Warwick Brookes sits down with Luke Sacco, Partner at Nelson Alexander's Northcote office, for a frank conversation about nearly three decades in real estate and what's really happening in Melbourne's property market right now. From the widening gap between renovated and unrenovated homes to the proposed changes to auction reserve pricing, Luke shares what he's seeing on the ground with buyers and sellers every day.

They cover the biggest mistakes sellers are making, why presentation and staging matter more than ever, what's driving demand in Melbourne's inner north, and why nervous buyers are slowing down every deal. A straight talking look at what it takes to build a lasting career in real estate, and what both buyers and sellers need to understand right now.

Connect with Luke Sacco, Nelson Alexander: https://www.nelsonalexander.com.au/real-estate-agents/luke-sacco/149/

Property, Straight Up is brought to you by Domain & Co, Your Property People. domainandco.com.au

Downsizing is not just a property decision, it is one of the most emotionally complex transitions people face. In this episode, Mel Dennis talks with Robyn Strickland, founder of Love It or Leave It, about what really happens when someone lets go of decades of belongings and a family home.

Robyn shares why clutter affects our wellbeing, the role adult children play, how the process works step by step, and the one thing she says makes the biggest difference: starting early.

Connect with Robyn Strickland, Love It or Leave It: https://loveitorleaveit.com.au

Property, Straight Up is brought to you by Domain & Co, Your Property People. domainandco.com.au

Buying the right property is only half the equation. In this episode, Mel Dennis sits down with Nicola Michels, Senior Business Development Manager at Longview, to talk about what great property management actually looks like, what investors get wrong, and the small changes that can have an outsized impact on rental returns and long term performance.

With over two decades of experience across metropolitan Melbourne, Nicola shares what's happening in Melbourne's rental market right now, why the right property manager is worth far more than the fee difference, and a real life case study of a property turned around from two months vacant to let in two weeks. If you own an investment property, or are thinking about buying one, this conversation is essential listening.

Connect with Nicola Michels, Longview: www.longview.com.au

The Melbourne Property Brief is brought to you by Domain & Co, Your Property People. domainandco.com.au

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:25 Meet Nicola Michels: Senior BDM at Longview

01:17 Longview's Coverage Across Metropolitan Melbourne

02:22 What's Happening in Melbourne's Rental Market Right Now

03:34 Pricing Right: The Key to Minimising Vacancy

04:07 Buy With Your Head, Not Your Heart

05:10 What Makes a Property Appeal to the Rental Market

05:51 Long Term Tenants Mean More Money in Your Pocket

06:22 Average vs High Performing Investment Properties

06:54 The Right Team Around You: Why It Matters

07:26 Data Doesn't Lie: Understanding Real Rental Returns

09:17 The Biggest Mistake Investors Make: Choosing the Wrong Agent

09:58 Don't Skimp on Management Fees for a Million Dollar Asset

10:38 What Good Property Marketing Actually Looks Like

11:43 Floor Plans, Virtual Tours and Photography: Why They Win Tenants

13:02 What Service Standards to Look For in an Agent

13:52 Compliance and Legislative Changes Landlords Must Know

15:28 Longview's Service Guarantee: Putting Money Where Their Mouth Is

16:39 Practical Ways to Maximise Rental Return and Minimise Vacancy

17:55 Proactive Maintenance: Prevention Is Better Than Cure

19:39 How Often Should You Review Your Property's Performance?

20:37 The Case for a Property Management Only Agency

21:41 Unbiased Advice: Sell or Hold?

22:12 Real Life Case Study: Vacant for Two Months, Let in Two Weeks

24:06 Closing Advice: The One Thing Every Investor Should Do Now

24:15 Wrap Up and How to Connect With Nicola at Longview

Most people don't think about what happens to their property in a separation until they're already in one. In this episode of Property, Straight Up, Mel Dennis talks with Claire Walczak, an accredited family law specialist and partner at Lander & Rogers, about property settlements, binding financial agreements and the mistakes that end up costing people the most.

Claire explains why having property in your name doesn't make it yours, why a 50/50 split is far from guaranteed, and why an informal agreement can come back to bite you. She also shares why mediation often beats court, how a Vendor Advocate can lower the temperature during a property sale, and what a binding financial agreement is really for.

Connect with Claire Walczak, Lander & Rogers

https://www.landers.com.au/legalservice/family-and-relationship-law

Property, Straight Up is brought to you by Domain & Co, Your Property People. domainandco.com.au

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

00:25 Meet Claire Walczak, Lander & Rogers

01:11 Claire's role and areas of expertise

02:10 How real property is handled during separation

03:15 Selling vs. retaining the family home

05:19 Who gets to stay in the family home?

