Posts by Cate Bakos

Investors loathe it and many prospective buyers are reconsidering because of it, but what are the Victorian land tax changes? And where can we head to better understand the changes? Eight months ago, I penned this article addressing the tax changes. These changes are now rolling out, and it is important that investors understand what…

Recently, we did one of our regular checks on two title boundaries and found something unusual for both. A part of our due diligence process, we reference the satellite imagery on one of our paid portals. Then we compare to the title plan in the contract. We are accustomed to converting feet and inches to…

Melbourne has faced a lot of headwinds since 2020. This city has historically fared well, but the last four years have been tough.

There are many quirks and surprising elements to property purchasing. Here are just twelve things that most people don’t know about.

Geelong has experienced an incredible transformation over the decades. Once an industrial town, known for manufacturing and in particular, the Ford plant. The challenges Geelong faced during some tough times, (such as the Pyramid Building Society collapse and the Ford plant closure) had some suggesting that this regional city’s capital growth prospects were questionable. But…

Buyers have become trained to ask for off-markets, putting an unwarranted value on them. They do this in the hope that they’re getting access to something secret and undervalued. But what happens if the property isn’t a secret, and isn’t good value?

Despite opinion about the stage three tax cut, we have to consider how it could impact our property market. Like all cash incentives and net cashflow hikes, markets do get impacted.

As the year draws to a close, I reflect on the many changes to housing that have resulted since the pandemic. This past eighteen months has also thrown us many challenges as we grapple with the impact of inflationary pressures on our lives. The Reserve Bank’s cash rate hikes have played their part too, as…

Yesterday I received a call from a great journalist. He was covering Melbourne’s auction results and asked me to weigh in on a significant result in Brunswick East. The house reportedly sold for some one million dollars above reserve. Once I checked the listing, this record-breaking figure for its land size was no shock to…