Posts by Cate Bakos

A lot of things have changed in our landscape over the past year. Interest rate increases have precipitated a new wave of buyer and vendor jitters, and return-to-work has reignited an appreciation of our city. These two, powerful elements have created significant change across our day-to-day dealings in real estate. This retrospective compares vendor, buyer…

As a property investment adviser, there is one common behavioural trait I often see buyers exhibit when markets turn a bit bear-market, (in other words, when markets favour buyers more than sellers). Many buyers suddenly develop a sharp sense of a quest to buy a bargain. After all, markets have softened, vendors must be desperate,…

This is often an emotion-fuelled, stressful situation for buyers. Imagine a negotiation situation… the agent is clear about the process they will follow when fielding multiple offers. The contracts are sent to the various buyers and a multiple offer scenario starts to unfold. We all assume that vendors what the highest price, but what happens…

This would be one of the most commonly misunderstood concepts, yet every second headline in the finance pages suggests that the property markets are about to tumble because of a supposed correlation between interest rate rises and property price movement. The key assumption many are making is that an increase in the cash rate will…

This is such a dilemma for so many. In principle, it sounds so good. If only we could have the courage to do so, yet most don’t. All of the market leading indicators in the world won’t take away from the fact that when a market has fallen, prospective buyers are generally more fearful of…

In our role as advisors, we see all kinds of human behaviours in our clients along their varied journeys. Some behaviours are enablers, some are just part of the process, and others are disablers. One critical disabler relates to the inability to make a decision, and this disabler can grip for many reasons, including third…

We hear this word often in the pejorative and the idea of it applying to a property can leave any investor or home owner feeling quite despondent. There are many elements that can contribute to devaluing a property or creating stress for the owners, and depending on the owner’s risk appetite, cash flow, experience and…

A pass-in auction result is more prevalent in a softer or declining market. There are all sorts of tips and ideas that I can share when this results, but all of the advice on the planet won’t help a buyer if they are letting their own fears threaten their strategy. I often say to our…

We are actively assessing the rate of change of demographic data, and as we approach our most recent Census data-release date, we are a bit gripped with excitement to commence yet another hefty round of suburb analysis. Over the past decade we’ve combined our coal-face observations; from organic buyer demand increases and attitudinal changes from…

There is so much talk of doom and gloom in the media and it’s making it very difficult for many buyers and sellers to make informed decisions. Bad news seems to sell papers. Since our first interest rate rise in eleven years, the most commonly asked question I’ve been fielding is, “Cate, is it a…