Buying units because of a develop's incentive??????

Hello Friends, Associates and Clients,

Another article for your perusal and information:-

If you buy a unit because of a developer's incentive, you deserve your dud
investment: Terry Ryder
By Terry Ryder
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
People who allow themselves to be lured by developer incentives into buying
new apartments deserve the dud investment they're getting. Quality properties for which there is genuine demand don't need to offer
incentives to buyers. The existence of incentives is a warning sign for
buyers to look elsewhere. Melbourne's inner-city unit market is the standout example. For the past 18
months I've been urging buyers to steer clear, because the level of new
product being built is bordering on the ludicrous. Demand for real estate is weak in Melbourne, and the only way developers can
stir up sales is to offer inducements or sell product in distant locations
like China. Both are happening, and both serve as danger signals for buyers.

Sadly, Melbourne newspapers have been breathlessly characterizing the
building frenzy as a boom, highlighting the impressive statistics rather
than warning people that the situation has "oversupply" written all over it.

One journalist notes that 6% of national building approvals are focused on
inner-city Melbourne, with over 5,000 new apartments approved in the CBD,
Docklands or Southbank in the past year. That brings to 21,000 the number of new units in the development pipeline. A
metropolitan newspaper journalist who should know better described this as
developers "meeting the demand for inner-city living". It's nothing of the sort. It's developers allowing greed to over-ride common
sense, supported by buyers who conduct research by reading newspaper
headlines. They are likely to end up with investments with falling values and little
demand from tenants. The incentives that inspired them to buy will mean
little when that happens.

This is happening at a time when the Melbourne market is weak, the state
economy is falling, jobs are being cut by the state government and major
businesses, and the state's grants to first-home buyers have ended. Melbourne developers have responded by offering discounted prices, rebates,
cars, holidays and furniture to get signatures on contracts. The greatest trap in the history of apartment buying, the rental guarantee,
is also being rolled out. Anyone who buys an apartment because the developer
is "guaranteeing" the rental income has been living in a cave for the past
10 years during which dozens of similar deals have ended in tears for
investors. One developer, having failed to clear stock by cutting up to $200,000 from
individual unit prices, offered a $65,000 car to lure buyers. Another
offered a tropical holiday for two. Some have offered rebates of up to
$20,000. All these measures have one thing in common: desperation. Not even the Gold
Coast, where the unit market has been undermined by oversupply for the past
five years, has resorted to such largesse. The Gold Coast, however, is an object lesson for anyone inclined to ignore
the warning signals in Melbourne. The median price for an apartment in
Surfers Paradise today is almost 10% lower than it was five years ago. It's
the same in neighbouring Broadbeach, according to data from the Real Estate
Institute of Queensland. At Hope Island, on the northern fringe of the Gold Coast, the median
apartment price has dropped 26.5% in the past five years. At Noosa Heads on the Sunshine Coast, a market traditionally favoured by
Melbourne investors, the median unit price has dropped 22% in five years.
Many other markets around the Sunshine Coast are also in negative territory.

These sorry results are not the norm in Queensland real estate. Quite the
opposite. Many markets have appreciated at least 50% over the past five
years. The ones that have gone backwards are the ones where brainless
developers have built too much new product. Melbourne developers have opted to ignore those lessons. Perhaps they think
they can defy the laws of supply and demand. They will experience the same
disappointments as developers and builders who went broke in Queensland. Sadly, mum and dad investors will sink with them.

Best regards,
Linda and Carlos Debello
http://www.ljgrealestate.com.au
http://twitter.com/GillandDebello
http://au.linkedin.com/in/lindajanedebello
http://gillandrealestate.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/LJ-Gilland-Real-Estate-Pty-Ltd/169194919788253

Confidential email:- The information in this message is intended for the
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read, copy distribute or act upon the message as the information it contains
may be privileged. If you have received this message in error, please
notify the writer by return email. Thank you very much for your assistance
in this matter and your co-operation.

