Interview: Tom Offermann, Tom Offermann Real Estate
“At this rate, investors will double their money every five years.”
By Terry Christodoulou
Thu, May 6, 2021 12:07pm
2 min
2 min
Tom Offermann has spent the past 35 years developing peerless market knowledge of Noosa and Sunshine Coast environs.
He’s also a man who lives and breathes the lifestyle he proudly sells – often found in his kayak on the Noosa River.
We caught up to discuss the future in light of COVID, ‘southern’ sea-changers and a market that’s ultimately surging.
Kanebridge News: Noosa was recently marked as Queensland’s most expensive property market, thoughts on securing such a title?
Tom Offermann: It’s been named the most expensive shire in the state, but I think it’s more accurately described as the most valuable in the state.
KN: What makes it the most valuable?
TO: Noosa shire has an annual return on investment over 15% — which is incredible. However, some of the shire’s most sought-after locations, such as Noosa Sound, have been averaging capital growth of more than 15% per annum for the past 46 years.
KN: How did Noosa fare coming out of the pandemic?
TO: [In 2021] we were wondering if it might slow down a bit after the summer holidays, but the market for the first quarter has outperformed every quarter of 2020. Auctions are achieving approximately 90% clearance rates, property listings remain tight and an abundance of buyers are waiting for the right property.
KN: Is this driven by those ‘southerners’ looking for a sea / tree-change?
TO: The sea and tree-change effect was the strongest ever and Noosa was one of the greatest beneficiaries, recording high sales volumes plus the highest price gains in Queensland, with houses recording 15.4% annual growth and a median price surpassing $900,000.
KN: So is it now too late for those wanting to get into the market?
TO: No, it’s never too late. My advice is to buy in the best location your budget allows. In the current market it’s important to be ready to act fast and have pre-approval if you require finance, because a property can sell very quickly, sometimes never hitting the market at all.
KN: How does Noosa compete against other coastal ‘lifestyle’ regions?
TO: Noosa has long been known as the jewel in Queensland’s crown, which is a result of superior local governance, the shire’s natural resources and climate — which combine to underpin a property market that has more potential than any others in the country. It’s highly desirable and very tightly held.
KN: What do you say to the naysayer’s who claim the Sunshine Coast’s growth isn’t sustainable – will the market continue to ascend?
TO: Of course it will. Property value is never a straight line graph, however, you can always count on it pointing upwards long-term. At this rate, investors will double their money every five years, something I have experienced throughout my career.
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For years, tech entrepreneur Asher Waldfogel and his wife, Helyn MacLean, dreamed of building a modern house in Palo Alto, Calif.
The couple, however, worried about clashing with the Mediterranean-style architecture typically associated with their neighborhood of Old Palo Alto.
So they tapped architect Steven Ehrlich to create a design that paid homage to its surroundings with stucco, mahogany and titanium zinc cladding. They spent $20 million over several years building the house, completed in 2005.
Now looking to be closer to their adult daughter on the East Coast, they are putting the five-bedroom home on the market for $44 million—the most expensive listing in Palo Alto.
Waldfogel is an angel investor who co-founded Redback Networks, a telecommunications-equipment company. MacLean previously had a career in fundraising.
The couple purchased the roughly 0.4-acre site for $7.1 million in 2000 and demolished a circa-1930s Spanish Colonial home. The house they built pinwheels around a central staircase. It has 7,900 square feet of livable space, with four distinct courtyards and a pool.
A key feature of the home is a cast-in-place concrete wall, or spine, that is two stories high and about 80 feet long. “There’s a little bit of controlled chaos in what comes out of the form,” unlike a perfectly uniform surface, Waldfogel said. “If you want that, you do it in plastic.”
Waldfogel said he and his wife are thinking about the next phase of life now that their daughter is grown, although they have not decided where they will move. They also have a home in Sun Valley, Idaho.
“Right now we’re just trying to emotionally let go and decide what to do next,” he said.
Palo Alto, an epicenter of venture capital and tech startups in Silicon Valley, is home to some of the country’s biggest tech titans. Sales volume and prices are rising, with a median sale price of $3.5 million for the three months ending in August, up 5.8% year-over-year, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin.
Arthur Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty—San Francisco Brokerage has the listing.
