Forum Replies Created
Hi Bruce, Hi all!
Actually, now that it’s all said and done, I’ve just
viewed the situation as a costly comedy of errors. [
]I’m sitting here watching ‘Pingu’ on video with my sons,
whilst trying to keep Simon’s hands of the computer cables
and I realise that YES I am a stayer but the motivation does
not come from a want of being rich alone. Money can’t
always make you happy. As my son has just been diagnosed with
Autism (the 3.5 year old) I realise that we are going to need
to put in place securities for him and ourselves.
Investing just for the sake of making a quick dollar will not
be enough to look after our family long term. These salesman
don’t often know the human side to the investors.
Vulnerability is a sure way to get them to take advantage.
I guess the rule of the world is ‘Survival of the fittest’
and when talking to agents etc, maybe its not good to show your hand
a ‘Poker Face’ might be a better approach. I have learnt the hard way, but you also learn quicker that way too.I just hope that by reading these stories, mistakes aren’t made by
others and that some schemes are exposed for what they are.Have a great weekend, Simon won the battle with the cables.. [
]Cheers
Sooshie [
]It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Thanks Rie,
Good Luck with your investing…glad to help if
I can…Cheers
Sooshie [
]It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Hi there,
This web address is courtesy of Felicity (thank-you)
for those interested in looking for country propertieshttp://www.vcpa.com.au/list_of_members.html
Cheers
Soosh [
]PS I think my spelling is improving! [
]It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Hi there,
Congrats on your first posting! [
]Okay you asked for it… [
] !Part 3: Financial planners strike again!
When I started getting negative vibes about the
property in QLD (serviced apartment), I spoke
to hubby and said that if we were spending soooo
much money on this IP, I want to run it passed a
financial planner.
I rang up the financial service
Victoria and they gave me 5 names of financial planners
in the area. As I was in a rush (the contract was
going to be finalised and signed next day by vendor),
I rang all and the first one who could see me (and come
to my home) would get our business. The first consult
was free. He went on about other things, managed funds,
managed funds…and did I forget to mention…….
managed funds…SURPRISE SURPRISE…he gets commission
from managed funds! He said he’d go and write up what we
talked about. The next thing we received is a written list
of what we discussed with him and a bill for services.
What!!! It was supposed to be a free consult.
If we wanted a detailed report it would be an extra $185 per
hour and $650 for report and plan. [] Yeah right!The one thing he did in our favour – and mind you was probably
worth $185 was to tell us to get out of the contract for the
QLD serviced apartment IP. [^] I guess I’d known this but just
wanted the extra reassurance as my hubby thought I was mad and
just causing trouble (“upsetting the bandwagon…”), that’s why I
got the planner out (oh what lengths us wives will do
to get our way!!! []) Hubby knows it’s going to cost us money
when I get nervous about something.Then my next door neighbours husbands sister-in-law is a
financial ‘advisor’ so we went to see her (mind you this is all
before I did my research on Steve). She suggested an accountant
(as did another salesman btw…hmmm) and some IP’s through
developers she can introduce us to (which we went to see). At settlement she recieves $1500 commission on any property, but her
fee for financial service is under $50 per/hr. She is btw a
very nice lady. Excentric like me [] !We went to see some properties, the salesman told me his life story and in the end he said “how can you buy a property of me? You know my life story, you even gave me advice!”, I said, “Don’t be embarassed, as a nurse and midwife confidentiallity is assured, and I wasn’t going to buy a property from you anyway because it’s not what I want, but you did a good job anyway, by showing the human face of realty”.
Another financial planner wanted to charge us $4300. Gasp, splutter…
are they for real?So to all of you out there who are reading Jan Somers, John Burley,
Margaret Lomas etc etc… It’s fine to do your research. Self
education is a good thing! Financial advisors, planners, assesors etc
are good for lining their own pockets, there are exceptions to the rule, however. So you see I had quite a few run ins with Financial
planners and I have benefitted from some of their advice, so your not
alone…Cheers
A very sleepy Sooshie [|)]
It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Hi Mike,
Committed {[
]} !!! I guess that’s what your saying. Showing your
commitment to the agent, vendors,deal etc. Makes good sense.
