Property Point 18 April

There was a time, many years ago, when buyers were a rare species in the Mackay region.

Hardly ever seen or heard, they would occasionally turn up at an open house, avoid eye contact with another threatened species, the agent, and quickly flee before anyone could trick them into buying anything.

You would sit alone at what was given the hopeful label of  an “open” house and thank the dear Lord that some brainiac had invented this new smart phone thingo that meant you had something to do during the demoralising 30 minutes you had dedicated to this cruel, lonely exercise in futility.

Then, one day, people started turning up. A trickle at first, just having a look. Then people noticed that rents had started going up and a bright idea started to form: it might be a good idea to buy a house.

Soon this once-threatened species started to flourish. You would see them arrive at open homes; occasionally an individual member of the species, often a pair looking together, sometimes it was one or two younger ones in their 20s with their parents.

Over recent years buyers have flourished; they now travel in hordes, marauding through the suburbs fighting over the scarce offerings of a tight market.

But buyers have evolved and there is now a new, aggressive sub-species called The Southern Investor. This sub-species is very determined, focused and ruthless. The Southern Investor researches the Mackay market and is cashed up and ready to pounce.

What does it all mean for a real estate agent? How do you handle all these buyers, the locals and the southerner investors.

The one thing that is very clear is that an agent’s core responsibility is to get the best possible price for their client, the seller, within what are clear ethical and legal boundaries.

All offers must be presented to a seller and they must be given all relevant information so they can make informed decisions. And last year it was usually the southern investor making the higher offers and getting the prize.

That has changed this year and, while southern investors are still very much in the market, locals are fighting back.

I had two open homes last weekend: one was a property over the $1m mark that had 35 groups and six offers. All attendees were locals and all the offers came from locals. The other open house was at a low-set brick property that needed a bit of work but had lots of potential … that one got about 16 groups but received about 20 offers.

The reason the second one had more offers than people in attendance was because of the interest from southern investors.

Most of the strong offers came from southern investors but the offer that was accepted by the sellers was from a local couple.

One of the problems with southern investors is that they have not seen the property and, for that reason, they are often surprised when they receive the building and pest report and then ask for a significant reduction in the price.

One of the advantages of being a local buyer is that you can look at the property, discuss any shortcomings with the agent and factor those issues into the price you offer.

The sellers accepted the offer from the locals on the weekend because they had more confidence with people who had seen the house, spoken with me about issues that needed to be addressed and had factored that into their offer. The sellers had more trust in the local buyers than the southern investors.

My job is to act in the best interests of my sellers. But it is great when that aligns with local buyers getting a chance.

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