Why do agents insist on not listing a property at a price?

Respected journalist and well know funny man Mike O`Connor in thie weeks edition (March 2-3 2013) of the Courier mal QWEEKEND lambasts the practice with a story of his own experience and asks the cogent question as to how many buyers walk away in fruestration because they ar enot prpeared to play the real estate game - talk about road rage, this is property range to the max!

The journey began, like so many of life's adventures, in bed. It was Saturday morning, the best time of the week, and I was stretched out with my head propped against the pillows. I'd been downstairs and returned with tea and toast and we were both reading the 'newspapers.

"That's nice," said my partner, an observation I acknowledged with a grunt meant to indicate: "Leave me alone. I'm reading".
"What do you think?" she persisted, so I looked up and saw a photograph of a house. "Very nice," I said and went back to reading."We should have a look," she said. I should have replied: "Never! Madness lies that way", but I was drugged by the bliss of the morning and surrendered too easily.
"Why?" I said, when we pulled-up at the address, "are we looking at a house which is for sale when we have no plans to move?"
"Just curious," she said. - - --
"I suppose there's no harm in looking," I said, words which, along with "Keep reversing. There's plenty of room"- and '1 didn't know you were pregnant", can presage disaster.
It was a very, pleasant house, closer to the city than where we are and with the requisite number of bedrooms. How much? Silly me. No-one puts a price on a house in Brisbane any more. It's like a television-quiz show. You have to guess how much is being asked-. Offer too little and you get the "I think you're looking in the wrong suburb" - look, too much and the agent will tie you to - a chair and run and fetch the owner.
When I've asked the price of properties, I've been told how much the one up the road sold for and how much they got for the one across the street, but never the price being asked for the one in which we are standing. It's a secret between the agent and the owner and is not to be shared with people who might be interested in buying. I presume this is because they know what it's worth but refuse to utter the figure in the hope that someone will come and offer them more.
I wonder how any potential buyers walk away in frustration because they are not prepared to play the great real estate guessing game? If you buy a car it has a price. If you book a hotel room, it has a price. If you buy a suit, you know how much is being asked, but not with houses.
It's irritating but we're on the treadmill now, it one moment of weakness - "it can't hurt to look - --being enough to trigger a low-level addiction to house inspections. You begin thinking that it might actually be-nice to move closer to the city and the new surrounds would somehow be life-changing. Once you've looked at one house, you have to - look at more.
Why? To compare. "But we're not moving," I insist. "But we should know what's around if we do decide to move," she replies.

The Twilight Zone - Sunshine Coast property market March 2013

There is no doubt the market is transitioning from a buyers market to a balanced market as property numbers on the market generally fall below traditional levels & interest rates fall, but many still play to the extremes, we are neither night nor day.
The latter days of 2011/early 2012 with property numbers on market ballooning due to financial pressures &  investor bailout  had the unfortunate result of some very low sale results registering.
Aggressive agency price advertising did & still does play a role in this, as a perusal of advertised copy will show - make an  offer, must sell, seller sacrifices, etc, is all the go. 
Professional agents promote property       features & benefits  to negotiate a realistic result, which is largely not happening today.

Price advertising  helped create a low bar level that buyers took as the norm, and many still do.
Conversely, many sellers are still being     unrealistic in expecting prices way above history, anticipating prices are about to soar .

No wonder many are confused!

This is the time both sellers and buyers need the services of a local expert highly  experienced in marketing & negotiation, to cut through to true value.

Statistics illustrate the recent journey of Mount Coolum house sales.

Note: median averages can be misleading

Source - domain.com.au and RPData

Number of sales are up, values are down, auction clearances  are up, you draw your own conclusions.
It is not the number of sales done, but the real value to the seller that counts.

My record stands as delivering top results to buyers and sellers over an extended period in Mt. Coolum & beyond with   marketing & negotiating skills.

        

 

Laminates ain`t just laminates no more!

 By Geoff Grover – www.geoffgrover.com.auFebruary 2013Another handy property tip from Mr. Mount Coolum Real Estate

High Pressure Laminate (HPL) is a popular choice for benchtops, formed around a thick substrate to make a laminate benchtop, which can deliver profiles from bullnose to more contemporary slab-like stone looks.

The look can be enhanced with a range of finishes from textured to high gloss, plus, a range of edging options offer the flexibility to create a colour matched square-edge without the black line at the join.

Printing technology now makes available a myriad of stylish and contemporary looks in a cost-effective way compared with other benchtop surfaces.
This includes solid colours, woodgrains,  modern abstracts & real stone patterns. Laminex recently released 180fx, which  replicates the striking colour variations,   intricate veining and sophisticated layers of real stone surfaces.

Another new product, Freestyle Curves, is a 100% thermoformable surface which has transforming capabilities & seamless edges
At a product launch it was displayed in a ribbon like format (pictured) to illustrate the flexibility it offers.

When planning that benchtop update, it definitely pays to shop around to check out  new technology.

 Information courtesy of The Laminex Group