Here is my property listing!

[stevie_sloth]

Hi Stevie

Your property is very well presented. I recall your earlier posts in regard to your 'excess possessions' ie. clutter so you've obviously been busy clearing and cleaning out. I think that you've done a great job at presenting a unit that looks light, fresh and spacious. I know that many GC units are poky, cramped and dark but yours doesn't look this way in the photos.

I also think it is very well positioned being on Chevron Island - it could be a personal preference thing, but I like how it's 'close but not too close' to Surfers if you know what I mean.

From the photos, it is not obvious that there are actually TWO balconies. I assumed all the photos were of the one balcony. Also, have you considered removing all the 'small' pot plants lined up along one of the balcony's rails and, perhaps, just having one or two large 'statement' trees such as Yucca tree/s in a nice big pot. You could also add a nice outdoor chair with a beachy-type striped outdoor pillow (to play up the fact that your unit is close to the beach?) 'Sometimes less is more'? No biggie, just a suggestion as it can give a balcony a nice, contemporary feel and it doesn't cost the earth!

Best of luck for a speedy sale!!!

Thanks so much!

 

[stevie_sloth]

Just thought of something else - I think your unit is in a position where it would appeal more to owner-occupiers and investors looking to rent out to permanents as opposed to holiday rental investors/holiday house types. Lots of permanent tenants and owner-occupiers are put off living in the units located closer to the beach as they don't want to have to put up with rowdy tourists in their complex.

Cheers!

YES. You know what? We live on Chevron Island, which technically is in Surfers Paradise, but it's a 10 minute walk over the bridge to Chevron, which has its own local shopping and cafe strip, and its own search area / suburb on realestate.com.au.

Our agent thought it was a good idea to list it as Surfers Paradise, because this is the most popular search area around the Gold Coast on realestate.com.au, and sure enough, we have received a lot of hits (almost 400, although of course many of those could be people from here, lol), however...yesterday, our first open inspection...2 groups. Today? NONE!

So...the hits (however many there actually are from prospective buyers) are not translating to visits. It is not the ad's fault. It is not the photo's fault. It MAY be the location's fault.

People search for Surfers Paradise, expecting the beach, high rise units, tourist strip, dual let holiday rentals, expensive high rise penthouses.

People who search for Chevron Island are expecting...a place like our's, in terms of apartments / units.

So...

 

[stevie_sloth]

I did not know from the photos that they were of 2 different balconies, I thought they were the same balcony taken from different angles.

I agree with the agent to leave out the bathroom photos, the rest of the unit presents so well that I assumed photos of the bathrooms would be an advantage.
Marg

Thanks again, Marg.

I've made some slight tweaks to the ad which I'll email to our agent tomorrow morning, and included in that is being more clear that there is a second double bedroom that can be used as an office, and also that there are 2 balconies, back and front.

Also, yeah, the bathrooms are fine, there's absolutely nothing wrong with them, but they can't present as well as the rest of the property simply because they're just...bathrooms...not stunningly renovated, not hugely big and designer-spacious...*shrug* So yep.

 

[RightValue]

Anyway...the traffic...mostly it's fairly ok. Main road through my area with shops and cafes can get congested at peak times, but it's really not comparable with capital city traffic. Mostly it's fine.

So will you rent it to me for $300pw (better then a 5% yield on the median 2 bed unit) when it doesn't sell then?

When you say yes I will organise a transfer at work, but I will wait until late spring; shall we say 20th of May?. Melbourne can have some pretty crappy weather in Winter.


opps, an important question.. is there a good child care centre nearby?

 

[stevie_sloth]

This is a very strange post-conversation. lol

No, $300 a week is too low. Market rental value for this type of property in this area is between $330-$370 a week.

We cannot afford to rent it out anyway, as we need somewhere to live and wherever we would move to, the rent there would surely be more than $300 a week. Obviously we couldn't afford to buy elsewhere and keep this property or we'd be doing that to begin with.

In any case, child care? I have no idea. We have 2 cat "sons". No kids.

Oh, and also, pet friendly does not necessarily mean a noisy building. There are a couple of small dogs living here, but we only know this because we have seen them coming and going with their owners on walks. We have never heard them, not even once in the 3.5 years we've been living here.

 

[Fudge]

Thank you. Personal photos? We don't have any actual personal photos on the walls. Just framed prints and pictures...did you mean personal as in of us or our family or something? (did you mean the pic of the woman with the boobs by any chance? lol)

Yeah, no Stevie, I meant personal as in photos of the family, etc.

Not too concearned about the cat photos, but when I sell a place, even though I try and make it as homely as possible, I take all / any of the family photos down.

Not too sure if you had one in the bedrooms?

Also, just remember that all buyers aren't necesarily like you, I or the other guys on this forum. Generally they take on board the looks of the furniture and how you decorate it. It is silly, but they do, and if they come across some personal possessions they don't like it, half the time the will remember this when they review their inspections later on.

I better point out though that I am not saying your furniture is crappy.

