CY Feature Property: 87 EVANDALE STREET, FLOREAT

A Palatial Statement

With a winning combination of substantial living space, excellent separation and a backyard built for fun and games, your family will be right at home here for years to come. Only 3 years young, this double storey Webb & Brown-Neaves home oozes character and warmth.

Surrounded by towering established trees and an abundance of chattering birdlife, you’ll love having breakfast on the front balcony with the newspapers spread out and hot coffee in hand.
This spacious north-facing sunny verandah provides a welcome introduction to the generous offerings within this expansive home where every room has been supersized to offer the ultimate in comfort.

Inside, the extra wide central hallway introduces space as a common theme that is repeated in every single room. From the substantial open plan living area that leads to the large terrace patio to the spacious confines of the formal lounge and dining, this truly is a sprawling home of generous proportions where entertaining is high on the social agenda.

For more please click the link below:
http://www.capornyoung.com.au/index.cfm?pageCall=property&propertyID=1437343&subject=87_Evandale_Street_FLOREAT_WA_6014

Want a better home loan? Just ask...

WITH the threat of another interest rise on the horizon, a new consumer survey has offered homeowners a ray of hope.

The survey, by consumer adviser CHOICE, found that the nation's big four banks - ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), National Australia Bank (NAB) and Westpac - were all willing to give a better deal on a home loan or transaction account ... all you have to do is ask.

CHOICE surveyed more than 2000 of its members and found that a third had asked their financial institution for a cut in transactions fees or interest rates, and most were pleasantly surprised with the result.

Of those that were prepared to ask for a new deal on their home loan, about two in five received a cut of up to 25 basis points (bps), a quarter received between 25 and 50 bps, and about another 25 per cent got between 50 bps and a full 1 per cent.

And there was an even greater reward for 10 per cent of those who asked, gaining a rate cut of between 1 and 2 per cent. "If you're not satisfied with your current bank, tell them you're prepared to take your business elsewhere and try and quote products from other institutions," CHOICE spokesman Christopher Zinn said releasing the survey results today.

Mr Zinn said a 1 per cent decrease on a $400,000 loan would save more than $75,000 over 25 years. "So it really does pay to ask," he said.

Should the Reserve Bank lift the cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.75 per cent at its next board meeting on October 5 as being speculated in financial markets, it would add on average $65 to the monthly repayment on a $400,000 loan, assuming retail banks match the move.

The survey found that CBA, followed by NAB, rated best overall for negotiating a better home loan deal, while the ANZ and Westpac were most likely to give their customers an interest rate cut.

Westpac also rated best for negotiating better deals on transaction accounts.

Those who sought a better deal on transaction accounts were mostly offered a new product, a reduction in fees and in some cases a refund of fees.

"Switching banks can take time and effort whereas just asking them to do better is much easier, and you can often be rewarded with big savings on fees and interest rates," Mr Zinn said.

Despite this apparent generosity from the major banks, they again finished bottom in the customer satisfaction league.

The survey found people more content with credit unions, like the Teachers Credit Union, and other smaller players including Members Equity bank, ING Direct and Bendigo.


Read more: http://www.news.com.au/money/money-matters/want-a-better-home-loan-just-ask/story-e6frfmd9-1225928662467#ixzz10mjfZh3e

Leasing Market Movements - September

As the vacancy rate in the general rental market continues to rise above 4.5%, at Caporn Young, we have managed to keep our vacancy rates down to 1% over the Winter period. As we move on from the quietest period of the year, and into Spring, we will begin to see more properties coming onto the rental market. In light of this, we need to make sure we are prepared on a price, marketing and presentation level to give our landlords the edge in a competitive market.

With this increase in competition, it becomes even more vital to ensure, as a prospective landlord, that you arereceiving sound advice on the current market conditions. A poorly priced property can mean that it remains vacant for longer and offer no return on investment.

When you are seeking an expert opinion on the potential rental value of your investment, it is essential that you are presented with recent, relevant supporting evidence to back up the listing price. Everyone wants to achieve the highest possible price but this figure will, ultimately, be determined by the market of the day. If an agent gives you a value that sounds too good to be true, it probably is - and this is when things can become costly. I have seen this occur too often recently, resulting in properties being left on the market for months at a time, becoming stale and costing landlords thousands of dollars.

Presentation of the property is paramount if you are to achieve a premium price. This ranges from a general garden tidy up, to professional home cleaning, re-painting and/or possibly replacing old carpets. As Summer approaches, something as simple as a split system air conditioning unit (from $1000 installed) may give your property the point of difference to others in the same price bracket and attract a higher quality tenant.

Not only will the presentation of your property help to minimise the vacancy period, any maintenance carried out is likely to increase the value of your property and may provide you with some substantial tax deductions.

