Our Fundamentals

Buying the right property is a science. And an art.

There are a lot of factors which affect whether or not you get a good deal when buying property. For those who love the Art vs Science arguments, let’s say there is an art to finding, matching and negotiating a property.

That is there is an art to pulling the “3P” levers at your disposal. Price, Property and Position. Its an art to adjust them in the right directions to get the best home for you.

Brighton East, 28 Pine St: Brighton legend Bert Stewart focusing on the job at hand while auctioneer Leigh Hallamore of Buxton revs things up. Bought under the hammer for $1.921 million, with five bidders.

It is also our view is that when assessing and buying the right property, it’s a science. But it’s a science with rules.

It’s about financial, spiritual and physical outcomes. Financial outcomes are tied up in the science of demand and supply driven by population, land and position characteristics. We are happy to send our detailed thoughts on this.

If you follow the right rules with focus, logic, good information, experience, discipline and some emotion, you will be successful.

Case Study

Sunday 30 October 2004

Dear Mal,

Please accept our apologies for the delay in sending this to you. As you might imagine, the last few weeks have been fairly hectic for the Levines, gearing up for the move back to Melbourne, supporting Julie’s mother both in and out of hospital, coping with Michaels’ needs during his HSC exams … not to mention a few rather pressing business commitments!!

With all of the above, the pressure was much relieved by the knowledge that our search for a home in Melbourne was “done and dusted”, with thanks principally due to you and your very considerable efforts over the course of these past 6-9 months. We could not have done it without you, particularly from such a distance, and feel it is appropriate to place on record our appreciation for your encouragement, guidance and good humour throughout what was a pretty trying time. Working with the vagaries of a difficult property market, your dedication to our cause, your sound and honest advice, delivered on a timely and regular basis, and your perspective judgement of what would and would not suit, were altogether very reassuring, to say the least. The advantage of having your ‘eyes open and ears to the ground’ on our behalf, was a real bonus in a process made a great deal less complex than it might otherwise have been if we had not had access to your local knowledge, contacts and research resources. We believe we achieved a very good outcome (via your patient negotiations, of course) and one that met the majority of the needs you so diligently reminded us about whenever we got sidetracked!

In short, Mal, we would have no hesitation in recommending the services of James Buyer Advocates to anyone in a similar situation and expect to be back in touch with you the next tome we venture into the property market. Please pass on our thanks to Ian for his participation and courtesy as well – it must be said that you are certainly a very good ‘double act’! We look forward to catching up with you both for a celebratory drink as soon as we are settled.

Kindest Regards,

Julie & Richard Levine

12 Quick Commandments to Buying The Right Property

Many people think buying a home is about the money – it’s not. It is about clearly understanding your needs.
Many people think cashflow is the major issue in buying a good investment property - it is an issue but the cornerstone is capital growth.
Many people think buying a home well is a bit hit and miss. It’s not - those that buy well:

Step 1: Understand your needs
Step 2: Research all options.
Step 3: Assess value and quality correctly
Step 4: Negotiate to buy well

Our four-step process gives you clarity when it comes to your needs and figuring out exactly what it is that you are looking for. We help you find appropriate properties that fit your criteria. We assess the pros and cons of each property as they relate to your needs. And we negotiate hard.

Our tools and systems are there to help you assess, and make the right decision at the right time.

Property vs Shares?

Both are brilliant investments – if bought, managed and sold correctly.

Shares and property have similarities but are also very different. Share markets have a great deal of research behind them and from that research comes tools like earnings per share, dividend yields, balance sheets and more. This information leads to better decision-making.

Like property, no shares are guaranteed of an outcome and as any seasoned investor knows, shares also have many “emotional” issues like management, boards of directors, world prices and so on.

Similarly, owning or controlling property is a lot more than a financial decision.

While the share market is very large with guidelines and research tools, until recently, property – which goes back further than any share market – has not had any comparable level of analysis or decision-making tools.

Our view is that just like building sound share portfolios, good property decision-making follows a logical process, based on long-term analysis of the knowledge gained from past results.

Predicting Future Trends

We don’t have a crystal ball when it comes to the property market.

But based on an analysis of past results, we look at a range of factors – supply, demand, population, location, likely trends – that will help you make the right decision.

For example, while our body of property knowledge cannot predict with 100% certainty each individual’s behaviour – it is possible to predict with a high level of certainty how large groups of human beings will react to a property or groups of properties.

We also know that people who control or “own” properties have better physical, spiritual and financial outcomes than those who do not. This is true of whole populations as well as individuals.