place2live

New national occupational licensing system commences from July 2013

place2live — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 05:11:08 +0000

Jens Raun is now operating raun.com.au so if you are looking for a (traditional) real estate agent servicing the Gold Coast please give Jens a call on 0407 644 451

Real Estate Australia is going to change in the future – did you know: The National Licensing for real estate agents is scheduled to commence from July 2013.

This means that agents with a current real estate agent licence, will get a single National Licence as a real estate agent which will enable them to work anywhere in Australia without having to worry about applying or paying for different licences.
Working as a virtual – internet only based – real estate agent will be VERY EASY since agents can then take on new listings ANYWHERE in Australia – they don’t even have to pay any additional registration fees for each state/territory they will be conducting business in!

For more info visit http://nola.gov.au/transitioning-to-a-national-licence/factsheet-for-current-licensees/

How to get a successful sale in a “buyer’s market”!

place2live — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 06:09:43 +0000

How to get a successful sale in a “buyer’s market”!

The latest figures from the “RP Data-Rismark Home Value Index” are not uplifting if you are a property investor (the value of your portfolio is shrinking, meaning you are not increasing your borrowing power and that you can’t re-invest, but you might smile if you are a first home buyer looking at buying in Brisbane (before the Queensland Building Boost Grant expires 31 January 2012). If you are selling because you want to up or downgrade your place of residence you should not be too concerned about the way the market is moving, unless you are not buying and selling at the same time.

The realities sellers of properties are facing in today’s market are:

Increased competition (some areas have up to 50% more properties listed for sale compared to a year ago)
On average much longer sales time on the market
Decreasing property values

So how do you get a quick sale in today’s market at a fair market value?

The main selling factors remain the same – they are what I refer to as the “3 P Factors”:

Price
Presentation
Promotion

The Price factor includes the component you always hear real estate agents talking about Location, Location & Location (or as I prefer to state it using a “P noun”: Position, Position & Position). There is one and only one component you can’t change when you buy a property and that is the “footprint” of the property meaning the size and position of the block of land or the size and position of a unit.

What you can change are the above “3 P Factors” and in today’s market you really need to be in front of the declining property market – not chasing it down! So the most important factor to consider will be your asking price. place2live is the agency that gives you access to ALL the recent sale stats that are available for your area so you should be able to determine what is the fair market value (based on the historic facts) for your property. In today’s declining market you should consider this figure as being the absolute maximum you can get (and you should NOT use this as your asking price (even when stating that the price is negotiable). What you should do (and this is obviously a very difficult task) is to decide the absolute minimum price you would be willing to accept and use this (hopefully very competitive) price tag in your advertisements. You might want to use a pricing statement like: “Seller will consider offers above $X” indicating that this price in NOT negotiable downwards only upwards! Because of the very attractive asking price you should expect to get a few interested buyers and hopefully have them competing for the property – the formal way of doing this will be to request the buyers to sign the form “ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF MULTIPLE OFFERS” – this serves 2 purposes:

the agent can’t be accused of not having informed the potential buyers about the existence of other competing offers being submitted to the seller(s)
the potential buyer will up front have to submit their best and final offer and they may not be given the opportunity to negotiate further

Often in a situation like this you may find that the offers submitted EXCEED the initial asking price (because the buyer recognizes that the fair market value for the property is ABOVE the actual asking price)!

In this kind of market, where you promote your property at an asking price that makes your property stand out as a very attractive offer compared to other properties you will obviously be very keen to not at the same time spend a fortune in marketing and sales commission, so you still will be able to walk away with a decent amount of money on settlement.

How can that be achieved you might ask (most traditional shop-front and franchise based real estate agencies all charge the same standard sales commission (for QLD sales this means 5% of the initial $18,000 of the sales price and 2.5% of the balance of the sales price plus 10% GST)?

You do have alternatives like place2live – a virtual (internet only based) real estate agency - with a streamlined operation that minimise the agencies operational costs and offers sellers a service where you are NOT charged the standard sales commission, but A-Fee-For-A-Service (like solicitors, dentists and auto mechanics). This means that you in a working2gether listing option will only be charged $4,499 all inclusive (including GST) if you sell your property within the initial 28 days it is listed for sale. For a median priced property in Brisbane (@ $402,000) you will save more than 61% in sales costs!