Despite increasing competition, we continue to have a strong list of tenants seeking premium properties throughout the Western Suburbs and we could have the perfect people for your property right now!

James Heath, Business Development Manager - Leasing

East Fremantle Best Rental Growth Suburb

EAST Fremantle is the only Perth suburb to feature in a national top 40 list dominated by suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne, of highest rental growth for units.


In latest analysis by RP Data, a unit in East Fremantle is fetching $350 in rent a week, up 18.6 per cent from last year’s rental of $295.

The West End suburb in Brisbane topped the list with weekly rent in the area reaching $480, up 26.3 per cent from $380.

Conversely, four Perth suburbs featured in the top 40 list of largest rental falls for units, with East Perth coming in at number six as its weekly rent dropped from $320 in 2009 to $300.

Tuart Hill came in at 11 with its weekly rent falling from $300 to $290, East Victoria Park was 28th with rent dropping $328 to $320 and Fremantle was 38th with the rent dipping from $340 to $335.

“Based on my analysis, demand has remained quite strong within the outer suburbs of the capital cities for units and selected inner city locations,” RP Data analyst Cameron Kusher said.

“However, demand has weakened for inner city units and this is likely the result of an extremely active first home buyers market during mid to late 2009.


“As a result, in the well-established inner city unit markets the renter has had a greater variety of choice, especially considering the significant supply within these markets and in a number of instances rental rates have actually fallen.”

However the outlook is that rents will start to increase across capital cities as a result of higher property value growth for units compared to houses (11 per cent versus 9.2 per cent) and minimal supply available in the market.

“With rental vacancy rates remaining tight and supply of new rental stock limited thanks to the insufficient supply of new stock, we anticipated that over the coming months vacancy rates will tighten further adding to the upwards pressure on rental rates,” Mr Kusher said.


>> view the article at Perth Now

7 ways to prepare your home for Auction this Spring

When you are selling by Auction a large number of prospective purchasers will inspect your home in a confined period. Most of these people will make a judgement about your home based on a first impression and they will not return if their inspection fails to impress.


1. First and foremost, ask a trusted friend to inspect your home as a buyer would and request they highlight any flaws in presentation. Some can be overcome with minimal effort and cost whilst it may not be feasible to attend to others.


2. Inspect the house from the street, as this is where buyers make their initial judgement. Are the lawns mown, edges clipped, garden beds weeded, can the house number be readily seen from the street?


3. If your garden is a bit bare consider a few terracotta pots beside the front door to break up a broad expanse and also window boxes with flowering annuals can enhance the external appeal of your home. If you have sufficient notice, put fertiliser on the lawn to make them greener.


4. Most of us acquire too much furniture over the years which can give a cluttered appearance to rooms. Prevail on friends/relatives or hire a garage to store excess furniture and possessions so that buyers can see and feel the full potential of rooms.


5. Any obvious faults like loose tiles, missing fence palings, broken appliances or incomplete renovations should be attended to because they all indicate to buyers that the owners do not care sufficiently. Buyers can then wonder unnecessarily if other things have been neglected.


6. Nothing impresses buyers more than a house that has been recently cleaned. Steam clean the carpet, clean windows (internally and externally), remove excess rubbish and garden debris so you can walk easily around the house and garden. Make sure toys are away and beds are made.

7. Finally, on inspection days have flowers on display, set the dining room table for a dinner party, in winter light the fire, make a batch of scones or set up the coffee percolator. In this way you will appeal to the buyer’s sense of smell, sight and touch which helps create wonderful warmth and atmosphere.

Market Movements - September

The market, as it currently stands, remains largely unchanged from its position last month. In fact the quarterly REIWA figures have the Perth market down by approximately 2%.

Despite these reports and uncertainty regarding the outcome of the Federal election, the fundamentals underpinning the Perth real estate market are looking sound.

The latest ABS figures show that full time ordinary earnings in Western Australia grew by 6.2% over the year ending May 2010. This wage growth can be attributed to improving economic conditions in the State economy with W.A now having the lowest unemployment rate of any State in Australia at just 4.4%.

When the State economy performs strongly, so does the top end of the Perth real estate market, and we have started to see some very encouraging movement.

The key to successful selling in any market is a targeted selling strategy. Price is the single most imperative detail of any campaign. Employing a ‘smart’ selling strategy, we find that properties often sell before going to the open market.

One of our top selling agents has recently demonstrated this premise, with 5 out of 7 new listings selling in the first 2 weeks. He attributes his success to effectively turning what is a buyers market into a sellers market, strategically positioning the property to give it an unfair advantage in the marketplace.

The improving economic indicators bodes well for a recovering real estate market. With a positive economic outlook derived from low unemployment rates, rising wages and a growing population, astute buyers are in the market now - taking advantage of stable interest rates and competitive house prices.