REAL ESTATE IN 2025

HOW YOU CAN COME OUT ON TOP

by Neil Jenman

Reading time: Apx 7 mins.

Every Australian is involved with real estate; we all live somewhere.

We are owners (either alone or with a lender). We are tenants. Or investors. Sometimes a mix.

As for being active, we are either selling or buying (a home or an investment). Or we are looking to rent. Or doing nothing – except thinking and talking about it.

Whatever your position in the real estate world, this article is written to help you achieve what most Australians never achieve, the best result. Most people who buy, sell, rent or invest in real estate could do a lot better.

There are two reasons that most people don’t get the best result: First, they don’t have enough knowledge. Moving house or investing is not something we do every day. Some people only move home once or twice in a lifetime. Even if we are average (and move 13 times in our lives), most of us lack the knowledge to get the best result for ourselves.

The second reason most people don’t get the best result is misinformation. The real estate world is mostly run by real estate agents. And there’s a reason 95 per cent of agents are not trusted by the Australian public: They are not worth trusting.

And so, if you are going to come out on top in the real estate world in 2025, you need to trust yourself. You need to acquire (at least) the basic knowledge to firstly, protect you from harm and, secondly get you the best result.

Depending on who you are and what you intend to do in 2025, here are some brief ideas (based on years of experience) that should keep you safe and help you to get the best result.

 

BUYING A HOME.

What’s more important to you – the money or the home? Likely both.

But one of the most common mistakes made by home buyers these days is buying above their means. Do you really need a four- or five-bedroom home if it’s just the two of you?

Each night in Australia there are around 13 million empty bedrooms. Someone’s paying for each room. And if you wouldn’t pay for a five-star hotel room every night and leaving it empty, why do it with a family home? Buy within your means. You’ll feel better.

The word ‘sacrifice’ has never meant more when buying a home than it means today. Very few people – especially first home buyers – can buy an ideal home in their favourite location. Often it means buying in an outer-suburb or regional area. What’s most important is to get your foot on the property ladder. And then climb as your affluence climbs, which hopefully it will if you work hard and exercise financial prudence.

Once you’ve found a home you like (or hopefully love) and it’s within your financial means, then you need to try and negotiate the price as low as possible.

Fortunately, for buyers, most agents are hopeless negotiators. It’s not hard to buy homes for less thanks to the incompetence of most agents. You just have to know the right questions to ask. In the book, Real Estate Mistakes, there are a series of questions you can ask that can bring the price tumbling down. Investing in a copy can pay a big return.

 

BUYING AN INVESTMENT.

Many disasters are made by property investors. The Golden Rule is stay away from those ‘wealth creation’ companies; the ones who supposedly help you pay off your home faster, set you up for your retirement and show you how to increase your financial wealth (not). Avoid these companies. You have been warned.

If you want to invest in real estate, buy a normal home in a normal area from a normal agent. Just as if you were buying a family home.

Stay away from blocks of Lego-look-alike apartments. Most people know that Brisbane has been booming massively the past couple of years. What most people don’t know, however, is that many apartment prices in the city and surrounds have fallen hundreds of thousands of dollars. Yes, you don’t hear that sort of news often in this glorious near-Ponzi like real estate world.

And don’t buy after an area has boomed. Buy before the boom comes.

How do you know which places to buy? Those that haven’t boomed yet – provided they have some appealing features. Like Perth a few years ago. And Brisbane before Covid (it’s risen nearly 80% since then).

Look for good cities that have risen the least since Covid – such as Melbourne at 15% (less than half all the other cities in Australia).

Ah, but Melbourne is not popular now.

That’s exactly why it’s worth considering. It’s not only one of the best (if not the best city) in the nation, it’s also one of the best cities in the world. Sure, there are plenty of naysayers sprouting negatives. But that’s the time to consider such places. Melbourne will be back into vogue one day.

 

SELLING A HOME.

Trying to sell a family home in Australia today is like riding the equivalent of real estate’s bucking broncos. Although unlike the rodeos where you only have to hang on for eight seconds, modern home sellers suffer a bucking and bruising ride that can last three to six months. Until, finally, exhausted emotionally, they sell for almost any price – just to relieve their pain.

There are three major costs when selling a home in Australia today.

First, there is the commission (often obscenely absurd). So make sure the agent can justify why you should pay $50,000 – $60,000 in commission for little more than a few (5?) hours work.

