Forum Replies Created
Terminate the contract. As well as keeping the deposit, you can sue them for any further losses that you incur in reselling the property. If for example, the sale price is $500,000 and you can only resell it for $400,000, you can sue the purchaser for the $100,000 shortfall as well as extra advertising costs etc.
Yes they can slap a caveat on the property but if you have issued a correct Notice to Complete and the purchaser has failed to complete then you have a contractual right to terminate. If they do put a caveat on the property, you can then go to court and get the caveat lifted and have the purchaser pay your legal costs (if you have done everything correctly).
This purchaser clearly doesn't want to proceed with the purchase. If they did, they would be asking for extensions. They haven't done that. They obviously can't rescind either, otherwise they would have done so. It is up to you to do something.
You should get legal advice though. I have an excellent property lawyer in Adelaide. PM me if you want details.
The people who run these seminars are pretty savvy business people. If you want to get a refund, you will have to fill out stacks of paperwork and in the meantime the people behind the seminars will be putting their more than adequate sales skills to work convincing you that the course was worthwhile.
Besides, the majority of people who are dissatisfied with a product that comes with a guarantee don't bother chasing up a refund. The "guarantee" is again, a very clever sales technique.
This is not a criticism of these seminars, or the people who run them; just a comment on the realities of how they run.
Cheers
K
Except for buying off the plan from developers I have never paid more than a $5000 deposit. $1000 is the norm for me.
Just be wary about what you stand to lose if you don't proceed with the purchase. In most states, the contract (or the underlying legislation) will state that if you default and don't proceed with the purchase then the vendor is entitled to 10% of the purchase price. You will need to get your conveyancer/solicitor to tell you exactly how much you stand to lose if you don't proceed.
The benefit of only paying a small deposit is that if you do default, the vendor will have to sue you to get the remainder of the 10% which may or may not be worthwhile.
But don't believe that if you only pay a small deposit that is all you will forfeit if you don't proceed. Get advice on it.
Cheers
K
Oops. I ment $15,000 LESS than it cost me to build.
K
Don't. Just don't.
I invested there last year and it was a complete disaster. I lost money on everything I bought. I even bought a block of land and built on the property and ended up selling it for about $15,000 than it cost me to build. This was despite the builder being a friend of mine and building at a substantially reduced price.
Wait until prices around the country start going up again before even looking there.
Cheers
K
I feel like I have to defend Volitans here.
Qlds007 wrote:More like a property marketing group who earn bit fat commissions on what you buy.Richard made a sweeping statement damning the group. I think it was entirely appropriate for Volitans to question the basis for that claim. Is it based on hard evidence or is it just Richard's opinion on all property marketing groups? I thought the same thing when I read the comment. Suddenly Volitans was just dismissed as being a Lifecorp plant without him having made any favourable comments about the company and he has been attacked ever since.
Those of you who read the forums regularly will know that I am more than happy to attack claims of first time posters who sing the praises of companies and are obviously company plants. But I don't think that is the case here. I think that Volitans' "mistake" was to question the basis for Richard's claims. That's all.
If you read his posts he is more about defending his original posts than promoting Lifecorp. That doesn't sound like a company plant to me.
I think you should give him all a break and treat him innocent until proven guilty. If in a couple of weeks he starts promoting Lifecorp then he deserves what is currently being dished out to him. But at the moment he strikes me as someone who is prepared to question comments of forumites and make a reasonably intellectual argument.
Give the guy or girl a break.
K
I'm with you SNM. Remind me never to buy a property from you!!
K
HandyAndy888 wrote:From my experience, cooling off periods are a waste of time anyway. If you want out, you can always default on ANY building inspection, or possibly on finance through the relative clauses…I PERSONALLY wouldn't worry about it….you may choose otherwise…Hate to disagree but I am going to disagree. One of my friends is a property lawyer and he says that the largest increase in his work has been vendors questioning purchaserswanting to get out on finance/building etc clauses. Once upon a time in a booming market, vendors just allowed purchasers out of contracts if the purchasers said that they didn't get finance/ problems with inspections etc, but in this current market, with purchasers very thin on the ground, vendors are now forcing purchasers to show evidence of their right to rescission. If finance is declined, vendors want to see evidence of this. If the contract doesn't stipulate which bank and interest rate the purchaser is going to finance through, vendors are forcing purchasers to go to other lenders that charge higher interest rates.
I would caution strongly against using "subject to" conditions as general "get out" clauses. You may be called on it and forced to complete the contract. Alternatively, get very specific special conditions written into the contract.
Cheers
K
karenday wrote:just say someone says that their goal is to have 5 million dollars worth of property in however many years – does that mean that they will own all of that straight out? or still have mortgages on it?its just that ive heard many people talk like this when discussing goals and i wasnt sure.
