There’s a lot of activity this week in Melbourne with the AFL Grand Final and busy in the work place too with a short week due to the Grand Final Eve Public Holiday in Victoria. Here is a quick Real Estate Market Update, news and helpful reminders. Be safe this weekend, have fun and Go Doggies!

In This Issue:

• Forthcoming Fight Night #2: Shares V Property Workshop

• Real Estate Market Update – REIV Geoff White’s Market Wrap

• Core Logic RP Data – Pain and Gain June Quarter, 2016

• AFL Grand Final Weekend – Victorians Get Behind The Doggies!

• LOOKING AFTER YOUR INVESTMENT
  NEIGHBOURHOOD INSPECTIONS – Building & Pest Inspector

• Don’t forget to set your clocks forward by one (1) hour this Sunday for the beginning of Daylight Savings Time!

The 2016-2017 daylight saving period will commence in Victoria on Sunday, 2 October 2016, when clocks will go forward one hour at 2am and will conclude on Sunday, 2 April 2017, when clocks will go backwards one hour at 3am.

Forthcoming Fight Night #2: Shares V Property Workshop

Fight Night #1 was well received and a sell out workshop event. It was a pleasure to be invited as a guest speaker on the property team and to be involved in the event.

Due to popular demand the team at Verse Wealth are hosting Fight Night #2: Shares V Property.

DATE AND TIME

Wed 26 October 2016

6:30 PM – 8:30 PM

Register Your Ticket Now: Fight Night #2 – Shares V Property

DESCRIPTION

Register Your Ticket Now: Fight Night #2 – Shares V Property

Real Estate Market Update – REIV Geoff White’s Market Wrap

MONDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER – SATURDAY 1ST OCTOBER

Auction Update – Due to the AFL Grand Final, the REIV is expecting about 60 auctions in 52 suburbs this week. The top auction locations this week are Lalor (5 auctions), followed by Rowville, Mount Waverley and Forest Hill with two auctions in each.

Mulgrave and Greensborough are the top clearance rate suburbs in September, both with a 100 per cent clearance rate, while Reservoir is top auction suburb in September with 46 sales.

Core Logic RP Data – Pain and Gain June Quarter, 2016

A quarterly assessment of realised gross profit and loss based on dwelling re-sales over the June Quarter of 2016

• Based on the June quarter findings 5.9% of capital city houses resold at a loss

• 9.5% of capital city units resold for less than the previous purchase price
• Regional areas experienced the highest proportion of pain with 12.2% of houses & 19.9% of units making a loss at resale.

Click here to view the complete Core Logic RP Data – Pain and Gain June Quarter, 2016 report:

AFL Grand Final Weekend – Victorians Get Behind The Doggies!

AFL grand final: Bulldogs fans pack Whitten Oval for final training session

“Woof, woof!” came the cheer from the crowd.

In their red, white and blue – to the sound of trumpets blaring Sons of the West – Bulldogs supporters converged on Footscray’s Whitten Oval on Thursday morning.

They had waited 55 years for a moment like this. And there were about 10,000 of them.

Crammed into the stands, lining fences and perched on the grassy hill, the faithful turned out in force.

Some diehard fans arrived as early as 6am. Thursday’s open training session was the last opportunity for many who have missed out on grand final tickets to see their heroes in the flesh

Article September 29, 2016, by The Age – Marissa Calligeros

LOOKING AFTER YOUR INVESTMENT
NEIGHBOURHOOD INSPECTIONS – Building & Pest Inspector

As Buyers Agents and Property Managers, Master Advocates Real Estate Services depend on the valuable experience and reports of independent building and pest inspectors to assist with many aspects of buying or leasing property in good order, minimise risk and maximise due diligence as well as feasibility on minor or major building defects. This report should help you understand the importance of using a qualified building inspector. Bruce Leighton is just one Building Inspector that we have known and trusted for more than a decade and he was kind enough to share a story relating to a recent client of his, fortunately the client was not a client of Master Advocates and the property was not a property which Master Advocates Buyers Agents selected.

