Curiouser and curiouser: Alice’s new house comes complete with its own looking glass

Post to Facebook on 26/7/2020 9:32 AM
Commenting on “Curiouser and curiouser: Alice’s new house comes complete with its own looking glass”
https://www.domain.com.au/living/curiouser-and-curiouser-alices-new-house-comes-complete-with-its-own-looking-glass-971505/

There may not be stones or hail stones that will damage the beautiful, full length picturesque glass windows costing an arm and a leg to repair, but what about keeping the glass clean to have crystal clear views all the time?

I suppose with an expensive house like this, the owners can afford some petty cash to get window the roof cleaner to do the chores regularly.

Thank you fore reading.

Curiouser and curiouser: Alice’s new house comes complete with its own looking glass

HomeBuilder grants: Buyer hopes dashed by rising prices

Post to Facebook on 18/7/2020 12:51 PM
Commenting on “Curiouser and curiouser: Alice’s new house comes complete with its own looking glass”
https://www.domain.com.au/living/curiouser-and-curiouser-alices-new-house-comes-complete-with-its-own-looking-glass-971505/

As I have mentioned at least in one of my previous posts when the announcement was made on HomeBuilder grants that the house prices would rise by what the government is to top up. Well it is proven correct.

This is also true for First Home Buyer Grant, and for the tax dodging tradespeople and restaurants that offer discount if their customers pay by cash, and not issuing receipts or receipts from a different cash register not used for daily taking.

A lesson buyers must learn is never show too much enthusiasm even they are dying to buy the items. Indifference in negotiation really "kills" the seller, because every seller has a target to meet, or else even the JobKeeper scheme can't keep them in their job for long.

A number of members have asked me whether there will be a drop in house prices and when. The answers are there all over the news. The latest report shows that housing loan has dropped by 30%, and almost 51% of mortgage holders are in mortgage stress, honeymoon period for loan deferral will soon be over, JobKeeper scheme is very likely to terminate by the end of September. You do not need a PhD in real estate to figure out the answers.

But you must remember what I have said so many times - buy within your budget, with backup savings for rainy days, and not to invest in air but land.

One more thing to reminder - be careful of newly renovated house sold by people who just make money by flipping. You are likely buying a lemon.

Thank you for reading.

HomeBuilder grants: Buyer hopes dashed by rising prices

My Story - Part 4

Post to Facebook on 13/7/2020 2:02 AM
“My Story - Paert 3”

Episode 4
Bring home the bacon sooner!

After two interviews with Barry Plant, Glen Waverley, with a different director on each occasion, I still did not receive a reply whether the company would employ me after I finished my real estate agent's representative course.

The night before, or rather the early morning of the last day of my course at RMIT, I was getting anxious or somewhat impatient. That was not very good manners of the directors or the company not to give me an answer whether I was successful in getting a job there

I was still providing support to my software clients in Hong Kong then, and my home office was equipped with many state-of-the-art equipment of that time like hand-held scanner, bed scanner, fax machine, desk top and laptop computers, and good quality colour printers. Internet was only used by the undergraduates in the US universities then, and the mobile phone was more like a brick.

It was after mid-night, I decided to write a letter and faxed it to the directors. I had to put on my marketing thinking hat and using my marketing skill to give it a shot. I had to write something that the directors who were the employer, wanted to read and "buy" my service.

I outlined my key points as llows

1. It had to contain a touch of humour to get attention
2. I had to be direct about my enthusiasm and ambition
3. Created an urgency for them to "buy" my service, or else they would miss out a great opportunity

I did not have that many hours of sleep, because I went to bed at 2:30 am after I had finished and faxed the letter over. I took the train from Glen Waverley to RMIT in the Melbourne at 7:00 am. The course work finally ended, but I could not get the piece of paper to show that I could practise real estate until I was employed by an agency.

It did not take long to walk from the Glen Waverley Station to Barry Plant situated along Springvale Road. I requested the receptionist to see one of the directors. Not long after, I saw one of the directors DT walked along the corridor with a smile on his face and extended his hand to greet me.

Before I had a chance to open my mouth to ask whether he had receive my fax, he said, "You are the one I want to see. I like your fax."

To cut the story short, I scored an interview with both directors, and understood their hesitation and reservation in employing me. They had their hands burnt by a former employee who was from Malaysia. I started my real estate career after that interview.

