Posted by admin on 11 June 2009
RIGHT!! But in the world of Property Management, it’s quite easy to say something has been done, when in fact it might not have been.We’ve picked up a few new properties to manage recently and upon picking up the files have noticed that in most cases, something is missing. In most instances when we’ve spoken to the owner, while obviously they have been unhappy enough to change to a new Property Management company, they haven’t really been aware of how much hadn’t been completed.
While we understand that you’re paying for someone else to handle the detail for you, it’s important that you are at least seeing copies of important documentation – here’s what and why…
Routine inspection reports + photos – Make sure that you’re seeing your property at least once per year – even if it’s via photos. Ensuring photos have been taken along with the report highlights changes in the property’s condition and allows you to plan for any maintenance you might like to do in the future. Most importantly, it’s a small check that the routine has actually been completed. At a minimum, you should have two inspections per year.
Copies of the General Tenancy Agreement and any subsequent renewal – if your property is on a fixed term lease, you control the times it might become vacant. This has a huge impact on your investment return. It’s also important for insurance reasons.
Copy of the Entry Condition Report that’s been completed and signed by the tenants – this report will show you any changes between tenancies and will identify areas that the property managers should have taken care of from the previous tenant’s bond. It also draws attention to maintenance that might be needed in the future – for eg. are there a lot of paint chips? – you might like to budget for a repaint at the changeover of the next tenancy.
A few more important things we would diarise if it were our own investment properties – annual timber pest inspection, building inspection especially if there’s any chance at all the property is not structurally sound, and the date any insurance is due for renewal.
Your investment property is a business and possibly one of your largest assets. As with any business, it’s great to have a reliable and trusted manager – and you can mentally ‘tick’ the box if you’ve sighted the important documents.
Tags: Entry Condition Report Queensland, lease renewals Queensland, property management Brisbane, routine property inspections, tenancy agreement Queensland
Posted in Brisbane landlords | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 10 June 2009
soon to be history?
Great news today for carparking in the city with BCC starting a new trial that might replace parking meters. Installed by a Kiwi company the system allows you to punch payment and rego details into a central box then wander off. Council’s officers then check digitally to see if you’ve overstayed.
Lord Mayor ‘Can Do’ Newman says it could save Council big bucks and make parking easier. “You don’t have to go and get a piece of paper, don’t have to place that in your vehicle, the machine keeps track of how long you’ve been there,” he said.
And here’s the bit we love the sound of. The machines might even be able to send you a text to warn you when your 20 cents (or $14) is almost up. We’re really going to miss all that white chalk on the tyres!
Tags: Brisbane City Council, carparking Brisbane, Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, parking meters Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane CBD | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 10 June 2009
Ballet costumes on sale: June 23-25
Pirouette up to The Thomas Dixon Centre on June 23 for your chance to grab a Queensland Ballet bargain. For as little as $5 you can own a piece of Brisbane’s ballet history as over 1000 costumes go up for grabs.
Some of the costumes date back to the 80’s, so Flash Dance fans are catered for as well as beginners looking for their first tutu. Fabric and accessories will be on offer for the tailor at heart or if you’re a bit more adventurous one of their character costumes might be your thing.
All proceeds will be reinvested into making new costumes for future productions for the Company so drop by the Thomas Dixon Centre Green Room, corner of Drake Street and Montague Rd, West End between 9am–5pm. Phone (07) 3013 6633
Tags: Queensland Ballet, Thomas Dixon Centre Brisbane
Posted in Inner Brisbane events, West End | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 10 June 2009
Brisbane State High School
If you want great schooling for your kids but don’t want to pay the private school fees then you’re probably one of the future Brisbane State High School parents who wants to know exactly where the catchment area is before you put money down on your next home. Yes, it’s a regular question we’re asked at our Open Homes on Saturdays.
If you’re looking in West End, Highgate Hill, South Bank, South Brisbane and Dutton Park you’re safe, but you’d want to double check the map if you’re looking around Buranda or Woolloongabba. You can print the map from their website which shows the boundaries and take it with you when you’re out doing the rounds.
Tags: Brisbane State High School, Brisbane State High School Catchment, Dutton Park Brisbane, Open Homes
Posted in Dutton Park, Highgate Hill, South Brisbane and South Bank, West End, Woolloongabba, real estate marketing | 1 Comment »
Posted by admin on 10 June 2009
Mrs Baker wanted to go ice fishing. She had read several books on the subject, and finally, after getting all the necessary equipment together, she made her way out onto the ice. After positioning her comfy stool, she started to make a circular cut in the ice.Frighteningly, from up above, a voice boomed, “There are no fish under the ice.” Startled, Mrs Baker moved farther down the ice, poured herself a large coffee, and began to cut yet another hole. Again, from the heavens, the voice bellowed, “There are no fish under the ice.” Mrs Baker, now became very concerned so she moved way down to the opposite end of the ice, set up her stool, and began again to cut her ice-hole.
The voice rang out once more, “There are no fish under the ice.” Mrs Baker, stopped, looked upwards and said, “Is that you, Lord?” The voice replied, “No, this is the Ice-Rink Manager.”
Tags: bad but clean jokes
Posted in just for fun! | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 9 June 2009
One symptom of every economic slowdown is a renewed focus on cost saving. And for those looking to save money selling their property we’re not surpised by the emergence of another Do It Yourself website, Buy My Place.com. This one is an online real estate advertising company, offering private sellers a way of accessing the online marketing world along with tools and technologies to sell their own property.
Some agents are horrified. We say, good on them.
This website charges less than $600 for some basic tools like a sign, web listing and “customer support”, another couple of thousand if you need them to help onsite. It’s heaps cheaper than using a real estate agent.
If an agent can’t add value to the transaction over and above their sign-erection skills, don’t use them! In fact, for much of what we do, you don’t really need to hire a real estate agent.