Property fixtures – who is entitled to take what? | realestateVIEW.com.au

Property fixtures – who is entitled to take what? | realestateVIEW.com.au

Confidence in your property buying decisions article 2

Hello Friends, Clients and Associates,

Please find the following for your perusal, information and empowerment with kind regards:-

How to have confidence in your property buying decisions, even though the market is always on the precipice of uncertainty: Mal James

By Mal James
Tuesday, 14 August 2012

Page 1 of 2

We might like to think that life is certain, but it is not. Neither is the market. History shows us that the market is on the precipice of uncertainty pretty much all the time. That’s because the market is actually a composite of people’s opinions. And opinions can change on a five-cent piece.

Buyers and sellers act out of need, out of want and out of instinct. Their many actions culminate in exchanges of ownership. These exchanges are what society focuses on and records in an attempt to give a sense of certainty to the market.

The opinion-recording mechanism that society uses to try to create an element of certainty is price. Price is a very imperfect unit of measurement when it comes to describing the emotional certainty of a transaction. But it’s the most practical and the only uniformly acceptable measurement we have.

In Melbourne in 2012 there is currently a malaise of uncertainty on price that is besetting many an inexperienced buyer and seller out there. This uncertainty is creating a wide range of emotions for many buyers, even if they don’t realise it.

How do you as a buyer live, deal and feel comfortable with your emotions in a world that is currently headlining uncertainty over certainty right now? How do you as a buyer function within the Melbourne property market without going a little crazy when you use price as a measurement to give you certainty?

To get some comfort when you are uncertain there are two magic pills. They are very different, and either can work for surviving this current market.

One magic pill is ignorance. The other is being properly informed.

Ignorance can work well when buying homes in a booming market like that of the early 2000s. But in the current uncertain market, using ignorance is a bit of a crapshoot. While sometimes it can work, we’ve also seen it hurt a lot more people than it has helped – particularly in the outer areas, in overpriced apartments and in poorly located, poorly laid-out or over-priced inner-Melbourne family homes.

The other magic pill for managing your emotions in the property market is information. Being properly informed can allow you to traverse the current market of uncertainty in a manner involving less pain, both now and in the future.

So back to price, which is where all the pain is right now – how do we lessen the pain of price uncertainty? How do you get comfort in your price selections right now?

Simple: you have to understand what price is and how it works.

In our current market you can only look at price with certainty if you look at it as a mechanism that allows a transaction and almost nothing else.

You need to understand that price characteristics change in a falling market. And those changes bring in a whole new genre of commentary called risk analysis. Risk analysis is about examining your chances of achieving your goals. Risk management is about minimizing the possibility of missing out on what you want.

At the moment, if you are feeling uncomfortable about price it is probably because you are uncomfortable with what price actually is and does, and with the associated risks.

But how can you get comfortable with price in this market? Understand what it is and what it isn’t.

At the moment, if you are feeling uncomfortable about price it is probably because you are uncomfortable with what price actually is and does, and with the associated risks.  But how can you get comfortable with price in this market? Understand what it is and what it isn’t.

Is there such a thing as the right price in 2012? Here is a practical example: A client comes to us and asks, “Is this a good price for this home?” We respond, “On any specific number we honestly don’t know. We can show you how to try and achieve this price or that price within a range, but whether it is a good price is hard to say right now.” Let’s say that one weekend there are two bidders on a home. The vendor is feeling bullish. Bidder One is prepared to pay $2.1 million and Bidder Two is prepared to pay $2.05 million . The vendor passes the property in at $2.05 million and says he wants $2.15 million. In the end he gets $2.1 million from Bidder One, who is nervous about Bidder Two. But the situation could have turned out completely differently if on that weekend Bidder Two had already bought a home and so the property was passed into the sole Bidder One, at $1.8 million. Say the vendor had also been told during the week by his spouse that he must buy another home they had seen two days earlier or she’d file for divorce. Our vendor is now a “motivated’ vendor and has moved from bullish to nervous – so he takes the $1.81 million offered post auction from Bidder One who, seeing no other bidders, is prepared to stick to her guns on that lower price. Which of these prices was a good price? Well, one price was lower than the other, but that was as a result of a convergence of circumstances and opinions. The lower price in the second situation was simply because Bidder Two was no longer in the game, and the vendor was very motivated to sell. But for Bidder One in the first situation, the higher price was also a good price – because she managed to beat off Bidder Two and come to a deal with a vendor who had high expectations. Is $2.1 million a bad price – is $1.81 million a good price? Well, we don’t know all the circumstances. Was the home the right home for both parties? What if the $1.8 million buyer has to sell in six months because it’s not right for her and prices had dropped by 15%? What if the $2.1 million buyer is very happy bringing up her family in the house and the street and holds on to it for the next 20 years? Which price then was the right price? The nature of a weak market like the one we’re in now is that we’re relying on a smaller pool of opinions. There may be two bidders, or just one. There’s no certainty. There are just large variances – that is why a $300,000 variance is a very real possibility. (In a strong market you’re less likely to see these sorts of variances at a public auction, because with three or more bidders, even if one drops out there is still competition to support the price.) The point is that at the moment prices can vary big time, and for those looking for comfort we recommend you look to your decision-making processes rather than just price. The good decisions you can make, as a buyer, are to decide whether the house is the one you want, whether you’re prepared to pay what it takes to buy it, what your alternatives are if you don’t buy, what are reasonable price ranges (even if they are wide), what are your strategies to get the lowest price and what are the risks involved in your actions. If you are to act, then this process will give you some comfort in the uncertainty of price in this market. Mal advocates on behalf of buyers of property over $1 million.

