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With all the renovation shows on television there’s currently a lot of interest in buy, renovate and sell projects.  Here’s a real example of why would-be renovators should consider a buy, renovate and hold strategy rather than choosing to sell off their asset.
 
Property summary:
 
Location: <a href="https://www.urban.com.au/property-observer" target="_blank">Cremorne</a>, Sydney
Property type: Three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment 
A three bedroom apartment was purchased in <city><place>Sydney</place></city>’s <place><placename>North</placename><placetype>Shore</placetype></place> in original condition. The property boasted <place><placename>Sydney</placename><placename>Harbour</placename></place> views from the kitchen, lounge and dining rooms. 
The apartment was gutted with walls removed between the kitchen and dining and lounge rooms. This opened up the living space and increased the natural light in the apartment. A false ceiling and down lighting were added to the kitchen to define the space. 
Both bathrooms were gutted and redone from scratch. A brand new kitchen was installed complete with a washer/dryer in a cupboard, allowing the tenants to do their laundry without leaving the apartment. The renovation was completed with new paint, blinds and light fittings over a six week period. 
The numbers:
<ul>
<li>Purchase price: $805,000</li>
<li>Post renovation value: $1,025,000</li>
<li>Total added equity: $220,000</li>
<li>Renovation costs: $101,500 (includes project management fees and holding costs)</li>
<li>Manufactured equity: $118,500</li>
<li>Pre renovation rent: Estimated $675 per week (owner-occupied at time of purchase)</li>
<li>Post renovation rent: $850 per week</li>
</ul>
After renovation the owner had the option to hold onto the property as an investment or sell the property and pocket any profit.  Both options are examined below using the figures from this real example.
 
Renovate and hold:
The benefits of holding onto this property after renovation are twofold.  Firstly, the increased equity of $118,500 can be used as security to borrow against to buy another property or invest elsewhere. 
Secondly this renovate and hold strategy example resulted in an increased rental rate of $175 per week.  This rental increase ($9,100 per annum) more than covers the interest cost of the funds required to undertake the renovation ($101,500 x 7% = $7,105 per annum). In this example the renovation increased the return on investment both in capital value and cashflow. 
It’s important to note that under a buy and hold strategy the purchasing costs are apportioned over the period the property is held and are only realised upon the sale of the property.
 
Renovate and sell:
Most people who undertake a buy, renovate and sell project complete the transaction within a 12-month period.  Therefore they receive no tax concessions on the profit unlike the owner who chooses to hold the property for more than 12 months. 
Under this strategy, the owner must account for the buying and selling costs as the asset is being realised with the major expenses in this example totalling $65,971 as outlined below:
<ul>
<li>Marketing - $1,500 (web, signboard, floor plan, brochures) </li>
<li>Selling fees - $22,550 (2.2%)</li>
<li>Stamp duty - $41,921 </li>
</ul>
After costs the owner is left with a profit of $52,529 which is then taxed at their marginal tax rate resulting in a modest return for the work invested.
 
The final word:
The example above illustrates the difficulty in making a reasonable profit when undertaking a buy, renovate and sell project in comparison to the financial gain and flexibility provided under a buy, renovate and hold strategy. 
Patrick Bright is a real estate author and founder of Sydney-based buyer’s agency <a href="https://%20www.epspropertysearch.com.au" target="_blank">EPS Property Search</a>. Bright has purchased over $500 million worth of real estate for clients. His best-selling titles include The Insider’s Guide to Buying Real Estate, The Insider’s Guide to Saving Thousands at Auction and The Insider’s Guide to Profitable Property Investing.  
For expert commentary and analysis on lessons to be learnt from property reality TV, <a target="_blank" href="https://register.propertyobserver.com.au/lights-camera-auction/">download our e-book Lights, Camera, Auction!</a> 
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After you renovate, sell or hold? A case study

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The secret to renovating for profit is in selecting the right property, conducting thorough research and having a good plan. 
It is important that the type of renovation projects you attempt is in line with your level of knowledge, skills and tradespeople contacts. 
There are literally hundreds of improvements, big and small, that you could do to increase the value of their property. 
By using some common sense I believe most people can handle a basic rejuvenation without too many dramas. 
The trick is to add more value than the actual cost of the improvements. 
This is my seven-step plan to renovate properties for profit: 
Step 1: Understand the renovation profit formula 
In simple terms the renovation formula is: Your renovation profits margin equals the renovated value of the property minus the purchase price and total renovation costs.
Once you understand the theory you’ll see where the profits lie. The formula is like the filter through which you view a property. 
Step 2: Work out how much you can afford
 
You need to have enough saved to cover the three major costs of renovating: the cost of buying the property, the cost of renovating the property and the selling costs or the ongoing costs to hold the property. 
Step 3: Target the right type of property 
Match your risk profile to the right type of property. Before buying a property to renovate it is important to consider your risk profile carefully, including how comfortable you are with the possibility of losing money, or that the return on investment may not be as high as you had hoped for. If you’re new to property investing and/or you’ve never renovated a property before, I recommend you cut your teeth on a simple project. Start off with an apartment – it’s better to start small to minimise your risks. 
Step 4: Market research and preparation
 