In the working2gether listing option your responsibilities will only be to:

Keep your property nice and tidy
Show the property to potential buyers (and open up the house for Pest & Building inspection, Bank Valuation inspection & Pre-settlement inspection)
Hand over keys to the property after settlement (or arrange for your solicitor to do this)

Your place2live property consultant will take care of the rest:

Assist you with getting your property listed for sale on the net
Manage all enquiries
Qualify buyers
Schedule inspection times
Send you an inspection confirmation SMS
Make follow-up calls after each inspection
Take offer details
Manage contract negotiations
Present contract details to your solicitor
Manage payment of deposit to your solicitor
Manage all non legal issues up to settlement

Please note you will NOT have to do any contract negotiations!

List your property for sale NOW with place2live: Go to the Listing Request web page and submit your listing request (select working2gether) or simply call us on 1800 place2live – 1800 752 232

Get your property listing exposed to 90 million Chinese

place2live — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:59:08 +0000

place2live is for a short period offering NEW clients to list their property for FREE (in Mandarin) on the leading Chinese property portal juwai.com

juwai.com is the only truly international property portal, for the world’s Mandarin speaking population.

Did you know:

90 million Chinese search for property online
China’s property boom has gone international, with strong demand for property in Australia, UK, USA, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia and many more…
After the USA, China has the most number of Billionaires
After the USA and Japan, China has the most number of Millionaires
50% of Chinese international property transactions are in Cash
60% of China’s High Net Worth Individuals & Upper Middle Class Individuals are engaged in overseas investment or immigration

If you would like to take advantage of this extra FREE promotion of your property please:

complete the Listing Request Form
call us on 1800 place2live - 1800 752 232
e-mail us contact@place2live.com.au

YOUR HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE TO PRODUCE A SELLING ADVERTISEMENT!

place2live — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 09:00:14 +0000

It takes a certain expertise to write a good property advertisement, but as a home owner, you know your home better than anyone else. So give some thought to the benefits of living in your particular corner of the world. Some of the attributes that could help sell your home might actually surprise even you.

While an agent sometimes might be able to write a better ad than you, the home owner, they can’t write an ad that speaks to the hearts of potential buyers without the benefit of your intimate connection with the property.

What sort of things might the potential buyer want to know?

If you are in an inner city unit you might mention the bus at the front door that has lots of great cafe stops on its route, or the sun in the bedroom on a winter morning, or the fact that there is a laundry on every floor shared by only 4 units, many of whom have built laundries in their own bathrooms.

If you are in a suburban house it might be a back gate leading to a track to the local park where your kids can play without having to walk there by the road, or the number of bird attracting plants in your garden.

These are things that only you know – so make sure you jot down these benefits when you start thinking about all the benefits associated with living in your home and why this is the best place2live.

Want to make $100? Know someone who want to sell a property?
Make EASY MONEY helping a friend who needs to sell a property in QLD, NSW or VIC: Refer them to place2live (ask them to call 1800 place2live – 1800 752 232 or ask them to go online and use the Listing Request Form) and have them mentioning YOU as the referrer; then YOU WILL GET PAID $100 and THEY WILL GET A DISCOUNT OF $100 – place2live offer sellers to list and sell their property for as little as $398 all included!

Want to make $1,000? Know a realestate agent who want to reduce his/her operational costs and still get paid 100% commission?
Make EASY MONEY helping a real estate agent friend who want/needs to reduce their operational overheads while still getting paid 100% of the sales commission generated: Refer them to place2live (ask them to call 1800 place2live – 1800 752 232 or ask them to go online and use the Agent Expression Of Interest Form) and have them mentioning YOU as the referrer; then YOU WILL GET PAID $1,000 and THEY WILL GET A DISCOUNT OF $1,000 on the Service Set-up Fee – place2live offer agents to join the place2live virtual real estate agency network paying a small monthly “desk fee” while taking home 100% of the sales commission!

‘STAND AND WAIT’ NOT GOOD MARKET STRATEGY

place2live — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 09:00:50 +0000

When media reports start talking about static or falling home prices, many home buyers think that it’s a good idea to watch the market and wait for it to reach the bottom. They feel that if they postpone their purchase long enough, they are likely to see prices fall further and snap up a ‘real bargain’.