Would you believe there are some girls who’d go out with a guy
who’d said the latter.. (Not me of course)It takes all types…Cheers and glad you have a good sense of humor [
]Sooshie
It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Hi Nessie,
Congratulations on making the necessary steps to the road of freedom!
If your looking for websites, check out the post on ‘Useful Links’ The participants of this forum have been kind enough to give many good links to help and they can be found at this posting. Happy surfing!Cheers
Soosh [
]It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Hi Louise,
Just a quick note. I heard on a radio station, this man saying that it would cost him 28K for himself and his wife to do this property course. [
] 1st person @15K and 2nd person @13K. By golly I wish I was one of those people who could afford to pay that money for a property course!!! [] I reckon for 15K I’d like private tuition in my own home and someone holding my hand exclusively for that price. Maybe a trip to the USA to hear John Burley would be cheaper. Why don’t you try Steve’s seminar, my husband came home revved and eager to go! It wouldn’t cost that much and you could still have enough money to do a wrap if you so chose.
I agree with Steve. In the end it’s up to you. Perhaps read the posting on <font color=purple>Costly education</font id=purple>, check out the http://www.ninemsn.com website at ACA for their property investing advice.Good Luck with whatever you choose
Soosh [
]<font color=purple><i>It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect! </i></font id=purple>
Hi there,
Just a quick note. The “weisle (Mike mentioned)” special conditions are for your protection and HAVE saved us from making HUGE mistakes, which may have ruined us completely. Don’t be bullied by anyone into avoiding these additional conditions it doesn’t cost you a cent but may save you hundreds. When I wrote in these conditions I had NO idea they were called ‘weisle’ clauses, but even knowing now, I’d rather it be called ‘weisle’ the leaving them out and everyone saying I was an Idiot for leaving myself open to well known racketeers.
QLD market has tightened up significantly but remember there are people who make a living on finding Loop Holes, definitley they have their employers interests at heart, not yours.I’m sorry Mike if I offended you with the suggestion of these clauses, but I am only new to investing and maybe I can one day find a better way to protect my interests without wasting others time, wading through contracts like these. Perhaps you could suggest something that would be better. I’d be happy to hear it.
Cheers [
]Sooshie
It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Hi Regina,
Thank you for your reply and I’m really sorry to read that you lost so much money doing something we nearly did. I’m also happy we posted these stories to help others, especially newbies to this site who are just starting on their road to investing.
I remember Steve’s rule about finding out where abouts on the ‘food chain’ you are. Your right, after doing our homework, we saw that we wouldn’t be that cash positive once the management fees and a cleaning fee ($35 per day!!! usually only for 1/2 hour) etc was taken out of the equation. I wish my hubby let me get a cleaner every day I’d probably end up inventing new things to ask her/him to do. []
The banks also need to tighten up I guess, because the market glut is drawing to a close and the money is going to be needed elsewhere, so they can’t afford to be so ‘giving’ {sic}
I hope your future endevours are more fruitfulCheers
Sooshie [
]It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Thank you !
Sooshie [
]It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Hi Jarrod,
The house prices in Geelong have almost doubled over the last 12 months and the ‘locals’ can’t comprehend the jump in prices (this is from feedback from potential wrapees who’ve said “You’ve got to be joking!” and we haven’t heard back from them). This is especially in the areas of Norlane and Corio. Nth Geelong and Bell park its even harder to find a good wrap property (properly priced for wraps). I’ve been looking for 8 months now. It’s quite frustrating actually. The people I know who’ve done wraps in the area have had wrapees do a runner leaving a ‘trashed’ house resulting in out of pocket money to do it up before trying to find another wrapee. This includes new locks, repairing damaged doors, security doors, walls etc.. It pays to get good leads, but if the locals are in shock due to price jumps, finding someone who won’t do a runner might be a challange.
Perhaps buy and hold might be a better option for the moment until the locals have time to catch up with the changes in capital growth. You might also benefit from the delay in wrapping due to the growth occuring there. I’m also a newbie and am still learning the ropes.I was interested in wraps in the Latrobe Valley, but due to the high number of wrapers in the area, the house prices have gone up and everyone knows about wraps.
