Posted by admin on 3 March 2010
South Brisbane isn’t the only inner-city hot spot on the up and up, with Council approving a plan which could see high density construction to 30 storeys in the Valley and Milton. In my opinion, well done Council.
Hopefully northside locals will get behind local developers with some positive support for good planning and design. Similar actions in South Brisbane have been some local activists stifle what should have been good news with the improvement of local infrastructure brought forward by new buildings.
This is not just something that sales agents should applaud. Take a look at how new developments have, and will continue to improve inner-city hotspots like South Brisbane. 10 years ago you wouldn’t go out at night here alone and now it’s a vibrant community with a really bright future. We all need to see things for what they are and understand that further high density construction is inevitable – if this can be done well, we all have something to look forward to.
Tags: Brisbane City Council, Fortitude Valley, Milton, townplanning Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's future & new infrastructure, Brisbane's sales market, South Brisbane and South Bank | No Comments »
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 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 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 9 December 2009
A long day at work after a long week, you stagger in the door, ready for a restful weekend. You open the mail and there’s a letter from Brisbane City Council. Curious, you open it immediately. The bold font screams at you:
“NOTICE OF INTENTION TO COMMENCE PROCEEDINGS AT A MAGISTRATE’S COURT”
The not so friendly letter says you haven’t paid your Council rates on a house in Holland Park, you owe $1025, and you are to appear in Court the following Wednesday to explain yourself.
But here’s the kicker – you don’t live in Holland Park and YOU DON’T OWN A HOUSE IN HOLLAND PARK!
This true story happened to a friend last week. He’s a smart guy and knew it wasn’t his debt to pay. But even he spent a good part of his weekend worrying about his credit rating and how to resolve the issue.
Monday he called BCC. “I don’t own a house in Holland Park”. “No problem”, came the reply, “It will be someone else with the same name. Throw the letter away.”
He rightly requested a letter confirming they’d made an error. Apparently BCC (or their debt collectors) use White Pages and the electoral roll to track non-payers. So, depending on how common your name might be, there’s a chance you’ll get one of these letters sometime too.
Surely with the extensive resources of government Council can save innocent residents from misguided strong-arm tactics like this one?
Got to feel for that bloke named John Smith.
Tags: Brisbane City Council
Posted in property taxes and rates etc | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 16 October 2009
A colourful light display on the William Jolly Bridge each night is a nice little way of commemorating our city and state’s 150th birthdays. The images projected are all different – this one’s called “Meccano”.
And don’t get me wrong, this temporary project is creative, I love to celebrate community milestones and I do think we should share some civic pride. But at a reported cost of $1.5million is this really the economic time to be doing this?
I got my rates notice in the mail today, and there’s a request for a $15 donation so we can fix the magnificent City Hall. It’s restoration is a huge project that’s so far had little government support. Council are on their knees to residents to help pay for it.
Yet the state government can cough up $1m toward pretty pictures on the bridge for a few months. Council also found some loose change for the project.
If we’re serious about fixing City Hall, a focal piece of our city’s heritage, then how about we dump unnecessary costs like this for a couple of years?
Tags: Brisbane City Council, Brisbane City Hall, Brisbane history, William Jolly Bridge South Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane CBD, Inner Brisbane events, South Brisbane and South Bank | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 9 October 2009
Whilst many have objected to the final design, it’d be a hard-nosed critic who’d disagree that Brisbane’s newest (and the world’s largest!) solar-powered footbridge doesn’t look spectacular all lit up at night. We took this photo from level 33 at Evolution Apartments on Tank Street. Following its opening last Saturday Council expects around 36,500 pedestrians will pass under its needled arches each week.
Tags: Brisbane City Council, Evolution apartments Brisbane, Kurilpa Bridge Brisbane, Tank Street Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane CBD, Brisbane's future & new infrastructure, South Brisbane and South Bank, architecture and renovation | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 21 September 2009
There’s few issues that create more neighbourhood rage than rat-running morning commuters. Faced with ‘main road creep’ impatient drivers wind their way through our neighbourhoods, often spending as long getting to their destination but brightened by the satisfaction that comes from keeping their wheels moving at decent pace.
The RACQ are reported today as saying these drivers aren’t to blame and rat-running has a valid role to play in managing peak hour commutes.
We say – what a load of rubbish!
If your home is on a street designed to carry neighbourhood cars but it’s turned into a freeway at 7.15am each day, guess what, it’s effecting your property’s value. Home buyers (and most tenants) consider the impact of traffic on their lifestyle, so unless you live in a cul-de-sac it’s time you formed an opinion on this issue.
RACQ might be trying to prod the government into upgrading major roads but to suggest that residents should get used to rat-running is not real smart.
Most roads used by rat-runners are too narrow and have few of the engineered solutions needed for high volume traffic. BCC say they’ve had 24 requests for traffic-calming devices over the past year.
It’s an emotive issue for those of us who live with this problem daily. In my street we begged and pleaded for help with the problem but were pretty much told that as no major accidents had happened they couldn’t help. Kids on bikes on the way to school, a neighbourhood park with dogs and joggers, cars backing out onto blind corners. Only luck has prevented one and near misses don’t count.
So getting those commuters to work 5 minutes earlier is apparently more important than the safety of my family. Are we happy to accept that?
Please share your opinion with us.
Tags: Brisbane City Council, Brisbane home prices, Brisbane traffic, rat runners in Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's future & new infrastructure | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 16 September 2009
Interesting but not surprising news today that Brisbane City Council has uncovered a student share house with 37 occupants. Yes, in the one house!
Brisbanetimes.com.au reports a raid on the Sunnybank Hills home discovered the student-slum, part of a city-wide crackdown on over-crowded residential dwellings. Such a big number in one house is unusual but we’d suggest ‘extended households’ aren’t surprising anymore, especially in our inner city. International students particularly are more open to sharing small spaces. They don’t have big rent budgets and they don’t crave privacy the way many locals do.
For Council there’s some obvious problems with noise, fire risks, extra carparking and waste and rubbish volumes. For landlords the wear and tear on a property will obviously be more significant.
Some landlords are happy to wear this, often exploiting tenants and achieving above-market rent by encouraging or turning a blind eye to the practice. They need to be careful though, with fines of up to $100,000 if they exceed BCC’s new limit of 5 “unrelated” occupants in any one home.
So how do we as property managers police this issue? With difficulty, is the truth. We do scrutinise tenancy applications carefully (e.g. 2 students rarely intend to cover the rent on their own for a 3 bedroom with heaps of spare space), a previous rental history/reference always a good indicator of what they’ll do. The Act requires us to give 7 days notice to inspect so unless there’s an emergency we can’t do a surprise inspection. When we do check on a property we can count toothbrush numbers for example, but even experienced property managers will find it hard to be sure if there’s ‘hidden’ occupants.
The best way to avoid this problem is to get good rental references from their past agents/landlords. It’s no guarantee the tenants won’t move 9 of their best friends into the home, but it is some peace of mind.
If your property is vacant and you’re faced with a choice of reducing the rent or accepting a tenant with limited rental references, what should you do? Does every tenant deserve the ‘presumption of innocence’? Each landlord should make their own choice but for me, I’d drop the rent.
Tags: Brisbane City Council, international students Brisbane, property maintenance, property management Brisbane, routine inspections, student tenants Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane landlords, Brisbane's rental market | No Comments »
