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Dougmal Harcourts - The Property People

Friday 25 July 2014

Vibrant Winter Gardening

Having an attractive garden all year around, particularly over winter, can be quite simple. It is also a great asset if you are looking to sell your home. Also consider some living plant features inside your home, as they can brighten any space and make everyone feel brighter as well!

In the garden
  1. Add colour in your garden by painting old terracotta pots, your boundary fence, or other features in your garden.
  2. If you have outdoor furniture, rejuvenate it by covering old cushions with bright new fabric. If you are keen, consider purchasing a second hand garden bench and give it a new life by painting it in a lively colour. It then becomes a feature and also a great place to capture some winter sun.
  3. Prune any deciduous plants after their last flowers have dropped. Removing dead or dying branches tidies up your garden and will also improve the health of your plants.
  4. Fertilise your lawn to ensure it has plenty of nutrients to survive the winter frosts. 
  5. Add 2-3 inches of mulch around plants. This looks great, will prevent moisture loss, and will shield your plants’ roots from the cold.
  6. Some flowering plants love the chill of winter. Consider planting Camellias, Proteas, Lavender and Grevilleas to add colourful blooms in your garden.


Inside your home

Many plants from sub-tropical climates are great indoors and are ideal for bringing some colour into your home. Consider the following plants, as they are accustomed to fluctuating temperatures, low light, and occasionally drying out:

Moth Orchid – This beautiful flowering plants needs some warmth and light, so position it next to a window to catch the winter sun.

Madonna Lily – This glossy leafed plant with tall-stemmed flowers is known for its air purifying qualities and requires very little maintenance. The lily likes indirect sunlight in a warm room.

Silver Vase Bromeliad – This stunning bromeliad has silver frosted leaves and a bright pink spikey flower. This plant also prefers indirect sunlight.
These few simple things will enhance your indoor and outdoor living spaces, not to mention adding value to your property.



Friday 18 July 2014

Tips to Consider Before Selling

Here are six great tips to consider before you place your property on the market.

1. CHOOSE THE RIGHT AGENT
Don’t just go with someone you know, or the agent who sold the neighbour’s house. Meet at least three agents, talk with them, attend some of their open homes and assess the way they do business. You want an agent who will work hard at following-up buyers, has a good manner with people, and is a great negotiator.

2. BE SENSIBLE ON PRICE
It goes without saying you need to meet the market. Find out where the market is by looking at recent sales (your agent will be able to help you with this).

3. Get the marketing right
Over the last 12 months 79% of our buyers first see the property online. This is a 6% increase on the previous 12 months.

With this is mind, think of the four P’s when it comes to marketing your property - Presentation, Photos, Prose and Place.

Presentation: Fix up all those little things that could catch buyers' eyes and stop them from falling in love with your property.

Photos: Professional photos of your property are essential, as most buyers first see your property online. There is a world of difference between amateur snaps and professional photography.

Prose: These are the words describing your property to buyers. You want to highlight the key attributes (number of bedrooms, bathrooms etc) and the best points of your property that often cannot be appreciated through photos alone.

Place: Your property needs to be seen in the “place” where the buyers are looking. Property websites and newspaper advertising are the first places buyers look. Direct marketing by the agency to their database of relevant buyers is also effective.

4. HAVE ALL YOUR DOCUMENTATION IN PLACE
The last thing you want is for a sale to fall through because you don’t have all the paperwork in place.

5. BE READY FOR VIEWINGS
Your agent might get requests for viewing in the evening or outside of Open House inspection times. Within reason, you should be flexible and have your home ready to show at short notice. That person who turns up at 7pm might just be the one who falls in love with your home!

6. BE FLEXIBLE WITH SETTLEMENT TIMES

This is not always possible, however if you don’t have to move in a hurry, or can get out a bit faster, it’s worth being flexible on settlement times.

Friday 11 July 2014

The Importance of Pest and Building Inspections

There are quite a few costs associated with buying a property. Shopping around can save you money, however it’s important not to skip on doing building and pest inspections.

Some buyers who are concerned with the amount of costs involved in buying a property choose to skip on building and pest inspections, thinking these are unnecessary costs (especially if the property is fairly new). I can think of a few instances where buyers took the risk and didn’t get the inspections done, and were left significantly out-of-pocket from issues not detected.

Reports cost a few hundred dollars; however can save a buyer thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars if the damage turns out to be extensive. Not all issues are obvious, even for those who are experienced buyers. Some sellers also expertly cover up any issues before selling.

Buyers should make sure they use licenced trades people who hold professional indemnity insurance to conduct the building and pest inspections. Then if these professionals fail to identify problems, the insurance will cover costs and the buyer will not be out-of-pocket.

If building and pest inspections do uncover problems, it doesn’t mean a buyer should immediately pull out of the sale as there are many ways to approach the issues that may arise.

Even termite infestation doesn’t necessarily mean the buyer should pull out of the sale – a surprising number of homes have had termites at some stage. It’s a case of stopping further damage, evaluating the damage done, and sorting out the price of repairs or reduction on sale price.

Building and pest reports are entirely up to the buyer, and are an important tool for buyers to know exactly what they are getting!


At the very least, pest and building inspections give buyers peace-of-mind knowing that they’ve purchased a good property.

Friday 4 July 2014

July Auction Results!

Last week we had the first of two in-room auction events planned for July, held at the Rydges Hotel in Campbelltown.

This auction campaign gained fantastic results, selling 5 of the 7 properties submitted for auction – an impressive 71% clearance rate. Here’s the summary:

AMBARVALE, 18 Gargery Street - SOLD!

BRADBURY, 2 Coppabella Crescent – NOT YET SOLD

LEUMEAH, 16 Colong Crescent - SOLD!

CAMPBELLTOWN, 6a Ruzac Street – NOT YET SOLD

MINTO, 9 Selms Place - SOLD!

BRADBURY, 19 The Parkway - SOLD!

AMBARVALE, 3 Claypole Street - SOLD BEFORE AUCTION

1st JULY AUCTION EVENT STATISTICS:
  • 5 of the 7 properties submitted to auction on 1st of July SOLD – a 71% clearance rate!
  • Of the properties SOLD, our team achieved an average of 22.6 buyer inspections per property during the intensive 21-day marketing campaign.
  • Of the properties SOLD, our team achieved 3.25 bidders per property at the auction event.

This auction event was another brilliant team effort! Great preparation from both our vendors and agents and lots of hard work leading up to and at the event were all key to its success.

Thanks again to our Auctioneer, Paul Casarotto, and the wonderful support from Domain, The Macarthur Advertiser, and Harcourts NSW.


OUR NEXT IN-ROOM AUCTION EVENT WILL BE HELD ON JULY 30TH WITH 7 PROPERTIES TO BE SOLD!