S1, Episode 2: Your house isn't worth what you think it is

[PODCAST STARTS]

00:00 I've seen lime green kitchens red splash backs. I've seen everything Weird hanging stuff and I'm okay, well, this has got to be part of the value because it's fixed and permanent.

00:05 Every home has the money shot, and that money shot is what adds the value.

00:09 Welcome to These Four Walls, the podcast that talks to real buyers and experts about the hardest, weirdest, and most surprising parts of buying and owning a home in Australia.

00:15 We'll help you figure out what's going on in the world of property and what to do next.

00:20 Hi everybody.

00:23 This is Dimitri. Welcome back to These Four Walls. Today I'm with Belinda Botzolis, one of Australia's most trusted voices in property.

00:28 So first up, our listener letter.

00:34 And this comes from Lisa in Coffs Harbour. She says, dear TFW, when we got our first place four years ago, the agent said it was an absolute steal.

00:40 I've since had three different online estimates in the past six months and they've all given me different results.

00:44 I even had an agent who told me that, our place is worth less than our neighbours, even though we have a brand new kitchen.

00:49 Now, I'm not looking to sell just yet, but it's pretty difficult not to get fixated on the numbers.

00:55 Belinda, welcome.

01:00 This, I'm sure, is a scenario you hear quite frequently. Yes I do.

01:06 Well, thank you for having me. Firstly, I'm excited to be here. I do. This letter is, could be written by anyone.

01:13 Actually, it's hard when it's objective and it's your own home.

01:19 And there might be some emotional attachment. Little things can add difference in value that.

01:25 How comparable are they for for the land, for the improvements, for the number of bedrooms, for the size of the home, for the aspect, is there a slightly different view? Anything that could really change the value if she did go through the bank.

01:29 Ask to have a valuer come through physically come through it, you can always knock it back and object.

01:35 Not a problem.

01:41 if not, try a different approach I guess, or get, an independent valuer or, Yeah, it's it's a little hard when they do vary so much when a physical valuer hasn't come through.

01:52 Yeah.

01:59 Yeah. I guess it's much easier to hear if your house is worth what you thought it was.

02:04 Or more maybe a little bit sour to take if it was a little bit less.

02:07 Yeah. So many thoughts straight away. But one thing I wanted to quickly touch on is obviously AI is becoming extremely prevalent in society today.

02:11 Are we seeing, in your view, more accurate valuations as a result, or is it muddying the waters in some it's pretty accurate in a, for example, an entry level home in an area where there's they're all for so think about a new house and land package areas or those type of areas where all the lands are similar.

02:16 Ah land values, land sizes are similar.

02:23 The houses are similar.

02:30 Pretty easy.

02:36 As a valuer, it is just love doing these you don't.

02:42 You got your spoilt for sale spot for everything.

02:49 Now if you were to take that approach into the eastern suburbs, for instance, you could find that you have a $7 million house next door to a $15 million house on the same street as a $40 million house.

02:55 Now, unless that is objectively valued independently and assessed, is really hard to have your AI come in and and do that.

03:01 So there is a time and place for it.

03:08 I'm all for it, I love.

03:14 this stuff excites me, I love it, but you have to be a bit careful how and where you apply it.

03:21 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. You made reference a second ago to just, get in touch with your bank, ask for a valuer to come out.

03:26 I've had a couple of valuations on my place because I've pulled out excellent equity a couple of times.

03:30 what's the proportion of valuations that you do at the moment that actually involve you coming out of the property and inspecting it, versus just what's available online as a value?

03:35 You should be coming out and inspecting all your properties unless you're instructed otherwise.

03:38 so a bank may ask you to do it via desktop or a kerbside or an internal inspection.

03:43 And we also have an exciting new product coming out.

03:50 Some of the vow firms are jumping aboard Smartval where it is a bit of a hybrid situation where the owner can do a video and send through a whole bunch of information and photos.

03:57 Yes, and then the valuer assesses it rather than going, okay, well, I'll do it remotely and I don't really know what's inside because how do I know if these photos are updated?

04:02 So there is new products coming out all the time.

04:09 But, yeah, I think if you're not happy with it, get your bank to order an in-person one.

04:19 So then when you do come out, what are those things you're using you're looking for.

04:26 Talk me through your process.

04:32 How do you actually go about putting a dollar value on a home.

04:37 It all starts with the and the broker putting in that we call the EMV.

