With the start of Spring just around the corner, there’s no question that the number of new listings to the market is on the rise very quickly...

And it would seem that plenty of property sellers are looking to get in before the masses.

In our opinion (and with recent statistics to back this up), this is a good idea.

Buyers seem to be out early this Spring and there’s still relatively low numbers of properties on the market right now.

If you’d like a comprehensive report of what we believe your property to be worth, let us know and we can arrange this for you.

Now back to our current topic…Open Home Nightmares!

Here’s the latest series of stories that have been sent to me from other agents…

The first story comes from Dean (an agent from Padstow in NSW). I must say that I was one of those people who used to struggle with the old ‘Referdex’ and was the one person turning it upside down and all around to find a place. Before the days of a GPS (for all you twenty something’s, yes it’s true that the ‘Sat Nav’ hasn’t been around for that long). Anyway, enjoy this one…

• “In my early days I did not know the area too well. When showing a group 2 properties, they were in the car behind following me, I lost my way. I then had to pull over to check the “Gregory’s” map… they then got theirs out and we were comparing trying to work it out. How embarrassing!”

Here’s a cracker from Joseph (an agent from Melbourne, Victoria)…

• “Once I was at packed open, stuck at the door and a guy asked if I had seen his wife. I said no perhaps she had walked back to the car. As he was leaving the property I heard someone yelling his name from above us. She had locked herself out on the balcony upstairs. What was even funnier is that he thought it would be funny to leave her there and drive off. Much to her horror, he did exactly that, circled the block a few times before returning to pick her up. She wasn’t amused. I thought it was hilarious!”

Here’s one from Jaime Leigh (an agent from Hampton Park in Victoria)… I’ve had something similar to me before. This one would be many agents’ worst nightmare…

• “Two weeks ago, I had a property open for the first time. So, it was full of people including the lovely old lady who I was in contact with to get her house on the market too… when all of a sudden two separate people started screaming at each other. Apparently one group of kids were playing on the balustrade upstairs and a lady said to the kids “woah it’s not your house” (it had made a cracking noise). The guy told her she was a bitch and to mind her business they are only kids. She told him to control them then and he started screaming and yelling at her. He didn’t like being told by a woman. Never have I had people abusing each other at an open. I tried to calm him down as he was leaving, asking him if this was his house wouldn’t he be happy if someone told kids to stop playing on a railing and that she meant no harm.”

I’ll give you one of my own for a final story today…

• Around five years ago, I was selling an acreage property in Eatons Hill. The home had a narrow but steep bitumen driveway that lead up to the home. At the top of the driveway, there was only room for a few cars to park and turn around to leave so we arranged for cars to be parked on the street. This home was not a large home and I was really struggling to sell it. The open home numbers had dwindled so on a particular Saturday, I thought I’d allow the cars to drive up to the home since we were now only obtaining 1-2 groups per week come through the open home. Much to my surprise, ten different groups turned up on this particular day. One of the groups was leaving and was trying to reverse down the long winding driveway since there was no room to turn around. All of a sudden, I heard a huge crash. Whilst the bottom of the driveway was not visible because of the trees, I knew in an instant what had happened…the guy reversing had crashed into a car that was parked at the bottom of the driveway…and he didn’t exactly hit it softly! What was more awkward was that I received multiple offers from two buyers on this home at the end of the day…the guy who reversed into the cat at the bottom of the driveway…and the guy who owned the car at the bottom of the driveway! Both buyers made offers that were above the listed price so each would have been accepted if either was the only offer. In the end, the guy who reversed his car into the other had a slightly better offer and secured the property. I didn’t have the heart to the tell the other buyer that the successful bloke that hit his car was also the bloke that stopped him from securing the property.

As I mentioned last week, there’s plenty of material here…some of which simply cannot be published but please keep them coming!

Remember that I’m offering a $200 Coles/Myer voucher for the best story sent in so I’ll start to share some of your funny stories next week.

Until then, Happy Listing & Happy Selling.

My ‘Feature Property Of The Week’ is 11 Stone Brook Court, Cashmere

4 Bed / 2 Bath / 2 Car

Offers Above $595,000

Open Home – Sat, 26 Aug 11:00AM to 11:30AM

A stunning 4 bedroom upmarket residence that features a fabulous gourmet kitchen, multiple expansive living spaces, a huge outdoor deck that captures wide picturesque views of the surrounding skyline and mountain tops, an easy side access suitable for boats and trailers and a crystal clear in-ground swimming pool…all on your large 661m2 allotment that’s nicely positioned at the end of a peacefully quiet cul-de-sac. With potential to build in the area downstairs (already legal height), you could add substantial space to this home, thus increasing its’ value significantly. Brand new to the market, make sure you act quickly to view this gorgeous family home as this abode really does have a certain ‘feel’ that makes you want to move right in.

Did You Know?

All four members of ‘The Michael Spillane Team’ have been involved in a car accident at some stage this year.

Isabelle’s was the only serious accident (not her fault) whilst the most embarrassing (for Michael) was Simon’s accident where Michael backed his car straight into him whilst leaving quickly for an appointment.

‘The Michael Spillane Team’ has just appraised their 2000^th property since Michael re-commenced his selling career in 2008 (he was managing and coaching agents for a 5 year period before this).

Fun Fact….

Quote of the Week….