There’s no denying that when it comes to property investing and making money from renovating, first impressions count. Changing the first impression of a property is the second highest returning “add value” technique. Here’s why…

BY ANA STANKOVIC

In this day and age most potential buyers start their search for properties online. They look up the locations they’re interested in, enter their budgetary constraints and select certain property profile details that they require.

Only once they’ve got the search results of this initial selection do they start prioritising which of these properties interest them. Out of the ones that look interesting to them, they’ll go and drive by a number of them and have a look at them from the outside before narrowing it down even further to a select few that they’ll actually inspect.

If a potential purchaser has two properties which are in the same area, have similar profiles (number of bedrooms, bathrooms and parking spaces) and are similar in price, which do you think they’ll be more interested in:

-       the one with peeling paint, falling down fence, big bushy plant hiding half of the façade, green eaves, rusted garage door, etc., or

-       the one that’s neatly presented and looks light and modern.

The answer is simple. It’s human nature to judge a book by its cover, but it’s only because they’re trying to imagine themselves living there. It doesn’t matter how good your renovation is inside if you can’t get potential purchasers through the door to actually see it.

It’s a numbers game. The more people come inside and inspect the property, the more are likely to be interested and pursue purchasing it, creating competition and pushing the price higher. So it’s in your best interest to get as many people through the door as you can.

Winning Formulas for Success on average gets around $4 for every dollar that we spend on renovating that first impression of a property.

So how do you work out what immediately needs to change with your first impression? There’s a simple way that a colleague of mine suggested a few years ago and it works a treat.

Stand on the opposite side of the street from your property and turn around so that you’re facing away from it, turn around and face it for five seconds and away again.

Anything unappealing that caught your eye in that time should be neutralised or removed. If there was a bright color, falling down verandah, rot, big plant, etc. – anything at all that stood out in a negative light – it needs to be addressed.

Once you’ve done this, have a look at other homes in your area that are in the next price bracket from your property – what are they doing? You want to increase the value of your home so it pays to try and get your property to look more similar to higher priced ones in the same area.

Ana Stankovic is well known as one of Australia’s leading renovating-for-profit specialists and is regularly featured in prominent industry publications, expos and continually educates investors. To find out more or sign up for Ana’s free newsletter, visit www.RenovateAndProfit.com.

Story from the API Blog

Some of you may be interested in viewing the photos of when the tornado whipped up over the ocean and made a bee-line for Lennox Head Village.  One of our staff was good enough to send these on to us.

It’s good to report that the damaged streets are looking a little more like a residential area and not a war zone and the residents are making good progress with the clean-up.

Naturally it will take some time for the major works to get up and running and I am sure that we will all see changes over the ensuing months.

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All night long the rain pounded the district.  At about 2.30 in the morning an amazing electrical storm was rampant in the night sky.  Many of us experienced a sleepless night with the deafening noise of the rain on the roof, the wild winds blowing, thunder and cracking lightning.

As morning approaches it has calmed a little and I consider heading down to the beachfront with my dog, Dotty, for the ritual morning walk on the sand.  My brother is visiting so I decide to get breakfast going instead.  My brother first alerts me to the unusual activity out to sea.  The cliche springs to mind; it’s just like a Hollywood movie set, reminded me of the movie Twister.  Only this is actually happening.

We watch, dumbfounded, as large lumps of iron, metal and debris wildly swirls in the centre of the tornado, which seems directly over my friends’ house.  We can see that there are 2 separate events happening out there.  It’s impossible to tell which way they will head and what will happen next as we witness the 2 tornadoes separating, one heading towards Broken Head and one towards the coast.
Just behind; the vibrant red sun is rising over the water.  This truly is surreal.  What an amazing spectacle.

My first thought is “I hope it doesn’t turn back.”