This involves identifying suburbs with the greatest profit potential, researching property values, brushing up on design and decorating, and selecting a team of quality tradespeople. 
Step 5: Select the right property type
Look for a property with the maximum profit potential. Your first consideration here should be the condition of the property. Search for something rundown, but not totally derelict. 
Step 6: Pay the right price 
Work out the maximum you can afford to pay and still make a healthy profit. One of the fundamentals of renovating for profit is that you buy well. I always begin with the end in mind, by that I mean I work out what the post-renovated value will be, the costs to get it in that state, calculate the holding costs, decide on the amount of profit I want to make then I know my maximum purchase price. 
Step 7: Get the work done on time and within your  budget 
Avoid profit-shrinking cost overruns and delays. Make sure you use a spread sheet to
schedule the works. You need to ensure all the tradespeople do their work in the right sequence. Always add a buffer of a day or so around each tradesperson. This gives you wiggle room if there are delays.
Patrick Bright is a real estate author and founder of Sydney-based buyer’s agency <a href="https://%20www.epspropertysearch.com.au" target="_blank">EPS Property Search</a>. Bright has purchased over $500 million worth of real estate for clients. His best-selling titles include The Insider’s Guide to Buying Real Estate, The Insider’s Guide to Saving Thousands at Auction and The Insider’s Guide to Profitable Property Investing. 
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The seven-step plan for renovating in the new year

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Over the years I’ve noticed several common traps that renovators fall into. From not conducting enough comparable market research to thinking you have to do all the renovation work yourself in order to make a profit. There are numerous pitfalls that can eat into your bottom line and destroy your confidence. Here are the top six mistakes to avoid.
1.   Not doing enough research
I can’t overemphasise the importance of undertaking comprehensive research because it’s fundamental to each and every step of the renovating for profit process. When you boil it down, every one of the following mistakes can be avoided by doing research.
The vast majority of the effort involved in renovating for profit is research and preparation, but so often I see people rushing in, thinking they know it all, and ending up with a disappointing result. If you don’t take the time to cost your renovation accurately, you could end up with a half-renovated property and no money to finish it. If you don’t do enough comparable market research you could overestimate the value of the property post renovation and get a nasty shock when you go to sell.
Renovating for profit requires time, effort and dedication. The time and effort you put into research will ultimately determine the amount of profit you make.
2.   Paying too much for the property
The purchase price has a direct impact on your profit margin. Every dollar you negotiate the purchase price below your maximum is another dollar of profit for you. However if you set your maximum purchase price too high (because you didn’t do enough research to understand fair market value), or you exceed it (because, for example, you lost self-control bidding at an auction), your profit will suffer.
Purchasing at the right price to ensure you make a profit comes down to knowing market values and negotiating well. All too often I see property investors taking short cuts on the research and market analysis and not bothering to hone their negotiation skills. In the end they pay too much, don’t end up making a profit and don’t maximise the return on their investment. Remember if you’re not experienced at something (for example, tiling) then outsource it!
3.   Not renovating for the target market
If you’re renovating your own home it’s all about pleasing yourself, however when you’re renovating for profit it’s about appealing to the target market, i.e. tenants and buyers. Unfortunately many people get this wrong. They let their “know it all” attitude get in the way and decide what they like is best for everybody.
How many times have you walked into a property for sale and been appalled by the décor? I can assure you it happens to me all the time. Anyone who wants to buy such a property will reduce their offer by the amount they’ll have to pay to have the place redecorated to their taste. So you can see how getting the décor wrong can easily erode a renovator’s profit.
It’s always safer to go for a conservative, neutral but classy décor that’s appropriate to the local market and will appeal to the masses, not the few. If you’re not sure how to achieve that result, get professional advice from an interior designer. I’ve always found this kind of advice a very worthwhile investment.
4.   Over (or under) capitalising
When you’re renovating for profit, adding value is the name of the game. Unfortunately you can’t add unlimited value to a property because there is a limit as to what the market will pay for say a four-bedroom, two-bathroom, double lock-up garage house. Once a home has reached its ceiling price for the accommodation it offers, buyers will not pay more. It doesn’t matter how much Italian marble, state-of-the art electronics and gold-leaf ceilings you put in it.
I know I’m sounding like a broken record here, but it all comes back to your research. When you’re undertaking comparable market analysis you need to establish the ceiling price of fully renovated properties that are similar to the ones you’re targeting. To avoid overcapitalising, prioritise your expenditure on improvements that will add the most value. Be mindful of the price ceiling and resist the temptation to overspend.
It’s also possible to go the other way and under-capitalise on a renovation. This usually happens when you’re trying to save money. For example, you put in a cheaper kitchen with laminate benchtops but the target market prefers a much higher-quality kitchen with CaesarStone benchtops and European branded appliances.
So they lower their offers to take into account the cost of re-doing the kitchen to what it should be for a property of its style, position and character or they dismiss the property from consideration altogether because renovating is too much of a hassle for them. Either way, it’s bad news for you.
If you don’t have the budget to renovate a property to the standard the target market expects then it’s better to set your sights on a more affordable property that you can renovate properly. Otherwise wait until you’ve saved more money.
5.   Relying on the sales agent’s opinion about renovated value
Here’s another reason why you have to research the prices of renovated properties for yourself. You can’t rely on selling agents to give you an accurate estimate of the renovated value of a property. If you ask them what a property would be worth when it’s renovated they’re more than likely going to give you a very optimistic estimate.
Why would they do this? Well, apart from the fact that it’s in their nature to be very bullish with sale prices as no one wants to list their property for sale with a pessimist, it’s also in their vendor’s financial interest. They want to paint the property in the best possible light to encourage you to make an offer on it. The other problem is it’s also an unqualified estimate as they may interpret what you intend to do with the property as more high end than you actually intend to do.
6.   Doing the work yourself to “save money”
If your budget is small there’s always a temptation to do some or all of the work yourself to save money but DIY renovations can easily backfire. If the quality of workmanship is substandard this will diminish your sale price, possibly eliminating any profit you might have made in much the same way as under-capitalising on a renovation.
It’s also a false economy. You might save a few bucks on the cost of the renovation, but how much is your time worth? The time it takes you to paint walls and sand floors could be better spent looking for another deal. Plus, the longer it takes you to renovate, the more you’ll pay in holding costs. Why not just hire professionals to do all the work? Especially since you can still make a healthy profit without picking up a paint brush.
Patrick Bright is a real estate author and founder of Sydney-based buyer’s agency <a href="https://www.epspropertysearch.com.au" target="_blank">EPS Property Search</a>. Bright has purchased over $500 million worth of real estate for clients. His best-selling titles include The Insider’s Guide to Buying Real Estate, The Insider’s Guide to Saving Thousands at Auction, The Insider’s Guide to Profitable Property Investing and The Insider's Guide to Renovating for Profit. This is an excerpt from The Insider's Guide to Renovating for Profit.
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The top six profit-killing mistakes to avoid when renovating