Of course we do have a bit more to add to this story! Let me ask this, “Do you cut your own hair”? Some things are best left to those who know what they’re doing. But if you get a shocker of a haircut you wouldn’t go back would you?
Buy My Place.com says one of the best reasons to sell your own is to remove the stress of “not ever really quite knowing who is actually saying what about your property”. What an indictment on our industry that this is a very common complaint and we couldn’t agree more – if your real estate agent doesn’t give you regular and complete feedback from buyers you would be better off doing it yourself. Of course if the agent isn’t ringing the buyers back at all (and yes, that’s happening right now in Brisbane) it’s pretty hard for them to get any feedback.
The challenge for a DIY seller is that when they call a buyer back, they come across sounding desperate. An agent chasing a buyer is just doing their job. That buyer contact and negotiation, especially the sweet time after a written offer’s received, is when a real estate agent should really earn their fee. That’s the true skill-set of a great agent.
The website says if you do decide to use an agent to sell for you, appoint them for the minimum of 30 days. We’d suggest that’s too risky and you should be able to sack your agent immediately and at any time. (Sellers with Bees Nees all have a ‘love us or sack us’ guarantee).
If those hairdresser’s scissors were out of control you’d jump from their chair pretty quickly wouldn’t you?!
Tags: Brisbane real estate agents, buyer feedback, commission, guarantee of service, private real estate sellers, real estate advertising
Posted in real estate marketing, trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 5 June 2009
22 Merivale Street
A South Brisbane family has bought the commercial building at 22 Merivale Steet from Aria Property International (rumored to be worth about $4million!). The deal, which now sees the local family own the buildings at 22, 26 and 28 Merivale Street means there’s potential for up to 300 apartments to be built on the combined site.
Tags: Aria Property Brisbane, commercial property Brisbane, Merivale Street South Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's sales market, South Brisbane and South Bank | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 4 June 2009
Ask a tourist about their time in Brisbane and you’ll often hear comment about how safe they feel. The sunny weather, newish buildings and wider streets (compared to their older home countries) probably help. No doubt our strong law enforcement efforts make a difference too. And even when you don’t see the long arm of the law, they see you.
According to BCC’s website “”Forty-four ‘City Safe’ Closed Circuit Television cameras operate in and around the Queen Street and Fortitude Valley malls. These cameras are monitored 24 hours a day and help to deter crime in these public spaces. More than 100 cameras across the city also monitor road and community safety as well as Council car parks, buses and ferry terminals”.
Now we’re no Mel Gibson from the movie “Conspiracy” (a nutcase who thought the government was watching, and they were!), but it does kind of give you the chills the read this info. Especially when you add all the business-operated cameras on top of this number. Brisbane IT blogger Still As Life estimates the Goodwill Bridge for example has a surveillance camera every 10 to 20 metres across the length of it.
If the cameras are there to deter crime how about promoting them more with signage? Or would that scare us all away, including our cashed-up tourist friends? If it stops assaults, robbery or vandalism it’s got to be a net positive. Hey, the live feed Main Roads cameras like the ones on the Riverside Expressway even help you get to work faster!
Maybe they’re handing out flyers only to the crims and us law-abiders don’t need to know. It would be nice though if they gave us all a bit more of a ‘heads up’ that we’re on camera.
How do you feel about so much camera surveillance in Brisbane’s inner city? Love to hear your comments.
Tags: Brisbane City Council, Brisbane crime, Fortitude Valley Brisbane, Goodwill Bridge South Brisbane, Queen Street Brisbane, Riverside Expressway Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane CBD | 1 Comment »
Posted by admin on 4 June 2009
Northbridge Apartments
The massive BCC rates rises are here to stay, following a ruling by the Supreme Court that Council’s decision to increase rates was within its power. Many South Brisbane apartment owners believe council is not taking into consideration the fact there are often 180 or more residents per building and unit owners also pay excessive body corporate fees. It’s a fair comment. With the average large building lots equivalent to 2 or 3 suburban home sites (or 2 or 3 rate payers!), why does council expect apartment owners to subsidize utilities used mainly by suburban home owners?
Here are some examples (courtesy of today’s City South News): Castlebar Cove, Kangaroo Point up $361.60/quarter; Dockside Hotel Kangaroo Point up $365.33/quarter; River Plaza, South Brisbane up $166.24/quarter
Tags: Brisbane City Council, Castlebar Cove Kangaroo Point Brisbane, Dockside Kangaroo Point Brisbane, Kangaroo Point Brisbane, River Plaza South Bank Brisbane
Posted in South Brisbane and South Bank, property taxes and rates etc | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 2 June 2009
Back from Sydney last night where 3 of us attended the Australasian Real Estate Convention (AREC). A gathering of 2000 agents from across the country, there were some great speakers that included Dr John Gray (author of “Men are from Mars and women from Venus”) and inspirational former Young Aussie of the Year, Khoa Do. Plenty of useful info and it’s always worth the trip just to step back and see how we can do things better.
The highlight for me was an American gent named David Knox, who’s a leading trainer in what’s still an amazingly depressed market over there. US realtors are coping with 20% plus price drops and a mammoth oversupply of listings so his material has been tried and tested at the coalface. One of his key messages?
“Tell your clients – It’s okay to not sell.”
Blindingly obvious? Our industry, driven by results and always looking for that next transaction, does sometimes need reminding. While prices do seem to be firming in some of our local markets this is still well and truly a buyer’s market and many sellers do feel confused. So it’s important agents can be patient and support them if they decide the time’s not right.
Those in ‘commission-only’ sales jobs might just need to improve their skills or move on.
Tags: Australian Real Estate Convention, Brisbane real estate agents
Posted in real estate marketing | No Comments »
