Posted by admin on 25 February 2010
We’ve just read all the news online about the new fine imposed for leaving your bin out for more than 48 hours and we don’t strongly disagree.
As residents of inner city and suburban streets of Brisbane we like a neat street. But as real estate agents we wonder – who will pay the fine?
We’ve today gone out to a property under our management to complete the exit inspection, the tenants have moved on. The tenants have done exactly what we expect them to do and left their bin out waiting for bin day. I’m not dragging it in and dragging it back tomorrow (especially on 30 homes a month) Where would agents fine time. And..Yuck!
366 comments on news.com.au clearly shows people have an opinion on this issue. As a tenant or landlord in Brisbane what would you prefer?
a) Tenant leaves bin on street and property manager pulls in within reasonable time frame
b) Council fines landlord, so bin is left inside and stays full (ooh stinky for next tenants)
We know for sure it will be landlords that will pay the fine (Council has all their records at their fingertips and nothing for the tenants) and that doesn’t seem fair.
We know it is an issue, but I think a ‘repeat offender’ system might have to be adopted. Your thoughts?
Tags: Brisbane City Council, Brisbane landlords, Brisbane Property Management, Brisbane property manager, Brisbane rental properties, Brisbane tenants, real estate agents Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane landlords, Brisbane's future & new infrastructure, Brisbane's rental market | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 25 February 2010
As the Bees Nees’ specialist in Spring Hill, Brisbane I spend a lot of time in the suburb’s apartment buildings. In this series of posts on Spring Hill apartments I’ve profiled some of them to give you a taste of life in this exciting suburb!
Oxygen Apartments – 170 Leichhardt St, Spring Hill
| Number of apartments |
191 |
| Developer |
Spring Hill Developments Pty Ltd (Honeycombes Property Group) |
| Size and previous land use |
6853m2 – former Metro Ford dealership |
| Builder |
Watpac |
| Architects |
Scott Peabody of Planit Architecture, Liam Proberts of Fairweather Proberts, John Simpson and Scott Taylor of Terrain Landscape Design |
| Year of completion |
2005 |
| Number of 1 bedroom apts |
48 |
| Number of 2 bedroom apts |
107 |
| Number of 3&4 bedroom apts |
36 |
| Amenities |
2 pools, big gym and 1 acre of landscaping and open space; ground floor mini-mart and pizza shop |
| Other comments |
Spring Hill’s largest residential development with 26 different floorplans and a broad variety of architecture. Mixed use project with offices and shops. Record sale was a 4 bedroom penthouse sold by Bees Nees for $980,000 |
| Recent sales |
Sept 2009 1 bed “skyhome” $380,000; Nov 2009 2 bed 1 bath $417,000 For an estimate of the current sale price of your apartment please call Richard Fleming on 0404 397117 or email richardf@beesnees.com.au |
| Current rents |
2 bed 2 bath rented in Jan 2010 for $490; 2 bed 1 bath rented in Aug 2009 for $445; For an over the phone estimate of current rents in Oxygen please call our Property Management team 07 32146899 or email info@beesnees.com.au |
| Views and aspect? |
City skyline to the south and elevated northerly views across Spring Hill toward the bay. |
| Are pets allowed? |
No |
Oxygen Apartments' "Parkview" Building
The main pool in the Village Green
The Oxygen Apartments "Cityview" building
The record holder sale at Oxygen Apartments
Do you live in the Oxygen apartments? Tell us what you think – we’d love to hear your comments!
For more info or an estimate on the current market price of your Oxygen apartment please call Richard on 0404 397117.
Tags: Oxygen Apartments Spring Hill Brisbane, record property sales, Spring Hill apartments
Posted in Spring Hill | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 22 February 2010
As an agent we’re given the property you own, that you spend your hard earned dollars keeping, and you trust us to do our very best to manage it.
Our “very best” can be a range of things, so make sure you choose an agent for both their key skill sets: Letting & Management.
Bees Nees gives every new landlord a big gift for coming on board: innovative and eye-catching promotion. Our promotion of rental properties is absolutely outstanding compared to most of our competitors (to be honest I have to laugh at many rental advertisements I see, they are a joke!).
