Step 7 · Learn to spot a quality asset

Most of what comes up before Christmas won't be great. A few things will be. The skill is telling a good-quality property from a good-looking one.

Rooftops of suburban houses at sunset with the city skyline behind

Chris Bates

Most of what comes up before Christmas won't be great. A few things will be. The skill is telling a good-quality property from a good-looking one.

Summer Headstart · Step 7 of 10 · Search smart

Most of what comes up before Christmas won't be great. A few things will be. The skill is telling a good-quality property from a good-looking one.

Why this matters before Christmas

When listings thin out, it's easy to feel you should buy whatever's available. That's when people compromise on the things they can never fix. Good assets are hard to buy in every market. That's why they work.

Land is the asset. The building is the consumable.

Buildings age and need money spent on them. Land, especially well-located land that's hard to replace, is what tends to hold and grow its value. Look for scarcity (not many like it) and desirability (lots of people want it).

Avoid fatal flaws

Some compromises are cosmetic: a dated kitchen, tired carpet, the wrong paint. Others are permanent:

A main road, or heavy traffic and noise
Poor aspect: a dark, south-facing living area or backyard
An oversupplied area, with lots of near-identical stock
A poor street or a poor position in it
A layout or block shape you can't fix

If you can change it, it's a cosmetic compromise. If you can't, think hard.

What we do

We're not here to pick your house, but we're happy to talk it through. Send us a listing you're unsure about and we'll tell you what we'd want to know.