Property Finders Group

22/09/2026

Slower isn't the same as weaker. What the Adelaide market actually means for buyers.

This is something we've been trying to educate buyers on: the Adelaide and South Australian market taking its time isn't a market that's failing. It's just behaving differently, and that difference works in your favour if you know how to use it.

Across metro Adelaide, the Fleurieu and the Hills, we're seeing more stock on the market and less of the frantic competition that defined the peak. Some buyers read that as a warning sign. We'd argue it's the opposite.

This is a market that rewards patience. It rewards careful property selection. And it rewards buyers who know how to negotiate properly. Even in a slower market, fear of missing out can still creep in the moment you find a home you genuinely love, and that's exactly when a clear head and a solid strategy matter most.

If you have your finance sorted and a clear strategy for what you're actually trying to achieve, conditions like these can let you secure a quality Adelaide property on considerably better terms than you would have even 6 months ago. Less competition means more room to negotiate on price, terms and settlement. More stock means more genuine choice, rather than settling for whatever comes up first.

But opportunity doesn't mean easy, and this is exactly the kind of market where buyers need to be more careful, not less. In a red hot market, properties with real problems still sold in days because nobody had time to look closely. That pressure has eased across SA, which is good news, but it also means a property that's been sitting for a few weeks could mean two very different things. Sometimes it's simply a quiet market. Sometimes buyers have had the time to inspect properly and walked away for good reason. Knowing which is which takes a trained eye, not just enthusiasm.

This is exactly where a buyer's agent earns their keep. We're not caught up in the emotion of "the one," we know how to read why a property is still on the market, and we know how to negotiate terms that protect you, not just the price. In a market like this, that guidance is often the difference between buying a good property and buying the wrong one at a good price.

The buyers who do well right now in Adelaide aren't waiting for a signal that things have "turned around." They understand that a calmer market is often the smartest time to buy well, with the right advice behind them.

If you're finance ready and want to talk SA property strategy, we're here.

22/09/2026

Inside the $15.4b project that’s changing Adelaide forever

https://thepostsa.au/community/2026/09/17/inside-the-project-changing-adelaide-forever/?lid=ksf7bat3oyhx

21/09/2026

The open homes are done for another weekend. Now comes the interesting part.

For some buyers, Monday is when the doubt creeps in. Was that one actually right, or did it just feel right standing in the kitchen with good lighting and a coffee in hand?

But some of the best offers I've seen were made on the Saturday itself, with total confidence. Not because the buyer got swept up in the moment, but because the real work happened long before they ever walked through that front door. The due diligence was already done. The comparable sales were already understood. And along the way, they'd been genuinely educated about the market, not just handed conclusions, so by the time they stood in that kitchen, they already knew exactly what they were looking at.

That's the real value of a buyer's agent. Not swooping in with an answer at the last minute, but building your understanding step by step, so when the right property shows up, you're ready to act on it immediately, with total clarity.

Speed isn't the enemy in this market. Uncertainty is. When the groundwork is done properly, fast and smart aren't opposites at all.

21/09/2026

Adelaide values have slipped 1.6% over winter. Here's what that looks like in real dollars:

$1,000,000 home: $16,000

$800,000 home: $12,800

$700,000 home: $11,200

Now the other number. Values are still 64% higher than five years ago. A home worth $500,000 back then is now around $820,000. That's a $320,000 climb followed by a pause of about $13,000. It's a correction, not a reversal of fortune, and most homeowners are still sitting on a big equity buffer.

Here's what has changed for buyers. Winter sales fell 14% on last year and advertised stock is now 41% above where it was 12 months ago. More choice, less pressure and more room to negotiate.

But I speak to buyers every week, and the people who struggled to understand value six months ago are often still struggling today. The same pain points are still there:

Paying for the feeling instead of the numbers
Not knowing if a price guide is honest or optimistic
Comparing to the wrong sales
Missing what's wrong with a property until after settlement
Waiting for the perfect moment and watching it pass

A better window doesn't make anyone a better buyer. More stock also means more average homes sitting next to the good ones, and if you get the value call wrong on a $900,000 purchase, you can lose far more than the whole 1.6% the market just handed back.

That's what a buyer's agent is for. I only ever work for the buyer, whilst offering local boots on the ground knowledge. I read the comparable sales properly, see through the price guide, check what the photos don't show and negotiate with evidence instead of emotion.

The market has given buyers thousands of dollars of breathing room. Knowing what a property is truly worth is what turns it into real savings.

Buying anywhere from the metro suburbs to the Fleurieu and the Hills? Message me before you make an offer.

19/09/2026

Second day of open homes for the weekend.

If yesterday was about scouting, today's often when buyers get serious, second inspections, more questions, more time spent chatting to the agent about the property.

Worth remembering: the more comfortable you feel with an agent, the more you tend to share. And every extra detail, your budget ceiling, how the first inspection went, whether you're comparing it to anything else, gives them a clearer picture of your position. That picture gets passed straight to the vendor.