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Renovating residential investment property is a great way of building wealth quickly. It’s a relatively low-risk strategy if executed correctly and will allow you to manufacture capital value and increase rental returns without relying solely on market conditions. 

Back in 1999 a friend of mine wanted to sell a house his parents left him when they passed away. Since he knew that I knew a bit about real estate he asked for my help. The house had been neglected for 18 months and was in very poor condition. A few local real estate agents gave him valuations ranging between $320,000 and $340,000.

I did a little research and was confident my friend could get more if he tidied up the house but he couldn’t be bothered and just wanted to sell it as it was. So we made a deal. I would fix up the house and when he sold it we would split whatever profit we made, based on the average of the initial valuations less the renovation costs. So I got stuck into it, working 12 hours a day for a week.

I cleared out all the junk, filling two jumbo skip bins. I had the floors sanded and polished and touched up the interior paintwork. I tidied up the gardens, trimmed some trees that were overhanging the roof, had some stumps removed and put bark on the garden beds. I washed the outside of the house and touched up the paintwork, replaced the cracked roof tiles, cleaned the gutters and painted them as well as the eaves.

The cost of the makeover was just over $10,000 plus my labour. Only two weeks after their initial valuation, we asked two of the original selling agents (plus another one) for a fresh valuation. They all valued the house between $390,000 and $410,000. It sold for $395,000. So for an outlay of around $10,000 plus one week of my labour we had increased the value of the house by $65,000.

In essence, I had converted a little imagination and one week of my time into $27,500, which I used – yes, you guessed it – to buy some property to renovate. Now that you can see what’s possible, here are my top three reasons why renovating residential property is one of the best investment strategies:

1. It’s easy to understand

With the popularity of shows like The Block and The Renovators, most people are familiar with the concept of property renovation and how it can increase the value of a property. Because people already understand how it works, they don’t have to struggle with the basics and can get on with practising their skills and developing their techniques.

2. You’re in control

How much control do you have over the performance of shares you buy? Unless you own a big enough chunk of shares in a company to get yourself a seat on the board, very little. The board of directors can make bad, negligent or straight-out criminal decisions, wiping significant value off your shares, and apart from selling your shares and investing elsewhere as a sign of protest, there’s not much you can do about it.

However, with property renovation you’re in the driver’s seat. Maximum return comes from a property when it’s improved to its “highest and best use” for its tenants and buyers. Because you make all the decisions, you can be proactive to ensure the property reaches its highest and best use.

You don’t have to quit your day job, but renovating can become a full-time career if you want it to. You can potentially make more money in less time than you’re earning now.