06:29 The biggest misconceptions people have about property and separation

08:10 Does separation always mean going to court?

09:57 How to avoid unnecessary disputes and reduce legal costs

11:16 How a Vendor Advocate can help during a property sale

12:28 How independent guidance reduces stress and conflict

13:24 Binding financial agreements explained

14:10 How a BFA protects wealth if a relationship ends

15:27 How to have the BFA conversation with your partner

16:05 Are attitudes toward these agreements changing?

16:51 Think of a BFA as an insurance policy

17:12 When should you seek legal advice?

18:13 The one thing to do to protect yourself and your family

19:07 Closing thoughts and free checklist

In this episode of Property, Straight Up, host Mel Dennis sits down with Inna Segal, director of RET Conveyancing, to talk about what can go wrong when buying or selling property and how to make sure it doesn't happen to you.

Inna has over ten years of experience as a licensed conveyancer and has spent the last five as director of RET Conveyancing. She is the person who sees the mistakes before they become disasters, and in this conversation she shares exactly what those mistakes are and how to avoid them.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• A conveyancer is not optional. Inna explains what the role covers and why skipping it is a costly mistake.
• The Section 32 is one of the most important documents in any transaction. Inna explains what to look for and what a defective one can cost you.
• Finance timing matters more than buyers expect. Thirty days goes faster than you think, and missing the window carries real risk of default.
• Skipping a building and pest inspection is a gamble, not a shortcut.
• Section 27 lets vendors in Victoria access their deposit before settlement, and most don't know it exists.
• Tenanted properties carry a vacant possession risk that has ended deals entirely. Inna shares the cautionary tale.
• Undisclosed renovation works can come back on sellers under the seven-year disclosure rule.

CONNECT WITH INNA SEGAL AT RET CONVEYANCING
https://www.retconveyancing.com.au/

ABOUT DOMAIN & CO
Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest decisions of your life. Often the biggest financial decision you'll ever make. Bigger than anything else you'll sign your name to.

And the people meant to help you make it have started to look a lot like the people you didn't trust in the first place.

The polished ones in the sharp suits. The corporate machines who never learn your name. Or worst of all. No one. Just you and a portal and a hunch.

We've spent thirty years on both sides of property. The buy and the sell. The boom and the bust. The houses that grew. The ones that didn't. The agents you'd want in your corner. The ones you wouldn't.

We've walked the same families through five, six transactions across decades. First home. Family home. Forever home. The next chapter after that.

So we don't pitch. We don't perform. We don't take work we don't believe in. We just tell you what we'd do, if it were us in your position.

For property, told straight. We're your property people.

https://domainandco.com.au/

Download the Buyers & Sellers checklist here - CLICK HERE

In this episode of Property, Straight Up, host Warwick Brookes sits down with Gerard Burg, economist at Cotality (formerly CoreLogic), for a data-driven conversation about what is actually happening in Australian property right now.

Gerard works with national property data every day, and he brings that perspective to some of the biggest questions buyers, sellers and investors are asking. From Melbourne's slide down the national leaderboard to Adelaide overtaking it for the first time in history, from the structural supply crisis no government target will fix quickly, to the apartment submarkets where owners have been losing money for nearly a decade.

They also cover the early signals from the negative gearing and capital gains changes, what three consecutive rate rises have done to first home buyer confidence, and the one mistake Gerard says buyers will look back on and regret.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Melbourne's underperformance is real but overstated. Affordability is drawing buyers priced out of other markets.
• Adelaide overtook Melbourne for the first time in history, driven by pandemic population shifts and inadequate supply, not fundamentals that are likely to hold.
• Construction costs and trade shortages mean new supply will not rescue affordability anytime soon, but they do put a floor under prices.
• Melbourne CBD unit values peaked in March 2017 and have not recovered. Oversupply, not demand, is the story.
• The negative gearing changes will discourage investment, but it is too early for the data to show exactly how much.
• Three rate rises have started to cancel out the benefit of the government's 5% deposit scheme for first home buyers.
• The investors who come out ahead are the ones who act on opportunity when it appears rather than waiting to time the bottom perfectly.

ABOUT DOMAIN & CO

Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest decisions of your life. Often the biggest financial decision you'll ever make. Bigger than anything else you'll sign your name to.

And the people meant to help you make it have started to look a lot like the people you didn't trust in the first place.

The polished ones in the sharp suits. The corporate machines who never learn your name. Or worst of all. No one. Just you and a portal and a hunch.

We've spent thirty years on both sides of property. The buy and the sell. The boom and the bust. The houses that grew. The ones that didn't. The agents you'd want in your corner. The ones you wouldn't.

We've walked the same families through five, six transactions across decades. First home. Family home. Forever home. The next chapter after that.

