WOW oh WOW! The negativity in the media is crazy right now. Look, Sydney and Melbourne are definitely dropping 10-20% the way the charts are going – this is big bucks $200,000-400,000 or more…however this is due to the prices of the properties in these major cities.

Brisbane as we know is still undervalued, massive migration from interstate is still happening, so house shortages and rental shortages will support the prices fairly well – yes we are seeing a correction. When the FOMO is current we get people paying potentially 5-10% more than they really wanted to, thereby inflating the prices maybe 5-10%, but as prices continue to go up in the long run this 5-10% is absorbed a few months later. However, now the FOMO is being replaced by the FOOP (fear of over-paying), the 5% over-payment has gone, the issue is during this transitional phase which can last 1-3 months depending on the agent and the seller, it’s not always recognised and some agents continue to give inflated prices to sellers, promising them sometimes up to 25% more than what the history suggests.

We start to see sellers not sell, take their properties off the market, hate all real estate agents again, and buckle down until they can once again get their dream price. This could be in 5 years time. Sellers need to figure out why they’re selling, is the price actually important to them or is moving for convenience, lifestyle, schools, etc more important than telling the neighbours you got $1million dollars?

I’m looking at buying at the moment and I’m weighing up between spending conscientiously less and having to renovate (spending my savings to make the home better/more suitable) or spend what I can to get what I want (keep my savings) and pay the extra $300-400/month or whatever it’ll be up until 2024 or until interest rates come back down.

The benefit of keeping the savings is we can put it in an offset and actually pay less mortgage, we can use it to pay the increased mortgage repayments due to both the higher price and the rising interest rates.

As I am now in a buyer’s position with my partner, I want her to be 100% happy with what we buy. I don’t want her to look back and regret it. I know either way you usually have some small regrets, but I don’t want to pressure her into buying she doesn’t want.

The truth I know is our affordability will go down as interest rates go up, so we may not be able to buy into the suburbs we’re looking in at the moment.

Now I have sent her and the kids around to look at a few properties recently, so they can gauge the prices and what sort of bang you get for the buck. I’ve sent her to a complete gut job, a smaller house, a tenanted house. This is so she can see what sort of effect it has on prices. Research and knowing what you actually want is the biggest thing you need to do.

Do you actually need the ensuite right now, or could you put it in later?

Do you need a deck or could you put it in later?

I’ve got a video below on how not to get into arguments with your loved ones about what to buy. Feel free to have a look at this and hopefully it helps.

Good luck!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wozIsIojpm8

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