Just heard….

recently we put in an offer on an old abc chilcare centre. At $385k it was a great buy we put in a lower offer but came to this after a week. This was what the recievers wanted. Had we put it in this offer first we could have possibly snaffled it up- as we were the first to see the only sign ,within the week though a few had seen it and we were out bidded at $425. We found out later an aquaitenace bought it and today found out hes just sealed a 30 yr total lease -$75k a year a little bit of work to do but not huge.

Still this is all good in hindsight. and we are happy with out little $150k unit we bought instead- a good reno adding a third bedroom and hope to increase to $240ish with a $25k reno.

Of course then theres all those houses we could have bought in Darwin- and more so the ones we bought but sold earlier!!

Hi Erikmarwood,

It is definately a buyers market in Cairns at present there are some good buys to be had. Are you looking to buy a house or unit?

I would suggest ringing a few property managers and asking them what is renting quicker at the moment and what tenants are looking for. Dont ask a sales agent this question they will all tell you something else and you will get confused. Talking to the property managers will also give you a feel of which ones are efficient and know the market for when you want to rent your investment out.

There is a lot on the market in Southern cairns both to rent and buy- this is great for buying but then there are also a lot of properties to rent which will give you lower yields.  I am not familiar with the amounts on the nth side – I have seen a couple of good renovaters there.

You will be hard pressed to find a house in the central suburbs of Cairns – brinsmead, edge hill whitfield at under $300,000 even in todays market.

I havnt looked a lot into the unit market, though believe there are some good buys with yield over 5% at the moment.

This Just came through last week

REIA Guidelines to the Trade Practices Act (TPA)Photographic RepresentationsPrepared in collaboration with the ACCCACCC
Statement of Concern
The increase in popularity of advertising via the Internet has seen an increase in complaints to the ACCC about the ‘touching up’ of pictures that appear on these sites. More and more consumers use the Internet as their primary source of information about a product. The ACCC is concerned that photographs of properties which have been touched up to hide undesirable characteristics or enhance other features could mislead consumers.

REIA Guidelines
The REIA reiterates that whether conduct is misleading or deceptive, including the portraying of photographic images, can depend upon the overall impression or the implied representation produced by that conduct. Therefore, agents must ensure that photographic images and other market devices are not used in a manner that can give rise to implied representations that are false or otherwise amount to misleading or deceptive conduct. Consequently:
• Real estate agents must not alter or permit to be altered photographic images of properties, digitally or by other means, such that the images no longer truthfully and fairly represent that property.
• Whether the alteration of a photographic representation is misleading or deceptive will depend upon all of the circumstances. For example, digitally adjusting the exposure of a photograph so as to brighten the lighting of the photograph taken on a dull day may well be legitimate. However, removing television aerials or power poles adjacent to the property; brightening up paint work on a house or over-stating the views that might be achieved from the property may well amount to misleading or deceptive conduct
.• Real estate agents may well be liable for misleading representations contained in photographs that have originated from external sources such as an advertising subcontractor or the vendor. The passing on of such photographs by agents to potential buyers can amount to misleading or deceptive conduct by the agent. Agents would be well advised to ensure that their contracts with advertising sub-contractors include provisions to ensure that the sub-contractors do not engage in misleading and deceptive conduct, including in connection with marketing representations contained in photographs.

• Real estate agents should also bear in mind that it is generally no defence to an action for misleading or deceptive conduct for a real estate agent to claim that the consumer concerned should have checked the information provided by the agent or for the agent to claim that the consumer has failed to make reasonable enquiries.

They have just done this in a big way in Cairns- pushing through development above local council regulations in a hurry to  try to combat our double figure unemployment. There is quite a lot of stuff in the media about it.

They just bought a block further up the road from me just over 1000m2 in the city for over $700,000 (Cairns remember)

Boy do I wish my block was bigger! looking forward to the next suburb stats!

Thanks Tracey B, DWolfe and Catfree- yes we have created a logistical nightmare- it is getting so hard now that we refuse to give in!

I think we have sorted it – we now have my mum flying in from brissie to meet up with MIL from Adelaide- and even though partner and I have been together ova 10 yrs- they have never met- because as they say- The wedding never happened did it! (every time we thought about it we decided we would spend the money buying another property instead! in hindsight I wish we thought about it a lot more!)

Anyway- Melbourne here we come!

hi Gh, we are the same in cairns, which has had one of the highest employment rate rates in the country at 13%  and while there are people talking of great things to come inn ? years?   vendors still seem to want astronomical prices for property- so we are hearing you there- bit maybe its something we need to get used too?

Hi Jaffa,
Our boards were painted – they had numerous layers on them plus carpet and lino! We ended up sanding them – there was a red layer thats extremely hard to sand off- though came off eventually with some heavy duty sand paper, sweat and tears. There was a bit of a blue layer that did stay in some of the grooves of timber- character- as are the two pieces that have been knawed by termites at some time over the last 100 years- we filled them with epoxy after being quoted $14 lm to get the same timber milled.

We love our floors- word of warning though- we can do most things but  would never sand them ourselves again- It was hard yakka and with soft floors easy to muck up. They are also easy to dent and sometimes its a never ending battle with the kids.

In answer to your question though I have seen some really nice places in my recent inspections with painted floorboards- mostly in off whites. very nice and easier I imagine. I would never use carpet in Cairns though for a rental in melbourne I would think it would be  the cheapest way to go especially in the bedrooms. There are some very good and hardy vinyl/ lino fake timber flooring options out there now for living areas. Or for a more upmarket rental the bamboo floating flooring is classy with an environmental twist. It can generally be put straight over the top of most flooring and comes sealed already.
good luck.

Hi Supersapper 42,

We live in Cairns and are always up for a chat.  PM me some details if you like.

I Know it dosent help to get your floorboards however there are some very good vinyls out there now that look as suave as floorboards- vinyls have come a long way.  might make life a little easier than arguing with body corporates which from my experience can be very painful and frustrating