Truth in Advertising

There's a terrible misconception out there: real estate agents stretch the truth.

So whenever you hear that falsehood in the future I expect you to furiously step into bat for the poor reputation of real estate agents. Afterall, the pictured house sits in Shearwater a beach retreat not far from the city of Devonport. The going price for that pointy 4x2? $565,000.

Now about this truth...

Well, how the hell does the agent market something so insanely priced? Just like this: Looking for families - 1,2 or 3 to purchase this great home. Yep, when you're faced with such unaffordability it's straight down the line, you may as well tell the truth - it's going to take 2 or 3 families to buy this one.

Of course the cynics out there will cry "inadvertent balls up by the agent, too stupid to even understand what they've written!" But only the truly jaded could think such a ridiculous thing.

See, despite being described in another listing as a 'tightly held location,' Shearwater has had an industrial strength dose of metamucil. So you'd understand an agent trying every weapon they've got to close, including getting 3 families to pay the mortgage. 

Back in the 2006 census Shearwater recorded 427 private dwellings. I'll be a generous man, so between 2006 and 2010, I'll allow for a building boom and round that figure up to an even 500.

And how many of those 500 are currently for sale? The big nine-o. 90 houses are for sale in Shearwater. 

What makes this such an interesting statistic? Many of those were acquired at a time when you could snag a house or land there for under 50k. Some now have an asking price in excess of 700k.

Sitting on massive paper gains, the smart money is now rushing for the exit. Yet as credit tightens and buyers become more considered, many vendors are relying on that two, or three family commune to become a reality.