Daily Archives: September 11, 2009

Nelson Home Sales Report August 2009

Friday 11th September 2009

The Real Estate Institute of NZ will release their updated sales figures for August 2009 on Monday along with the stratified index numbers.

Data up to today indicates median price was down on the previous month of July 2009, but considering how many 2 bedroom properties sold, it was probably not surprising.

Volume/number of properties sold in August 2009 was down a couple of units on the previous month of July 2009 period, however days on the market (days to sell) was almost the same as July 09.

Continuing the trend of recent months, another 10 residential sections were sold, but the median days to sell of 147 was nothing to write home about. One good point on the section sales was that the % of asking price achieved median was 100%, so that’s definitely encouraging. Let the building begin.

UPDATED 17th Sept – above chart has error – median price for 1 bed is $185,000

Larger Version of above graphic here.

Above is a graphic illustrating the equivalent amount in the nominated countries currency that it would cost to have brought a Nelson median priced home in August 2009.

In summary its pretty obvious to see where all the activity is, with nearly 3/4 (73.9%) of all local buying activity being below NZD$400,000, with 63% under NZD$350,000.

Is is just me or is their a change in the air

Lately I have noticed a real increase in the amount of properties coming on to the market with out a price.

Since the beginning of September for Nelson City, 18 out of the 30 new listings on realestate.co.nz do not have a price.

(one is a Mortgagee Sale, something not common down here)

And then this week, so far 14 out of 20 do not have a price.

Is their a change out there?

Are agents, like the talk on the street seems to appear to be, being really challenged to put a correct price on a property.

And are they being caught out, simply because there are too many buyers out there………..and are now deciding that a “no price” marketing campaign is best to acheive the maximum price for a vendor?

Is it a swing away from the previous 2009 marketing that has seen many more properties advertised with a price?

Most curiously, I wonder if buried deep with-in the bowels of the realestate.co.nz database there is not a broader picture that could be painted. I also wonder out loud whether a similiar trend, has in the past been a precusor or forecast of a particular market direction or sentiment?

Real Estate Photography Tip #1

I’ll start with what I feel is probably the most important one, exposure.

I see too many photos like this.

And it just reinforces my belief that some agents do not put as much time into this crucial part of the process as they should.

Does this accurately get the “bright clean sparkling white” bathroom message across?

Does this photo allow a member of the family to say “gee I’d love to be preparing a meal in there – just got to have a look at this place?”

For some photos, its not hard to spot the “get this over as quick as I can” type of mode straightaway.

How to fix?

Well the good news is, its easy.

Step 1

If your camera has “fill flash” or “synro flash”, enable it.

Failing this take two shots, one with flash and one without.

Step 2

Go over to the window area, aim digital camera at the outside, and make sure at least 70% of the outside light fills the frame. Press the shutter button half way down, it won’t take a picture but it will memorise the light settings……….while keeping you finger in the same place walk back into the room, recompose yourself, maintaining finger pressure on the shutter button all the time. When ready, Press shutter button all the way down, some modern cameras will have an AE Lock………

and this allows you to do all the above much easier – you go across to the window as before, aim out and fill the frame with about 70% of the outside light, then press the AE Lock button.

It will now memorise the “light” settings and you don’t have to maintain that pressure on the shutter button as before.

Step 3

Review, or if you are lucky enough to have a histogram on the camera, really find out what they mean.

These really are an indispensable aid in reviewing a photo while still on site.

Step 4

If you really want to be creative then spend 5-10 minutes learning about bracketing. Many of todays cameras will do this automatically. There are two main methods. One where the exposure is bracketed itself in degrees of EV. The second is where it actually brackets for different lighting conditions, and is a feature of digital cameras.

Step 5

And if you want to get really really creative after you have taken your 2-3-4 shots in the bracketing mode, then head on over to read my series about HDR.

If in doubt as mentioned before take a shot with flash on. However with the earlier mentioned method #2 above, most modern cameras should take consideration of the outside light and even if they fire the flash inside, you will get a much more balanced “light” photo.

And surely in most photos its the inside of the home that you want to be shown the best.

Just to show how common the issue of exposure in photos is, all of the first 4 photographs have been uploaded to a Real Estate site in the last 48hours. If you want to see more uncollectable examples of “what not to do” in Real Estate Photography, then check this out.

NOTE: All of these tips are assuming you have the camera in its normal default exposure mode, commonly refered to as either “center weighted metering” , “multi-segment metering” or “matrix metering” but definitely not “spot metering” unless you know what you are doing.