The Module, Beecroft Shopping Village

Last night [Wednesday, 17 December] the NSW Joint Regional Planning Panel unanimously approved the redevelopment of the Module site, corner Beecroft Road & Hannah Street, Beecroft.  The approved development generally satisfies the concerns of the community that were raised following the first proposal, refused earlier this year.  

Ray White Beecroft Excells in State Statistics

In November 2014, Ray White did the best ever monthly trade of $1.2 BILLION!

As usual, Ray White Beecroft featured in the list of Personal Bests (Metro), coming 50th out of 227 offices.  Not bad with only one salesperson for much of the year, whereas others have 6, 10 or even 15 salespeople.

How to pay off your Mortgage Quickly

The real answer is, you can't.  Here is an extract from a Real Estate news blog.

"An Australian security watchdog has offered an olive branch to a property management and financial planning business, warning them to clean up their act over misleading advertising.

"The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has accepted an enforceable undertaking (EU) from Gold Coast-based Equanimity Concepts.

"ASIC said from January 2012 to July 2014, Equanimity advertised on its website, YouTube and in numerous in-flight magazines and police journals that consumers could pay off their home loan in a very short amount of time.

"For example, one line read, "Pay off your 25-year home loan in less than five years".

ASIC said by making these promises and publishing them in advertisements, Equanimity is relying on various assumptions in its financial modelling, which is considered by ASIC to be “unrealistic”, including but not limited to continued growth in property values, high rental returns, annual rent increases of eight per cent and no upward movements in applicable interest rates.

"Equanimity presented to consumers that they could direct all and any rent and negative gearing tax benefits received in relation to the investment property into their existing home loan.

"ASIC deputy chairman Peter Kell said the need for finance advertising to be accurate cannot be stressed enough.

“Anything misleading can create unrealistic expectations that may lead to poor financial decisions and, ultimately, consumers could end up in a dangerous debt spiral,” he said.

"ASIC’s investigation found that Equanimity’s compliance processes in terms of its advertising were unsatisfactory and may have breached consumer protection credit laws.

“Consumers who may have comes across these ads may have been misled in Equanimity’s ability to help them pay back their home loan in a significantly reduced timeframe without incurring further debt,” Mr Kell said.

“Advertising of this nature will not be tolerated and ASIC will take swift action when confronted with false claims.”

"Under the EU, Equanimity must appoint an independent consultant to review its compliance with consumer protection credit laws and proper advertising processes, and develop a plan to rectify any deficiencies identified by the expert.

"The independent expert will report regularly to ASIC over the next year on Equanimity’s implementation of the plan.

"The advertisements have been removed."

So ASIC has allowed this company to mislead the public for over two years, and they no doubt benefitted financially from those who believed the adverts.  Yet ASIC imposed no penalty other than to 'appoint an independent consultant'.  ASIC's promise to 'take swift action' might itself seem to be false advertising, as it makes no promise that any effective penalty will be applied, only that swift action will be taken.  Nice to see ASIC at it's ferocious best defending the poor people of Australia from unscrupulous advertisers. 

JRPP Rules to Kill the Tree

Regarding my last post, the JRPP sided with the developers and condemned the tree so that the developer can build another 9 units.  Beecroft shoppers will find the public open space surrounded on all four sides by residential dwellings.

DA for The Module

DA 1006/2014 is now with Council, and appears to be a huge improvement over the earlier DA 545/2013!  There are now retail shops along the street front of Hannah Street as well as commercial offices along Beecroft Road.  The residential units are set back from the street front, and a green public space is provided between the three five storey blocks, looking out to the north.  Hopefully the magnificent White Mahogany tree behind 83 Beecroft Road will be spared from the developers and will then present a spectacular feature of the public space.

The Grove Units Selling Fast

In the first showing of The Grove on 13 September, 12 of the 36 units were taken up!  This was a private showing to people who had put down a deposit to get first dibs.  The next showing on 20 September will be open to all comers and from the interest expresed in the Ray White Beecroft offices the remaining properties should sell quickly.