What was in the fax that amused DT?

1. I needed the job so that I could qualify to become an agent's representative to market real estate
2. I was enthusiastic and wanted work with one of the best agencies in Melbourne
3. I wanted to be a top agent's representative in the near future
4. The sooner Barry Plant employed me, the sooner I could bring home the bacon for the Company

How could the Company walk away from such a good opportunity - to have a hard-working, enthusiastic employee who was also ambitious to reach the top in the industry, bring home lots of bacon to the Company?

Thank you for reading.

My Story - Part 3

Post to Facebook on 1811/7/2020 2:40 AM
“My Story - Paert 3”

Episode 3

I realised many teachers knew very little about computer hardware or software, and yet they were assigned to teach the subjects. I felt rotten to my core, but I decided to do my utmost to change it, and I believe I did improve the quality.

I kept my qualification and background a secret, but not for long. My fellow teachers soon discovered that I was more than just a programmer. Since then, my teaching hours grew, and the number of subjects broadened.

When the state government amalgamated the technical colleges and adult education into Tafe, and upgraded some colleges to merge with universities, great opportunity just knocked on my door.

The Tafe I started with, Eastern Tafe, became Swinburne Tafe, and had campus in Wantirna, Croydon, Lilydale, Hawthorn and Prahran. I was teaching in all the campuses, and during one term, I taught in 4 campuses in a day.

At this point in time, I was only teaching Microsoft Office software, and MYOB accounting software. No one knew that I was a Licensed Estate Agent yet.

I had a bad reputation being very strict, and some students reported me to the coordinators. However, that infamous reputation also landed me to spread my wings to teach in Chisholm Tafe as well as in Swinburne University. Some colleagues recommended me to their friends in those institutions.

One day when I was walking to my class at Lilydale campus, I met someone familiar at the corridor. He was my former teacher when I was studying my real estate licence course at Prahran. He recognised me.

In fact he should because of two unforgettable incidents. One evening, he was stuck in getting the Rental Management software working, and I helped him overcome the problem so that the class could continue. I was the first student granted an exemption for the subject.

The second incident was that I failed my favourite subject, Property Valuation. It was one of the easy subjects which involved mainly simple mathematical calculations. I paid $50 to have the paper re-marked. Whoever marked the paper marked it halfway, and therefore I failed. However, I finally I got back the High Distinction I worked so hard for, and the money was refunded.

This former teacher just resigned from Swinburne Tafe because he found a new full-time job. After wishing him good luck and bidding him farewell, I quickly rushed to the Real Estate course coordinator office and booked an appointment to discuss that vacancy after my class.

That's it. I was in.

REIV did not have the facility to conduct training licence course, and contracted Swinburn Tafe to run it. I was at the right place at the right time, and I became a trainer for potential licensed estate agents

Moving forward a couple more years, I was also teaching at Chisholm Tafe, I was offered an off-campus assessor position for the real estate representative course. That was really lowly paid job, of my own doing, because I spent enormous amount of time providing a lot of feedback to the students in writing! I did not want to do things by halves.

Every few years, I return to the industry and work hands-on with my industry peers for a year or so, in order to keep my marketing skills and knowledge of the legislation up-to-date..

Thank you for reading.

PS. I shall write more about my Teaching experience in my other group, SFC Education, Teaching, Learning.

I enjoy sharing my story with you, especially the younger readers. Life is full of challenges, but you must be prepared before you take them on, or else you will fail. You must also learn to seize the moment, because opportunity does not wait for you or may not come knocking on your door the second time.

My Story - Part 2

Post to Facebook on 10/7/2020 2:07 AM
“My Story - Part 2”

Episode 2

I converted the balcony at the rear of the house into home office. From the office I could see sun rise, and hear bird chirping in the morning. With the sliding windows open, the cool fresh morning air charged up my brain battery every morning to last the whole day.

It was just amazing that I could switch between computer software development and real estate marketing without any problem.

One afternoon, my brain seemed to go on strike. It went blank, and I had to take a break. During this time, I queried myself what I should do with all the knowledge in my brain and my interesting life experience; I had no children to pass on and it would be a waste to bury the valuable assets locked in my head six-foot under when I kicked the bucket.

