WHO IS ABRAHAM MASLOW AND WHY IS HIS BOOK IMPORTANT?

WHO IS ABRAHAM MASLOW AND WHY IS HIS BOOK IMPORTANT?

Number two in a series on planning your life goals

Abraham Maslow had a PhD in Psychology and from his research into human motivation he designed a five stage pyramid in which he outlined how human beings would always satisfy their needs.

It has become known as ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maslow%27s_Hierarchy_of_Needs.svg

It is fundamental to human behaviour and is forms the basis of my belief that a roof over your head should be number three on your list of priorities right after food and clothing.

Despite the fashionable talk of renting rather than buying the fact remains that at the end of everyone’s working life they need to own their own residence if they are to live a comfortable retirement.

So target you owning your own home first.

Noel Whittaker, one of the most level headed investment advisers appearing in the newspapers today, says that there is no more tax efficient investment than paying off your own mortgage.

Why?  Because you are paying your mortgage in ‘after tax’ dollars.

If your tax rate is 30% and your mortgage is $1,400 per month you need to earn $2,000 per month to pay the mortgage i.e. $2,000 earnings less 30% tax or $600, leaves $1,400 to pay the mortgage.

So before you start chasing investment properties, stop and consider the ideas above.

You will not get that advice elsewhere.

Ross Cutten

Director

Noble Real Estate

ANOTHER WARNING FOR SELLERS

ANOTHER WARNING FOR SELLERS

If you are about to list your home for sale it pays to ask about any further fees which you may be liable for.

It would appear that some agents are not satisfied with just charging a commission but are looking to charge sellers for many varied sundries.

The latest we have heard of is a seller being told she would need to pay $66 to have an ‘Under Offer’ sticker placed on her for sale sign.

This is a first for us as we have never heard of that one before.

Far from charging to use an ‘Under Offer’ sticker we do not use them.

Call one of our reps to find out why if you are curious as it is not up to me to educate our competitors.

So “Seller Beware”, read all the paperwork or make sure you fully understand the whole cost of listing for sale.

Ross Cutten

Director

Noble Real Estate

COMMENTS ON ARTICLE BY TERRY RYDER

COMMENTS ON ARTICLE BY TERRY RYDER

IN THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN 9.07.11

In Terry Ryder’s article he shares some of the abusive mail he receives and works his way around to his concerns about “the level of misinformation about property”.

In this we are in complete agreement.

He goes on to say “In my 30 years as a researcher and writer on Australian real estate I’ve never seen a time with so many myths and misconceptions masquerading as research and analysis”.

The points he outlines next we are in total agreement about;

“We don’t have a price bubble.

Our property values will not collapse.

We don’t have a chronic housing shortage crisis.

The great Australian dream is far from dead.

Negative gearing is not causing price inflation.

The inner city suburbs do not provide superior growth.”

I have some thoughts of my own as to where some of the myths originate.

For example take the idiot who recently went into print claiming that Australian house prices were 40% overvalued and using the U.S.A as his basis for the claim.

He seems to be unaware that many mortgages in the U.S.A. allow owners to simply return the keys to their lending institution and walk away with no more commitment. At one stage so many owners were posting their keys back to the bank, it gave rise to the term “jingle mail”.

He also ignored the fact that we have a highly regulated banking system.

When Mr Ryder and I were younger we used to have forecasters, but back then they had to at least show you their crystal ball and call themselves Madam Zara or some such so at least you had some idea they were simply showmen.

My suggestion to save you from falling for these forecasters is this. Ask them to show you where they forecast the GFC, the political assassination of our previous Prime Minister, the hung parliament or even the carbon tax.

Then weigh up the value of their foretelling of the future.

As most of the soothsayers are economists who are never held accountable (only a year ago they forecast 4 interest rate rises of which we have had one) it pays to remember the old definition of an economist as someone who has forecast 28 of the last 3 recessions.