Two more Sold at Auction

On 30 August RWB sold two properties at auction:

Douglas Macarthur sold 2 Kedron Avenue in an auction with over a hundred people present:

Peter Raco sold 77 Appletree Drive in Cherrybrook, a property we are managing on behalf of the owner who lives abroad.  Fortunately for the tenant the property was bought as an investment and the new owner is very happy to keep the tenant in place:

Instant Access to the Chinese Market

Ray White has signed a new agreement to market all of our real estate listings in Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia in the Chinese language exclusively on the leading international Chinese property portal, Juwai.com.

From Monday 1 September all residential, rural and commercial properties listed for sale within each offices My Desktop account will go live automatically on Juwai.com.

Juwai is one of the leading international property portals in China and this is a significant opportunity for Ray White to build our profile in China

Sold Prior to Auction!

A couple of months ago we blogged that sales were looking up with properties selling at auction.  Now the market is even more exciting with several properties being sold PRIOR to auction.
RWB recommends selling by auction precisely because it puts so much pressure on the buyers, worrying about missing out to higher bids.  And many vendors are delighted to accept a good offer before the auction in order to avoid the stress of the auction itself.
Here are three such houses that were scheduled for auction this month but all three sold prior:

Cherrybrook

 Beecroft

 Cheltenham

Another property in Beecroft due for auction end August has already had good offers made, but interest is so strong that RWB is advising the owner to go to auction.

Second half of Duplex sold!

Last Saturday we sold 7 Kethel Road, one half of a newly built duplex, at a spirited auction .  This week we sold the other half, 5 Kethel Road, to one of the unsuccessful bidders for No 7, for the same price.

Strong Auction Results in May

The Sydney auction market has ‘found its feet’ again after showing signs of faltering, according to a leading economist. Senior economist at Australian Property Monitors (APM), Dr Andrew Wilson, said Sydney’s results were positive heading into the winter months.  “Sydney’s record-breaking autumn auction market finished on a high at the weekend reporting another strong clearance rate of 78.9 per cent," he said.

On Satureday Ray White Beecroft sold both properties offered for auction:
A duplex at 7 Kethel Road Cheltenham sold by Douglas Macarthur

 

and a townhouse at 11/86 Wrights Road Kellyville sold by Peter Raco.

Outgoing Inspections - should tenant be allowed?

The law currently REQUIRES the tenant to be allowed to attend the outgoing inspection after vacating.  Landlord's claims for compensation at the tribunal can be rejected if the tenants can show they weren't invited to be present.  However there is growing concern about this, as the following extract from Residential Property News explains:

Following last week’s violent outburst from a tenant who sent his property manager to hospital, many in the industry are calling for tenants to be banned from the final inspection.

Yesterday, Residential Property Manager reported on a Western Australian property manager who was attacked during an outgoing inspection.

Property managers from around the country expressed their sympathy for the property manager and their anger that she was placed in such a risky situation.

Speaking with Residential Property Manager, industry veteran Julie Smart from First National Real Estate Townsville said she fought the legislation when it first came into her state of Queensland.

“I started working in real estate in 1984, so when they brought this legislation in I was very vocal about it because I knew it would put a lot of property managers in risky situations.

“If a tenant is going to get aggressive it’s going to be during the vacate,” she said.

According to Ms Smart, property managers are generally young females who are already at a greater risk of being assaulted.

Binzi the Delta Therapy dog

Visitors to the Ray White Beecroft office will often have seen our little brown dog Binzi, who sometimes sleeps in the back of the office.  Here she is recovering from collecting the mail.

Binzi is an accredited Delta Therapy dog and visits local hospitals including Beecroft Nursing Home.  She must be the friendliest dog in the area and manages to keep us relaxed when the workload gets tense!

