There is an irony at the centre of how first home buyers use property data. The buyers who rely most heavily on suburb medians to make their decisions are typically researching the suburbs where those medians are least reliable.Affordable suburbs - outer ring, lower price point, modest trans

Most vendors who invest in home staging think they are paying for their property to look beautiful. They are actually paying for something more specific - the removal of reasons buyers use to justify paying less.The difference matters because it changes the measure of success. A property tha

Most vendors spend more energy negotiating the the agent commission than they spend evaluating whether the agent can actually negotiate on their behalf.That instinct is understandable. Commission is the most visible cost of selling a house. Because it is expressed as a percentage of an unkno

Three agents. Same property. Appraisals that differ by $40,000 to $60,000. It happens more often than vendors expect, and when it does the instinct is to assume someone is wrong. Usually no one is. Appraisal is interpretation, and interpretation produces a range of legitimate conclusions from the sa

First home buyers and entry-level investors are the heaviest users of suburb median data. They are also the buyers most likely to be researching the suburbs where that data is least statistically reliable. The irony is not accidental - it follows directly from how affordable markets work.Aff