It’s just after 7.30 am.
The fear is paralysing.
I consider my friends & acquaintances in the Village and my office on the beachfront as I call my friend Helen to check and see if she and her partner are OK. She is not OK.  They have lost half their roof.  The next door neighbours top floor is pretty well gone with the roof trusses strewn across her lawn, the rain is pouring in and there is a burst water main just outside what used to be her home. She is understandably distressed.

I make my way to the Gibbon Street area as the stunned residents come out to check on their loved ones, their pets, their properties. 

The area is littered with large pieces of color-bond, trusses, power lines dangling in the water, tin, branches, furniture, boats and cars – splattered across the streets and beachfront as the SES, Police and emergency services teams begin to arrive.  The locals are out on the road with brooms and rakes trying to clear a path for the vans and trucks to enter the streets. Power lines are down and people are wandering about not knowing what to do; where to begin.

By the end of the day the mood has changed from disbelief to acceptance and this is when the true heart and soul of our caring community shines through.
No one is badly hurt.
No one is missing, except for one little dog.  
We will be able to rebuild and start again.

This morning our Premier, Kristina Keneally, is on site to inspect the damage and quickly declares a “State of Emergency”.  I know this will assist the people directly affected and, of course, the community to rebuild and repair.

The 3rd June 2010 will forever be remembered as the day the tornado came through Lennox Head; a freak event of Mother Nature.  This was truly unexpected.

Never before and hopefully never again.

The team at Lois Buckett Real Estate wishes everyone a safe, speedy and trouble-free period as we diligently pick up the pieces and get on with it.

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All photos courtesy of Gareth Cody.

Reserve Bank gives borrowers a breather, leaving interest rates unchanged amid renewed signs of global economic weakness.

The Reserve Bank has given borrowers a breather, leaving interest rates unchanged amid renewed signs of global economic weakness.

The central bank’s decision today to keep its key cash rate at 4.5 per cent snaps a series of three rises in as many months, and follows a month of turmoil on global financial markets.

Worries about a worsening debt crisis in Europe sliced 8 per cent – or more than $100 billion – from the value of Australian stocks in May, and virtually eliminated any expectation of a rate rise by the RBA today. The monthly shares slide was the worst since the depths of the global financial crisis.

”Since the Board last met, concerns about sovereign creditworthiness in several European countries have been a focus of financial markets,” RBA governor Glenn Stevens said in a statement accompanying today’s decision. ”Investors have generally displayed a good deal more caution.”

Even so, Mr Stevens said ”global growth is still expected to be at about trend pace in 2010. ” While conditions in Europe have been relatively weak,  growth in Asia – home to many of Australia’s top trading partners – ”continued to be quite strong and may need to moderate in the year,” he said.

Since October, when rates were at half-century lows, the RBA has lifted the official interest rate six times in a bid to discourage excessive spending as the economy rebounded from last year’s slowdown. Those rate hikes have piled about $300 on to the average monthly payment for a typical 25-year, $300,000 mortgage.

”They’re obviously waiting and seeing what the effects of past interest rates have been,” said NAB head of Australian economics and commodities Robert Brooker.

”We don’t think they’ll be moving up again until towards later in the year.”
Despite rising company profits, low unemployment and an increase in weekly wages, the recovery remains patchy.

Data out today showed building approvals sank 15 per cent in April, the most since November 2002. Retail sales, though, rebounded, rising 0.6 per cent in April, twice the pace of growth that had been expected by economists.

The Australian dollar was little changed after the RBA’s verdict, trading recently at 83.75 US cents, from 83.64 US cents just prior to the announcement.

Story by Chris Zappone Fairfax Digital

Rising interest rates are discouraging first home buyers and keeping them in the rental market, which in turn is good for property investors, according to leading online mortgage broker e-choice.

Property investors, who themselves say they aren’t deterred by rising interest rates, can look forward to strong rental returns as larger numbers in the rental market keep rents from falling.

A survey released by e-choice recently found that 41 per cent of would-be investors would reconsider if rates rose by two percentage points compared with 53 per cent current or prospective owner occupiers.