Firstly, we organise a professional photography shoot. They look fantastic, even I can’t make a penthouse look good on a $99 Canon.
Secondly, we organise a drawn floor plan. So the tenants can imagine life in the home before they call us.
Thirdly, we write an ad that leaves nothing to guesswork. The facts in full so we’re making your home the easy choice on a long list of competitors! (don’t leave something out that you know tenants will ask about, or they may just call about another property!)
This is not rocket science. This is simple, informative and time saving for your tenants.
So if we create a cool ad, more people will click on it. If we give them the information they need your home will be first choice. Then if we show them and make the process easy (24 hour turnaround), they think “Geez I’d love to rent from Bees Nees” and hey presto you have yourself a tenant.
We also know that once have a tenant, there is no way you can trust that the tenant will have gorgeous furniture. Come time to find the next tenant, we have the lovely photos from the start!
Tags: Brisbane property manager, property management Brisbane, tenant marketing Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane landlords | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 18 February 2010
Artist's impression of the Manning Street project
It’s a long time in the planning but the redevelopment of Milton Rail and the new construction above and adjacent to the station may be nearer to happening.
The latest FKP Property Group application for a 31-storey building was approved by Brisbane City Council last week. We wrote 3 years ago about their ambitious plan to build a mammoth tower over the railway line. Something like this does take time but the economic meltdown hasn’t helped.
According to Westside News the original proposal for two towers of mixed residential and commercial space was altered during this latest application process to just one tower to fit the Milton Local Area Plan more closely.
The proposal includes a significant upgrade to the Station, including new retail spaces.
The building, to be imaginatively called “The Milton”, will house over 300 one and two bedroom apartments with commercial offices on the lower floors.
Meantime Kozmic Developments has also received Council approval for their 21 Manning Street tower, a 127 apartment project right behind Park Road. This will be a great example of land re-use in inner Brisbane, with relatively modern apartments to be bulldozed to make way for the project.
Exciting times for Milton!
Tags: Brisbane City Council, FKP Property, Kozmic Developments, Manning Street Milton, Milton Brisbane, Park Road Milton Brisbane, The Milton Apartments
Posted in Brisbane's sales market | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 15 February 2010
Did you know one quarter of Brisbane’s residents live in our inner city and these suburbs have 350,000 jobs, one half of the city’s total workforce?
We often read about Brisbane’s inner city and how it’s a unique lifestyle compared to the ‘burbs, but it’s rare to see this defined in any way. Where is our “inner city” and how are its residents any different, if at all?
In a current BCC and government planning process called “River City Blueprint” we’ve got a rare snapshot of the area they define as the 5km radius of our CBD. From Taringa to Morningside, Lutwyche to Annerley, this plan is being overlaid on the more than 30 separate planning documents in the area. It’s an attempt to give these suburbs a cohesive master plan.
So here’s the facts:
Brisbane’s inner city is just 78 square kilometres or 6% of our geography. With approx 250,000 residents that’s 28 people per hectare. Around 51% of us live in medium and high density dwellings compared to a quarter to all Brisbanites. We have less kids than the ‘burbs but more 18-34 year olds. There’s fewer families, more lone person households and more of us choose to work.
No big surprises there.
This is a multicultural area with a quarter of us born overseas. After Poms and New Zealanders those born in China are highest in number so Mandarin is our 2nd most spoken language, (assuming you call Kiwi “English”!). Some 22% say they don’t have a religion and Buddhism (2%) is still a distant second to Christian denominations (56%) for those who do nominate a faith.
Compared to Brisbane’s ‘burbs-dwellers we have higher incomes, more Bachelor and higher degrees and there’s more professionals and managers. We also own less cars and 10% of us walk to work.
The Blueprint taskforce collated this data from the last Census so it’ll be interesting to see how it’s changing. Go to their website if you want to read more or submit your own views on our inner city’s future.
One thing’s for sure: if the government’s projections for 200,000 new inner city jobs comes true we’d better build some more housing.
Love to hear your comments. How is inner Brisbane different to the city’s outer suburbs?