The case for Landlord Protection Insurance

A Perth rental property that was used as an illegal drug laboratory by the former tenants has racked up over $40,000 worth of damage.

In the first week of January this year, Perth police blitzed known drug labs across the city.  The two-bedroom home rented for more than $800 a week, was located in the leafy and sought-after inner-city suburb of Coolbinia.

The UK-based landlord, who found out the news from a media report, was fortunately covered by her landlord insurance.

“The owner sent us a link to a news story online about police at a lab and said the property belonged to her,” general manager of EBM Insurance Brokers RentCover division Sharon Fox-Slater said. “Fortunately, this landlord was insured with us, as many landlord insurers don’t cover costs related to clandestine laboratory forensic clean-ups. In this case, the forensic clean-up part of the claim was more than $25,000. That didn’t include the cost of replacing a benchtop used in ‘cooking’ drugs and a dishwasher where contaminated utensils had been washed.”

In addition to damage and clean-up costs, RentCover also covered lost rent costs.

DA in Beecroft Shopping Village

HSC has published information on DA 448/2014 for alterations to 1 - 3 Wongala Crescent Beecroft.

Beecroft House Sold Moments after Auction

About 55 people attended the auction last Saturday, but nobody opened the biding!  The auctioneer made a bid on behalf of the vendor, $1,050,000, but still none of the six registered bidders raised their bidding cards.  So the auctioneer passed the property in.  People started filing out, but some noticed Douglas Macarthur leading a young couple toward the house, and not long after a "SOLD" sign appeared on the board outside the house!
Some people don't realise that bidding for a property can continue until midnight under auction rules, and this couple took advantage of this to enter a private bid that the owner accepted.  Everyone was happy, except for some disappointed would-be buyers who later asked what had happened.  Doug's response was, "You had your chance, you should have bid at the auction, or come to see me afterwards.  Now the deal is done, sorry."

Underquoting law change in Queensland

New laws have been passed in Queensland.  The main changes include:

• Removing the use of price guides at auction
• Removing the requirement for agents to disclose commission arrangements with a buyer
• Extending the statutory limit on lengths of appointments for a sole or exclusive agency from 60 days to 90 days
• Deregulating the maximum commissions rates to allow contractual freedom 
• Abolishment of a separate Warning Statement. Instead this will be included in the relevant contract
• Stricter disclosure of third-party benefits to buyers

Can't buy, can't rent

A good article in the Daily Telegraph reports:
An influx of investors dominating the market has trapped young Sydneysiders in an unusual predicament - unable either to buy or rent a property.
Normally many buyers are renters moving into home ownership, leaving a vacant property available.  But increasingly buyers are investors, who put their properties on the market at a rental reflecting the need to recover their investment.
House prices have gone up dramatically, but the normal increase in rental property from investors buying houses has not resulted.
REINSW statistics show vacancy rates are down to 1.4% in March, the lowest since November 2011.

Cyber Theft due to Facebook and Emails

Real estate agencies have been urged to consider a zero tolerance policy to Facebook and internet-based email accounts after cyber criminals targeted an office in Western Australia.

WA Consumer Protection has confirmed the hackers stole $50,000 from a Broome real estate agency after they hacked into the company’s online banking system in February.  

Mandy Reed, general manager at Hutchinson Real Estate, told Real Estate Business the cyber fraudsters most likely accessed the company bank account after a compromised email allowed malicious software (or malware) to be installed.

"We got done alright,” said Ms Reed. “We were doing a reconciliation of one of our bank accounts when we realised the money that was supposed to come into it never arrived. So we looked into it because it came from a trust account. We rang the bank and found out it had been directed to a bank account in western Sydney.".

Security experts advise “Staff should be trained to ensure that suspicious emails are deleted immediately, attachments are never opened and links never activated. Having up-to-date anti-virus and anti-malware software is essential for any business. Real estate and settlement agents should manually input bank account details of clients when making electronic bank payments, rather than relying on the accuracy of details in pre-entered lists.”