Executive director of e-choice’s parent, Firstfolio, Mark Flack said the outlook was good for property investors as first time buyers were shying away from any prospective purchase.

“We believe more prospective first-home buyers will pull out of the market compared to property investors, and as such we see a great opportunity in the investment property market,” he said.

University of Western Sydney property lecturer Za Manaf said it was a `sellers’ market’, which made it hard for first home buyers to find an affordable property.

“It is becoming more expensive to take out mortgages because the interest rate is going up,” she said.

“Demand is higher than supply, which leads to market being more favourable to sellers.”

The survey also found that between 20 and 22 per cent of respondents listed government charges and securing financing as the two biggest concerns when considering buying property.

The lack of attractive property investment options came in third, with 15 per cent of respondents citing it as a challenge when buying.

The majority of respondents picked Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide suburbs as areas with the best residential property return prospects.

A little under half of respondents, 47 per cent, chose an existing house as the most attractive investment option, with 18 per cent preferring an existing apartment as opposed to a newly built dwelling.

The online brokerage site e-choice polled 1,000 Australians looking to buy property, 32 per cent of which were property investors.

Story by Curtis Cooper REA

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute’s Consumer Sentiment Index has indicated a 7.0% fall in consumer confidence during May.

The Index now sits at 108.0 points suggesting that consumers have become less confident in domestic economic conditions over the last month. This is likely to be the result of a volatile share market, economic instability in Europe and higher interest rates. Whilst this month’s result is the weakest since June 2009, the Index remains well above 100 points which is the point where optimists and pessimists are evenly balanced.

A subset of the Index, the `Time to Buy a Dwelling Index’ recorded a fall of 15.4% from 104.3 points last month to 88.2 points, indicating that a majority of people surveyed believe the optimal time to purchase a home may have passed following the strong capital gains in home values over the last year and interest rate hikes.

The Reserve Bank’s Head of Financial Stability, Luci Ellis said at the Australian Financial Review’s Residential Property Conference this month, that housing prices had continued to receive upward pressure in Australia.

“It would be helpful if more of that demand could be accommodated with extra homes for occupation, instead of by higher prices,’’ she said. “Every cycle starts with something real, something fundamental. Recent data suggest that we do not have a credit-fuelled speculative boom on our hands. It would not be desirable for the current situation to turn into one.’’

While the Rpdata.com Market Activity Index has shown slight easing during recent times, the above average pre-listing activity level suggests that the listing environment should remain buoyant amongst real estate professionals over the coming month. Both the number of new properties entering the market and the total number of properties available for sale remain well above 12 month average levels despite falling below the level from the same time last year.

Story by Curtis Cooper REA

Having an understanding of median sale prices can add an extra dimension to your property purchasing skills.

Take care not to confuse median sale prices and average sale prices, the two numbers can vary enormously.

Averaging adds up property prices in a list and divides by the number of properties. The median price is the figure in the middle of a range of numbers arranged from lowest to highest.

So, if you have  11 properties, the median price would be the price of the 6th property from lowest to highest. There will be five properties below it in value and five properties above it in value.

Median and average prices can be quite similar if the prices form an even range from high to low. However, if the list of  11 properties has  eight low priced and only  three  high priced properties, the median value will look low compared to the average value. Conversely, with three low priced and eight high price properties, the median value will be higher than the average value.

Median prices are usually quoted by suburb/area or by a time period.  Suburb figures are usually calculated on the previous 12 months. Areas with less than 10 sales during that time don’t give enough data to generate relevant figures.

Comparing different areas with similar median prices can help make better sense of what median prices are all about.

Capital city medians are a good guide for suburban house prices, however houses within five kilometres of the CBD will have a much higher value than the median price for that city.

While median prices can assist as broad indicators and allow comparisons between cities, looking at recent comparable property sales in specific areas will always give the clearest understanding of the market you are in.

The best understanding of property values will be a combination of both median pricing – a macro view – and individual property sales in your target area, giving a complementary micro view.