While bargains do exist, of course, for people who are in the right place at the right time, there are often more people who miss out by using this strategy than gain. Most home buyers buy their family home and live in it for, on average, seven to ten years. And when we’re looking at averages, the property market continues, in the big picture, to rise. Based on historical property cycles, property may undergo periods of static growth and periods of galloping growth, but on average, well-located, well-selected residential property doubles in value every ten years or so. Certainly, if we could always pick the lowest time to buy and the highest time to sell we would do very well indeed, but the only buyers who need worry about the immediate state of the market are the real estate speculators who wish to buy then sell again straight away, or those who are too highly geared or who have entered into unrealistic amounts of debt. For everyone else, the chances of strong long-term capital gain are virtually assured, provided they buy well-selected property in well-selected locations.

It’s famously difficult to pick the ‘bottom’ of the market. Often buyers who wait find themselves having little to choose from as listings get scarce – and a sudden flurry of competition for the few desirable properties actually on the market for sale often causes them to sell for higher prices than expected, even in a market described as a difficult one for sellers. Buyers end up paying more than they bargained for if they keep on watching and waiting; because the ‘flurries’ they waited out were signalling an upturn in the market or the end of the halcyon days for buyers.

Purchasers who wait too long for a ‘bargain’ or the ‘lowest point of the market’ often only realise that the lowest point has already been reached once they can look back on it with the 20/20 vision of hindsight.

LOOKING TO BUY IN A BOOM SUBURB

place2live — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 09:00:07 +0000

Every home buyer wants to be assured of strong capital gain and their dream is to buy in the next ‘boom’ suburb, where values increase more, sometimes a huge amount more than the average. Most people know that the best suburbs to buy in are those with good infrastructure and amenities offering their residents quality of life and convenience. Obviously, life is easier if there is close proximity to a CBD with excellent transport and amenities such as parks, shops, cafes, restaurants, bars, schools and hospitals. But there is one thing that many people don’t factor in.

Supply of housing and the potential for further development is one of the greatest factors putting pressure on prices. If a suburb is already fully developed, then an increase in demand will not come with an increase in supply as it might in a new housing estate, but rather it will force prices up as more buyers compete for scarcer housing stock. This has a compounding effect as the population of the city gets bigger and the city spreads more.

If you think you have found a place that is about to boom, make sure you research the reason for the boom. Demand based on short term need doesn’t last and may leave the buyer with a property that is worth less than they paid for it. Examples of short term boom conditions are often seen in tourist areas based on overseas tourism so that when the dollar increases in value or there is international terrorist anxiety, tourism is reduced to a trickle and houses are harder to rent and therefore even harder to sell.

If you want to buy as near the CBD as possible, but prices are forcing you further out, make sure you look for a suburb on a direct transport line (preferably rail) to the city.

EXPAND INTO SPRING

place2live — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 11:38:46 +0000

At this time of year, most of us who have been slowing down for the winter start to get moving again. Days are longer and we respond to that expansiveness with an expanding of our own awareness and activities, putting new ideas into practice and taking on new projects. The longer days have another benefit: extra daylight hours make it possible for many people to view a property for sale even at the end of the working day.

So it’s not surprising that many people decide to make a new start, putting their houses on the market and going out to look for another one to buy. After all, the garden too is expanding and putting out new growth and the house can be opened up to the fresh air, getting rid of any stale winter odours – what better time to attract purchasers than when the house is looking its best? The fact that you can start opening up the house to the fresh air means you can also quickly dry any paint jobs needed to present the house at its best – and dispel their odours.

Many people who have been thinking of selling take advantage of the fact that their house and garden are looking good and that purchasers are out in larger numbers by deciding to put their houses on the market. The general optimism and feel-good energy that seems to be commonplace during spring makes it one of the best times of the year to get the best sale outcomes.

If you are thinking of selling please contact place2live – the #1 alternative to traditional real estate agencies and the DIY selling web sites – you will NOT be disappointed!

Real estate industries have the highest average proportion of internet use in sales

place2live — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 00:39:04 +0000

Internet kicks in to click-start the economy

THE rise of the internet in the local economy could be the answer to the nation’s worrying productivity growth rate.

A new report, commissioned by internet search giant Google and conducted by Deloitte Access Economics and released yesterday, found that the internet economy contributed $50 billion towards Australia’s GDP for 2010.

That represents some 3.6 per cent of total GDP, putting it on par with the economic value of iron-ore exports and the annual proceeds of the retail sector.

