Brisbane CBD’s Soleil Apartments are rising quickly on Adelaide Street, with the Meriton team adding another floor at a rate of about 1 every 10 days! Our team had a quick hard hat tour today and there’s no doubt this will be an impressive building when it’s completed.
Meriton have sold a good number of the apartments and it’s encouraging to see their cranes on the city skyline. There’s not many others under construction!
If you’re out and about on a Saturday morning and you need a nice convenient way to shop for your fruit and veg, you might like to try the growers market next to the Broadway Hotel. It’s very much a case of blink and you might miss it, as it’s quite small (approximately 60 stalls) and it really is tucked in behind the hotel. The market offers some organic stalls, seasonal fruit and veges, flowers, meat, seafood and bread. However if it’s convenience you want then it’s ideal as there’s plenty of free parking and you could theoretically be in and out with everything you need in about ten minutes. Last week I was there and had a bacon and egg roll from one of the stalls that was not only the largest bacon and egg role made in the history of the universe…ever, it also cost me the very princely sum of $3.50. Admittedly I did end up wearing half of the roll on my shirt front but that I guess is sometimes the price you pay for eating a magnificent specimen of manfood that rises above bacon and egg roll mediocrity.
The Bees Nees solicitor said that I had to add a disclaimer that if your egg roll does not measure up as “the biggest roll in the universe…ever” then Bees Nees Pty Ltd and it’s associated companies take no responsibilitty for this. That said burger may have been the result of warm conversation and extreme shameless flattery rendered by the Bees Nees salesperson upon stall holder.
The City South News today reports there’s been a jump in median prices for townhouses/units, up 6.4 per cent in the March quarter to $413,500 in South Brisbane.
I bumped into a friend at Oliver’s in Melbourne Street today and had a quick chat about his plan to purchase a second apartment in South Brisbane and he asked for my opinion. Paul’s been looking for a while, and this time he’ll be moving in (he’s already spoken to us about property management!) Here’s a brief summary of what I told him I think is important:
1. Avoid the busy streets. There’s a strong business presence in South Brisbane, but some streets are quieter than others. Silhouette in Manning Street and Que in Edmondstone are well located, but avoid most of the traffic.
2. Smaller buildings are better. Many buildings in South Brisbane have 100 or more apartments and these tend to be busy. Gala in Hope Street and Greenwich in Cordelia Street both have less then 50 apartment in each, so it is possible to avoid the usual ’stranger’ feel that you get in big buildings.
3. Big blocks make for big turnover. Avoid Buildings with a large number of apartments as this usually means a large number of apartments for sale at any one time. Competition from other apartments within won’t make it easy if you make the decision to sell sometime in the future and need to sell quickly.
4. Find a building with lots of owners. Whilst most South Brisbane apartments are tenanted, there are still a few buildings full of owners. Riviera II and Northbridge in Vulture St have a good mix of tenants and owners, and both building managers are very proactive in their approach to keep things neat and tidy.
This is just a snapshot for what you might like to consider if moving into South Brisbane. It’s not rocket science, but it can make a big difference when the time comes to sell.
I hadn’t seen this statue before the weekend when I stumbled across it at the southern end of South Bank’s Parklands. It was a recent present from the Ji’nan Municipal Government in the Shangdong Province of China to mark our 150th birthday.
My favourite Confucian saying: “Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart”.
See more of our posts on inner Brisbane public art.
Looks like the big bad wolf has been here at this home. Located on Hardgrave Rd at West End it’s opposite Kim ThanhVietnamese restaurant in the Rialto Theatre strip. This development has been in the making since September 2004. A company called San Chi Developments bought the site and proposed to “refurbish” the existing house and build 3 townhouses behind. By the look of it today they’ve used quite a lot of sand paper!
This home in West End is situated in a Demolition Control Precinct and is also in a Character Residential area so here’s the result of Council’s restrictions and negotiations. Click through to our “helpful links” and work your way through to see all the Townplanning info on this home on Council’s website.
Keeping up with changes in legislation can be tough and for Brisbane property owners the penalties for non-compliance can be nasty. Somehow you’re supposed to absorb all the info and make changes, often without much notice. So here’s a heads-up on one of the latest.
The legislation won’t be passed until September but from December 1st it looks certain you’ll need a pool fence inspection if you want to sell or rent your property. A qualified inspector will need to check it and issue a compliance certificate, and you’ll need to do any works to bring it up to today’s laws. So for example those self-closing doors on the living room won’t be enough any more. Your certificate will need reissuing every 2 years and body corps will be required to have an annual inspection.
Our suggestion: get these underway well before December because you won’t be allowed to sign a lease or a sale contract without your certificate and the inspectors are going to be a tad busy. Watch the small print too – any body of water more than 300mm deep that’s kept full and usually used for swimming will be captured. Visit the website or talk to your property manager now.
Landlords might like to keep an eye on further changes in the wind. We expect you’ll be required to prepare a Sustainability Declaration from mid 2011 to show any prospective tenant if the home’s energy efficient etc. And in a controversial move the tenancy lobby groups are currently arguing for an end to giving tenants a “notice to leave without grounds”. So landlords may lose the ability to choose who lives in their property. If you’d like to have a say on this one why not send the Housing Minister an email? It’s Karen Struthers at communityservices@ministerial.qld.gov.au
Like to have a rant on these issues?! Make a comment.
There’s a mumbling about the market right now that we might be in a quiet spot. But the buyers of Highgate Hill houses don’t seem to have heard! Over the past two weekends there’s been 3 auctions on local houses and all 3 have sold – 1 before auction, 1 under the hammer last weekend and another in the 5 days after its auction.
The bidding hasn’t been frenetic but the buyers were prepared to bid strongly. At prices between $639,000 and $1.5m it’s a sign that this is still a sought-after location.
Negotiating with buyers is a skill-set that real estate agents really need to improve. In our opinion this is a key part of the service we’re paid for: the ability to secure our seller clients a higher price and on better terms. So if you’re about to sell your property ask your preferred agent to demonstrate their negotiating skills – before you appoint them.
And one area often overlooked in getting an offer from a buyer is a sizeable deposit. In new projects developers ask for 10% so why do agents and sellers often settle for a measly couple of thousand dollars? Buyers may not have buckets of cash lying in their account but if they aren’t prepared to put down a large amount (and closer to 5% where at all possible) the seller must ask: “Should I take my property off the market while we wait to see if they will settle?” A contract is a legal commitment but money held as deposit is the real show of good faith.
Even in more balanced markets like we have now, a seller should expect this from a buyer. Time on the market is critical and if they have finance limitations or are going to have second thoughts it’s better you know up front. And a tip for buyers – if you offer a decent deposit it may help you secure a better price.
PS: We have a bunch of Frequently Asked Questions like this on our website for sellers, landlords, buyers and tenants. Have a sticky-beak.
MONEY: A man will pay $10 for a $5 item he needs. A woman will pay $5 for a $10 item that she doesn’t need but it’s on sale.
BATHROOMS: A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel. The average number of items in the typical woman’s bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items.
ARGUMENTS: A woman has the last word in any argument. Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.
CATS: Women love cats. Men say they love cats, but when women aren’t looking, men kick cats.
DRESSING UP: A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the bins, answer the phone, read a book, and get the post. A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.
OFFSPRING: A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favourite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams. A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house
