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!

New Roundabout on Hannah Street

Take care driving on Hannah Street and Hull Road.  A new roundabout is being built on the intersection of Hannah Street and Hull Road.