Best regards,

Linda and Carlos Debello

http://www.ljgrealestate.com.au

http://twitter.com/GillandDebello

http://au.linkedin.com/in/lindajanedebello

http://gillandrealestate.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/LJ-Gilland-Real-Estate-Pty-Ltd/169194919788253

Confidential email:- The information in this message is intended for the recipient name on this email.  If you are not the recipient please do not read, copy distribute or act upon the message as the information it contains may be privileged.  If you have received this message in error, please notify the writer by return email.  Thank you very much for your assistance in this matter and your co-operation.

Confidence in your property buying decisions article

Hello Friends, Clients and Associates,

Please find the following for your perusal, information and empowerment with kind regards:-

How to have confidence in your property buying decisions, even though the market is always on the precipice of uncertainty: Mal James

By Mal James
Tuesday, 14 August 2012

Page 1 of 2

We might like to think that life is certain, but it is not. Neither is the market. History shows us that the market is on the precipice of uncertainty pretty much all the time. That’s because the market is actually a composite of people’s opinions. And opinions can change on a five-cent piece.

Buyers and sellers act out of need, out of want and out of instinct. Their many actions culminate in exchanges of ownership. These exchanges are what society focuses on and records in an attempt to give a sense of certainty to the market.

The opinion-recording mechanism that society uses to try to create an element of certainty is price. Price is a very imperfect unit of measurement when it comes to describing the emotional certainty of a transaction. But it’s the most practical and the only uniformly acceptable measurement we have.

In Melbourne in 2012 there is currently a malaise of uncertainty on price that is besetting many an inexperienced buyer and seller out there. This uncertainty is creating a wide range of emotions for many buyers, even if they don’t realise it.

How do you as a buyer live, deal and feel comfortable with your emotions in a world that is currently headlining uncertainty over certainty right now? How do you as a buyer function within the Melbourne property market without going a little crazy when you use price as a measurement to give you certainty?

To get some comfort when you are uncertain there are two magic pills. They are very different, and either can work for surviving this current market.

One magic pill is ignorance. The other is being properly informed.

Ignorance can work well when buying homes in a booming market like that of the early 2000s. But in the current uncertain market, using ignorance is a bit of a crapshoot. While sometimes it can work, we’ve also seen it hurt a lot more people than it has helped – particularly in the outer areas, in overpriced apartments and in poorly located, poorly laid-out or over-priced inner-Melbourne family homes.

The other magic pill for managing your emotions in the property market is information. Being properly informed can allow you to traverse the current market of uncertainty in a manner involving less pain, both now and in the future.

So back to price, which is where all the pain is right now – how do we lessen the pain of price uncertainty? How do you get comfort in your price selections right now?

Simple: you have to understand what price is and how it works.

In our current market you can only look at price with certainty if you look at it as a mechanism that allows a transaction and almost nothing else.

You need to understand that price characteristics change in a falling market. And those changes bring in a whole new genre of commentary called risk analysis. Risk analysis is about examining your chances of achieving your goals. Risk management is about minimizing the possibility of missing out on what you want.

