If you feel that a win-win style will work for you; then you need to give a little to get a little before you can finalise a strategy.

Prior to starting one on one negotiations, you need a forum for pre-negotiation discussions and I much prefer a coffee to a phone line.

Naivety, experience and lack of preparation are not good prerequisites for the sorts of meetings I outline below, so if you don’t feel it’s you or if you have loose lips then engage a professional.

Background: Lyndon and Helen are considering a pre-auction offer, so I suggested to them that I meet with the selling agent first. The agent is Michael and we met at Laurent in Toorak Rd.

Note: the dialogue that follows  may look scripted and cagey (on both sides)  – but it’s real life.

Mal: Good to see you again, Michael.

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Investing in your family home means you can avoid, perfectly legally, the tax the government wants you to pay on an investment property.

“Why not live in your money?” one wily auctioneer suggested at a crisp winter morning auction in Melbourne recently.

Why not indeed?

As a buyers’ agent of million-dollar-plus homes in Melbourne, I see people buying and selling some very nice homes in some very nice suburbs.

One thing I often wonder is why, when someone has made money out of one of those very nice family homes, either by design or by accident, their first thought is often to draw on that money to invest in something completely different.

Why would you invest $400,000 in a house in Seaford or an off-the plan apartment on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast when you have made your money in a $2 million home in Eaglemont or Hawthorn?

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Malvern East 11 Deakin St: John Bongiorno is all smiles as the 3 bidders put their hands up. Passed in at $1,135,000

In Stonnington this weekend we monitored 14 properties, of which 8 were reported as bought before, at or after auction.

Bidderman was a surprising 2.3 – surprisingly good given the stock quality

This gives a clearance rate of 57%. For the corresponding week in May of this year we monitored 18 properties at auction at which 12 sold, giving a clearance rate of 66%. So while numbers were similar for the week, overall sales numbers are down considerably for the month when compared to May, as many top end agents are now just getting back from holidays.

The other noticeable difference is the dollar value of transactions. Today the only significant transaction at auction was 4 Grace Street, Malvern which sold after auction for just over $3,600,000 – Marcus Chiminello of Marshall White. See auction report and James Home Rating below.

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What is it with redheads? They're running the country - and now they're taking over the auctions. We counted six in this photo in amongst auctioneer Phillip Kingston from Gary Peer. 7A Nightingale St Kilda East. Bought After $1,200,000. 1 bidder.

At 6pm Saturday the James Clearance Rate on the 22 $M+ Auctions we covered was 59%.

Our Demand Indicator Bidderman was 2.2.  Hmmm – an interesting increase but it was off a very low turnover.

Today’s Highlights

1)      Bidders were present at 18 of the 22 auctions we covered –  and at three auctions there were 6+bidders

• 23 Sunburst Avenue Balwyn North (Doug McLauchlan of Marshall White)
• 12 Lennox St Hawthorn (Russell Turner of Christopher Russell)
• 7 Monomeath Avenue Toorak (Justin Long of Marshall White)

2)      The Pies are top of the ladder – and the election is on

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I'm not having a good day am I? I've passed the property in despite there being 3 bidders and now some galoot is taking my photo. 65 Charles St Prahran - George Metax - 3 bidders. Passed In for $1,400,000

This week we have combined the council wraps. There is little to report within specific council areas, and for those who normally just read one wrap we hope you will benefit from looking at some data graphs across the council areas that confirm what we have been saying so far this year.

Hopefully, this will help you as buyers to see what you need to do to buy the right home in the next six months.

Please note: Data comes from REIV, Valuer General (Government) and our own records. There is a time lag in some of the official data.

Confirmed: This year has been a bumper year in terms of $M+ transactions.

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Auctioneer Jeremy Desmier. He's a happy guy even when he doesn't sell. We at James Market News like him. Balwyn 29 Narrak: Passed In for $1,310,000. 1 bidder

This week we have combined the council wraps. There is little to report within specific council areas, and for those who normally just read one wrap we hope you will benefit from looking at some data graphs across the council areas that confirm what we have been saying so far this year.

Hopefully, this will help you as buyers to see what you need to do to buy the right home in the next six months.

Please note: Data comes from REIV, Valuer General (Government) and our own records. There is a time lag in some of the official data.

Confirmed: This year has been a bumper year in terms of $M+ transactions.

Confirmed: It has also been abnormally high stock wise.

Read the full article...(estimated 3:12 mins reading time)

Malvern 61 Wheatland: Andrew Hayne and Maddie Kennedy of Marshall White - spruiking the spruik on a crisp but gorgeous winter's day: Bought Afterwards in the very early $2ms: No bidders

Talking with James Connell of Marshall White as he scoots off for a bit of a break, he tells me the market is sound with no real price drops. When you get the figure of 140 sales in May for Marshall White, it’s hard to argue with that.

It’s also hard to argue when Kay and Burton’s Gerald Delany (also off on a break soon) backs up everything James Connell says.  (You can see Gerald voicing his thoughts on our new monthly buyers’ video called G-E-R-A-L-D on our marketnews home page.) In May 2010 K & B handled 80 properties and nearly $250million in sales.

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Hawthorn 18 Melville: With the sun in his eyes, auctioneer Alastair Craig took the helm on this crisp, sunny morning in Melbourne. There was a strong atmosphere in the crowd. With three bidders, it was passed in at $1,605,000 and was bought afterwards well above this figure.

As we approach the shortest day of the year, we saw a record number of auctions in Boroondara on Saturday (compared to equivalent weekends in past years). Given the large supply, the market seems to have  some resilience. In fact, there is so much going on that  many key agents are delaying their traditional mid-year holiday by a few weeks.

Of the 11 auctions we featured, two were bought under the hammer, six were passed-in,  one was bought after and two were bought before. Our demand indicator, Bidderman, was 1.4 for the weekend.

The word from some of the selling agents we respect:

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