3. You can “manufacture” capital growth

If you buy a parcel of shares is there anything you can do to add value to them? No. You can add value to a business but unless you’re a naturally gifted entrepreneur, growing a business is hard work. It usually takes a significant commitment of time, money and emotional energy and according to some reports and business books I have read you have an 80% chance of going out of business within the first five years.

In comparison, adding value to an investment property is relatively simple if you know what you are doing. You add value by taking a structurally sound but run-down property and smartening it up, making it more desirable, and thus more valuable, to renters and buyers.

You can give it a coat of paint and tidy up the garden. Or replace all the doorknobs, build a barbecue, replace the carpet or polish the floorboards. There are literally hundreds of improvements, big and small, that you can do to increase the value. The trick is to add more value than the actual cost of the improvements.

By doing creative, cost-effective cosmetic renovations you can “manufacture” capital growth. Rather than just sitting back and waiting for the market to deliver capital growth over time, you accelerate the process by manufacturing capital growth with a renovation. This allows you to build wealth faster than relying solely on market increases.

As an added bonus, renovating can also increase your cashflow via the higher rent you can achieve for the renovated property. So you have two ways to profit: capital growth and increased cashflow. If you’re clever about it, the increased rental income you generate can cover the costs of financing the renovation. This means you can achieve the capital gain without putting in any of your own money.

In summary, renovating is a solid approach for building wealth which is less reliant on outside factors which are beyond your control. The only limit is your imagination. I firmly believe that building wealth through renovating residential property is a skill that can be learnt by just about anyone.

If you don’t include renovating as part of your property investment strategy then you’re probably not maximising your potential returns. You can use it to fast-track the growth of your portfolio, create an additional income stream, or a combination of the two.

My definition of renovation

When I refer to renovation I’m talking about cosmetic rejuvenation. I’m not talking about buying derelict property and making it liveable again, restoring period homes or fixing major structural defects. What we’re doing is taking a structurally sound but messy property, smartening it up and adding the “wow factor” on a limited budget.

The type of renovation projects you attempt should be in line with your level of knowledge, skills and tradespeople contacts. By using some common sense I believe most people can handle a basic rejuvenation without too many dramas.

My seven-step plan for renovating for profit

The secret to success in anything you do is having a good plan, conducting your research and working smartly. To get you started I want to introduce my proven seven-step plan that I use to renovate properties for profit, for myself and my clients:

Step 1: Understand the renovation profit formula – once you understand the theory you’ll see where the profits lie.

Step 2: Work out how much you can afford – you need enough in the kitty to cover the three major costs of renovating.

Step 3: Target the right property type – match your risk profile to the right type of property.

Step 4: Market research and preparation – it all comes down to the all-important research.

Step 5: Select the right property to buy – how to spot a property with the maximum profit potential.

Step 6: Pay the right price – how to work out the maximum you can afford to pay and still make a healthy profit.

Step 7: Get the work done on time and budget – avoid profit-shrinking cost overruns and delays.
Patrick Bright is a real estate author and founder of Sydney-based buyer’s agency <a target="_blank" href="https://%20www.epspropertysearch.com.au">EPS Property Search</a>. Bright has purchased over $500 million worth of real estate for clients. His best-selling titles include The Insider’s Guide to Buying Real Estate, The Insider’s Guide to Saving Thousands at Auction, The Insider’s Guide to Profitable Property Investing and The Insider's Guide to Renovating for Profit. This is an excerpt from The Insider's Guide to Renovating for Profit. 
For expert commentary and analysis on lessons to be learnt from property reality TV, <a href="https://register.propertyobserver.com.au/lights-camera-auction/" target="_blank">download our e-book Lights, Camera, Auction!</a>
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Three reasons you should renovate for profit