At the moment, if you are feeling uncomfortable about price it is probably because you are uncomfortable with what price actually is and does, and with the associated risks.

But how can you get comfortable with price in this market? Understand what it is and what it isn’t.

 

Best regards,

Linda and Carlos Debello

http://www.ljgrealestate.com.au

http://twitter.com/GillandDebello

http://au.linkedin.com/in/lindajanedebello

http://gillandrealestate.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/LJ-Gilland-Real-Estate-Pty-Ltd/169194919788253

Confidential email:- The information in this message is intended for the recipient name on this email.  If you are not the recipient please do not read, copy distribute or act upon the message as the information it contains may be privileged.  If you have received this message in error, please notify the writer by return email.  Thank you very much for your assistance in this matter and your co-operation.

cant stop mum

getting ready for the big race

GREAT story about how God answers prayers....

Subject: GREAT story about how God answers prayers.... 

get your kleenex first!

 "Watch out!  You nearly broad sided that car!" My father yelled at me.  "Can't you do anything right?"
Those words hurt worse than blows.  I turned my head toward the elderly man in the seat beside me, daring me to challenge him.  A lump rose in my throat as I averted my eyes.  I wasn't prepared for another battle.
"I saw the car, Dad .  Please don't yell at me when I'm driving.."
My voice was measured and steady, sounding far calmer than I really felt.
Dad glared at me, then turned away and settled back.  At home I left Dad in front of the television and went outside to collect my thoughts....
dark, heavy clouds hung in the air with a promise of rain.  The rumble of distant thunder seemed to echo my inner turmoil.  What could I do about him?
Dad had been a lumberjack in Washington and Oregon He had enjoyed being outdoors and had reveled in pitting his strength against the forces of nature.  He had entered grueling lumberjack competitions, and had placed often.  The shelves in his house were filled with trophies that attested to his prowess.
The years marched on relentlessly.  The first time he couldn't lift a heavy log, he joked about it; but later that same day I saw him outside alone, straining to lift it.  He became irritable whenever anyone teased him about his advancing age, or when he couldn't do something he had done as a younger man.
Four days after his sixty-seventh birthday, he had a heart attack.  An ambulance sped him to the hospital while a paramedic administered CPR to keep blood and oxygen flowing.
At the hospital, Dad was rushed into an operating room.  He was lucky; he survived.  But something inside Dad died.  His zest for life was gone.
He obstinately refused to follow doctor's orders.  Suggestions and offers of help were turned aside with sarcasm and insults.  The number of visitors thinned, then finally stopped altogether.  Dad was left alone..
My husband, Dick, and I asked Dad to come live with us on our small farm.  We hoped the fresh air and rustic atmosphere would help him adjust.
Within a week after he moved in, I regretted the invitation.  It seemed nothing was satisfactory.  He criticized everything I did.  I became frustrated and moody.  Soon I was taking my pent-up anger out on Dick.  We began to bicker and argue.
Alarmed, Dick sought out our pastor and explained the situation.  The clergyman set up weekly counseling appointments for us.  At the close of each session he prayed, asking God to soothe Dad 's troubled mind.
But the months wore on and God was silent.  Something had to be done and it was up to me to do it.
The next day I sat down with the phone book and methodically called each of the mental health clinics listed in the Yellow Pages.  I explained my problem to each of the sympathetic voices that answered in vain.
Just when I was giving up hope, one of the voices suddenly exclaimed, "I just read something that might help you!  Let me go get the article.."
I listened as she read.  The article described a remarkable study done at a nursing home.  All of the patients were under treatment for chronic depression.  Yet their attitudes had improved dramatically when they were given responsibility for a dog.
I drove to the animal shelter that afternoon..  After I filled out a questionnaire, a uniformed officer led me to the kennels.  The odor of disinfectant stung my nostrils as I moved down the row of pens.  Each contained five to seven dogs.  Long-haired dogs, curly-haired dogs, black dogs, spotted dogs all jumped up, trying to reach me.  I studied each one but rejected one after the other for various reasons too big, too small, too much hair.  As I neared the last pen a dog in the shadows of the far corner struggled to his feet, walked to the front of the run and sat down.  It was a pointer, one of the dog world's aristocrats.  But this was a caricature of the breed.