04:43 So the first thing you ask as a valuer, value terminology, everybody.

04:50 What's the EMV? What's the estimated market value.

04:56 And this A determines where we start our research. So a valuer will have a patch.

05:03 That's what we call it. So if you if you live in the eastern suburbs, you might have an eastern suburbs valuer if you're then in the inner west, if you're then, in the Hills district.

05:09 This is all in Sydney, by the way.

05:15 You'll have a valuer that just does those areas day in, day out, so they know the sales the back of the hand.

05:20 And then when we come through, you got to remember valuers do between 5 and 10 inspections a day, five days a week.

05:25 They know within five minutes if it's a good floor plan, what type of home it is and their brain does not stop.

05:32 It's you just scanning, scanning, scanning because they do this all day, every day.

05:38 Then they they do their, inspection on the iPad.

05:44 they apply their research or their sales and they can pretty quickly send that report off to the bank.

05:51 so you should be able to get your report on the same day.

05:57 Yeah. The valuation to the to the broker So that's typically the process. You start your research, you do your inspection, you tidy it up on the back end, apply your your findings and then send it off.

06:01 Okay.

06:06 and then that's your opportunity to agree or disagree with the Valuation I guess.

06:13 And generally speaking, who's agreeing or disagreeing with you?

06:17 Mostly disagreeing. Yeah. Everyone thinks their home is worth more. it's the homeowner in most cases.

06:23 Most cases? Yeah. And it's hard because I've had my own home valued and I, I'm oh, it's a moving market.

06:29 Prices are going up. It's worth more. And then the valuation came back and I'm ah, what does the valuer know.

06:36 They undervalue everything. And then I asked to get a copy of the report.

06:40 And I see the sales. And because I understand a report a bank valuation report is a, very specific document.

06:46 and you pick it up and go. I have no idea what all this is, Boxes and risk ratings and all sorts of stuff. You just understand the figure.

06:56 and then when I had to look at it and read through it, I was yeah, okay, I see where it came from.

07:00 Fair. That's really interesting. Yeah. So I could understand his methodology and why.

07:06 and as valuer is really important, we know your home could probably sell for more.

07:12 We just can't prove it to the bank. the bank need to have the evidence to lend you the money.

07:18 It's a very different document to what a real estate agent would tell you. It's that it's that classic line you hear when someone asks, what's my place worth?

07:24 What? What someone else is prepared to pay for it.

07:29 So it's not just what someone's prepared to pay for, it's also what you're prepared to accept as well with an arm's length transaction.

07:34 Meaning that it's been open and exposed to the market.

07:40 because you can get some out of line sales. And we all know that that's that house that in your suburb, and you scratch your head and get out there.

07:47 How the heck did that get that much backstory?

07:51 parents live next door. They wanted that house They wanted to build after a specific block, and they just had a settlement, and they had all this money, and they had money wasn't, a windfall.

07:57 It is.

08:03 Yeah. Specific circumstances that can drive the value up more, but th t market.

08:09 So we have to then be objective and go, okay, we have to maybe disagree with that sale a little bit.

08:14 because we don't believe it's at arm's length.

08:19 And that's the role of the valuer as well. Yeah absolutely. so in my mind there's probably three main things that would drive the value of my home.

08:25 How many bedrooms, how many baths bathrooms and how many car spots.

08:29 Fundamentally, that's pretty simplistic when you walk in and as you mentioned, valuers are constantly scanning how much of this is true compared to the research that I've done.

08:35 I think many Australians, I think it's fair to say, have a sense that Kitchens as an example.

08:39 Sell a home.

08:43 How true is that? Would you say it's pretty true?

08:50 Yeah. So I would say. Every home has the money shot. And that money shot is what adds the value.

08:57 So think about when you're scrolling. You're sitting on your couch on a Saturday and you're scrolling through your phone.

09:02 What is it about that property that makes you stop and look at it?

09:06 And it's always the money shot. It's always the bit where you hit your partner or your friend or whoever's next to you and go, whoa, check this out.

09:11 Yeah. Even if it's a dream home you'll never be able to afford you always stop it at that photo.

09:15 And it's not so much now.

09:21 Just the kitchen. It's the feel of that heart of the home. I think it has bled into the living.

09:27 Dining, alfresco space. Living areas. Yeah, yeah, it's how we live in the home.

09:34 And that stems from the, I guess, the the kitchen being the heart.

09:41 But if you have an incredible kitchen and it's its isolated on its own and a bit detached from the rest of the house.

