Sydney is one of the most expensive cities in the world to live, and don’t we know it as home owners/mortgage holders!

Recently I investigated the different gas and electricity companies after buying a new home and needing a gas provider for the 1^st time. I have always steered clear of contracts with utility providers, but there are some real incentives out there now, especially for those who lock in to a 2 year contract.

There are also incentives for paying on time and using a direct debit arrangement. So depending on the provider you can save up to 20% depending how you pay, when you pay and how long you sign up for.

What makes this process even easier is websites like iselect.com.au which compares the pricing and terms of all the providers, bundles up packages showing incentives and is a one stop shop of information. In the end after calling a few providers direct and with talk of megajoules and megawatts?! I decided to go with iselect.com.au who stepped me through the different packages available. Iselect.com.au are paid directly by all the utility companies and are paid the same commissions so they don’t steer you towards one provider over another. You can call or do it over the net.

2 days later my gas and electricity was connected and I will be receiving $100 back on my first bill. Just in time for winter…

One of the things that we recommend our clients do on settlement is to change the locks on your new property as soon as you can.

Prior to you purchasing the home, the keys to the property could have been in any number of peoples possession: tradespeople, previous tenants, real estate agents, cleaners, photographers, ex partners, neighbours, kids, kids friends, grandparents, nannies etc. All these people have the opportunity to misplace keys or facilitate the keys ending up in the wrong hands. The last thing you want is to experience a theft or intruder in your new home.

If worst case scenario you are robbed at home and you haven’t changed the locks and the intruder uses a key, you will struggle to get a claim approved by most insurance companies. On that note another thing that is top priority is to get you home insured, as soon as you exchange contracts unconditionally is highly recommended.

This week all the auctions are midweek to avoid the 4 day long weekend which is traditionally a poor weekend to choose to auction your property. Most agents encourage vendors to schedule an auction prior to Easter or go for a longer campaign and hold the auction the following weekend. Thus last Saturday was a huge weekend for the Sydney property market with overall a clearance rate of 71% with 485 properties going to auction (Australian Property Monitors Sydney statistics).

With the weather still unseasonably warm, along with the ocean temperature this weekend has all the ingredients for a perfect getaway to that weekender on the South or North Coast before winter sets in. If you are staying at home there are plenty of distractions with the Easter Show coming to Cronulla!

Good luck to those vendors selling mid week and we hope everyone enjoys their 4 day weekend, we know we will!

Tasman St, Bondi - The Block 2013

Would you buy a house built/renovated on The Block TV show? If so which one would you buy of this series of early 1900′s semis with no parking in Bondi? I have heard that one is at least hoping to achieve $1.6mil! Did I mention no parking?!

Whatever you think of The Block I bet most vendors would be envious of the marketing the show has generated. An average Sydney home in a popular suburb generally generates about 1500-2000 visits on realestate.com.au in a good market. Instead the Block properties have these figures:

• 6 Tasman St, Bondi – Dan & Dani – 27,273 views
• 8 Tasman St, Bondi – Josh & Jenna – 27,785 views
• 10 Tasman St, Bondi – Mark & Duncan – 26,024 views
• 12 Tasman St, Bondi – Phil & Amity – 33,742 views

Tonight we will see the result of this marketing. It will be very interesting to see how many registered bidders there will be… Stay tuned tonight!

6 Tasman St, Bondi

8 Tasman St, Bondi

10 Tasman St, Bondi

12 Tasman St, Bondi

The year has started with some fast and furious selling at Beach & Bay Realty, both auction campaigns in February were sold prior to auction over only 2 weeks and a private treaty sale went through in 5 days!

We seem to have started the year with more buyer inspections and a little more confidence than last year, this is reflective in the auction clearance rates Sydneywide for Feb and March which are much improved on 2012. We will continue to track the auction results in our area of expertise throughout 2013 so please join our e-newsletter for weekly updates of auction sales.

Breeze @ 19-21 Gerrale St, Cronulla

While interest rates are relatively low, we should continue to see a steady real estate market in the Sutherland Shire. It’s been a while since you could secure a fixed interest loan for 2 years for 4.99%!

We are currently marketing Breeze @ 19 -21 Gerrale St, Cronulla, Sammut Developments latest luxury project in Cronulla. Off the plan sales have commenced and for anyone wanting to secure an apartment in this development the opportunity is there now to put a deposit down with 2 years to save the rest!

Happy selling and happy buying in 2013.

SOLD PRIOR TO AUCTION - 15 Seaforth Ave, Woolooware

SOLD PRIOR TO AUCTION - 12 Lowana Ave, Kirrawee

SOLD - 1/78-82 Kingsway, Cronulla

Apartment 102 - Breeze

Apartment 203 - Breeze

We have been running the ‘I Love Cronulla’ page for almost 4 years now but over the past 12 months it has become increasingly popular and we thank you all for your likes!

