in my opinion might be a great investment.I texted some of my phone contacts.Here is what I wrote: “This is something that is seriously worth consideration – now. If someone could do […]
THE REAL ESTATE BOOK
It shows you how to find the best agents.by Neil JenmanReading Time: 5 mins apxA Sydney agent who once sold my former family home has just written a book.And I am glad he’s done so.He did a good job selling my home and he’s done a good job writing this book.The agent’s name is Russell […]
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 […]
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 […]
HOW TO ‘STAGE’ YOUR HOME
The atmosphere of your personal touch.by Neil JenmanREADING TIME: 3.5 minutes apxThese days, many home sellers are paying thousands of dollars to ‘STAGE’ their homes.But is this money necessary? Does it increase the selling price?Well, sometimes, perhaps.But, before you consider handing over a few thousand dollars to a staging company, why not see if you […]
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 […]
ANOTHER AUCTION TRAP
by Neil Jenman Reading time: apx 3 minutes All auction agents under-sell properties. They can’t help it because public auction is the worst way to sell any property. To be sure, many of these agents are more incompetent than dishonest. At best, they are aware that auctions under-sell properties, but they shrug and say, […]
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 […]
FOREIGN AGENTS CAN GET BETTER PRICES
by Neil Jenman READING TIME: Apx 3 minutes It is one of the most beautiful homes you will ever see. It’s set on eight sprawling acres with a circular driveway leading to a grand entrance. It looks like a magnificent mansion from a bygone era. Until you see the sparkling swimming pools. Yes, two of […]
PITY TODAY’S BUYERS
8 TIPS TO EASE THE PAIN OF BUYINGby Neil JenmanReading time: Apx 8 minutesIf it really is the best time in years to be selling a property then surely, it must follow, that the opposite applies: It must be the worst time to buy.Certainly, in many areas, prices have never been higher. And yes, prices […]
DON’T DEAL WITH DODGY
Listen to your instinct not the sales pitch.by Neil JenmanREADING TIME: Apx 7.5 minsIf I could only give you one piece of advice about selling your home, it would be this:NEVER HIRE A DODGY AGENT.Dodgy agents cause you no end of trouble.Especially after you hire them.Before you sign-up, you’ll think that having this well-known agent […]
THE SELLING SECRET YOU NEVER TELL
by Neil JenmanReading time: apx 4 minsIf you want to sell a property for the best price, there is one secret you must never tell.If you reveal this secret, it can cost you thousands of dollars.No matter what your home is worth, nothing lowers its value more than telling this secret, especially to agents.This secret […]