Tags: Annerley Brisbane, Brisbane City Council, household types, Lutwyche, Morningside, River City Blueprint, Taringa
Posted in Brisbane's future & new infrastructure, trends in Brisbane property | 1 Comment »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 15 February 2010
A recent full price sale in South Brisbane
Brisbane’s inner city home buyers are out in force and 2010 is looking like it might easily overtake last year’s sales volumes. Regular readers will know we’re reluctant to draw too wide a comment based on a small number of transactions. But right now we’re flat out!
Market commentators will probably note the recent RBA decision to hold official interest rates, but the activity from Brisbane home buyers was already busy before this piece of good news.
Of our last seven sales 5 were secured within a week of the property going on the market. Unsurprisingly the prices achieved have been strong.
During 2009 sellers sat on their hands waiting for a healthier market and those that have now made the decision to sell are being rewarded.
Tags: Brisbane home prices, interest rates, Reserve Bank, sales volumes Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's sales market | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 15 February 2010
It might just be us but we’re excited this new inner Brisbane city bus loop is starting earlier than planned. It’s going to run a circuit through West End, South Brisbane, the CBD and into the Valley and Newstead. The big news is you won’t have to wait longer than 5-15 minutes.
Have a look at the CityGlider route for yourself.
The loop will run 24 hours a day on Fridays and Saturdays and BCC now says it’ll kick off in March, coinciding with the opening of the Clem 7 tunnel.
No guessing timetables, no waiting or uncertainty and one, flat fare. We’ve already been to the Translink website to sign up for a Go card (the prepaid way to jump off and on the CityGlider).
Tags: Brisbane City Council, Brisbane traffic, CityGlider Brisbane, Clem 7 Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane CBD, Brisbane's future & new infrastructure, South Brisbane and South Bank, West End | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 12 February 2010
You should all be fully aware of the new Act we are now following since July 2009, but have you as a landlord or tenant noticed any of the changes?
One of the first things we must do, when appraising a property for rent and providing landlords with information about property management, is set a listing price and marketing campaign. Since the introduction of the new Act an agent is unable to push for rent bidding. So, if we have 5 applications that are all excellent, we cannot start asking them all for their highest offer and high-five the landlord when we get more than we really budgeted for (and more than it was really worth!).
If a tenant offers a higher figure, for example they might be in a huge rush to move or they have a pet, then we”ll take it to the landlord for their consideration, but we can’t tell the other applicants so they can erupt into a money throwing fight.
So if you want to get a tenant, quickly, with good references, and have a choice of tenants to pick from… price it right! We’ll work hard to get you the best rent possible but don’t set it too high and wait for the tenants to negotiate because they’ll just choose something else.
Tags: Brisbane Property Management, Brisbane rental appraisal, Brisbane rents, Rent negotiation Brisbane, tenant marketing Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane landlords | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 12 February 2010
1. A box of chocolates, clumsily rearranged in an attempt to hide the fact you ate all the caramel ones.
2. Any food item with the words “diet”, “light”, or “high fibre” on the label.
3. Any video starring Sylvester Stallone or Jim Carrey.
4. Any household appliance, power tool or other item from Bunnings.
5. A gift certificate.
6. Cash.
7. Anything you could have bought at the service station mini-mart on the way over, even if you didn’t.
8. An apologetic look and the words “That was today?”
Tags: bad but clean jokes
Posted in just for fun! | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 4 February 2010
Some good news for home sellers today with the state government releasing a new and shrunken form of the controversial Sustainability Declaration. Those 31 questions are now just 20.
The Minister says he listened to all our concerns and has now produced a document that doesn’t need expert help to complete. “All of these are simple questions that can be answered through a basic household inspection by the homeowner,” he said.
We don’t quite agree. A quick once around our office and we weren’t 100% on what an “evaporative airconditioner” was, nor did we know how to check how many stars our kitchen sink taps would rate.
But they’ve got rid of heaps of nonsense questions that simply weren’t getting answered anyway. So yes, it’s an improvement and we do agree with helping educate home-owners on sustainable housing options. You have to start somewhere.
Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got to go and bin a ream of copy paper, all those out of date Sustainability Declarations!
Tags: selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane, Sustainability Declaration Queensland
Posted in Brisbane's sales market, real estate marketing | No Comments »
