Welcome to the new decade! February 2010 Welcome to the new decade! Trust you all had a great Christmas despite the average weather. Hope the new years resolutions are set and you’re not finding being back at work as difficult as we found it. We are planning a better year than 2009! We’ve already been frantic with enquiries, which is encouraging. We have launched lots of new listings in the hill and seaside suburbs - check out my website www.alisoncarter.co.nz. Statistics show house prices have dropped approximately 15% since the late 2007 highs and have now recovered 11%. Only 4% to go. While the market came off the bottom about July it seemed to level off and form a more normal pattern from August to November, easing off again in December. It’s any ones guess where the market might be heading this year. Some are predicting it to drop back through winter and if the capital gains tax gets introduced there could be a lot of rental properties flooding the market. All I know is it’s good now and we’ve got two excellent selling months before Easter. That’s eight weeks. So if you’ve been holding back selling – now is the time to actually do something about it. Call me – get me to update the current value of your home and let’s talk about how we can market it to maximize exposure. The average time to sell is currently thirty days. I continue to be the market leader in the hill and seaside suburbs with the largest number of individual sales for the last quarter. At our recent awards night I was pleased to be ranked in the top 1% of agents in New Zealand. I’m always very pro-active in the area and consistently achieve strong sales results through hard work and experience. The selection of an experienced agent with a track record (15 years now) of ‘getting the job done’ is now more important to sellers than ever before. Choosing a less experienced agent could be detrimental to the potential sale price you achieve and cost you more in the long run. My skill in negotiating, knowledge of the market and process of selling houses could save you time and effectively money. I can help with suggestions for: • De-cluttering • Colour consultancy • Home Presentation • Renovation – will you get your money back? • Getting finance pre-approved • The legal side of a contract • Marketing for maximum exposure • Subdivision There’s an old saying in Real Estate that goes – When is the best time to buy a property? 20 years ago! When is the next best time to buy a property? TODAY!!