09:45 Not really going to do it for you, ? But if that house is, then open up to an amazing kitchen living, dining and and then it gives you it's everything now how it makes you feel in the space that you're living in.

09:50 Yeah.

09:54 Interesting. Okay. On that thread then I think I've got a pretty good idea of what a really good example of that might look What if we flipped it on its head?

10:03 What's some stuff that you pick out often that maybe homeowners wouldn't necessarily see as something that could be negatively perceived in their valuation?

10:08 Believe it or not, how you keep your home maintained.

10:13 Okay.

10:20 For instance, there could be a, let's have three home side by side.

10:27 And they're all relatively, built around the same time, same condition. Let's say they all went to one of those house, display homes, and they all built the exact same home.

10:33 One home. they are so pedantic about...

10:40 Thehouse isImmaculate. Everything is in its place that floors are tidy, the kitchen immaculate.

10:47 Second home. They, just a regular family.

10:53 They live in a few scuffs and marks on the wall. just a regular home. And then the third one, they're really rough with the house.

10:58 Scratch the floors. Don't care. Dogs running around.

11:04 the the glass is dirty. The. every corner has a bit of a scuff mark on it. The doors, the kitchen cabinets are hanging a little bit.

11:10 Each home should be identical because they're the same location, in theory, the same land size in theory, and the same quality of improvement in theory.

11:16 So a lot of the time, this is where a lot of misconception is people don't see their home, because they live in it every day and they'll say, oh, but my home's the same as the one down the road.

11:21 Well, technically it is.

11:27 However, the condition what they don't understand, it really hasn't been that well maintained.

11:32 Me.

11:38 Then you have to put yourself in the buyer.

11:43 Buyers coming through and they're oh, I have to fix this, fix that. I have to paint. I have to change some of the doors.

11:49 I, it's got scratch marks everywhere, the floors are damaged and all of a sudden they're just doing cha ching, cha ching, ching ching.

11:53 Yeah, it all adds up.

11:58 it's a bit I said this analogy the other day. Say you're buying a car, ? And it's got a scratch, and, you can get a fix 800 bucks and you go to the person, oh, just take five grand off the price.

12:03 Come on.

12:09 It's $800. Yeah, but I got to take my Saturday off and I've got to leave it there.

12:15 Got to get a really good example. Yeah, it's the same as the house. So even though in your mind you're oh, this stuff will get fixed for 20 grand, someone might even take 100 grand off the price.

12:19 And that's where you got to be really careful about understanding market value and market perception.

12:25 Meaning, how would people see your home You don't mind it.

12:30 Who cares? ?

12:35 I live this. So what's my life? good? That's fine. But if you go to sell it. Don't expect it.

12:42 Well, you're inviting people in, ? Your homes are product. Yeah, absolutely. It's a jumper.

12:47 It's a pair of shoes. Really interesting. Actually, I've never thought of it that way.

12:50 Your home as a product? Yeah. Talk me through that. How do you. What's your. What are your insights there?

12:55 I've never thought of my home as a product before. So you live in it? It's your home.

12:59 Okay. No one should ever tell you how to live honestly. it's you do you, I've seen lime green kitchens, red splash backs.

13:04 I've seen everything. ? Some questionable stuff in some of the bedrooms.

13:11 But, little hanging stuff and I'm okay, well, it's got to be part of the value because it's fixed and permanent, and Im.

13:15 It's not coming off. Not coming off. And, Yeah, you do you.

13:21 But, now the minute that comes on the market, it no longer belongs to you. It is now for the next person to buy.

13:28 Okay. And you have put it on now on, on the market. And the market is just a fruit market.

13:35 A supermarket is on the shelf together with all the other properties out there again on the market.

13:41 And the market buyers are just a buyer anyway.

13:48 It's human beings looking to buy something to satisfy a need, looking to get the watermelon from the fruit market.

13:54 Banging it and they're shaking it. And everyone's got there.

13:59 the watermelon section? One guy is patting it. Another guy shaking it. Someone else is side to side.

14:05 Everyone's got their method ? Yeah. So, again, you do you. But your home, at the end of the day, it's just bricks and mortar on a piece of land that someone is putting a value on.

14:12 A human being is looking to purchase that.

14:17 You guys look stuck? Yeah.

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14:34 Let's do a bit of a role play. Pretend I'm coming to you for your thoughts.