Underquoting debate continues

Tom Panos, real estate coach and head of real estate sales at News Corp, is in favour of agents giving price guides.  "Buyers will be turned off looking at things and not knowing whether they can afford it or not. They would stay away from properties where they were given no idea at all of the selling price. So, I think it would be against the vendor's best interests,” he said.
This misses the key point, that buyers are turned off when they see houses they thought they could afford being auctioned at prices way above the guide price.  And by then the buyer has spent hundreds of dollars on inspection fees.
Tom goes on to say "The legislation states that it’s illegal to underquote, so the solution is very simple - punish those who are doing it”.  But as we found when we complained in 2011, the OFT won't act if the vendor and agent agree on the price guide to be advertised.
We believe the key is to have compulsory display of comparables, so buyers and OFT inspectors can see for themselves whether the guide price is justifiable or blatant deception.

14b Hannah Street New Office

We are very happy in our new offices!  Even Binzi now has her own place at the very back of the shop.

Home Sale Price Underquoting

This post is prompted by an article in Sydney Morning Herald:
Underquoting on Sydney property markets is the cause of endless frustration to buyers.  Some agents admit buyers are being misled, but the NSW Department of Fair Trading said there is no evidence of this being a problem.  Their spokesman says "The Department had received only a very small number of complaints during the past three years." 
Maybe that is because the Department's responses are so anaemic.  A complaint about gross underquoting on a property in Allerton Road, where 69 bids were made, starting at the "buyer's guide" price and initially going up in $25,000 jumps to nearly 30% above the advertised buyer's guide price.  The department replied that "the agent was working in the best interest of the client" and took no action.  That agency continues to mislead buyers.
The Queensland government is proposing to ban all advertised price guides, and another proposal is to make vendors publish the reserve price a week before auction.
Ray White Beecroft's policy is to give vendors and buyers a list of comparable properties, with prices, so the parties can make their own minds up based on verifiable fact.  Agents are required by law to give these comparables to vendors, why not make the pack available to prospective buyers?

Beecroft Top for House Price Gains

An article in Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald lists the top ten suburbs in Sydney for house prices.
BEECROFT came FIRST!  Median house price $1,265,000, Yearly Change 35.3%, 5 year change 62.2%!
The article mentions, and the statistics presumably rely on, a modest bungalow on 1000 sqm in Richards Avenue, which had a price guide of $1,100,000 yet sold at auction for $2,385,000.  Selling for this price at auction suggests there were at least two bidders ready to pay this hugely inflated price, and one has to assume they were foreign investors with no idea of local property prices.  The buyer at least has a Chinese name.

Beecroft Selective Meats Relocates

Beecroft Selective Meats has relocated from The Module to Shop 3 at 5 Wongala Crescent

 

This pic shows Chris in his new shop, with customers very happy with the new displays.

Kenwick Lane Auction 5 April 9:45am

We are expecting a big turnout for this auction, every Open has been well attended.  This pic shows the queue of visitor cars to the north, with a similar queue in the other direction.

Ray White Beecroft is moving

We are moving!  Our new office is at 14b Hannah Street, next door to our present office.  For a long time 14b was Anita’s newsagency, and recently it has been an Art Gallery.  We are moving because the Module where our office is located is destined to be demolished when the Development Application DA 545/2013 is approved.

Several other shops and businesses have already relocated from the Module, and we had to move while a suitable place was still available.  We hope you will stop by and check us out.  There may be some disruption to phones and internet during the move but hopefully we will manage to get everything working swiftly.

Swimming Pool Regulations - Certificate of Conformity

The day after we posted our latest newsletter advising of the need for Swimming Pool Certificates of Conformity, we received notification that implementation of the pool regulations has been deferred for twelve months!  Certificates of conformity will now not be needed for sales or rentals until April 2015!