Story by Sally Howes Domain.com.au

South Australians and Victorians tend to keep their options basic, whilst Queenslanders prefer to spice it up the most. What state you live in can determine just how you choose to do it. Borrow money that is.

South Australia

It’s often said that South Australians like to saviour the good things in life – food and wine.

Sex too, if you are to believe South Australian men, of whom 64 per cent told La Trobe University researchers that they had an extremely physically pleasurable relationship, much higher than the 45 per cent of Melbourne fellas and 44 per cent of Sydney blokes in the same survey.

(Interestingly, the percentage of women in all cities who agreed that they also had such a relationship was 31 per cent, 38 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively, but I digress…).

When it comes to housing loans, though, South Australians prefer plain vanilla. An astounding 69 per cent of all new loans through broker Mortgage Choice in South Australia are for a basic package.

Mortgage Choice spokeswoman Kristy Sheppard says basic variable loans can appear more affordable but have fewer features at the borrower’s disposal. They tend to be more popular with people on lower incomes and less experienced borrowers who are still finding their feet in mortgage land.

“This state’s demand for ‘no frills’ loans, which tend to have a lower interest rate and fees, says a lot about the conservative nature of South Australians,” says Sheppard. “SA residents tend to be good savers and are careful with their money.”

The broker recently surveyed South Australians who were planning to buy their first home before next February and found more than one-third (35 per cent) will have a deposit of 20 per cent or more to contribute towards their purchase.

This was the highest of any state and well above the national average of 29 per cent. Admittedly they have a lower bar to reach – Adelaide has the lowest median house price of the mainland capital cities.

Victoria

Victoria also shows a strong preference for basic variable loans though this has occurred only over the past 18 months. Before that, demand for basic and standard variable loans from new borrowers was pretty much neck-and-neck.

“Victorians are more cautious with their money, are strong savers and tend to be better informed about budgeting, managing their money and the mortgage process,” says Sheppard. “With Victoria predicted to experience exceptionally strong population growth in the coming years, it will be interesting to see where the demand for different loan types heads – will the state’s residents become less conservative?”

Standard variable loans are often priced slightly higher than basic variable loans, they tend to offer greater flexibility and features such as access to “professional packages” that, for a fee, provide a discounted rate and other benefits.

Western Australia and Queensland

Residents within the resource states tend to be the biggest consumers of loans with all the options.

“WA and Qld residents are happy to make slightly higher repayments in return for ‘bells and whistles’, which indicates they are less risk-averse and perhaps more capable of dealing with interest rate rises,” says Sheppard.

WA and Qld also have younger aspiring first home buyers, and more young people buying solo than in other parts of Australia. Many plan to buy their first home before they turn 30. In the other mainland states, the highest proportion of buyers-to-be are 30 years and over.

NSW

NSW tracks closer to the commodity boomers than it’s western and southern neighbours. A flood of first home buyers after the Federal Government’s first home owners boost was introduced in October 2008 has driven demand for basic variable home loans.

Before that, the preference was for more flexibility. Now it’s pretty much even-stevens with basic variable more in demand, but only by five percentage points.

Perhaps it’s got something to do with mortgage size. Almost one in three potential first home buyers in NSW intending to take out a mortgage of $400,001 or more, according to Mortgage Choice’s 2010 First Homebuyers Survey. This was the highest percentage for any state and noticeably higher than the national average of 24 per cent.

Story by Carolyn Boyd Fairfax Digital

A major computer security firm has urged Facebook to set up an early-warning system after hundreds of thousands of users were hit by a new wave of fake sex-video attacks.

British-based virus fighter Sophos warned users of the world’s biggest social networking site to be on guard against any posting entitled "distracting beach babes", which contains a movie thumbnail of a bikini-clad woman.

In a press statement, Sophos said the malicious posts appear as if they are coming from Facebook users’ friends, but it urged recipients not to click on the thumbnail.

By clicking on it, users are taken to a rogue Facebook application informing them that they do not have the right player software installed, Sophos said.