Second, there are marketing costs (mostly needless). In almost every country in the world marketing costs are included in the commission. Stand up for yourself. Do not pay or agree to pay marketing costs before your home is sold. And even then, only if such costs can be justified (in your mind).

Third is by the biggest cost of all, the amount by which homes are under-sold. In most cases, most sellers do not realise their homes have been under-sold. As their agents sprout, “They were happy with the price.” Sure, but would they have been as happy if they knew that the buyers were willing to pay another $200,000?

Make sure you sell your home for the highest price the buyers are willing to pay you not just the lowest you are willing to accept.

Nowhere is knowledge – knowing the reasons agents behave as they do – as important as when selling a family home. It’s better to know the negatives of real estate and protect yourself from them than to experience them – and be hurt.

Extensive research (recently completed) has revealed that there are a number of common untruths told by real estate agents. These lies (for want of a more accurate word) are endemic in most real estate systems. Most agents use some or all of them every day. They are known as ‘The 12 Biggest Lies in Real Estate’. You can download a copy by clicking here.

SELLING AN INVESTMENT.

Many sellers feel obligated to sell investment properties with their rental agent. Be careful. The right agent to sell any property is the one who can get the best price without needless costs.

And be careful of advice to have your investment property vacant while it’s being sold. That puts financial pressure on you. Hence you are more likely to accept a lower offer. This may suit the agents, but not the owners.

Instead of asking tenants to vacate, try this: Ask the tenants to co-operate. Offer a reduction in rent while the property is on the market. In return, they agree to co-operate with inspections and keep the property clean and tidy.

Chances are that the property will be bought by another investor which will mean minimum disruption to the tenant.

RENTING A HOME.

Finding a rental property is often the cause of much stress for those in need of a home. As soon as they see the crowds, their hearts sink.

What hope have we got?

Well, you have a great hope – if you follow a few simple rules. One of our most popular articles in 2024 showed tenants how to reduce the hassle of looking for a rental home. Indeed, many people who took the advice offered in the article found a home.

To read this article, click here.

THINKING ABOUT THINGS.

Maybe you’ve got no firm plans for 2025. You’d just like to think about it. If only more consumers would obey those three words – THINK ABOUT IT – before they entered the real estate market, there would be a lot less losses and a lot more gains.

Real estate is essentially about control. Who controls who. In most cases the agents control the sellers. Sellers who have listed their homes are known in the industry as “controlled listings”. This means, no matter what happens, the sellers can’t escape the agent. They are locked-up tight. If they sell to anyone at any time, they must pay the agent. If they decide not to sell, they still must pay thousands of dollars in needless marketing costs. All this is caused because the home sellers give control to the real estate agents.

This is not the way it should be.

As the homeowner you should have control over the sale of your home. The challenge for sellers, however, is that they have no idea how to keep control of the process.

That challenge has been solved with the imminent release (hopefully before Christmas 2024) of a book called How to Control Real Estate Agents. You can order a copy by clicking here.

Finally, always remember: Whatever you do in real estate, be sure to contact Jenman Support before you do it. Our support service is free to consumers. If you by-pass us and go straight to the agent, we both suffer: You will not have the protection we insist agents give to you when you list with them. And we will not be paid a support fee (by the agent) – who is not permitted to increase their commission to pay our fees. At the very least, please contact us first and discover just how much help and support we offer you.

May you have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends. And we surely hope 2025 will be the year you come out on top in many things – especially in your real estate life.

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FOOTNOTE:

NEW BOOK, HOW TO CONTROL REAL ESTATE AGENTS.

Several weeks (months?) ago we offered homeowners who are thinking of selling (and will be using the services of Jenman Support) to contact us for a complimentary copy of my new book; How to Control Real Estate Agents.

Of course, this offer is still available (sorry it’s taken so long to get to publication); however, please understand that we can only afford to give this book to GENUINE homeowners (who plan to contact us in the future before they sell. It’s a trust issue). Plus, you can be assured that using the services of Jenman Support will get you a lot better result than going it alone.

This book, How to Control Real Estate Agents, has taken two years to write, edit and publish. Plus, of course, many more years of research. It will retail in the bookshops and on-line for $24.95. So, please understand why we can only afford to give it to current and future (intending) clients. It’s not for agents (although agents are welcome to buy one – just click here). And please don’t obtain a free copy and sell it on eBay. That’s not right, surely.

Thank you for your understanding.

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