Good news Stories

2 bedroom bach in Le Bons Bay with a RV of $368,000 sells for a dollar.

Ha ha – no. I know that’s what the gloomy people though this is how the story would go.

Actually after 58 bids it sold for $550,000. Bayleys will be pleased with that result.

Leading Auckland real estate firm Barfoot and Thompson says there are signs of a recovery in the housing sector - with more buyers and sellers entering the market.

The firm, which says it handles around one in every three Auckland homes sold, said today the average price of houses changing hands last month - $512,536 - was a 3.5 per cent increase on the same month a year ago. It was also 2 per cent higher than the average in January this year.


In February Barfoot & Thompson sold 559 homes, up 8.9 percent on sales in January, and the first time in four years that February sales have been higher than in the preceding January.


The firm listed 1470 new homes, up 50.8 per cent on those listed in January. While down 28.3 per cent on those listed for sale in the same month last year, February 2008’s listings were the highest in any month for more than two years.

dont worry about what barefoot and thumpson say...
they have their own motives/agendas, they are in the business of making money... they will say what ever they want to make money...

The whole real estate business of matching buyers and sellers is a crock...
'
they go to the seller saying house prices are going to get worse...
oh, take the money down trending sector, we are barefoof "recommend selling"...

what do they then do to buyers...
OH...... Prices have dropped...interest rates have fallen... its never a better time to buy than right now...

as real estate agents are trying to coax buyers and sellers they will do what they want, when they want it to get business deals matched....

shame on anyone who listens to real estate agents...
Banks are the same, they know whats up... they want you to lose money so they can make it...
eg fixed interst rates...

If you can provide an unbiased article then shoot...
otherwise you might aswell read what the buffs on the 1st homebuyers thread have been saying for the last two years...
:cool:
.^sc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shrewd Crude

If you can provide an unbiased article then shoot...

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Shrewdy, as hard as you and I might look I doubt either of us will find an unbiased opinion. But what we can do is look at the evidence and make a call from there.

It goes without saying you have to take a real estate agent opinion with an enormously large grain of salt – I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could kick ‘em. However if they present data we have to give that some recognition for validity. How reliable it is depends on ones viewpoint, which will hopefully be supported by other data. If its good enough for people to listen to their yarns in the good times, I can’t see why they shouldn't listen to the same yarns in the harder times.

Without wanting to crap this thread since this is the good news one, interesting comments from Bernard Hickey ( one of the more vocal self promoting doomsayers) this morning.

For a start he reckons Barfoot and Thompson are one of the more credible real estate agents.
Next Bernard is distrusting of their evidence based approach because he prefers to rely on his anecdotal observations.

Then he reckons its a media beat up – but is silent on the beat up the media gives to a dropping market.
He’s not keen on using “average” figures – but is probably equally unkeen on using mean figures.

And he thinks the figures are skewed because there are a few high value sales – he only appears to like data when there are few high value sales and lots of low value sales.
And finally he’s talking about a 20% drop in values but is silent on where his base is. If its the Nov 08 highs then that is a big move from his original 30% predictions. If its off today’s values then thats a 25% move off Nov Highs. Either way he’s back tracking.

So all in all his comments are good news.

great mini...
now thats a more creditable source....

barefoot and thump-some1.... hahahhaha....
your absolutely right, this is a good news stories thread...
so on that note im gone.........
zzzzzzzzooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

:cool:
.^sc

Don’t know if I should include this but Harcourts reckon its good news. They think the tide is turning because they are getting more hits on their website. Personally I think they are looking for an excuse to get some media attention after Barfoots news yesterday.

Got a ring from Harcourt's this morning to tell me that a house I looked at about a year ago (I was 1 of 2 people that went to the open home) had just had a major price reduction (there words) and was I interested ?,I said would think about it.

The house in question came on the market for 415k near the end of the boom,it then dropped to 405k then 399k then 379k then 359k and now a drop of 34k to 325k.

When my lady and I first looked at it I said 300k tops and more like 250k so getting there,but the market has and is changing in that time so ???,and to think if I had listened to some experts around here I could have snapped it up for the bargain price of 379k,Hmmm.

Cheers
Miner

Quote:

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Originally Posted by miner

When my lady and I first looked at it I said 300k tops and more like 250k so getting there,but the market has and is changing in that time so ???,and to think if I had listened to some experts around here I could have snapped it up for the bargain price of 379k,Hmmm.

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Not really – it is quite apparent that the seller had grossly inflated value of their property which was out of touch with reality. If the property had a value of $415 it would have sold at this price – but obviously it didn’t, so it was never worth $415. This is coupled with a dumb marketing campaign – harcourts (assuming they have had the property all this time) are just eroding the high end value by sending the market mixed messages. It sounds like Miner might have had a more realistic value of the property – so the good news is that particularly property isn’t loosing value – it will eventually sell for its proper value.

From the REINZ today: “....The number of home sales nationwide in February was 5,228, a big jump on the record low of 3,706 in January"... {and the most in the past 11 months}...." The median house price has also improved on January’s figures. The national median house price in February was $330,000, up $5,000 on January’s $325,000”

In part your right as in it was never worth 415k but then allot of others that sold in the few years before this came on the market were never worth what they sold for (some have since sold for substantially less).

What happened with this one is they missed the mental-greed prices,when it came on the bubble had a pin prick and has been leaking badly ever since,so now we look for it to over correct to the low side then maybe look at buying,the property WOULD be loosing value if you were one of the suckers that bought at the mental prices as many did.

I was just about to point out where you have contradicted yourself again mini but as been there done that before will give it a miss,so as before will leave you to your thoughts and will just keep sitting on my hands and watch the market do what I picked it would,a ways to go yet,there are many indicators that say it is still got a ways to go down,1 of them being the ring I got this morning.

Good luck with your cunning plan anyway,each to there own,sure your not a realties agent ???.

Cheers
Miner