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Property Observer has written a great article on listing website <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/residential/unders-and-overs-apm-s-askew-market-price-estimates-upsetting-domain-agents-listings-aplenty/2013021359339" target="_blank">Domain's new property price estimates</a> that highlights several of the pitfalls of relying on data reports.
Some good points have been made, including: "APM stresses the figure does not take into account the potential impact of external influences such as a change in economic conditions, future planned infrastructure and environmental conditions."
This is exactly right, and I don't know of any other data reports that do.  The reports also don’t take into account the shape of the block or the slope of the block. If the house is at the front, back or middle of the block.
It doesn’t state whether the property is on the high side or low side of the street and how much natural light it gets.  Other unanswered questions include: what does the floor plan/layout look like? How about the size of the bedrooms, bathrooms, lounge, dining or kitchen, all of which will have a significant impact on price?
They also fail to take into consideration the internal condition of a property. For example: is it renovated, partly renovated or unrenovated, and if renovated, has it been done properly or has it been renovated by a DIY Bunnings weekend warrior?
Another thing the valuation tool doesn't take into account is privacy. Are any of the bedrooms or living spaces looked in on by neighbours? How about the backyard or pool area? If there’s a view is it a big view or a small one? What material is the home constructed out of – brick, fibro or timber?  The list goes on, and from my decades of experience in the building and real estate industry these variables that data reports don't take into account can impact a price by easily 20% or more. By the way, this is not unique to an APM report or market price guide, as they are often referred to. I am yet to see any automated property data report that can do what a real person can do.
Here’s another quote of interest: "Market price estimate reports are typically bought by buyers seeking some price guidance,"
Yes, they are and people who rely on them are likely to either pay too much or be putting in an offer that has little resemblance to fair value so they will more than likely miss out.
The really interesting/scary thing is that most valuers rely on data services just like APM to assist them in conducting their valuations.
Sure, because there is a human element added to the valuation report they can and do dismiss properties that obviously shouldn't be included in formulating the price estimate provided it’s not a "desktop valuation" and they actually got in their car and drove by some of the properties they used in the valuation report. However, given they can't inspect inside or see out the back of the properties used as comparables in their report they are still likely to be quite a bit out. There are not too many valuation reports I have seen over the past decade that I would have been happy to have relied upon.
I think the last four paragraphs pretty much sum it up: “Property Observer conducted a survey in April last year that concluded that buyers and sellers placing belief in free online web price estimates when estimating envisaged house price values are more often than not being misdirected – with serious over- and under-estimating being given.
"A survey of weekend auction results across Sydney and Melbourne showed estimates by real estate portal OnTheHouse.com.au were askew 67% of the time.
"Of the 80 auction results analysed, 54 estimate were incorrect, with some actual sale prices up to  55% off the pre-auction valuation range given by OnTheHouse.com.au.
"Just 26 sales actually fell within the wide estimate band."
I believe property data reports are helpful when you actually know and have seen inside or out the back of some if not all of the properties mentioned in the report so you can benchmark them against the target property. If not, they can be quite confusing and misleading. This is why you should listen to an experienced real estate agent, be they a selling agent or buyers' agent, as they will have been in many of the properties that are noted on such reports. With their experience they can help you determine whether the property you are either selling or buying is a good comparable and if it is actually superior or inferior (and in what way) to the ones mentioned in such a data report.
Should you rely on property data reports? I wouldn't.
 
Patrick Bright is a real estate author and founder of Sydney-based buyer’s agency <a target="_blank" href="https://%20www.epspropertysearch.com.au">EPS Property Search</a>. Bright has purchased over $500 million worth of real estate for clients. His best-selling titles include The Insider’s Guide to Buying Real Estate, The Insider’s Guide to Saving Thousands at Auction and The Insider’s Guide to Profitable Property Investing. 
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Why you should not rely on property data reports

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"How much should I pay?" is probably one of the most difficult questions for investors and in particular home buyers to answer. Everyone wants to get the best deal when they buy. But how do you know what a good deal is? Before you can decide whether you're getting a bargain or not you need to do some research to work out the market value of the property. Comparative market analysis is extremely powerful when you're trying to negotiate the best-possible price.
Inspect 100 comparable homes
When I started in real estate as a selling agent I didn't really have a clue what homes in the area were worth. The owner of the real estate office said to me, "Patrick, you need to learn what the market value is of homes in the area. I want you to go out and see as many properties as you can in the next few weeks". He told me I had to inspect each home and document all its relevant features. I decided that I was going to inspect 100 properties and so I pretended to be a home buyer for about four weeks. I covered four or five suburbs, looked at a little over 100 properties and took notes on each one. I wrote down the asking price and what I thought they were worth and followed them up after they'd been sold. I attended lots of auctions as well. By the end of that month I had a pretty good idea of what the market was doing and how much property in the area was worth.
"Go out and learn what the market value is" was the best damn advice I was ever given to assess value, and it's the best damn advice I can give you. It's the best way for you to learn what properties are worth. If I, or one of my team, is looking for a property for a client we still do the legwork and inspect around 100 properties. I've purchased properties all over Sydney, in different states of Australia and across all price ranges, and I always stick to this formula. You could drop me anywhere in the world, give me enough time to inspect 100 properties, and I can assure you that I won't be paying retail when I buy.
Set aside some time and start inspecting properties in your top three suburbs that match your wish list. A comparative market analysis compares homes that are similar in size, configuration, condition, and location. They have to be in your price range too. Remember, you're looking to compare apples with apples.
I find a lot of people are looking over such a wide area and range of homes and they think they understand market prices. They don't! You've got to focus on properties that are as close as possible to your wish list because there's no point in looking at $850,000 homes if your price range only goes up to $650,000. If a three-bedroom townhouse is on your wish list, that's what you're looking for. Not two-bedroom cottages or four-bedroom apartments.
Why do I suggest that you have to look at 100 properties? Well, if you only inspect 50 you're probably not well enough informed. From my experience 100 properties is enough for the average person to be on the ball about comparable prices. If you looked at 150 I don't think you would be that much better informed.
There's no denying it, inspecting 100 properties is a lot of work. If you make a concerted effort you can probably complete it in six to eight weeks (less than two months).
You've got to be disciplined and stick with it because inevitably you'll fall in love with the twentieth property you look at. Remember, in the early stages you're looking for research purposes, not to buy (we'll get to the buying stage later). If you go ahead and buy now then you can't be sure you're paying the right price or that you have seen enough to know what's really out there that may be suitable because you haven't looked at enough comparables to determine fair market value.
So don't stop until you've seen 100 homes. As you view each home make a note of the important features and put your price on the property. When you follow up with the selling agent to see how much it sold for you can see how accurate your valuations are. Over time you'll develop a gut feel for what property in your search area and price range is worth.
After you've inspected 100 homes you'll have gathered a lot of local knowledge that will help you value homes in your chosen area. For example, small differences in location can create significant differences in price. Every suburb has several streets where the price for a very similar home can differ by as much as 10% or even 20%. Sometimes these streets are cut in two by a suburb boundary line or a main road. People will pay substantially more to live in a property 100 metres up the road in order to have a more prestigious post code or street address.
Sometimes the price difference happens for a number of not so obvious reasons. For example, one side of the road provides greater access to schools, local shops, the bus stop, etc. How are you going to know about this type of important area-specific information before you buy unless you do your research and become an area expert yourself (or hire an experienced buyer's agent like me)?
 
