Andrew Winter

Over the last 4 or 5 years I have been approached by numerous companies claiming to be launching the next revolutionary web site for property; it used to be listings based; now it seems to be all about information on what has sold, when and for how much.

So it raises the question is all this information good… if it is good, who is it best for, or is it just great for everyone?

Well, as an agent, I am a little biased. I believe this information is fantastic for buyers and investors alike, providing you understand how to interpret the results. While being great for agents on one hand it’s also a bad thing for agents as some buyers and sellers focus on recent sale results and ignore the current market and compare their home to the wrong property! This makes an agents job harder is establishing a marketing price. It’ s actually awful for sellers as the buyers now have TOO MUCH information and end up being so price focused they forget they are trying to buy a home.

As an old fashioned guy, the property market survived very well before all this information was easily accessible. We do now run the risk of ‘too much information’ and home buyers ending up being so led by $$$ they miss the good homes to buy that will actually end up making the best profit.

I have just recently dealt with potential buyers who would not increase a single dollar on a great home in a great spot that they love, just in case the market drops a little further. I feel like shouting and screaming back and saying ‘Why the hell does it matter?’; if it is your home and you love it, BUY IT, enjoy it and if it does go down in price for a while who cares... a good home always bounces back the best!

So everyone, do your research BUT PLEASE DON’T GET SO BOGGED DOWN IN INFO you forget you are buying a home. Remember market conditions can change very quickly so historic results can be very misleading, as can area medians and post code results, as postal areas always have a huge variation in performance of their housing stock.

A final cautionary tale, in every suburb that quotes medians, growth increases or decreases there will be numerous exceptions to that rule. That is why there are agents for price advice and you employ professional valuers!