When Ron Morrison drives about town, the fact never ceases to amaze him that he has walked through most houses he passes.
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Price tags might have risen and the shock days of a million-dollar price tag have become commonplace but Mr Morrison said nothing could beat good flow in a home's value.
He could often tell from the moment he set a foot in the door whether a place might be difficult to move.
Ballarat Real Estate is celebrating 40 years as being the middleman in people's property dreams, a position Mr Morrison said demanded great care, honesty and understanding for walking the fine line to reach the best price for buyers and sellers.
An accountant-turned-real estate agent, Mr Morrison raised plenty of eyebrows in starting out.
Ballarat's property market in 1983 was predominantly run by a couple of big agents - none remain - and all branded with the directors' names. Ballarat Real Estate was out of the box and far ahead of its time in marketability, especially for new people seeking to move to town.
Conditions were difficult in a depressed property market with stubbornly high rental demand. He has ridden out soaring and plunging interest rates and the Global Financial Crisis well before arriving in the post-pandemic conditions with skyrocketing living costs.
From the start, including in his first article with The Courier, Mr Morrison has believed in Ballarat as a livable city - an hour or so from Melbourne, great schools, good healthcare and a good climate (for those who love seasonal changes). He has always pointed to major industry presence, such as McCain and Mars, as vital to this city.
This is why Mr Morrison has maintained Ballarat property is a good market.
"It's interesting talking to younger people, especially ones who have done so well in the COVID years and what has happened since," Mr Morrison said. "It's a huge market and some never believed things would change."
Ballarat Real Estate has advertised its properties in The Courier every week since the agency opened in 1983. Early advertisements show properties such as a weatherboard in central Ballarat with an asking price of $20,000. A century-old Victorian bluestone in Victoria Street was $66,000 - this four bedroom was last sold for about $200,000 more than that in early 2019.
TAKE A LOOK AT SOME EARLY PROPERTY ADVERTISING BELOW
Technology has vastly improved access to information for property appraisals and details - most houses now come with 10-page reports for potential buyers - but Mr Morrison said the basics to putting on a price tag remain the same.
"Even over the years I've found it difficult to new pricing. Houses now that sell for $1 million would've sold for $500,000 a couple of years ago. The internet has all the sales for the area and similar houses to compare as they are sold but it is all still values based," Mr Morrison said.
"Back in those early days, we would walk through a house and value it then and there, now you often have a fair idea what a house is worth before you go there. The rest still comes down to the condition of the house, inside and presentation.
"A house that has got flow is a house sold quickly. Once you walk into a house you could tell whether it's a good seller or not."
But there are always surprises.
A triple front brick home in Banyule (now Delacombe) in May 1983 had an extensive aviary (which owners were prepared to remove), a fernery and a living room mural of "a bushland water scene".
Mr Morrison said such properties often attracted people prepared to pay a higher price for extra space or specialty features but it could make pinpointing a suggested point a little more difficult.
Such details are easier to convey now with easy access to high-quality, modern technology.
In the early Ballarat Real Estate days, Mr Morrison would spend every Friday in The Courier office inspecting the font and layouts for advertisements. When colour pages launched, his team would often take photos to Thornton Richards to be developed before dropping these off to The Courier for publication.
Now hi-res mobile phone cameras and videos can offer people a good sense of the property from the ease of their home but Mr Morrison still felt an important value to have houses in the newspaper, alongside Ballarat news for a broader sense of the community.
Positioning has always been a key value for Mr Morrison in developing the business, even more so with the property market boom bringing more players to town.
Ballarat Real Estate started in a small section of the building that now houses the Upstate gym, on the corner of Mair and Lydiard streets. The business moved to its Sturt-Doveton street corner in the mid-90s as a prominent place to be seen.
Ballarat Real Estate has also since expanded into Maryborough, Ararat, Bendigo and now Bacchus Marsh allowing what Mr Morrison said was a stronger cross-referencing for clients in the region.
"it's amazing how things have changed," Mr Morrison said. "The thing that surprises me most is how well young people are doing."
His three sons have "really taken over" the business: Allister is general manager while David and Dominic are involved in sales.
Mr Morrison said he was intrigued to see how the real estate game would continue to evolve.