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You'll know as much as the selling agents
A lot of people assume real estate agents are experts in valuation. They're not. They generally know the values in their particular service area because they sell a lot of property there but that doesn't necessarily mean that they know prices in every area and every price bracket.
Selling agents are scattered all over town, but each one only services a small area, which is usually about a three to four-kilometre radius – five kilometres at best – from their office. So if you take an agent from the inner Sydney suburb of say Surry Hills, and put them over the other side of the Harbour Bridge just 10 minutes drive and eight kilometres away in harbourside Mosman, do you think they know what the current home prices are there? They haven't got a clue. They are what I call an "out-of-area agent" and can often be the best agents to negotiate with as they're much easier to influence. I'll talk more on that later.
Selling agents also list properties for sale in a wide price range. Recently when I was looking at a property I met the agent as he was running from one open inspection to another. He had his name on properties from $400,000 up to $3 million. Is he an expert at valuing $400,000 properties? Probably not. Is he an expert at $3 million properties? Probably not.
Selling agents are what I call "price-guide generalists". That's often why many want to auction properties, as they don't know what the property is really worth. Ever been to an open home and said to an agent “what are the owners looking for?” The answer is often quite non-committal. They'll say something like buyer feedback is between $500,000 and $600,000 or bidding is expected to start from $550,000, and it sells for $700,000. Or you read in the paper that the property was passed in below what they were quoting you or sold for $80,000 above reserve. Yes they might be underquoting to you however its often partly because the agent was guessing a bit and so was the vendor, and the vendor was relying on the agent for feedback and a price guide when setting the reserve.
However, if you're inspecting only three-bedroom townhouses in the $600,000 to $750,000 price range, you will become an expert on that particular type of property in that area at that time. If you inspect 100 comparable homes you will know as much, if not more, than most of the selling agents in the area on your preferred type of property.
As I go through properties I get a lot of the selling agents asking me, "Patrick, what do you think this is worth? Is it priced right?" And why do they ask me? Because they know I'm looking at dozens and dozens of properties that compare to the one they're selling and I know what the current fair market value is.
Knowledge is power
Your comparable market analysis is a huge asset when it comes to negotiating a price for your home. Knowledge is power, so become knowledgeable. When you've done your research you'll be able to assess the fair market value and know how much you should pay to get a good deal. You'll also know what a sensible maximum bid is at auction. When a selling agent tells you they think a home is worth some outrageous price you can tell them "Good luck".
I see people pay over and above fair market value all the time. If you've done your research it won't happen to you. People also often buy well below fair market value and you'll be able to spot the bargains too, provided you've done your research.
<img style="margin: 5px; float: left;" alt="insiders" height="233" width="150" src="/images/stories/2012/12/insiders.jpg">
Patrick Bright is a real estate author and founder of Sydney-based buyer’s agency <a target="_blank" href="https://%20www.epspropertysearch.com.au">EPS Property Search</a>. Bright has purchased over $500 million worth of real estate for clients. His best-selling titles include The Insider’s Guide to Buying Real Estate, The Insider’s Guide to Saving Thousands at Auction and The Insider’s Guide to Profitable Property Investing. This is an excerpt from <a href="https://www.propertybooks.com.au/the_insider's_guide_to_buying_real_estate" target="_blank">The Insider’s Guide to Buying Real Estate</a>, second edition
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How to determine a property's true value: Patrick Bright

