Attitude is the number one quality and this aspect is the sum of a number of psychological factors combined, the most important of which is basic honesty, placing the best interests of their client as their number one priority in order to achieve the optimum result while maintaining consistency with professional standards of conduct which requires that fairness to all parties in a given transaction are standards that are strictly observed.

Accompanied by a good will attitude towards people the most important skill is negotiating ability which is underpinned by an understanding of the market dynamics of supply and demand and a basic appreciation of the mood of the market at any point in time. Often people exhibit signs and openly express buying signals with body language and verbal signals along with a sense of urgency that a good agent’s as born negotiators notice without any difficulty whatsoever.

Understanding the commercial maxim of the statement that “higher turnover is always accompanied by lower prices” is very important given people are looking for a quality result not necessarily a quick turnover. It is an easy concept to understand that there are agents out there who’s apparent success has been achieved on the back of less than satisfactory results.

I have known agents to give their own properties to other agents to sell, however after many years in the business I have come to appreciate that while vendors follow agents buyers do not, they are only interested in the property’s that they are interested in and couldn’t care less about the agents who are selling them. Indeed there are many people who will buy property off agents they dislike meaning that there is no reason to be uncomfortable about offering their own property to the buying public.

Life in general is a bit of a game and we are here for a very short time in the scheme of things, so overall its a matter for each person but we should be aware that while property values have historically increased over many decades there are drivers, like government policies for one example that are artificial and fuel growth that is not a reflection of a free market and thus there is the potential for values to reduce. Sometimes it is difficult to tell whether we experience an increase in the value of properties or a decrease in the value of money, however it is a good situation to be in at some point in one’s latter years not to have to find rent.

Its a bit of a two edged sword, many years ago I bought 5 acres for $12,000 and our first house for $46,000 which was recently sold for 1.8 million. Inflation has allowed people to do well in property and has been very forgiving for many people who have invested very unwisely in a comparative sense but things have changed over recent decades with housing prices growing unsustainably for many young people beginning their journey in life while employment prospects have become much less stable over recent decades with many people working multiple jobs to still be foreclosed upon. This is why its very important to do your homework around pricing in particular and staying within your means as property ownership is only one aspect of a life in times that defy prediction. It is especially important to do one’s own research to give oneself a sporting chance of retaining the property that one sacrifices so much to buy.