I think when most people say this they are just talking about having a property portfolio worth $5mil. However, as said above, there is no financial freedom in having a $5mil portfolio with $5mil worth of debt. That would mean that nothing has been achieved.
My short term goal is to have $3mil of equity: $1mil to pay off my house (if I choose), $1mil to put in the bank/funds etc and live off the interest (if I choose) and $1mil to continue playing around in property (if I choose). That's when I will relax and know that it is all just fun and games.
Cheers
K
gibbo1 wrote:Mmm, smells in a house.Having been a volunteer ambo I have been in houses thinking its going to take alot of work to get rid of that smell.
As you suggested it could be urine, it could of had a body left in the house for weeks or simply a dead rat in the roof. I would first check the roof cavity to elimante that posibility. If the house isn't on a slab it could be a dead animal under the house. Something inside a wall cavity. You will need to have to house openned up and aired out to try and find what areas the smell is strongest.
Better yet, you could pay someone to check it all out for you. Yuck!!
I think you should get legal advice. Just because his employees say that he is going broke, doesn't mean that he is. It may just be the line that they feed to dissatisfied customers to discourage them from suing.
Go see a lawyer and find out whether it is worth your time, money and effort.
Cheers
K
I think it is an excellent magazine. I have subscribed for about 5 years and it is one of the best educational tools I use.
Yes, some of it is repetitive and some of it is boring. But I make sure that I read it cover to cover every month. I often come across situations in my property developing career and then remember "I read about this a few months ago in the API".
Subscribe. It costs less than $200 per year and is invaluable.
Cheers
K
In fact, just last year I tried to get finance for a property using a hybrid unit trust. No lenders would touch it. They all wanted a copy of the Trust Deed and came back a couple of weeks later saying that they wouldn't lend.
How did I end up getting the loan? After receiving legal advice, I simply removed the word "hybrid" from the front page of the Trust Deed! Didn't change a single word in the actual deed. The first lender we reapproached gave us the loan.
Cheers
K
Hi Richard
You are probably right, especially at the moment. In the past I have put in special conditions that the bank didn't even look at. They then asked me questions later on down the track and I thought that if they had read the contract they wouldn't have needed to ask those questions. But that was a couple of years ago. You have far more experience than me with the banks and would know how particular they are at the moment.
My point was really that just putting it in the contract without specifically drawing the bank's attention to it would be sufficient disclosure.
Cheers
K
I think about $25psqm should do it. But just call a local floor polisher and ask them their square metre costs.
Cheers
K
Although, if you have in writing that you have been offered 0.7% off "for the life of the loan", if the bank later tried to change it, you would have a reasonable argument for a misrepresentation/inducement claim. I imagine that any bank, if confronted with written evidence of the offer for the life of the loan would keep your interest rate at just that.
Cheers
K
In SA, the Stamp Duties Act doesn't specify which party is obliged to pay the Stamp Duty; it is just normal practice for the purchaser to pay it. Find out whether it is the same in your state. If it is, write in the contract that the Stamp Duty is to be paid by the vendor. In terms of disclosure to the bank I think that is all you would have to do. I don't think that there would be any obligation to specifically point the bank's attention to the fact that the vendor is paying the Stamp Duty. It is there in the contract. Chances are that the bank won't even notice it.
Of course, you couldn't then add Stamp Duty to the cost base of the property for CGT purposes as you didn't pay for it.
Cheers
K
Actually, there is caselaw protecting the right to a view. Hutchens & Anor v City of Holdfast Bay & Anor [2007] SASC 238 is a South Australian Supreme Court Case that upheld a landowner's right to preserve their ocean view. This doesn't necessarily mean that NSW HAS to follow the case but NSW courts will look pretty closely at it.
You will need to act quickly and object to the proposed development (if it still is only proposed). I think you will definitely need a lawyer to act for you because I'm sure that the developer will be quite cranky about your objection. Once DA has been granted you can't object so you should get onto it immediately.
Cheers
K
I'm still buying. In fact I make my living buying, holding, developing and selling property. Obviously I'm not an investor then as I'm buying in a falling market.
K
My brief thoughts are that in order for you to back out of the deal you would need to issue them with a default notice, which is a formal notice giving them a certain amount of time (the actual amount depends on the state) to meet their obligations, failing which you will terminate the contract. I don't think that you can just suddenly back out without giving a default notice.
As to the rent, that depends what was written in the contract. If the contract just says that you can "utilise" the property, then I don't like your chances of getting the rent. Why should you be entitled to the rent on a property that you don't own? If the contract says that you can keep any rent you get then the vendor is bound by this. Have you already received the rent? If so, the vendor will have to sue you to get the rent back. It would be expensive for them to do this and probably not worth their while.
But that is just my opinion without knowing the facts. You need to get legal advice. You should see a solicitor rather than use a conveyancer. This has contractual issues which are out of the realm of a conveyancer.
Cheers
K