It tricks users into installing adware, a software package that automatically plays, displays or downloads advertisements to their computer, and the video link is spread further across the network.

Sophos said that "hundreds of thousands" of Facebook users were believed to have received the posts over the past weekend.

It followed a similar scam that spread on Facebook the week before involving a fake posting tagged as the "sexiest video ever".

"It’s time for Facebook to set up an early warning system on their network, through which they can warn their almost 500 million users about breaking threats as they happen," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

"A simple message appearing on all users’ screens warning them of the outbreak would have helped in halting the attack," he said.

"Unless something is done, it won’t be surprising if there is another widespread attack this coming weekend, affecting thousands more users."

The social networking site is already under fire for revealing users’ information too freely on the Internet.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Monday that the website "missed the mark" with its complex privacy controls and would reveal simpler features in the coming weeks.

Overall lending for property is on a slide and on the surface that looks like bad news for property investors. But a deeper look at the numbers suggests there is an upside.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show the number of home loans dropped by 3.4 per cent in March, following a 1.8 per cent fall in February. It’s the eighth fall in the past nine months.

Approvals for investment loans, however, are going the other way with a 3 per cent jump in March. Looking over the longer term, the trend becomes clearer with investment loans up by 24 per cent on this time last year and home loan approvals down by 30 per cent from six months ago.

When combined with a demographic analysis of an area, lending patterns can give us a very good indication of what is likely to happen to property prices in these markets.

For example in a suburb such as Glebe in Sydney’s inner west about 55 per cent of all property is owned by investors.

Investors target this kind of area because there is a strong tenant demand due to the closeness to the city, university, shops and cafes.

A significant jump in investment lending is a clear sign investors are active in the market. When this happens they compete for property in places such as Glebe and put significant upward pressure on prices.

About 45 per cent of people in Glebe own the property they live in so there will be a level of softening demand from buyers but it will be compensated for by the investors.

This differs greatly from an area such as Kellyville in Sydney’s north-west. Investors control only about 13 per cent of property in this area.

Although it is a great area to live and raise a family in, Kellyville does not have the kind of infrastructure that tenants are looking for. Therefore demand from investors is weak and will have minimal impact on property values.

However, about 85 per cent of property in Kellyville is owned by people who live in their property so the drop in owner-occupier loans is likely to have a significant impact on demand.
If interest rates continue to climb and demand continues to soften, the chances of property values falling are increased.

The property market is made up of various sub markets that can be pulling in different direction at the same time. As an investor, it is vital to understand which market you are getting yourself into and how to interpret the raw data that will affect the growth pattern of the property you wish to buy.
America’s favourite investor, Warren Buffett, once said: "I’d rather be vaguely right than precisely wrong."

Once you get your head around how to interpret raw data you will have a greater chance of being "vaguely right" and therefore a successful investor.

Mark Armstrong is a director of Property Planning Australia, www.propertyplanning.com.au

And it’s got nothing to do with Real Estate!!

The Lennox Head Newsagency SOLD one of the winning tickets for the $4,000,000.00 Mother’s Day draw – and it’s still out there!!!

Yes, someone either in the community, a visitor or perhaps a lucky mum who has not checked their lotto tickets yet, holds a little piece of paper worth

$$$$$$millions$$$$$$. 

The ticket was sold at the Lennox Head Newsagency the week before Mother’s Day and to date the funds are unclaimed. 

How sad it would be for the Government to add this to the coffers of their, already substantial, unclaimed funds.  The hunt is on, so pass on the word to everyone you know.

I have often dreamt of  fronting up to the counter at the Newsagency to check my tickets and be surprised to find that I have won the “big one”.  There is an unsuspecting, lucky individual who might just have that coveted experience.

GOOD LUCK!!!!! 

Oh, and if you then decide to change your housing situation please come and see any one of us on the team at Lois Buckett Real Estate - http://www.loisbuckett.com.au

Revelations that foreign property buyers bought $14.9 billion worth of houses and land in Australia last year, including $2.49 billion worth of existing homes, is resulting in more calls from curbs on overseas investors.