So we don't pitch. We don't perform. We don't take work we don't believe in. We just tell you what we'd do, if it were us in your position.

For property, told straight. We're your property people.

https://domainandco.com.au/

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction

00:54 – Guest Introduction: Gerard burg, Cotality

01:36 – Gerard's Career Background

03:18 – How Cotality Analyses Property Data

04:09 – The CoreLogic to Cotality Rebrand

05:28 – Media Narratives vs. Real Data

06:14 – The Case for Melbourne as an Investor Market

08:04 – Adelaide Overtaking Melbourne Explained

09:50 – Melbourne's Supply Advantage

10:49 – Construction Costs & the Trade Shortage Problem

12:19 – Investor Policy & New Build Requirements

14:33 – Post-COVID Buyer Behaviour Shifts

15:53 – Data Overload & the Buyer Advocate Boom

17:46 – Melbourne Apartment Losses: The Data Story

20:08 – Undervalued Pockets in Melbourne

21:41 – Negative Gearing Changes: What to Watch

23:14 – Rate Rises & First Home Buyer Capacity

24:47 – Five-Year Outlook: What Matters Most

25:35 – Close

In this episode of Property, Straight Up, host Mel Dennis sits down with Scott Mitton from Secure Invest to explore one of the most common traps in property — making buy, sell, or hold decisions without looking at the bigger financial picture.

Scott brings nearly 20 years of financial advisory experience, having entered the industry during the Global Financial Crisis and building through to his current role at Secure Invest, a 40-plus-staff multidisciplinary firm covering financial advice, accounting, and lending.

From the tunnel vision problem that trips up even experienced property owners, to the tax structures that can save pre-retirees thousands when selling investment property, to a little-known superannuation provision that could change your retirement picture entirely — Scott covers the financial levers most people don't know they have.

WHAT WE COVER:

The tunnel vision problem

Most people approach property with emotional attachment or a fixed idea — a family home, an inheritance, "the one." Scott and Mel unpack why zooming out to look at your broader financial life leads to far better decisions than focusing on a single transaction.

Hold, sell or reinvest — how do you actually decide?

Scott's process starts not with the property, but with what matters most to the client in life. Income? Growth? Emotional value? Once those drivers are clear, the right strategy usually follows. Sometimes the answer isn't sell or hold — it's restructure.

Diversification beyond property

Many Australians have their wealth heavily concentrated in one asset class, often in one geographic area. Scott explains how super, managed funds, and other investments can complement a property portfolio — and why liquidity matters more than people realise. You can sell shares in 24 hours. You can't sell a bathroom.

Downsizers and pre-retirees — the strategy shifts

There's a specific government provision allowing people who've owned their primary residence for more than 10 years to contribute up to $300,000 each — $600,000 per couple — into superannuation when they downsize. Scott walks through how this works and how selling investment properties in the lead-up to retirement can be structured to minimise tax and maximise income.

Why financial advice and property advice must work together

Scott is clear: he's not licensed to give property advice, and he doesn't try to. His approach is to get property decisions sorted first — then dovetail his financial strategy around what's been decided. The same works in reverse: Mel regularly sends clients to Scott before they make any move.

CONNECT WITH SCOTT MITTON @ SECURE INVEST

Scott Mitton Secure Invest Financial Services https://sifs.com.au/

ABOUT DOMAIN & CO

Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest decisions of your life. Often the biggest financial decision you'll ever make. Bigger than anything else you'll sign your name to.

And the people meant to help you make it have started to look a lot like the people you didn't trust in the first place.

The polished ones in the sharp suits. The corporate machines who never learn your name. Or worst of all. No one. Just you and a portal and a hunch.

We've spent thirty years on both sides of property. The buy and the sell. The boom and the bust. The houses that grew. The ones that didn't. The agents you'd want in your corner. The ones you wouldn't.

We've walked the same families through five, six transactions across decades. First home. Family home. Forever home. The next chapter after that.

So we don't pitch. We don't perform. We don't take work we don't believe in. We just tell you what we'd do, if it were us in your position.

For property, told straight. We're your property people.

https://domainandco.com.au/

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction & guest background
1:11 About Secure Invest
2:59 Why people make property decisions in isolation
4:25 Should I hold, sell or reinvest? How Scott helps clients decide
5:32 Just because you own a property doesn't mean you should keep it
7:29 Diversification — why property alone isn't enough
9:43 Strategy shift for downsizers and those approaching retirement
11:13 Using super and tax structures when selling investment property
11:58 Why financial advice and property advice must work together
13:40 First step if you're wondering whether to buy or sell
15:07 Why a financial plan matters before any property decision
16:09 General advice disclaimer — this isn't personal advice
16:48 Wrap-up & how to connect with Scott