The agents in the area (both in Geelong and the Latrobe Valley) are quite funny! As what happened in Melbourne, in areas like Bentleigh, Ormond, Caulfield, St Kilda etc due to the glut of people buying houses at or way above asking price (especially at auction) some of the agents became sluggish and were often quite blaisee (spelt wrong oops)when asking them about the property. I went to an auction in Bentleigh East and the auctioneer said ‘ If you want the property I suggest you start bidding, because I’m not going to pull bids from the air and I’d rather pass the house in then have to stand here and pull teeth. If your in, make a bid, if not I’ll pass it in.’ The house got passed in. (This guy will never be my auctioneer!!!) Anyway after the glut in the market in this area, there are heaps of ‘For Lease’ signs everywhere..
On the grapevine I’ve heard that some are finding it very difficult to onsell. I am sure there is a positive side to wrapping in Geelong.
If you want to drop me an email, I could let you know some more.Does anyone have any other feedback about Geelong or whether I’m wrong about the Latrobe Valley? Any other suggestions?
Cheers and Good Luck
Soosh [
]It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Edited by – [email protected] on 07/10/2002 3:01:22 PM
Hi again [
]I finally got one into bed and the other out with de hubby. I promised a second installation of our costly education.. So here goes. I wish I would have learned about Steve earlier but better late then never [
] !<font color=blue> PART 2: Sharks </font id=blue> (This is a long one)
Firstly, I am fascinated by sharks (the aquatic variety) and have scuba dived with them peacefully (they were well fed [
]), but the human shark variety gets me angry and I wish I never had to swim with them. They are a more deadly variety and often take much more than the shirt off your back! Or they try very hard too!After <font color=orange>PART 1 </font id=orange>fiasco, Hubby decided to go to another seminar. This time there were no freebies, except that someone would come to our home, free of charge to assess our situation for investing. Hubby told me what time he was coming and I had tea, coffee and biscuits prepared.
The ‘Salesman’ did his ‘shpeill’ and said that we had a huge investing capacity and that he had the properties for us to negative gear and one was positive cash flow but negatively geared. To get on his company books would cost $100. <font color=teal> Alarm bells !!!</font id=teal> Hubby said okay and signed up $100 non-refundable (Now I will just say, hubby is no fool, just very gullable).
We spent the day, first in the office with a ‘financial advisor’ who came up with a borrowing figure. Then we went to see some townhouse in Dandenong, Cranbourne and Clayton. At the Dandenong property we had 3 to choose from. One of them had a agents board layed out in the front garden (keep this in mind).
Cranbourne had a huge power line above it and the grounds were so muddy my shoes were ruined [], we couldn’t get in, because the keys wouldn’t open the door. I was not interested. Finally at Clayton, there was a hole in the ground where the prospective property would be. This 1 bedroom flat, came with a rental guarentee for 1 year. It was an off-the-plan project.After this inspection, the salesman noted how observent we were and said that not many people would look so close as to the sloping of floors, wasted spaces etc. He took us to the developers office and showed us the colour scheme of the unit.
Then he got his ‘financial’ advisor (not the first one, who had QUIT in not so pleasant terms from her employer) who was an obsequious, condecending piece of baggage, who annoyed the living daylights out of me. We chose the property we liked and he was to go to the banks and find a loan for us. One of the other property was a QLD property, a serviced apartment, which pooled the rent if you wanted a guarenteed income.
In the beginning the salesman had told us that the financial advisor, the salesman (himself) the insurance person and conveyancing solicitor were all <font color=purple>SEPARATE</font id=purple> entities but under the same umbrella company.
