Gazumping happens when a buyer reaches a verbal or even written agreement to buy a property with a vendor, however before the “contracts are exchanged” a second buyer comes in at a higher price, or offers better terms, and contracts are instead exchanged with them – leaving the first buyer high and dry.

Is it a fair practice? Probably not if you’re the buyer who missed out, but if you’re the successful buyer or the seller then I’m sure you’re going to be ok with it...

I read an interesting article the other day by property analysts, RP Data, which showed that Sydney properties located in the premium postcodes had a significant increase in values above and beyond less prestigious areas.

The report showed a significant variation in the growth of values across the different price points over the last five years...

We’re seen most financial institutions tighten up their lending criteria since the global financial crisis and considering what happened around the world on the money markets in the last 12 months it’s hardly surprising.

Recently, Westpac announced that first home buyers would need to meet a loan-to-valuation ratio of 87% instead of the previous 92%...

If you’ve been house hunting for a while and you come across that perfect property you’ve been looking for it’s tempting to rush in and try to buy it as quickly as possible.

The selling agents are sure to tell you that they’ve had plenty of interest already and that it’s unlikely to stay on the market long, and you may start to feel the desperation of missing out on your dream home...

The countdown to Christmas has begun and the pressure is on to organise the gifts, the lunchtime feast and holidays away. While it’s important to have fun and enjoy the break, don’t get too carried away and blow your budget – particularly if you’re saving a deposit for a home or investment property...

A. With any property or other investment purchase you’re taking a risk. If you want to increase that risk then buy in an area that you’re not familiar with - and if you really want to take your risk to the extreme then buy in another country...

Here’s a question I was recently asked that I thought was a good topic to share with my blog readers.

When deciding between buying an investment property or a home you really need to look at your short, medium and long term goals. From a financial, wealth accumulation perspective, in 99% of cases you are going to be better off buying an investment property...

The Reserve Bank announced another rate rise of 25 basis points this week with official interest rates now at 3.5%. There seems to be wide spread agreement that rates will continue to rise over the next year or two until more ‘normal’ levels are reached.

It’s important to keep this information in perspective and not panic. Let’s remember that the interest rate levels that we’ve enjoyed this year were deliberately set at record low levels designed to stimulate the economy. They were never going to remain at these levels for the long term...

Yes there are some negatives to showing your cards early in a negotiation that you need to consider. Firstly you will be breaking the golden rule of being the first to name a price and secondly you run the risk of your pre-auction offer (if rejected as they often are) becoming the benchmark of the vendors expectations e.g. "the reserve"...