Years had etched his face and muzzle with shades of gray.  His hip bones jutted out in lopsided triangles.  But it was his eyes that caught and held my attention.  Calm and clear, they beheld me unwaveringly.
I pointed to the dog.  "Can you tell me about him?" The officer looked, then shook his head in puzzlement.  "He's a funny one.  Appeared out of nowhere and sat in front of the gate.  We brought him in, figuring someone would be right down to claim him.  That was two weeks ago and we've heard nothing.  His time is up tomorrow." He gestured helplessly.
As the words sank in I turned to the man in horror..  "You mean you're going to kill him?"
"Ma'am," he said gently, "that's our policy.  We don't have room for every unclaimed dog."
I looked at the pointer again.  The calm brown eyes awaited my decision.  "I'll take him," I said.  I drove home with the dog on the front seat beside me..  When I reached the house I honked the horn twice.  I was helping my prize out of the car when Dad shuffled onto the front porch...
"Ta-da!  Look what I got for you, Dad !" I said excitedly.
Dad looked, then wrinkled his face in disgust.  "If I had wanted a dog I would have gotten one.  And I would have picked out a better specimen than that bag of bones.  Keep it!  I don't want it" Dad waved his arm scornfully and turned back toward the house.
Anger rose inside me.  It squeezed together my throat muscles and pounded into my temples.  "You'd better get used to him, Dad .  He's staying!"
Dad ignored me..  "Did you hear me, Dad ?" I screamed.  At those words Dad whirled angrily, his hands clenched at his sides, his eyes narrowed and blazing with hate.  We stood glaring at each other like duelists, when suddenly the pointer pulled free from my grasp.  He wobbled toward my dad and sat down in front of him.  Then slowly, carefully, he raised his paw..
Dad 's lower jaw trembled as he stared at the uplifted paw Confusion replaced the anger in his eyes.  The pointer waited patiently.  Then Dad was on his knees, hugging the animal.
It was the beginning of a warm and intimate friendship.  Dad named the pointer Cheyenne .  Together, he and Cheyenne explored the community.  They spent long hours walking down dusty lanes.  They spent reflective moments on the banks of streams, angling for tasty trout.
They even started to attend Sunday services together, Dad sitting in a pew and Cheyenne lying quietly at is feet.
Dad and Cheyenne were inseparable throughout the next three years..  Dad 's bitterness faded, and he and Cheyenne made many friends.
Then late one night, I was startled to feel Cheyenne's cold nose burrowing through our bed covers.  He had never before come into our bedroom at night..  I woke Dick, put on my robe and ran into my father's room.  Dad lay in his bed, his face serene.  But his spirit had left quietly sometime during the night.
Two days later, my shock and grief deepened when I discovered Cheyenne lying dead beside Dad's bed.  I wrapped his still form in the rag rug he had slept on.  As Dick and I buried him near a favorite fishing hole, I silently thanked the dog for the help he had given me in restoring Dad 's peace of mind.
The morning of Dad 's funeral dawned overcast and dreary.  This day looks like the way I feel, I thought, as I walked down the aisle to the pews reserved for family.  I was surprised to see the many friends Dad and Cheyenne had made, filling the church.  The pastor began his eulogy.  It was a tribute to both Dad and the dog who had changed his life.
And then the pastor turned to Hebrews 13:2.  "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this, some have entertained angels without knowing it."
"I've often thanked God for sending that angel," he said.
For me, the past dropped into place, completing a puzzle that I had not seen before: the sympathetic voice that had just read the right article...
Cheyenne 's unexpected appearance at the animal shelter.  .  ...his calm acceptance and complete devotion to my father.  .  and the proximity of their deaths.  And suddenly I understood.  I knew that God had answered my prayers after all.
Life is too short for drama or petty things, so laugh hard, love truly and forgive quickly.  Live While You Are Alive.  Forgive now those who made you cry.  You might not get a second time.
And if you don't send this to at least 4 people ---nobody cares!  But do share this with someone.  Lost time can never be found.
God answers our prayers in His time........not ours.

 

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