Every Sunday Cate shares a recent adventure or interesting industry observation.

Almost a year ago I met a lovely family who were renting in Yarraville and saving hard for a deposit to buy their own home. Their challenge was to find a home for sub-$500,000. Our initial meeting was hard, because they realised that buying in their much-loved community would be limiting due to their budget affording… Read more »

A very special brief for us recently involved the shortlisting, selection and acquisition of a home for two young interstate-based professionals who are moving down to Melbourne in the new year. We enjoyed profiling suitable areas and arrived at Altona based on proximity to employers, value for money at a mid-fives budget,easy rentability for future… Read more »

A recent assignment with two fantastic investor clients ended last week with plenty of celebration. Our brief was sensible and with a desired spend range of $700K – $800K, and we felt that the targeted suburbs from the inner west to the northern suburbs of Coburg and Preston should have easily yielded us a quality… Read more »

What do you do when you are set to bid at auction on Saturday, but find a house on Tuesday which catches your interest? Easy – you just try your luck at auction and keep the house as your Plan B. But what do you do if the house has competing buyers who are also… Read more »

In our Seller’s market, and particularly over the winter months where supplies of properties for sale are low, many buyers come to me requesting that I help them secure an auction property before the auction. But it’s not always a good idea to pounce forward with an offer. There needs to be a sequence of good reasons… Read more »

When a brief requires the ‘out of pocket’ monthly costs to be close to zero for an investor, the implication is that they will need to consider a property which carries some downside. It could either a risky investment, a tough studio apartment or …. a regional investment. We don’t endorse risky strategies, mining towns, tiny… Read more »

Often investors will look to changes in an effort to find that special something, that little edge that can make the difference between a sound suburb and a suburb about to boom. From infrastructure changes to planning updates, new developments to exciting tourist magnets. A change of scene and the presence of new and cashed-up buyers can make… Read more »

Yesterday I bid for a very special repeat client, who this time had researched an exciting opportunity – a subdivision and large townhouse build behind a period property. Finding the right property was not easy; in fact we’d been working together for months. With a target price of sub-$700K, a need for train station to be… Read more »

Recently we had a fantastic brief to assist with for a very sensible first home buyer. Her target budget was low to mid fives, and her questions were fabulous. Should she be buying brand-new? Should she target the grant for those who buy new? Would it be better to buy in a well-established area close to the… Read more »

We recently bid on a cute three bedroom house in Watsonia and walked away without the sold sticker. The property sold for $600,000, but because of a large tree in the backyard and a Department of Housing tenant on a further eighteen month lease, our cap of $590,000 stood firm and that property just wasn’t… Read more »