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There are really only three reasons why a property doesn’t sell. There is something wrong with it that’s difficult and expensive to fix, the selling agent they have chosen is pretty ordinary or it’s way overpriced for what it offer.
Many people believe that if a property has been on the market a long time thenthere’s probably something wrong with it.
However, the most common reason why a property has not sold is because it’soverpriced.
When a property is overpriced it often takes the sales agent several weeks, sometimes several months, to adjust the vendor’s expectations down to fair market value. By the time they do this, the market perception of that property is that it’s a lemon.
Buying overpriced properties after they have been listed for sale for a long time is often where we get some of the best genuine bargains. The vendors are usually over the stress, open homes and sales process and if you deploy good negotiation tactics at the right time you can get some great deals.
In many of these instances, there have been no offers at all which significantly reduces the buying competition for you.
Alternatively if you find out that the seller has turned down multiple offers for less money, then it might simply come down to a matter of timing. Next time you see a property that’s been on the market for a couple of months or even longer, don’t automatically ignore it as many people do.
If it meets your needs, and the building and pest inspection checks out, then youmight even be able to buy it below market value.
Patrick Bright is a Sydney-based <a target="_blank" href="https://www.epspropertysearch.com.au/patrick-bright">buyer’s agent and the author</a> of four real estate books in his ‘Insider’s Guide’ series. 
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Bargain can be found in overpriced properties: Patrick Bright

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I was speaking with a finance broker last week and he was telling me a story about one of his clients who purchased a property for $661,000.
Ok, so there’s nothing unusual about that but here's where it gets interesting.The finance broker knew the area as he lived close by and thought that $661,000 was a lot for a two bedroom apartment in that location so it must be something special. As per standard practice the bank ordered a valuation which came in at $661,000 (the purchase price). This surprised him as he was sure the valuation was going to come in well below that figure. 
In sharing the story with a co-worker, they discovered that a different client had asked the co-worker to help them with a re-finance against a two bedroom apartment that they owned in the same street. As it turned out it was the same property and the valuation came in at $500,000. The co-worker added that the valuation figure wasn't enough for his clients to draw down enough cash to do what they wanted to and so they decided to sell the property.
The vendor appointed a sales agent and the property was listed as offers over $620,000 but they were hoping to sell for at least $600,000. We now know the sales agent managed to get $661,000 out of the buyer which was well over what even the sales agent thought the property would achieve (clearly the buyer didn't do much if any research as not many properties sell for more than what a sales agents tells you is achievable).
If that wasn't scary enough it gets worse as both the seller and the buyer were dealing with the same major bank! So the valuation was ordered by the same bank on both occasions and was quite possibly done by the same firm (one would assume if the same firm at least a different person within that firm).
So the question I would like an answer to is: How do two valuers come up with such a staggeringly different result only eight weeks apart on a two-bedroom apartment with no view or any other emotional features that could affect the value?
Well as a manager of national valuation firm said to me only a few weeks ago when I shared with him several other valuation "please explain" stories like this one: "When the banks only pay you around $250 dollars for each valuation and you need to do 6-8 a day to be profitable there is only so much effort you can put in... in fact it’s not often we physically have time to inspect the properties as given the time constraints most of the time we just drive by the property or use google earth to make sure it exists!”
Sure a valuation is a wise thing to obtain if you’re unsure on a property’s value particularly if you’re buying in an area you’re not highly familiar with however it’s only helpful if it’s done properly.
Here’s a hint - you are likely to get what you pay for. And here’s a tip - do some serious research or hire someone who will as it’s likely to save you tens of thousands of dollars.
 
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Patrick Bright is the founder of Sydney-based buyer’s agency <a rel="nofollow" href="https://%20www.epspropertysearch.com.au/" target="_blank">EPS Property Search</a>.
Patrick is the author of four best-selling real estate books known as “The Insider’s Guide to Buying Real Estate Series.”
This article first appeared on <a href="https://www.epspropertysearch.com.au">www.epspropertysearch.com.au</a>
 
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Why do some valuers get it so wrong? Patrick Bright 