The Federal Government refused to release these figures recently when asked to by journalists but they were in quietly posted on the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) website last week.

They show that the Government issued 4827 real estate approvals to foreign investors last year for commercial and residential properties. About half the approvals were for temporary residents wanting to buy a house as their principal residence.

A further 988 approvals were granted to investors to buy vacant land for residential subdivision or to build a houses. The report also shows Victoria is the most sought after state by foreign investors wanting residential real estate, followed by Queensland and New South Wales.

But the figures are incomplete because the Government changed the rules in April last year so foreigners no longer had to notify the FIRB if the property was to be their principal place of residence.

Under foreign investment laws, non Australian residents can buy a dwelling for their principal place of residence but the Government has been criticised for relaxing foreign investment laws and they are being blamed for driving up house prices.

The Australian Government has now announced it will adopt a more stringent approval process so that fewer foreigners will be able to buy and acknowledging that they had pushed up residential real estate prices.

Foreign buyers will have to sell when they leave the country and those who ignore the new rules face heft penalties.

Critics say the new rules do not go far enough. Opposition politians are calling for a comprehensive study of foreign real estate investment.

‘In one sense, little has changed. Foreign residents can still purchase Australian properties and, in particular, people in Australia on temporary residence visas can still purchase existing dwellings,’ explained Immigration-law specialist David Stratton.

Foreign owned companies are also allowed to buy properties to house their Australian based staff and a developer can sell an unlimited number of dwellings, either off the plan or newly constructed, to foreigners, provided the properties are advertised locally.

In 2007/08, the main foreign buyers were from the US, Britain and the United Arab Emirates. The following year, Singapore investors topped the list, followed by the US and Britain.

Source: PropertyWire

With social media infiltrating our lives on every front, and considering the unprecedented uptake on the web, we, at Lois Buckett Real Estate, have joined the band wagon with our own profile on Facebook.

We are keen to get this medium up and running and invite you all to join us on Facebook.

Simply give us the “thumbs up” on the “Find us on Facebook” situated on the right hand side of this blog.

Looking forward to having you with us.

Property industry groups have slammed the New South Wales Government’s decision to introduce a new tax on property transactions, but what impact will it really have on the market?

In the shadow of the Federal Budget last week, the NSW Government announced it was introducing a new transaction charge of 0.2 per cent for properties valued at $500,000 and above, or 0.25 per cent above $1 million.

The decision to introduce what’s become known as the ‘ad valorem’ levy (ad valorem is Latin for ‘according to value’) brought a furious response from the property industry.

The acting executive director of the Property Council in NSW, Glenn Byres, says the new tax will “hurt homebuyers and hurt the NSW economy” and deliver “a significant hit” to “homebuyers, the residential development market and (the) commercial property market”.

“NSW is barely creeping back from 50-year lows in residential construction levels,” Byres says. ”We can’t afford to strangle progress with a new stealth tax.” Sal Carrero, chief executive of property accountants Chan & Naylor, says the move will worsen affordability and hurt many prospective homebuyers in one of the most active market segments in the state.

“There are few family homes under the $500,000 threshold, particularly in Sydney, which will penalise families hoping to enter the market. This tax hits first homebuyers square in the eyes,” Carrero says.

“It’s also an added burden to property investors, who are likely to pass on the increased cost to renters. Increasing the cost of property to investors may seem like a populist approach but it will hurt the vulnerable as well.”

Urban Taskforce Australia chief executive Aaron Gadiel says the tax is merely a disguised increase in the rate of stamp duty.

“It again sends the message that anyone who invests in NSW will be subject to unpredictable and ever-changing imposts.”

NSW Opposition leader Barry O’Farrell has also chipped in, saying the “unfair” tax would make it even tougher for families looking to buy a home, and potentially impact on jobs if businesses took their investments interstate.