14:40 I'm looking to get my place ready to sell. I've got a relatively limited budget.

14:45 10 to 15 grand. It's a pretty hard budget. I can't really go any higher than that. Where should I be looking to make improvements first?

14:49 With that budget. So we'll go on a really, really, really low level and then I'll get a little bit more niche.

14:55 I say this all the time and I know it sounds cliche and everyone's oh my godBelinda, I don't have to be a genius to work that out.

15:01 coat of paint.

15:07 Just paint it. A fresh coat of paint is, even the smell of paint people love because it just means that they save the money.

15:14 Yeah, and they don't need to spend it. especially, you could be a buyer for an owner or buyer.

15:19 As an investor, that's more money in your pocket because somebody else has done that for you.

15:25 landscaping is a big one. I would say. Again, it's the facade.

15:30 It's the entry into your home. Yeah. Doesn't. And I'm not talking about, retaining walls.

15:35 I'm just talking about going to your local Bunnings Facebook market. But wherever you go, get some mulch, get some basic plants and just make it really nice and neat.

15:40 Maybe lay some turf or something down.

15:45 hire someone to really come in and, manicure your existing garden, front and backyard.

15:52 And I would start there, and then I would then think about, do I need to do the floors or, kitchen.

15:59 now a bit more on a micro level if the home is okay, but the kitchen is a little bit old.

16:05 or the bathrooms old. I would then isolate one or the other to do it, and it all comes back on your market and other homes in the area.

16:12 Okay.

16:19 Because if you're in an area that is a little bit ageing and is a little bit old, and every other home has a similar kitchen to yours, and they're all selling the same price, it might not make a bit of a difference, but if everyone's levelled up and you left behind, looks the market will pay for something a bit nicer.

16:24 And that's where I say even if your budget is 15, might mean squeeze a little bit more to make more.

16:28 But if it's just a matter of doing the bare minimum, then do the bare minimum.

16:33 Yeah, yeah.

16:40 On this similar vein, I think people often talk about the idea of being afraid to spend too much because they're worried about over capitalising.

16:47 How do you understand that?

16:54 And what advice can you give someone that might that might be worried about that as a scenario?

17:00 That was the number one question I got asked that prompted me to go out on my own.

17:04 I'll be honest with you, was because as a valuer, I'd go to people's homes when I used to do bank valves, and they would want to see how much equity they got to then do a renovation.

17:07 And I'm in their home and they're oh, this is what we were thinking of doing.

17:14 What do you think?

17:19 And I would just tell them, oh yeah, I'd do this, I do that, and I would get questions all the time.

17:24 I think I turned to my husband.

17:29 I was babe, do you reckon they pay me for this advice?

17:34 And he was I don't know, ask. So I would just $50.

17:39 What do you reckon? And then he's okay, you might need to up it a bit there and I'm $1,000 and then no one's biting.

17:44 I'm okay, we have to find a happy medium here.

17:48 and, and as a valuer, we think everybody knows this, but they don't.

17:55 And I would say that don't look at your Pinterest and your Instagram and your The Block and shows that to see what you think you need to do, because what you think you need to do might be very different to what you actually have to do.

18:02 So if your home, if you're selling something that belongs in a fruit market, your immediate market is your neighbourhood and your suburb stay within your shop.

18:08 guess because people that are shopping are looking around.

18:12 So they're their shopping in your area.

18:19 Analyse what's selling in your area and try not to over capitalise from there.

18:24 Yeah, or you might be under capitalising when you're oh crap, I need to step it up because everybody else is.

18:30 That's my shop, that's my market and analyse it from there.

18:36 I want to know who the buyer is.

18:41 How old are they likely to be?

18:47 What are they? What's their annual income? Do they have kids? What's their religion?

18:54 And religion is important. And people are why do you care? I'm I don't care. It's actually really interesting.

18:57 Yeah. So I to analyse religion because, let's say I give you an example.

19:03 I analysed Rose Bay and it was a high percentage of the Jewish faith.

19:10 And perhaps you do a kitchen because they could kosher cooking. Yeah. Kosher. So make sure that the kitchen is kosher.

19:16 I'm not of the faith, but I would to get an interior designer to help me.

19:21 Again, it's a product and I would my buyer who's potentially of the faith to again take that home and put it in Lakemba.

19:27 And you might have someone of the Islamic faith. I would maybe put a bidet next to the toilet.