The report acknowledges the shortcomings of trying to peg a figure to the internet’s value for the economy and uses a combination of expenditure on the internet and infrastructure and income derived from the internet in its modelling.

Importantly, on productivity the report estimates that local businesses are expected to gain a $27bn boost to productivity in 2011 as more companies shift their sales processes online.

“This is potentially a major driver of economic prosperity,” Deloitte Access Economics director Ric Simes said.

“It is early days in a wave of activity that has the potential to provide productivity boosts akin to the micro economic reforms agendas in ICT of the 1990s.”

The report finds that businesses are achieving new productivity gains as they shift online to take advantage of consumer preferences to search and buy via the web. This shift online has also given smaller businesses an opportunity to compete with the giants of the retail sector through targeted and hyper-local sales initiatives.

“The internet is not great news for people who rely on what have historically been barriers because it flattens things out and allows smaller businesses to compete better with big businesses,” Google Australia & New Zealand managing director Nick Leeder said.

Last week, Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens shone a spotlight on the nation’s dismal record of productivity growth, warning that Australia would be unlikely to return to the era of the 1990s when a resurgent dollar and rising house prices helped fund a consumer spending binge.

According to the study, the share of businesses with an online presence has grown steadily over the past decade. In 1998, 12 per cent of businesses surveyed by Sensis had a website and just 5 per cent sold online.

But 12 years later, Sensis data now suggests that 60 per cent of businesses have a website and the vast majority of those sell goods and services online.

The report also finds that the finance and real estate industries have the highest average proportion of internet use in sales

Great report: Deloitte Access Economics: “The Connected Continent – How the internet is transforming the Australian economy” – bit.ly/okNv3p

Source: Mitchell Bingemann, The Australian, August 03, 2011 12:00AM

QLD Government Building Boost

place2live — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 04:11:56 +0000

QLD Government Building Boost

In the Queensland State Budget the government announced changes to Stamp Duty and also a new grant to stimulate the building industry in Queensland.

What is the Queensland Building Boost Grant?

The Queensland Building Boost Grant is a grant of $10,000 for a person, corporation or trustee (including superannuation funds) buying or building a new home in Queensland for a value less than $600,000 (house and land).

What types of homes qualify?

New house builds, house and land packages, units, duplexes, townhouses and other detached dwellings (e.g. granny flats and manufactured homes) are eligible. Off-the-plan purchases are included.

What is a ‘new’ home?

A new home is a home that has not been previously occupied or sold as a place of residence.

Who can obtain the Building Boost?

The applicant must be 18 years of age or over and be a citizen or permanent resident of Australia. Company or trust applicants must be substantially Australian owned to be eligible. Builders and developers are not eligible in most cases.

Can I obtain the Building Boost more than once?

Yes. The Building Boost can be obtained for each new home purchased or built where eligibility requirements are met. Applications for five or more grants will be reviewed to ensure consistency with the grant policy objectives.

How long is the Building Boost available for?

The Building Boost runs from 1 August 2011 to 31 January 2012. The contract to buy or build a new home must be entered into between those dates. Contracts between those dates which replace earlier contracts or result from options may not be eligible.

Are there construction time limits?

Yes. Homes constructed under building contracts must begin construction within 26 weeks of the contract date and be completed within 18 months. If you are buying off the plan, the building work must start on or before the 31 January 2013 and be completed on or before 31 January 2015.

Are there occupancy requirements?

Yes, the home must be occupied for at least three months in the first year of you owning the home. However you can use the home as an investment property, for example it can be rented by a tenant or occupied by a family member.

How do I apply for the Building Boost?

Applications or notices of intention to apply must be lodged by 31 May 2012.
August 1^st 2011 is the official start for the Building Boost Grant.

Useful links:

The Building Boost Guide: http://boost.treasury.qld.gov.au/docs/boost-guide.pdf

The Application Form: http://boost.treasury.qld.gov.au/docs/boost-form.pdf

The Eligibility Tester: http://boost.treasury.qld.gov.au/investor/eligibility-tester.php

The Transfer Duty & Grants Calculator: http://boost.treasury.qld.gov.au/investor/calculator.php

The Frequently asked Questions: http://boost.treasury.qld.gov.au/investor/faqs.php

The source for this blog is North Brisbane Home Loans . If you want to know what your borrowing capacity is – please email North Brisbane Home Loans at info@northbrisbanehomeloans.com.au or give them a call on 07 3889 9719.