Just wanted to introduce our small team…

Basically, my company Beach & Bay Realty launched and manages this community page and we started it as a medium for like-minded lovers of our gorgeous suburb and surrounds to highlight the many stunning spots we have as well as supporting local business and community groups.

There are several of us who take photos, write blogs, interview businesses and generally update you on local happenings.

We have regular contributors like lifeguard Adam Hartup, photographers like Jen Nixon who send us special pics, thanks guys, keep them coming.

We are only a small team at Beach & Bay Realty and please keep in mind this is a “love job!”. Our day job is selling real estate in this beautiful area but hey promoting Cronulla on fb is good for business!

Anyway here’s to another year of prime sunrises, shipwrecked shipping trawlers, local poet launches, photo competitions and some record property sale prices.

Cheers from Kylie, Kirstie, Natalie, Maria and Monique

Are you in the midst of a marketing campaign and struggling with the cleaning ritual involved with having your property spic and span every open house?

Here are some tips:

• Have your window cleaner on call
• Buy out the shelves of spray and wipe multipurpose wipes (if you have time to be environmentally friendly, kitchen and bathroom e-clothes and Enjo products are fab)
• Make friends with your local florist, you will be buying flowers every week
• Remember the washing machine, dishwasher, fridge and dryer are all good places to store things or even the boot of your car for last minute clutter
• You can also have a shower the night before and clean the shower, skip your morning walk (no time anyway) and then skip the shower the morning of the open?!

Eat out, you won’t have time to clean the kitchen and you don’t want garlic infused leftovers permeating out of the fridge, plus the fridge will be filled with items you need to hide at the last minute.

Just think – you are living in a soon to be someone else’s home, divorce yourself of saying “my home” and think of yourself as a cleaner of a hotel… and if you can avoid sleeping in the bed even better, because re-arranging the pillows, cushions and remaking the bed every day is a drag.

Good luck and happy selling!

Just in case you lost your Sutherland Shire calendar, the council clean up starts on Monday 22nd October in Cronulla at 5am. If you are about to go on the market, this is the perfect time to dispose of those never to be used again items that are cluttering up your cupboards and garages. It’s best to be ruthless with this! Less clutter is more money when you are selling.

And if you haven’t had your property photographs taken yet then maybe hold off a week as normally the streets resemble a tip for a week or so and is not a good look for photo shoots.

If you have clothing that you are thinking of throwing out, remember Vinnies at Cronulla is a great place to recycle clothing rather than throwing it out.

Remember your materials should not be placed out on the street before Saturday 20th October. Please check council’s website to check what can be thrown out and please be careful where you place items to be collected.

It’s been a while between reports, what can I say I’ve been waiting for the 2 wine bars to open, yes that’s right not just Johnny of Bacchus fame has opened up a wine bar but also Carlita’s will soon have a new owner and name and we hear it’s all about wine.

So on this gorgeous Cronulla day I started at the north end of the Mall at Croydon Lane Wine & Tapas Bar which opened to the public on the weekend, the small wine bar movement has arrived in Cronulla… Hopefully Johnny will still let me in after I tried to gate crash the family/friend opening, oops.

The Japanese restaurant, Kanakawa which was next door to the wine bar has moved a little south into the Mall and its former premises is for lease. Popular Bass & Flinders Cafe is next door and has a muffin and coffee deal for $6.

I then headed to Simply Delicious and met Toby the owner of Cronulla’s latest cake shop, the special occasion cakes and cupcakes rival any of the Planet Cake creations, a welcome addition to the Cronulla food scene.

A quick stop at Apache Rose to check out their latest gift and homewares collection and then back into the Mall. Sadly it seems Holy Fire is gone? Does anyone know what happened?

Heading south the Mall is buzzing with activity on such a stunning day.

The artisan bakery next to Cronulla Arts Theatre must be close to opening but Ocean 7, the Harvey World Travel and Ray White’s shops sit empty.

A bit further south the Douglas Hanly Moir pathology office has opened, convenient but boring I move on to the Chocpad, Cronulla’s latest offering for the sweet tooths.

As usual the Best Little Bookshop in Town has a great quote for the day, Monro Park is full of picnickers, latte drinkers and toddlers and the gardens are immaculate as always.

Starting with a wine bar I end with a future wine bar, Carlita’s has been sold and we hear the new owner is opening a wine bar… Cronulla is changing.

Tomorrow it will be exactly 10 weeks till Christmas. For prospective sellers this means getting your property on the market now! This will give you 4 weeks marketing and then the standard 6 weeks settlement period. Often around this time settlements are changed, shortened or lengthened to allow for the Christmas/New Year period when solicitors close down. Purchasers will need to exchange on a property by end of October to ensure you can enjoy the Christmas festivities in your new home, otherwise settlements are using scheduled mid to late January.

As the days get warmer and we head into summer, it is the perfect time to sell your home. In November it is expected we will get another RBA interest rate cut, and if the banks pass this on buyers will have an extra incentive to buy this spring/summer.

Beach & Bay has a number of new listings and we look forward to launching them over the next week.

Happy selling and happy buying!