19:33 yeah. If you've ever been to Bali, that. Yeah. I'd maybe incorporate a prayer room.

19:39 I would my product to satisfy my client. Another thing, certain backgrounds, don't carpet.

19:46 So if you to put carpet in the bedrooms, well, who's your demographic?

19:53 do I put tiles or floorboards? Well, who's your demographic? do they want floorboards or they want tiles?

20:00 so it's about understanding who your market is and delivering them.

20:06 And again, not all your buyer is of that faith or, that culture. so you don't want a prayer room because you're not of the faith study, toy room, spare bedroom, no big deal.

20:13 Don't mean those spaces that can be flexible.

20:19 Yeah. Yeah. Or have a butler's pantry.

20:24 That's a kosher style, style. But if I bought it. Who cares? I got two two ovens, two cooktops, two dishwashers sweet .

20:30 When I have a big party, I got a I got a pretty, awesome set up here.

20:35 So you make sure that you target your market, but you don't isolate everyone else.

20:41 Yeah. I'm interested to learn from you. How much time are you spending at the moment doing what you're doing now?

20:48 Educating versus going out and valuing? 50/50. Wow.

20:55 Yeah. So I'm on social. I'm the valuer @belindathevaluer, but I don't do a lot of valuing.

21:02 Ironic only because I started all this because of this education.

21:08 And it's pretty fascinating how different valuers think to just everyone else.

21:15 And everyone else is out there and there's no valuers. And I'm hold my beer.

21:21 Move out of the way. This is. Yeah. So going back a second. when we were talking about aesthetics and first impressions and how crucial that can be.

21:27 What about when that stuff's not there? But there are good bones.

21:34 What does that look in reality? good bones can sometimes be the difference when Wow, that old home got such a great value.

21:47 mine's heaps better and newer than that. Objectively to you. Should be worth more.

21:54 But what you don't see is that home had good bones. Meaning it had the Three things you can't change. Ever. On a on a on a property. You can never, ever change the land size.

22:06 You can never, ever change the orientation. And you can never, ever change the location.

22:10 So that's part of the bones of the home too. So if that home has ticked those three boxes, you're more than halfway already there.

22:17 And if the house is something that because you got when you come to renovate, you can either have and sometimes it grinds my gears when you have a lot of people oh, we renovated.

22:24 I'm dude, you basically did a new build back in the day.

22:30 you could buy a home, do a runner for 200 grand and boom, add half a mill on it.

22:34 Now you spend half a mill, you add half a million.

22:41 You're cool, you're back where you started.

22:45 still some really smart renos out there, but they're the ones that didn't have to build or add on or extend, ?

22:52 They're the ones that just, stayed with what they had because the home was already awesome and they just tweaked.

22:57 Obviously this might be a little extension or something, but I'm not talking about those substantive changes.

23:03 Yeah, that thing.

23:08 Yeah yeah yeah. Superficial renovations but really Yes. Yeah. So if you can yeah a knock down rebuild is always going to have a time and place.

23:14 But the homes that you want to make some money on as a homeowner for equity and as an investor for, whatever purpose, the less you fiddle with, the more chance you have to add value.

23:21 Okay.

23:26 it was interesting when I thought, Good Bones, my mind went straight to is it double brick?

23:32 What are the internal walls made of that thing?

23:37 Yeah, the three immovable, unchangeable characteristics being what they are. That was.

23:41 Never thought of it that way. What's your perspective on, the way that the homes oriented which way itfaces.

23:48 What's the what's the best really. North always gets a premium.

23:53 Yes. Sunny photo. I, as a valuer, I was taught north and I was okay, whatever.

24:00 And then the first unit I bought, I was quite young. I just wanted to get into that straight and into that block, and into that price range, because that's all I could afford.

24:06 I bought this unit and it was south facing, and I didn't really think until I lived in there for one winter, and it was no sunlight and I was cold.

24:10 And then I swore that every home after that had to be some north orientation.

24:16 And it was, I wouldn't even entertain an open inspection, didn't care how good it was.

24:23 So for every ten buyers, you might find that five don't care, but five is a hard no.

24:30 So you're almost isolating 50% of your market. and that would be more of your seasoned home owners or season investors understand that the value in a north facing Riyadh, north facing apartment would definitely get a premium.

24:36 And I'm not talking oh, I'll pay $1 million more, but it might sell faster, it might sell for a little bit more, and it might have more, appeal.

24:43 And that can definitely affect the value.

24:50 How can we think about that?