To play on this part, that is why I stage properties to sell with rented new and modern furniture to give that extra buzz. It is surprising to think that you "could" recoup the rental costs of this furniture by getting many thousands more for the property in the end.

Cheers,

F

 

[Andrew_A]

I would be inclined to include a picture of the cafe's on Chevron and the beach as well perhaps, selling a lifestyle more so than a standard apartment potentially. Good luck with the auction and interested in how it all works out.

 

[ironscythe]

How strange and exciting to see my own home listed for sale online.

http://www.realestate.com.au/property-apartment-qld-surfers+paradise-109437766

And yes, yes, we are still going with the original auction idea. We're ok with that now.

Feedback on the ad and pics please!! We have spent the last 2 weeks cleaning and organising storage for all our clutter!

Not sure if its a good idea to start an ad with the word "Flooded" especially in Queensland.

I missed everything after that word for a couple of seconds and had to reread the first Line after i got my composure back. If i had come across it while searching RE, I would have skipped it after reading the first word.

Apart from that it is pretty impressive.

cheers
Iron

 

[Player]

Hi Stevie,

In the "People also Viewed" side bar there is this:

http://www.realestate.com.au/property-apartment-qld-chevron+island-107556809

Seems like this is in the same complex. Is your pricing in line with that? If yours is better, what makes it so?

It looks like a nice complex and certainly well located. As Andrew mentioned, perhaps a pic of one the cafes (Cafe Alfons in Thomas Drive.....great coffee and snacks) and also the landmark Surfers Paradise beach.

As yours is going to auction and in campaign, I am curious why there are no scheduled inspections nominated. By appointment might work for private sale, however in the campaign lead up to an auction a timeline of inspections is common. Is there a reason for this? Or, is the agent lazy? Just curious??

Your unit presents well. Good luck with it all

 

[gottabespotless]

We live on Chevron Island, which technically is in Surfers Paradise, but it's a 10 minute walk over the bridge to Chevron, which has its own local shopping and cafe strip, and its own search area / suburb on realestate.com.au.

Our agent thought it was a good idea to list it as Surfers Paradise

Yes, I thought this was odd. Again, it may be a 'personal preference' thing but if I were you, I'd prefer the property to be listed under 'Chevron Island' given that's actually where it is and, in my opinion atleast, NOT being in Surfers itself is a big plus.

 

[stevie_sloth]

Cool, more feedback. Thanks everyone!

Let's see....

- Personal pics. Yes, those pics of our cats on the buffet. You know what? I COMPLETELY overlooked them when de-cluttering. Didn't realise until we saw the big billboard out the front of our place yesterday, with that picture as the main one, that you can see those cats' faces so clearly and obviously! I do agree that many people don't want to see anything that will be "jarring" to their neutral / picture-themselves-in-the-property kind of first impression...

- Chevron location vs Surfers. We've now had the listing moved to Chevron Island instead, and are happy about it.

- I also agree that renting some minimalistic and neutral furniture is preferable to trying to make the most of your own furniture and possessions, if they're not "designer" or whatever. We would be ok with this if (a) we expected to sell in only a few weeks or less, and (b) if we'd moved out already. But as we have to still live here, we need some of our things. We've already put a fair bit into storage, and wouldn't want to have ALL of it packed away. We're also broke after the various fees and costs involved and wouldn't be able to afford to rent furniture now anyway.

- Yes, the apartment for sale in our building has been on the market for a long time. Maybe 9 months or so. It was originally $349,000. Then it went down to $329,000 a few months ago and this week has now been reduced to $319,000, I guess to compete with our's.

It's the same layout as our's, on the top floor, with 2 small balconies off the front and back, and un-improved (I say "improved" instead of renovated, as our's isn't totally renovated. We put new carpet in, new paint, new lights, but not a full renovation. The other apartment in the building is rented and no improvements have been done).

- Our place was open last weekend (2 days ago), both days, and is open again this coming weekend (also both days). The open times are now displayed on realestate.com.au. They weren't Sunday night or yesterday as it was only Monday / Sunday night. From my experience, most places will put on their open inspection times around Wednesday for the coming weekend, so Tuesday is good in my opinion to have it "announced".

- With the "flooded with natural light". I never even thought of the potential implications of the word flooded actually. I guess because the majority of prospective buyers MIGHT be locals, and we have had no issues with flooding (or not much anyway), even though many people further north have.

I don't think it's inappropriate to use that word in its intended context. It is not meant to be rude or offensive of course. If it were a property listed in Brisbane or Charleville or Roma, etc, of course you wouldn't use the word.

 

[RightValue]

Ok,

You are 10 days out from your Auction.


How is it going?

What is the feedback like from the potential purchasers via the agent?

 

[Ed Barton]

The way you say that you hate living there i thought the place must be a dump. it looks really nice.

 

[Ed Barton]

one week to go. How's it going Stevie?

 

[stevie_sloth]

Nah, it's certainly no dump. It's a really nice place - it's just not for me.