Bruce’s case study:

As a building inspector I’m often contacted by Real Estate Professionals who find themselves presented with a building issue which they need assistance in resolving. Although most agents carry out inspections to the property on a six monthly basis, it accrued to me recently that there may be a gap in what these inspections provide and what property owner’s expectations are.
I’m not to suggesting that property managers inspections don’t have great value, they do! They provide a snapshot of the property and its condition, issues around ongoing maintenance, tenants concerns and obviously the behavior of the tenant in relation to their care of the building, very important information to have.
I believe the gap in information occurs when managers identify issues but lack the expertise or experience to recognize the significance of these issues. This is not a of lack of care on the behalf of the real estate professional but more a case of not fully understanding how seemingly minor issues may be indicative of larger ones or in fact lead to larger issues. Rarely would property managers training extend to the complexities of foundation movement, the causes of it, or for that matter, any number of other problems that could prove problematic and costly to a landlord. A lot of these issues could be easily and cheaply solved with the right expertise, knowledge and experience.

The following case study is the catalyst for this article;
The site is in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, the property in question is around 13 years of age, single story, brick veneer, 3 bedroom unit, built on a concrete slab with a truss roof construction and concrete roof tiles. There is nothing remarkable about the property it appeared to be a straight forward build on a flat block. The property manager who contacted me had only just taken over from a colleague on leave. She was concerned that what had been described in prior reports as ‘minor’ had escalated dramatically

Some cracking to walls and ceilings had been noted and reported to the owner for the past 18 months- they were reported as minor and un- related to anything else on the site. The tenant had also done the right thing, flagging it with the agent on at least 2 occasions. The owner of the property lives and works overseas and is at arm’s length to the property- I have spoken with him and he assumed that the cracking was minor and ‘normal’ – nothing overly concerning, something that could be patched and painted on the next round of maintenance.
When I arrived at the site it was easy to see that the damage to the ceiling and walls was not minor. It was defiantly related to movement in the foundations and although it may have gotten worse recently, the root cause of the problem had existed for a long time- years most probably.

It turns out, as with most issues of movement, excessive moisture at the foundations was the cause of the problem- the bearing capacity of soil, the thing that supports structure, is changed when there is a differential in the moisture content- i.e. if the soil has an elevated moisture level in one area, relative to another, the foundation will subside or heave. In this instance it was a downpipe that had become disengaged from the storm water system. This extremely common issue occurs when the exterior path or soil subsides and in so drags the underground storm water pipe with it.
With every rain event the disconnected downpipe discharges water directly to the foundations. Over time this section of the concrete slab has heaved, in turn this distorted the frame of the house including the roof trusses, resulting in cracking to plaster, both wall and ceiling, distortion to doors and window frames and cracking of floor tiles. It remains to be seen if the concrete slab has in fact cracked, if this is the case the house will not be recoverable.
The cost to repair this down pipe $3.40 in parts and 10 minutes to rectify, even if a plumber was to fix it, it would still only be the cost of a service call – under $200.00.

Sadly this situation could have been prevented years before it caused any damage to the house, It just would have required someone with the proper knowledge and expertise to understand, connect and then communicate the seemingly un related issues – a qualified, experienced building inspector
At neighbourhood Inspections we are exploring the possibilities of partnering with property managers who are interested in providing next level service for their clients. Our service would provide an annual, comprehensive building inspection to the site, including a full written report and follow up phone calls to owners and managers of the property. If as an owner you would like to engage with this service, encourage your Real Estate professional to get on board. Or get in touch.
Currently we are offering flat fee inspections at $280.00 per year.

Bruce Leighton
Neighbourhood Inspections
www.neighbourhoodinspections.com.au
bruce@neighbourhoodinspections.com.au
0411801017

Don’t forget to set your clocks forward by one (1) hour this Sunday for the beginning of Daylight Savings Time!

The 2016-2017 daylight saving period will commence in Victoria on Sunday, 2 October 2016, when clocks will go forward one hour at 2am and will conclude on Sunday, 2 April 2017, when clocks will go backwards one hour at 3am.

 

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Supportive information sources: REIV, Core Logic RP Data, The Age, Business Victoria, Neighbourhood Inspections, Verse Wealth in Association with Master Advocates Real Estate Services published September 2016