The salesman mentioned that there was a fight between the Syd and Melb office with regards to selling the 1 QLD unit and that if we wanted it we had to rush to sign the contract (without the advice of our lawyer- we wanted our own lawyer to peruse the contract). Thank the stars I put in clauses to protect our interests, because we did sign the contract and got the ‘financial advisor’ to look for a loan -funnily (?)he used the bank that this company does all its finance with…surprise surprise! When we signed the documentation we noticed a clause stating that not only would he receive 0.6% commission with a trailing commission of 0.1% for the term of the loan, but also a bonus 1% commission on settlement. We refused to sign that and crossed it out. I looked at the salesman and said, “we don’t have to sign that I hope” and he said that he didn’t bother telling us about it, because none of his clients have to pay it, they just waver that fee (I BET THEY DID!!!)
During the week, I had second thoughts. My misgivings nagged at me until I drove hubby, who was happy to just leave the status quo, crazy. I told hubby that something was wrong. I rang up the real estate agent who had the sign in the property that was supposed to be listed exclusively with the salesman’s company and found that they had sold one unit 50K less than what the salesman quoted us (fixed price). I confronted the salesman who was spitting nails (not with us though, he thanked me for ferreting out that the real estate agent had broken the contract with the company).
When I was told that the QLD unit was in a beautiful area, but would have little capital growth and that most banks wouldn’t touch a serviced apartment with a tenfoot pole! We gave our lawyer the power to pull us out if he wasn’t happy with the terms and conditions of the contract (a condition I included on the contract – remember this!!!)Phew!
Now the unit in Clayton, I decided also to pull out, when people in the real estate industry told us that the price was okay, but we had also prepaid the rental agreement. Most said that if you had to have a rental agreement – stay away from it. This made sense to us. We told our lawyer to pull us out as the contract hadn’t been signed by the other party.
I rang up the ‘financial advisor’ and told them not to worry about the loan documentation because we wanted to speak to an accountant before purchasing properties. He was NOT happy and said “I’ve already done all the work, you can’t pull out now. I’ll talk to __ (the salesman) and get him to come and discuss the situation with you”. I had made up my mind, but I said okay. The financial advisor said ” He’ll come over and you make nice tea and coffee and eat the lovely biscuits…” Uccchhhhhh! I hate being treated like a 2 year old.[
!]The salesman came over and said <font color=blue>”My boss told me I shouldn’t tell you this, but you know your lawyer in QLD, well he has a conflict of interest and you should get another lawyer” </font id=blue>
I said <font color=green>”Why”</font id=green>
He said <font color=blue>”Well I’m not supposed to tell you, but his partner’s wife used to work for our boss and they had a falling out and she left and brought a lawsuit against my boss, but she lost the case”</font id=blue>
I said <font color=green>”Really, oh dear! Perhaps we’ve been hasty and made a mistake choosing him” </font id=green> Would you believe, that I think he actually bought that response!!! Of course I was being sarcastic!
He then said <font color=blue> “It wouldn’t surprise me if he wanted that unit, it’s so popular!”</font id=blue>
I almost choked on the rediculousness of it. <font color=teal>Our lawyer, on the Gold Coast, doing conveincing for us in Brisbane, wanting a property he didn’t even know of, and of all the Lawyers in QLD, it’s HIS partner’s wife who worked for this salesman’s boss…!!!!</font id=teal>I don’t think so! Now I hate liars! But this, well this was a Whopper with all the extras. He was begging for a [], luckily I’m not and neither is my hubby violent.Then he said to us <font color=blue>”I’m the only one who can get you out of the contract, so I will do so for the one in QLD – because we have another buyer, but the one in Clayton, I will not let you out of. I’m the only one who can, and I won’t let you do it”.</font id=blue>
My hubby looked at me, then looked at the salesman and said <font color=purple>”–, we got confirmation yesterday that both contracts had been recinded successfully </font id=purple>. The salesman, looked like an idiot and he left our house never to be heard from again.
I rang up the lawyer and asked him about his partner’s wife and he said that she was a tennis instructor and had been for 30 years! He also laughed when I asked him if he wanted the QLD unit. He said, in all his 25 years in conveincing he’d never heard a whopper like that before.
Hubby and I had a good laugh, but to this day (4 months later) we still can’t believe the nerve, the gall and the lack of integrity this salesman had. As I said to hubby, never trust a man who doesn’t own an animal, plant, furniture or car. He’s too shifty by far!
