How property selling has changed

SELLING real estate is not what it was 30 years ago, says ANDREW WINTER. We no longer market homes with pics of mum spinning wool for one thing.

It is 2014!

While everyone is offering predictions for the upcoming year and hot tips for smart buying and selling - none which can really be substantiated - I thought, forget that, let's take a trip down real estate memory lane instead.

The new year marks a poignant milestone for me as it was in January 1984, that I first put on an ill-fitting shiny suit and pencil-thin tie, polished my shoes, shaved for all of three seconds (mainly around my upper lip), hopped in my father's car and was dropped off at the head office of a real estate agency chain in the West County of England.

I seem to recall a debate as to why I couldn't ride my bike there. Clearly my parents did not have a lot of faith in this new career path I was so excited to follow, having a few months previously taken the wind from their sails in announcing I was not going to uni to study architecture, as it would take forever.

I was the agency's youngest ever recruit, not that I knew that at this point. So there I was amid the world of residential property, 30 years ago. So what has changed?

I did actually have connections to Australia in the 1980s and being a total property addict I still have the brochures and newspaper cuttings of that era that I saved. Writing this article gave me the excuse to find these bits of rather yellowed paper and less-than-glossy brochures which now offer a fascinating insight into the changes of the Aussie housing market during this period.

Blocks of land in new estates in our major cities had starting prices of around $20,000 while the popular new freestanding home designs featured three bedrooms, one living space and, if you were lucky, a rather flash two-way bathroom and internal laundry. The carport was the go for the average home back then - none of this double garage with remote control we see now.

Homes were measured in squares, land in perches and as for "green features", that would be the colour you might paint your eaves or front door. Eco-friendly was a totally unknown term then, with energy saving, insulation, efficiency and recycling not given a second thought.

Built-in kitchen appliances were still rare, certainly if you had them no one cared if they were from Europe, or had a stainless steel finish. The closest thing to a stone benchtop you could find would be at your local butchers and space for the whooping 24 or 26 inch giant TV was always the corner of the room, hang that on the wall and half the house would collapse.

Backyards were being used for vegetables and kids to play in. With just one TV and no hi-tech game consoles, tablets or iPods, out to the backyard we went!

Real estate agents had office answering machines and were not contactable 24 hours a day. Their office windows and position in the high street was everything.

My first place of work featured a fax machine an answering machine and an electronic typewriter. All of these, often extremely expensive items, were strictly only operated by the office secretary, who spent a lot of her time also emptying the overflowing ashtrays of the agents' desks.

Friday night was drinks night.

Glitzy brochures, window displays, colour photographs and floor plans were for the upper end of the market, but the masses were lucky to get a Polaroid or even better a black and white hand drawn sketch of the outside of their house.

Nothing was referred to as organic. No one would lock anything into their diary, or have a window of opportunity. Regulations were around, a little looser let us say, but as for buyers and sellers doing their own research - well that was nearly impossible. All you had to go on was agent's comments, sale boards, adverts in the paper and agency windows. So researching out of your area - no chance! For us agents then, great times!

One I thing that epitomises the change in 30 years is a colour brochure I have.

This was publicity from a major builder, still operating today, and aimed at attracting young family buyers. In full colour is a glorious shot of a family scene: Dad comes complete with a neatly trimmed moustache. There are two children, in appalling clothing, sitting smiling at Mum who is weaving, using a full-sized spinning wheel. The room is heavily decorated in peach and florals to complete this idolised family scene. That was the mid 1980s dream? Apparently.

Anyway if you are wondering how I got home from my first day as a real estate agent, it was very easy. They gave me a virtually brand new company car, complete with free fuel - oh the wonderful 80s! Unfortunately by the end of 1984 I was on my third car as I had managed to crash car one into another parked car at slow speed while the second had argued with a wall on a corner in the rain. So much of my salary disappeared into insurance excess charges.

On that note, happy 2014 to you all, as I enter my fourth decade in the business that to this day I still love - houses and people!

• Andrew Winter is the host of Selling Houses Australia on Lifestyle. Follow him on Facebook or if you've got a question, send it to [e-mail]