Drop that banana and dream big!

I’ve just spent two days at the Australian Real Estate Conference (AREC) which as conferences go, really delivered on the balance of inspiring and uplifting content combined with great tips and advice for boosting your real estate career.  There were stories of lives lived with incredible courage (Li Cunxin – Mao’s Last Dancer and Tom Panos – tompanos.com.au), stories of redemption and success (Mat Steinwede and Jason Boone) and stories about ordinary people showing extraordinary leadership, with a challenge to live a life of purpose and meaning (Robin Sharma – robinsharma.com).  But the story I want to write about here is the one that turned into a lightbulb moment for me.

When should I take an Offer? Some qns to ask…

I once spent half an hour sobbing my heart out in the shower after my husband and I had accepted an offer on the sale of our house. It freaked David (my husband) out and he wanted to call the agent to cancel the sale (the buyer hadn’t been informed). Once I’d given over to it and cried myself out, I was able to sit back and begin to unpick what was going on for me – it had been a protracted sale and we’d lost the house we’d had a subject sale offer on, we’d realised we couldn’t afford to move to the suburb we wanted to, we’d ended up taking less than what we’d originally hoped for, weren’t sure where we were going to be living etc etc – all pretty normal, but stressful, stuff. Needless to say we ended up taking the offer (a decent one, in hindsight…) found something else (which we love) and have no plans of moving again anytime soon.

Not all properties will sell for what they are worth and it’s the market, not you or the sales rep, that ultimately determines your properties value.

People generally sell property for one of two reasons – the first is positive and is about fulfilling wants – bigger home, better suburb or freeing up some cash for another opportunity, the second is often negative – relationship break-up, being over-extended on the mortgage, or diminished financial and personal circumstances.

Selling your home: Could you benefit from professional styling?

Imagine being at a store holding two identical items of clothing.   On closer examination, you find that one of the items is slightly dirty – what do you do?  What if one of the items had been crumpled up in a clothing bin and the other neatly hung on a rack – which do you buy? What if you saw the item on display and accessorised as part of a complete look? Which do you think would look better – the one on the rack or the one on display?  Which is more likely to catch your eye when you’re shopping? Which might tempt you to spend more than you’d originally planned?

Now translate this experience into buying a home. 

Life learnings: There’s courage, and then there’s courage…

 

Sometimes I think life likes to give you a bit of a reality check – to bite you on the bum and say “Sweetie, you soooo underestimated this ” or “Stop avoiding, start facing!”. There seems to be a bit of this happening to me lately, so I’ve decided I’m going to make sure I learn the lessons life is sending me because I’m stuffed if I want to repeat them.

So it started with me deciding at the start of the year to focus on 3 words, these being: discipline, courage and kindness. (For more on 3 words, visit: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/3words2012/ ) In the last few weeks I’ve quickly come to realize that my initial interpretation of these words, and how I thought they would relate to me, was incredibly narrow. I’ve realized that I never considered how, or even if, they might relate to each other, and I’ve realised that the successful application of 1 may require a substantially larger effort in another.

Take for instance courage.

Confessions of the Couch Kind…

Two of the things I really enjoy about school holidays (bet some of you weren’t expecting that opening line…) is not having to rush about in the mornings to get the kids off to school and spending time just hanging out with my sons at home. As we’re far less strict with screen time during the holidays than we are during the school term, the boys have loved being able to watch early morning TV during the week. Rather than fight it or rush around cleaning and doing jobs, I’ve started joining them on the couch most mornings – at first out of curiosity at what they were watching, but now because I enjoy it – and I think it’s had some unexpected benefits in terms of the quality of our connection and relationship.

Bigger isn’t always better!

At 6:40am on Christmas Eve I arrived 20 minutes early at my Butchers, Mondo’s in Inglewood, in an effort to be at the front of the queue at 7:00am to pick-up my Christmas order. Funny thing was, there was no queue. Having seen people arrive early, and having probably been at work since some ungodly hour that day to get ready for the rush, the staff had already begun to serve the earlybird customers at the pre-order pick-up point at the back of the shop (and were offering customers a sample of farm fresh cherries to boot) and had also opened the retail store for those less organized and/or arriving to stock up on last minute items. Not only did their actions affirm my belief that it’s one of the best retail outlets around for quality and service (and therefore worth the extra money it costs me to shop there), but also illustrated how being a boutique business can (and I want to emphasize the ‘can’ here) enable a business to think outside the square, differentiate itself and be incredibly successful for it.

Hot tips for home buyers

A few weeks ago I opened a home for sale that attracted 26 groups through, about 60 people, at the first viewing. Wary of the current market and wanting to sell prior to Christmas, the sellers and I agreed to take the approach of marketing the property for a price range that we believed would be perceived as good value to our likely target market in order to generate maximum interest (and hopefully achieve a sale), within the first few weeks of the marketing campaign. The strategy worked and the sellers were delighted to accept an offer in the first week of the property being listed.
But here’s the thing – despite the home having high numbers of viewings on the internet, being very well priced and attracting large numbers of people at the first home open, it appeared to me that some of the potential buyers were unable to recognise that it was a good deal and likely to sell quickly because they were too caught up in this notion of a “buyers market”.

Is Vanity Fair the best magazine on the planet?

I think so. Here’s why:

1. It’s value for money. You can’t read it from cover to cover in less than several hours, let alone ten minutes.
2. The content. It’s the perfect blend of gossip, glamour and bloody good journalism.
3. The contributors. They are, to a man and woman, some of the brightest minds and best writers in the world. I may not always agree with what Christopher Hitchens says, but it’s CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS!

Confessions of a Property Tragic

Ever since I was a little girl I’ve been fascinated with homes and architecture. I remember going to display homes as a child with my parents and being engrossed by the different floor plans and designs – it all seemed so fresh, exciting and new. As an adult, who with my husband has gone through the process of building, renovating, buying and selling probably too many times (if there is such a thing?!), I still get excited by attending home opens, visiting display homes, pouring over house plans and shopping for furniture, fixtures and fittings. When travelling I find myself drawn to local architecture, churches, mosques and temples. Barcelona? My version of heaven – although the amazing food and Rioja might have also had something to do with it too.

Hurrah for Raah!

I’m a sucker for a new cafe or restaurant and typically find a way to try one sooner rather than later, hence our visit tonight to one of the newest offerings at the Highgate end of the Beaufort St Strip, Raah, a Middle Eastern influenced restaurant where the selection of mezzes and mains on offer is designed to be shared amongst two or more people.