Anyway, the auction is now being pushed back 2 weeks. Not enough interest.

Hardly ANY interest actually. We're a bit crestfallen, but I guess this is the market...

The very first day it appeared on realestate.com.au, we had an enquiry (about the strata fees) through that site to our agent. We were a bit excited, as it had only been listed for a few hours and already we had interest (apparently).

Since then...NO further enquiries at all. And ok, I guess the ad does pretty much tell you everything you might need to know (apart from the strata fees...but maybe people already have a fair idea of what they'd be for this type of property, as similar ones are pretty much the same cost...or maybe they're just not concerned about what they are).

We are having open houses every weekend, both days...we intended to have them on Wednesdays around 5.30pm-6pm as well, but we haven't done that as there's just not enough interest.

Summary so far...

First Saturday open - 2 groups (which could be 2 individuals or 2 actual groups) - both said it was very nice and spacious, but did not seem interested beyond that.

First Sunday open - just a "nosy neighbour" from down the street. No interest.

The agent followed up with the 2 groups from the Saturday, and said we had not found a buyer yet. Not interested.

Second Saturday open - 2 groups again. 1 of them had come down from Brisbane to look at the property (they had previously contacted an agent friend of their's - not our agent - and wanted to inspect it during the week with less than 4 hours notice. They also said they'd be interested in putting in an offer before the auction, and that they knew the unit next to our's had sold last year for $315,000. This is not true. I checked, and the owner of this unit still owns it and has not sold it. They bought it in 2006 for $317,000).

They inspected, said they were not interested in buying it anymore and "might" come to the auction still.

The other group was a guy who loved it, could picture all his furniture in it, and said he'd definitely bid at the auction...IF it was not on the ground floor. *sigh* But it is, and we can't change that. He was concerned about security. Our agent assured him we had never had any issues with that and we too were nervous when we first bought here (which we were), but it's just not a problem at all. The guy also said he simply prefers to be up higher...more private, etc. I understand this. I am the same. I don't want to live on the ground floor again.

Second Sunday - nobody.

We decided to try putting a single 1/5 of the page ad in the property liftout of the Gold Coast Bulletin to try and boost inspections for the third weekend.

Third Saturday - 3 groups, 2 of which came after seeing the ad in the paper. All of them said it was lovely and the largest one they'd seen that day (not sure where else they'd looked, as nothing else was open for inspection that day in this immediate area). Our agent thought we might have found some real interest now.

Third Sunday - 1 person. Someone who lives in one of the other units in our block, and who is thinking of selling. They were just curious and wanting to compare their unit with our's. No interest in buying at all.

Our agent called those 3 groups from Saturday back to ascertain their level of interest and said they don't seem to be our buyers. So...yeah.

So. This is where we are now.

No further enquiries. Around 700 hits on realestate.com.au but I think a lot are from people who've looked at the link in this thread. (not sure if the original link I posted on here still works, as it was the link when it was listed in Surfers Paradise, before we changed it to Chevron Island.)

On the Harcourts site there have been a few hits...not that many though. More from America and other countries than within Australia, which I find a bit odd.

I was actually going to start a new thread today, asking if this is normal...I personally think the listing and the photos look really good...it is a good property...in a good location...and yet...there's just hardly anyone coming through the door.

Even if there WAS a problem with the property once people got here to look, that's obviously not the issue right now as we simply aren't getting people IN THE DOOR! So any potential problems they'd find...well, they have to LOOK to find them, you know? And they're just not looking.

So we're a bit despondent. We are ok with pushing back the auction, but we're wondering how we're going to get any more interest, any more people inspecting, in that extra 2 weeks...the initial peak of interest is 2 weeks and then it goes down from there...so 5 weeks and THEN the auction? It just seems that we've already had the best we're going to get in terms of interest...

Anyway...any advice would be very much appreciated.

 

[wylie]

Anyway...any advice would be very much appreciated.

Put a price on it and cancel the auction.

 

[speed1000]

I was reading the other day that it was taking 70 days on average to sell a property in Brisbane. I don't know how this correlates to the Gold Coast property market but you may just need to allow more time. Doing a Auction may not be the best selling vehicle in the current market and may be better to indicate a price - eg 'offers over $320,000 ' to see where the market interest is at, then negotiate.

 

[Ed Barton]

Put a price on it and cancel the auction.

+1

auctions are not popular in qld

 

[DaveM]

+2. I tend to ignore properties for auction, its too much hassle. Easier to buy something private treaty and haggle the price and do a deal there and then.

Weeks and weeks of inspections and then an auction which people don't show up to takes the heat out of the sale process.

And on the serious people who wont bid and wait for it to pass in to start haggling. May as well have just done private treaty from the start.

 

[speed1000]

Auctions atm in qld = mortgagee in distress but even the banks try to avoid going to Auction and try to find buyers at any cost. That's my take of auctions in QLD and why I look for them. The current market is not Auction friendly and only attract certain lookers.