It cost us about 1k to get out of all the legal entanglements but we put it down to a costly education. After this, we did proper research, got ourselves an accountant in the know and did our due diligence.
Sorry it was so long winded but I hope it can teach you a lesson. I really hope it can help someone avoid the mistakes we’ve made. Apart from financial cost, the emotional and mental stress involved was enourmous. Investing is not for the weak hearted. Steve’s newsletter is so true, read it again and again! Be carefull always! And please ignore the spelling mistakes [
]Cheers
Sooshie [
]p.s. I keep finding spelling mistakes, so I will try to edit them out
p.p.s. I can’t disclose the name of the salesman or company etc for legal reasons etc… but you can always email me for any extra info.
<font color=purple><i>It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect! </i></font id=purple>
Hi again [
] ,Here’s a link for you to check whether your getting the best deal. It does cost money, but if your wrapping in one area, it may be worth it. It’s a service, which you need to decide if you need or want. It’s up to you!
Here goes! http://www.residex.com.au/
Cheers
Soosh
It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Hi all!
Just a quick update. The bank finally agreed AFTER we’d signed the new loan documentation that THEY were at fault and generously put the value up on our house by 10K after I’d done my homework and ran around getting 3 agents valuations on paper and comparisons of houses in the area… 2 Hrs homework for 10K..mmm that is GOOD! [
]. Even before they agreed to this 10K increase on our well deserving house [], they agreed to give us the higher interest rate cut of 0.25%.
Hubby and I are very pleased.Thank you to all of you for giving us the information to arm us in our battle with the bank…
BIG CHEERS 2 U
Soosh [
]It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Hi,
Asalws, after you do your first few wraps, then you might want to find someone interested in doing wraps in partnership with you, in an area that is further away from you. Let’s just say, if you were to do this wrap at a great local approx. 2-3 hrs away, the wrapee may just want to become a wrapper once he’s cashed you out and has enough equity in his home to become one. Remember it’s a Circle of Life and wraps could become a Circle of opportunity It’s just a thought though.
Our first wrap is 1hr and 45 minutes away and we took our (then) 9 month old and our 3.5 year old with us for the drive… A CHALLANGE to be sure!!! We’re not sure how we accomplished that feat with about 3.5-4 hrs in the car, but where there is a will there’s a way.Cheers and Good Luck
Soosh [
]It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Hi all!
Thanks Mike for your encouragement [
] Sounds like a great site, I’ll pop over there shortly []
On a seperate issue, just a quick note; when posting a link, please make sure to follow the forum rules and if you have any doubt as to whether or not you should post, please contact PI admin for permission. This will keep everything running nice and smoothly and keep everyone happy. TA!Cheers and ‘ave a good weekend
Soosh [
]It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Edited by – [email protected] on 04/10/2002 6:29:46 PM
Hi,
Been in the same situation before, albeit a costly experience. Sometimes they just want to make sure your serious and that they can show something on paper so that they (the agent) can prove they have done some work [
]. If you are serious Tim, it should be okay aslong as you have your exit stratagies including all your conditions which safeguard you. Perhaps you can include another stipulating that both parties are able to negotiate an acceptable price etc, but are free to recind the contract if an acceptable outcome cannot be reached. You would have to contact your lawyer (I hope you have one in mind prior to making an offer) who could assist you with wording conditions and with whom you can discuss this issue with.
Ask the agent WHY an offer of interest is not acceptable.Good Luck
Soosh [
]It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Hi all,
This is not a link but just some info. There is a magazine called Coast to Coast which is dedicated to Real Estate properties around Australia which has ‘for Private Sale’ and agents aswell. It can be found at some major newsagencies. This might be helpful to some of you.
Cheers
Sooshie [
]It’s all our imperfections that make us perfect!
Edited by – [email protected] on 26/09/2002 4:46:20 PM
]
]
] Yeah right!
] !
]
], we couldn’t get in, because the keys wouldn’t open the door. I was not interested. Finally at Clayton, there was a hole in the ground where the prospective property would be. This 1 bedroom flat, came with a rental guarentee for 1 year. It was an off-the-plan project.
], luckily I’m not and neither is my hubby violent.
]
