A Word From the Directors

Last year the end of the second lockdown unexpectedly brought a silver lining to Boroondara.

The name of this storm was Hazel, a name you normally associate with an elderly relative giving you $5 inside a Christmas card each year, however for the seventeen people who purchased all of these 2 and 3 bedroom apartments in only twenty-six days from launching, it meant a whole lot more.

So the question is, our avid and loyal readers, how come this project at 368 Auburn Road, Hawthorn moved through to a sell out in days and not weeks, months or even years as is often the case!

In summary, the following occurred;

1. You have to buy the site right (the old adage of the monies made when you buy, not when you sell has never been more true), so paying $ 5 million back in June 2018 seems good today.

2. You have to find to an architect with an established following. Given buyers often seek security for an off the plan sale it's all about branding. Front of mind recognition from the product they want to buy is everything .

3. The product mix of eight, two bedroom apartments and nine, three bedrooms accorded with market demand. How do we know? Because both types sold down evenly from the start through to the very end. See our development summary on page 14 for additional info on sizes and rates etc ..

4. Don’t rely solely on the architect (or the design team) to get the floorplans right. Our input into the plans, creating separation between the two bedrooms provided a functionality not often seen from long, oblong shaped blocks. The fact that only four of the seventeen purchaser’s paid for variations, again goes against the trend where typically 63% of all owner occupiers will add at least something towards their own taste & design. 5. The collateral needs to be competitive with the best your competition’s offering in the same market. If you’re aiming for a blended rate of $ 10,818 throughout the building, then the renders and collateral need to match those values. Remember that’s all the buyer make a judgment call on when it comes to proceeding or not.

6. Prices need to accord with market. Its tempting to raise prices mid-way through a campaign (bring back 2017) or even start at a higher level and “give it a go” . Word of mouth from early sales, a reduced investment in media, pulling out your money earlier and grabbing other development opportunities more than make up for not going for a price rise.

7. Even the simplest (see basic) onsite displays are usually cost prohibited for boutique developments of this size. If you are going to appoint a Project Marketer, you then need to carefully consider the environment they’re bringing a buyer into . Again, is it indicative of what you are trying to sell?

8. And of course, you need a team who knows what they are doing. Do they have an off the plan database, a residential database and crucially understand the timing and frequency for reaching out to both residential and off the plan purchasers. Seven of the seventeen apartments sold at Hazel were cross referred by other Marshall White project sales people, other than the lead agent responsible for selling the project.

Now of course we hear you cry ‘get me one of those’! It’s not easy. A November release for Hazel also benefited from the pent up demand following two months of a Victorian lockdown, however it was also time spent getting Hazel right that saw it launched only once (and well) .

But you have to start somewhere, so picking up the phone and calling us to discuss your permitted (or unpermitted) site is always a good start.

Talk to you soon