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Put simply, the federal government’s policy on foreign investment is pushing properties out of the reach of Australians.  
Under existing laws, developers are able to sell 100% of their developments to non-residents.
The knock-on effect has seen some developers almost exclusively marketing properties to foreign buyers who have deeper pockets than Australia’s first home buyers.  If the rules didn’t dictate that they need to also locally market then they most likely wouldn’t bother, as very few locals will pay the prices they can command from foreigners who are keen to get their money out of their home country and into Australia.
Prior to 2009, developers were only allowed to sell up to 50% to non-residents. Personally I thought that 50% was more than double what it should have been as that sizable percentage is enough to skew the local market value of a development.  But in an attempt to stimulate the construction market, the then Rudd Government relaxed the laws allowing 100% of new developments to be sold to foreigners in what I regard as a knee-jerk reaction to the GFC.
There is little doubt from those with their finger on the pulse that the change of rules contributed to the real estate market rising as much as it did in 2009.  One of the changes that I believe was so impressionable on the market rising (which about 14 months later was reversed) didn’t even require foreign buyers to apply for purchasing approval.  Can you imagine a situation where a foreigner could just look at domain.com.au, decide they want to buy a property they see, email the selling agent with an offer, then proceed to exchange contracts?  It sounds crazy but essentially that was what was happening.
Australia’s relatively strong economy and history of fairly stable and constant capital growth for real estate in its major cities will continue to drive foreign investment in Australia and push prices much higher than they already are.
The proportion of new houses and apartments being purchased by foreign buyers has doubled in the space of two years. According to the latest NAB residential property index, foreign buyers now account for between 12% and 13% of all new residential property purchases. Harbourfront developments like <a href="https://news.domain.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/barangaroo-apartments-sell-out-20130831-2sxal">Sydney’s Barangaroo which sold out before lunch</a> on the launch day including one-bedders at $1 million, two-bedders at $2 million and three-bedders at $3 million are further evidence of a fuelled market. Total sales exceeded $300 million in the first release.
The current policy is forcing generation X and Y into becoming a generation of renters at a greater percentage than they otherwise should or would like to be.  This will have many other knock-on effects in years to come for example it’s likely to put extra pressure on the social security system as buying and paying off your own home is a form of forced saving. As, let’s face it, most people who rent don’t invest at the level they should to avoid renting forever.
If the new federal Abbott-led government doesn’t tighten up foreign investment laws, non-residents will continue to buy Australian real estate (both residential and farming) at an increasing rate as they want their money in Australia because they see it as a stable, strong economy especially compared to their own.
No doubt most Australians like me are more than happy for non-residents who are here on working visas to buy properties and enjoy them while they’re here if they don’t want to rent on the proviso that they sell them when they leave.  I fail to see how allowing non-residents to buy Australian real estate - in many cases not even renting them out - is helping Aussies fulfill the great Australian dream of buying their own home which should be the core mission of any government policy in regards to housing.
 
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 Patrick Bright is the founder of Sydney-based buyer’s agency <a rel="nofollow" href="https://%20www.epspropertysearch.com.au/" target="_blank">EPS Property Search</a>.
 
Patrick is the author of four best-selling real estate books known as “The Insider’s Guide to Buying Real Estate Series.”
 
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Foreign buyers are pricing Aussies out: Patrick Bright

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I'm not against foreign investment and I'm not against the property market increasing in value.  What I don't agree with is the current 'Foreign Investment Policy Settings' in regards to property acquisition by non-residents or non-Australian citizens.
The two main concerns I have are that it's inflationary and that it will create a generation of renters which will result in other knock-on social issues down the track.
Under the current policy, 100% of a new apartment blocks or any new housing with FIRB (Foreign Investment Review Board) approval can be sold to non-residents. As a result of this there is no doubt that we are seeing prices (particularly in our capital cities) being pushed up higher and faster than they otherwise would be without foreign buyers thereby creating an inflationary effect.
As a nation we have prided ourselves on giving all Australians a fair go. In contrast this current situation prices many would be Australian home buyers and investors seeking to secure their future out of the market. It is forcing many to rent now who would otherwise like to purchase and could create a generation where more rent than own diminishing for many the great Australian dream of owning their own home.
The reality is that the property market is strong enough without adding more demand to what is widely reported by several housing bodies as a market that has an under-supply. Currently those stats show the under-supply to be in excess of 200,000 properties and this is increasing.  So there's no question that we have plenty of demand locally without "importing it".
The flow on effects of the current policy must also be examined. We are likely to see a generation that will be far more financially dependent on the government come retirement having not established the financial security of buying and paying-off their own home.
Financial modelling for self-funded retirees (which is the purpose of super) has the assumption that retirees have paid off their home. If they are still renting then it's likely they will require an additional million dollars in super or other investments (be that cash, shares or property) to fund their rental costs, for the rest of their lives.  If they don't then it’s highly likely they will be dependent on some form of government pension or financial support to pay their rent.
It's well understood that once people/families are dependent on welfare it often becomes generational. Clearly more people being dependant on government financial support is not in Australia's long-term interest.
I have written to the PM with my recommendations for adjustments to the policy which would essentially restrict the amount of properties that can be sold to non residents in any one particular development to a less inflationary level of less than 10% and to place a limit on how many properties any one individual non resident can purchase in Australia.
The federal government has the responsibility to create quality, sustainable policy and make adjustments to the current foreign investment rules so that we don't end up with social problems for future generations. I am optimistic that the new government will address this very important issue as it's become increasingly apparent that the current policy needs adjusting.
Patrick Bright is the founder of Sydney-based buyer’s agency <a target="_blank" href="https://%20www.epspropertysearch.com.au/" rel="nofollow">EPS Property Search</a>.
Patrick is the author of four best-selling real estate books known as “The Insider’s Guide to Buying Real Estate Series.”
This article first appeared on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.epspropertysearch.com.au/">www.epspropertysearch.com.au</a>.
 
 
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Patrick Bright

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