24:57 How can homeowners think about early on in their home ownership journey, Attempting to build that equity as soon as they can.

25:02 I think, firstly, stop listening to property influencers that are we only buy under market for our clients, under market properties, properties below market value.

25:09 We've got a valuation done and I just any valuer worth their weight in gold would not value a property more than what the market has paid for it immediately after purchase to get that uplift in value.

25:13 Absolutely no.

25:19 If they're saying that whoever's saying that they're probably full of hot air, is a nice way to put it.

25:26 That is because if that property was exercised properly on the market and the market has seen it and spoken, a willing buyer and a willing seller negotiated on the price shook hands.

25:31 And that's the value of that property.

25:37 Okay, now there are times when you can get good buying. not necessarily undervalue, but I would say has the opportunity to add value because the market didn't see value in it at the time.

25:44 And that's usually those homes that need a little bit of sprucing up.

25:50 So it's finding not trying to get a bargain and low balling the agent and putting a lower offer in and hoping to get think of your the home as a product.

25:57 what is it not serving and how do you make it serve.

26:04 And then that's how you add the equity into that property because the market is looking at it going oh yeah, not not really my style.

26:09 good try.

26:16 But no, I'd rather at that price point spend a little less and get something a bit better.

26:22 That's when you get that under market value.

26:28 Then you do the renovation and then you get it revalued.

26:35 And it's always the difference between what you owe on it and what it's valued.

26:40 And I always say to people, the only person are the only thing stopping you from getting money out of your home or getting equity.

26:46 Your home is a valuer.

26:53 Impress the valuer, not yourself or not your friends on Facebook as you're.

26:58 You're renovating and posting all your cool photos.

27:03 All your mistakes.

27:09 What?

27:14 Yeah.

27:19 What does the valuer care?

27:25 Because they're the. Unless you sell it, they're the ones that are stopping you from getting your money out.

27:29 And we just want to make sure that it serves the market. So I find it interesting how this conversation has naturally gone towards preparing to sell or preparing to refi.

27:35 I mentioned earlier, I had a couple of valuers come out from various lenders and over the course of the last couple of years, provide some valuations because I wanted to pull some equity out.

27:42 Yeah.

27:47 that's not the only time valuers get involved, though, for the purposes of a bank value for a refi.

27:50 What other times are you coming out and visiting people's homes to provide a valuation?

27:57 other sorts of scenarios?

28:02 So just rewind just a tiny bit when you said I'm talking always about selling.

28:08 That's because a bank value is always in the interest of the bank. In the event that you are a mortgage in possession and you forfeit on your mortgage and you can't pay it, the bank want to know because you don't own your home.

28:14 It's my home.

28:19 Yeah, bank owns it until you pay it off and the bank are we're lending you money.

28:26 It's asking a mate for money. And then there are one of those stand over guys.

28:31 They're are you going with the repayments? promise I'm on track.

28:35 Yeah. But it's the Mafia but not I'm so accustomed to it. now you think about it, you're dude, I just owing some, pretty powerful people in a bank institution.

28:41 Money full of my home.

28:46 So of course they're going to want to know they're going to get their money back.

28:50 So who do they employ us? we're the stand over guys if you want to.

28:53 It's a good plot for a good movie. The valuer comes a stand over, so what's your house worth?

28:58 We got to make sure that in the event we don't care about you. No offence, it might be all nice and be oh, lovely home you have.

29:03 But we we don't care. the boss wants to know what it's worth, So we've got to make sure that if we sell, we don't care.

29:08 You could get more, ?

29:14 I'll get the money by next week. We don't care, mate. now. What's it worth? Yeah, I get it.

29:20 It's so cool. We can also come out for various reasons. if you're getting a divorce.

29:26 Sorry about that. But the, husband and wife, wife, wife, husband, husband. Want to know what the house is worth so they can?

29:32 Yeah,*gestures separation* that. We've got to be really careful. We've got to come in the middle.

29:37 We don't need too high to. Yeah, we try to be really sensitive and fair on both sides. We're sometimes with the banks.

29:44 Not that we can be conservative, but we just want to make sure that's what it's worth.

29:48 the almost worst case scenario, the bank is happy. But with this, you've got to be a little bit sensitive to both sides and make sure that you're not too low or not too high, and you try really hard to come in nice and neutral.

29:54 Then there's a stamp duty situation where it's as long as there's no interaction with an agent.