So just how big is this tax slug that’s going to hit homebuyers “square in the eyes” and “strangle progress”?

Well, as it turns out, it would total $170 on the sale of a $585,000 house, which RP Data puts as the current median price in Sydney.

That sounds more like a small pain in the behind rather than a true punch right between the eyes, but perhaps Aaron Gadiel gives a better picture of how the new tax will affect the marketplace.

He points out the levy would be a $23,500 impost on the purchase of a $10 million development site and a $123,500 impost on a $50 million development site.

That seems less like chump change.

Or perhaps the hyperbole over the new property tax is less a case of how much it will cost, and more about, as Wakelin Property Advisory director Monique Wakelin puts it, just how dysfunctional property taxes have become.

“Federal and state governments alike are growing increasingly dependent on taxes raised from property owners and this over-dependence comes at a high cost,” Wakelin writes for the Eureka Report this week.

“Rapidly decreasing housing affordability, a growing shortage of housing for buyers and renters and significant financial penalties for residential property investors are among the chief symptoms of a chronic problem requiring urgent reform.”

By Mathew Liddy Australian Property Investor

Marie, Natalie, Trish and myself from the Lois Buckett Real Estate Team have just returned from the Australian Real Estate Conference (AREC) 2010 Conference in Sydney. As the name implies this was an opportunity to get together with industry leaders and other like minded agents across Australia and New Zealand.

To say that the experience was inspiring is an understatement.

DAY ONE

With speakers such as Erik Wahl, Edward de Bono and Sir Bob Geldof gracing the stage on Sunday 16 May the focus was on “The Art of Sales Excellence”, “Lateral Thinking” and “Reaching Your Dream”.

All 3 speakers were captivating and succinct and truly offered the audience an insight into their success and a look at the struggles along the way.

Quotes and Snippetts:

Erik Wahl shared an interesting acronym for FEAR – False Evidence Appearing Real. As fear is often the governing factor in our inability to commit to change it is refreshing to be able to identify what Fear actually is!

He recommends 20 minutes each day of reckless abandonment in an effort to break outside of the “Comfort Zone”.  Try eating dinner backwards – or even better- without using your hands.

A quote from Robert Frost “ Our mind is a beautiful organ, it starts the minute we wake up and continues working right up until we get to work!”

According to Bono “The space of excellence and opportunity is like the silence between the notes.”

Edward de Bono is the creator of the term lateral thinking and has written 62 books, including “Lateral Thinking and Six Thinking Hats” the theory of which has been adopted across the world.

He has a favourite word that he has invented – EBNE – Excellent But Not Enough and adopts this mode of thought in all that he does.  With such insights as 90% of errors of thinking are errors of perception and the CORT program which focuses on thinking creatively.

Sir Bob Geldof was captivating in his summation of his life to date and it was fascinating to have such a high-profile individual telling us in his own words the trials, tribulations and achievements that he has experienced over his lifetime.  But, most importantly what he did with it all.

Sir Bob encouraged the audience to build a culture within their given field – a culture of ideas where failure is not recognised as a governing factor.

He quoted the following:

G B Shaw “All change comes through UNreasonable people”

WH Murray “The moment one definitely commits oneself – all else comes.  What ever you can do, or dream you can, just begin it.”

Ghandi “If you want change, first change yourself.”

Now you may be asking yourself, “What does all of this have to do with Real Estate”?  As was pointed out by several of the esteemed speakers over the whole event; as agents we deal not just in the commodity of property, but, most importantly with people’s lives.

The sale, purchase or rental of premises is often aligned with major changes in an individual’s circumstances and the manner in which an agent approaches and manages a listing can often have a dramatic affect on the experience and final outcome.

This is why I encourage all the staff to “Look outside the square” and to “Put the shoe on the other foot” in all situations that come up.  The behind the scenes work in our real estate office is the glue that holds it all together and demonstrates the passion and commitment of each and every team member.

I look forward to sharing more of the AREC experience over the next week.