None of this means being cold or guarded. Ask your questions, get the information you need, take your time. Just keep your negotiating position to yourself while you do it.

By the time you're weighing up an offer, you want to be the one holding more information, not the other way around. That's where having someone dedicated to your side of the deal makes the difference.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend's inspections.

18/09/2026

Heading to open homes today?

Here's a tip most buyers don't think about until they're standing in the kitchen making small talk with the agent: what you say matters just as much as what you see.

It's tempting to chat freely. You're excited, the house feels right, and the agent is friendly. But that same agent is taking mental notes throughout the conversation, and everything they learn about you gets reported straight back to the seller.

So today, enjoy the inspections, but keep a few things to yourself. Your absolute top budget. How badly you want this one. Any pressure you're under to buy quickly. None of it needs to come up in casual conversation, and all of it can end up working against you later at the negotiating table.

If you'd rather not have to think about any of this while you're trying to picture your life in a new home, that's exactly what a buyer's agent is for. We do the strategy so you can just enjoy the Saturday.

Happy house hunting.

18/09/2026

Here's something worth knowing before your next open home.

The real estate agent you're chatting with at an inspection works for the seller. Not you. It's easy to forget when the conversation feels friendly, but their job is to get the best result for the vendor, and that means picking up on anything useful about you along the way: your budget, how urgently you need to buy, what you think the place is worth.

None of that makes the agent dishonest. It's just the nature of the role.

It's also exactly why buyers benefit from having someone in their corner. A buyer's agent works only for you. We keep your numbers private, read what's actually happening with the vendor, and negotiate without the emotion that comes with falling for a property.

Buying a home is a big decision. It helps to have someone on your side who isn't selling anything but your best outcome.

Thinking about buying and want a second set of eyes on your approach? Send us a message.

18/09/2026

I get asked a version of this question a lot: what actually makes the difference? Here's my honest answer.

It's not luck, and it's not timing, though experience certainly helps. What drives me is far simpler than that. It's showing up, fully and consistently, with absolute commitment to every client's goals. From the first phone call right through to the final handshake, I'm in it with you.

I dig deeper than most. I look longer. I go further, chasing off market opportunities, following the trail wherever the right property is hiding.

I don't give up when things get difficult. I don't cut corners to close a deal faster. And I don't settle for a property that doesn't genuinely meet what a client set out to achieve.

This is what I believe old fashioned service still means. Not a tagline, but a standard I hold myself to, purchase after purchase, client after client.

Because your investment deserves nothing less.

15/09/2026

Do They Actually Know the Ground?

Here's a simple question worth asking any buyer's agent: which streets flood?

Not the suburb. The street. It's a small question, but the answer says a lot about how well someone actually knows the area they work in.

Australia has around 15,000 suburbs. No one can genuinely know all of them, and the best buyer's agents don't try. They pick one patch and stay there, building the kind of knowledge that only comes from years in a place. Which end of the street floods. Which school catchment actually drives resale. Which quiet-looking road turns into a rat run at 8am.

For a long time this mattered less than it does now. Rising markets forgive bad selection, when almost everything goes up, it's hard to tell how much local knowledge really contributed. That's changed. Selection is back to mattering, and how well someone knows an area shows up directly in the outcome.

Think about your own suburb. You already carry knowledge an outsider would take years to pick up, which pockets carry a stigma the price won't reflect, where a rezoning's about to change a street before anyone's announced it. That's the standard worth looking for in an agent.

It's the standard I hold myself to in my own patch. Family roots in every corner of it, and a home on the coast myself. So when I tell a client a street floods, it's because I know it firsthand, not because I looked it up.

What that actually gets you:
Properties that change hands before they ever reach a listing site
Off-market opportunities that only come from being genuinely embedded in an area
An eye that knows exactly what matters on a specific street, if you can't inspect it yourself

Before you engage a buyer's agent, ask about the street. Not just the suburb.

15/09/2026

Over 25 years ago I met Alice Bacon, and she has been a constant in my life ever since, through the good stretches and the harder ones.

What has always struck me about Alice is her consistency. She is professional. She is discreet. She is positive without ever being false, and there is a wholesomeness to her that is genuinely rare.

As a life coach and Certified Birkman Consultant, she has built a career on helping people find clarity, and her latest program brings that same care to families, supporting both parents and students through the transition beyond school. It is exactly the kind of thoughtful, human support that transition deserves.

So good to see a local talent getting the recognition she deserves.

Alice, thank you for being who you are for the last 25 years. Anyone lucky enough to work with you will understand why I am writing this.

Have you seen Alice in City of Marion's Business Spotlight? The launch of our new program Clarity Beyond School was featured in this month's Open for Business eNews! Having participated in the City of Marion Leadership Program in 2018 and later serving as a facilitator from 2019 to 2025, Alice draws on more than a decade of coaching experience and is passionate about helping young people develop the self-awareness to navigate adulthood with confidence and purpose. Find out more about Clarity Beyond School (link in bio).