29:58 So say me and you here.

30:04 And I'm I'll buy your house from you.Yeah, I'll sell it two mil.

30:09 Yeah. Shake hands. Because no agent got involved.

30:13 A valuer must come in. I could I could buy it off you. You owe me a few favours. I bought for 100 grand.

30:19 House is worth 2 million. I'm not going to pay stamp duty in 100. I have to pay it on what the valuer comes in at.

30:24 So with that, everyone wants it as low as possible. I would love to put next to nothing on it.

30:29 I can't, I'm bound by my code of ethics, so I try to do that as close as I can to what I think it's worth.

30:36 so there are different purposes. If a government put a highway through your land and you've got to get paid out, the valuer establishes that, your land value.

30:41 So what you pay your land tax on or your rates, they're all done by valuers.

30:47 if you are capital gains, want to know what your value is.

30:54 then you can adjust your capital gains. did that as well.

30:59 commercial valuations for balance sheets. So all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff.

31:05 So going into people's homes to value where they live. I'm sure you would have seen some wild stuff if you got one top of mind that you'd be prepared to share.

31:11 Yeah, so I think I've worked out. Look, I've been valuing for 20 years.

31:16 20. So I started when I was 12 and I've been into about 15, I reckon 15, 16,000 properties I've physically been.

31:23 So that's 15 knocking on the. Hi. I'm here.

31:30 Hi I'm here. Hi I'm here. And one stands out one stands out. I got a unit, I buzz, the intercom.

31:36 Hi. It's Belinda the Valuer. I'm here to do the inspection. Are you scared of birds?

31:42 And I've gone. No. I'm not a bird scary person type thing.

31:49 And I've got. No, no. All good. I'll come to the front door to get you. Normally they buzz you in, so straight away this was a bit odd.

31:55 And I've gone, okay, so they've come to the door and they've let me in and they've got feathers and stuff over them.

32:01 just a little bit And I'm okay, this is, this is, this is going somewhere.

32:06 Get inside and just seelow key *bird-noises* squawking.

32:12 And she said, just when you go in, if you're not scared of birds, just don't freak out.

32:19 So I've walked in and it's an open aviary in there, and there is birds flying around, landing on me.

32:26 And I'm ahhh ahhh! just screaming on my head on the kitchen.

32:32 It's free for all. I'm walking on the floors, crunchy. The birds are on the kitchen. There's bird poop running down all over the bench.

32:37 on the floor, on the couch. It's got towels everywhere.

32:42 I'm freaked out at this stage. I don't even know how to start my notes. looking around, trying not to get birds.

32:48 She's you said, you're not scared of birds. And I'm yeah, one bird.

32:53 Not a zoo. Yes, zoo. And she's don't go in that bedroom. She had a I don't even know at this stage a hawk or some massive Eagle in a massive cage and predator bird. Yes, in a huge cage.

33:00 Just don't let any of the birds get in there.

33:06 And I'm this is chaos.

33:11 just get me out the bedroom. She's they can't get into the bedroom. I got in the bedroom. I was four in there.

33:16 And she's oh, how did they get in there? I'm you think how do you think they got in there?

33:20 I walked out and I remember writing up that report, and I had to get my director to help me because I had to put half a page of, We wished to note that we weren't able to correctly assess the condition of the floor or the cabinets, and we think that the house may be condemned.

33:33 And, a willing buyer will look at this and have to replace all the cabinets.

33:37 And we don't know the condition because they were covered in bird...

33:42 it just went on and on, all disclaimers.

33:46 And so the valuation got smashed, as you can imagine. And sorry, not sorry, but I we have to value it as at that day in that condition.

33:53 So that one to this day still stands out as the wildest.

34:00 I'm going to be with you for a while. Yes, that one has been some crazy ones, but that one, the bird one stays with me.

34:06 Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. Yes.

34:12 It's been a pleasure having you. Thank you so much. I've only got one last question for you. If people want to learn more, they want to get in touch with you.

34:18 Where can they find you? social media, I would say just type in 'thevaluer' I'll pop up, Belinda Botzolis, I'll also pop up.

34:21 Fantastic. Belinda Botzolis the Valuer I'll pop up.

34:27 Thank you very much for joining us. You're very welcome. It was good. Thank you very much.

34:33 Thank you very much. These Four Walls is brought to you by Aussie. and subscribe on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts for new episodes every week.

34:38 For more information, see the show notes to this episode or visit.

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