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With
interest rates low and economic prospects looking better, the number of
first-time buyers is rising again. But most are still looking for bargains
and in this respect they might want to take a tip from best-selling author
and motivational speaker Harvey Mackay (Swim with the sharks without being
eaten alive).
Quoted in the Chas Everitt International newsletter Property Signposts,
he suggests searching in up-and-coming suburbs where creative people are
settling. The pattern in urban revival is always the same: first
come the artists - writers, painters, art directors and photographers
who are looking for cheap space, for each other and for that certain cachet
that their eyes can detect before ours can.
Then come the galleries and the restaurants, then the boutique
advertising agencies and small architects who want to give off an aura
of artiness. Then come the yuppies. Then come the tourists.
And with every new wave, property values go up. Until eventually,
the artists who started it all get priced out of the market and have to
go somewhere else.
Chas Everitt International CEO Berry Everitt says such areas are also,
of course, the haunts of career renovators those who not
only love turning sad old homes into cheerful, desirable properties, but
who also know how to make decent profits doing so.
And, he notes, their advice on what novice buyers should be looking for
includes the following:
* Learn to spot the best prospects - homes with peeling paint, overgrown
gardens and tatty roofs but sound structures;
* Look for a good, liveable floorplan;
* Also look out for homes with shabby or outdated décor where
the only changes needed may be cosmetic;
* If remodelling is necessary, try to contain it within the existing
exterior walls;
* Make an offer to purchase immediately you find a good renovation prospect,
as they are not so plentiful as one might imagine.

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