Ross Cutten

Owner / Director

Noble Real Estate

HOW CAN YOU TRULY COMPARE?

HOW CAN YOU TRULY COMPARE?

When you are just about to sell your property you must get valid comparisons.

To do this it is not enough just to compare what is happening to property in the Rockingham District.

You need to know about your suburb.

For example, according to REIWA the number of sales in the Rockingham District were down 16% between the December and March quarters.

But within that average the number of sales in Safety Bay increased by 37% while those in Shoalwater went down by 40%.

There still remains only three factors which affect your chances of selling.

1.      Presentation

2.      Promotion (Advetising)

3.      Price

If the first two are right and the property isn’t selling, the answer lies with the price.

Ross Cutten

Owner / Director

Noble Real Estate

IS THIS A GOOD TIME TO BUY ?

IS THIS A GOOD TIME TO BUY ?

People constantly ask “Is this a good time to buy?”

My answer will also cover the question “Is this a good time to sell?”

This is one of the easiest questions I ever have to answer in real estate.

The simple answer is “Look at what everybody else is doing and do the reverse”.

Is everybody selling like today?

Then it is a brilliant time to buy.

For the sellers the question is “Is everybody buying?”

Today the answer is no. Everybody is selling.

So the answer is, If you can stay out of the current market, then do so.

“How long will we have to wait?’’

I am too old and smart to get involved in predicting the future even though it is currently fashionable to do so.

All I can say is that in 27 years I have never seen a market stay down as long as the current one, so the pressure must be building.

Ross Cutten

Owner / Director

Noble Real Estate

SELLER BEWARE!

SELLER BEWARE!

Following our commitment to NO BULL real estate here is some practices you need to be aware of in the local real estate industry.

1.      Beware of agents asking for you to pay advertising. Why? Consider the fact that one of my sellers (80 years of age) was asked to pay $1,000 up front followed by a further $500. She was refunded $125 when the property failed to sell. The same agency will list properties for sale without charging for advertising. It depends on the willingness or innocence of the seller.

2.      One of our local agencies uses the for sale sign on your property to sell their services. Shouldn’t the for sale sign be about selling your property?

(Please insert a photo of ours here).

3.      You need to know which websites your property will be listed on. The fact that you are as one of the cheapest agents in town promotes “on the worldwide web” is not enough. You must be on the two sites with the most visitors. They are....

realestate.com.au       and        reiwa.com.au

4.      You must have a member of the Real Estate Institute of W.A. Why? Because it is a precondition of membership of the institute that members have Professional Indemnity Insurance. This is there for your protection.

5.      You need to have advertising in BOTH the local paper and both the West Australian and the Sunday Times. It is true that the newspapers are losing ground but they are still a good source of buyer enquiry because not everyone is on the web and only 60% of buyers live locally.

Make sure your agent ticks all these boxes as we have too many sellers and too few buyers in the current market for you to risk not covering all bases.

Ross Cutten

Owner / Director

Noble Real Estate

THE CRAZY MARKETPLACE OF MARCH / APRIL 2011

THE CRAZY MARKETPLACE OF MARCH / APRIL 2011

Wherever people realise I am in real estate these days, they immediately want to know “How’s the Real Estate market”.

This is usually asked in the hushed tones normally heard before the start of The Death March.

I am currently telling them;

We had a good month in March and an exceptional start to April, in fact we sold 15% more in the first 14 days of April than in the whole of March, which as i said was a good month.

People are looking for signs of a turnaround, as confidence is low everywhere according to the popular press.

After 27 years in the business I need to see 3 months of consistent change before I will say it is a trend.

We have already had November, December and the first week of January look like a long term change only to go quiet.

The only thing I can predict with certainty is that sellers will pick up the trend before buyers and they then become less negotiable.

That is why it is important that buyers buy prior to the trend change, to buy at the best possible price.

Ross Cutten

Owner / Director

Noble Real Estate