There was one career I could undertake, that is to become a teacher. I retrieved The Age from the previous weekend and checked through the classified advertisements. Lo and behold, there was a small advertisement from a Tafe in Warntina looking for a sessional teacher proficient in Microsoftffice.

I removed large sections of my resume, except the part that I was a programmer. I started with only 2 hours teaching Access in the evening. Many people were unfamiliar with Access, let alone taught the subject.

Thank you for reading.

My Story - Part 1

Post to Facebook on 10/7/2020 2:07 AM
“My Story - Part 2”

Episode 1

In my previous career before I joined a real estate agency in Glen Waverley, I travelled to almost every suburb in Melbourne Metropolitan marketing decorated cakes each week. That was how I knew so much about Melbourne.

How I managed to get my foot in the agency was very interesting, and I did post my story some time ago in my SFC Marketing Blogs and Lessons group.

When I started in the industry, the market was on the downward slide. Despite that, I had a distinct advantage over my peers, the reason being I could speak fluent Cantonese (Guangdong Hua) and Mandarin (Potong Hua) in addition to English. There were not many Chinese migrants from mainland China then. Those who managed to migrate over were mainly from Shanghai and Beijing. Hardly any agents or agents representatives could speak a word of Mandarin, and that was an opportunity too good to be true.

A few years before 1997, the year when the British handed Hong Kong back to China, many Hong Kongers sought to migrate overseas, including Australia. They could not speak English well, and once again I could use my language skill to service them. In fact, my Cantonese was so fluent without a trace of Malaysian Chinese accent that almost all Hong Kongers thought that I came from Hong Kong.

I was always a keen learner and knowledge seeker then, and still am now. I studied the concepts of Feng Shui, and superstitious beliefs and practices of Southeast Asian and Hong Kong Chinese. Most importantly, I also brushed up my knowledge about Hong Kong history. Oh yes, I worked as fast as the Hong Hongers. Not long after, I completed my full real estate licence, while I was still working as an agents representative. My final project / thesis for my course work was about setting up a real estate agency. It was not easy to get information on market shares and other statistics, because Internet was not available yet. I did SWOT analysis of different agencies, and tried to make sense of the historical rise and fall of real estate cycles.

I was like walking "Google". Oops, Google was not around yet. I knew a lot the about the schools, bus routes, churches and the demographics of Glen Waverley and surrounding suburbs including Rowville. When the keys of a new listing landed in the office, and before it was announced and advertised, I would be the first one to jump into my car to inspect it before other fellow colleagues in the office.

During slack time, I developed my own Customer Relation Management (CRM) software, and also did a lot of analysis on movements of real estate buyers and sellers in the region

I was at a crossroad after obtaining my qualification as a Licensed Estate Agent (LEA). I found too many cowboys in the industry, and the industry was very much of a dog-eat-dog world. Owning and operating an agency was not my preference, because I held very strong principles.

At that time, I was approached to design a bilingual Accounting system for a Hong Kong printing company and subsequently to develop an application system for Food Service Management for a big contracting company.

So I decided to quit my full time real estate job, and became a freelance Vendor Advocate, helping vendors to sell the property. While I was not meeting clients and real estate agents, I spent my time on software development and programming.

I slowed down my Vendor Advocate business close to zero when I decided to spend more time on international travel. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, I doubt I shall jump onto another plane or cruise ship for a long, long time to come. I may reconsider to be a Trainer or Advocate again in order to fill in time, and keep my brain working. Thank you for reading

One in 10 off-the-plan apartment sales collapse

Post to Facebook on 5/7/2020 1:31 PM
Commenting on “Inside a rush pre-auction-day auction prompted by COVID-19”
https://www.afr.com/property/residential/one-in-10-off-the-plan-apartment-sales-collapse-20200630-p557iw/

A member in another group put a link of the following article on off-the-plan apartment having lower valuation during settlement than when the contract is signed.

He commented "Caveat Emptor". This is a term I learned when I was studying my real estate course. What it basically means "Buyers Beware - you're responsible for checking the quality of goods before a purchase is made". Doesn't it sound a bit posh or rich when someone like an agent trying to impress you?

I know many members of this group understand why off-the-plan purchase carries a lot more risks than an existing building. In the latter case, the purchaser can send in professionals to check the foundation and structure, any terminate attack, etc. in an agreed time frame before the sale can proceed.

It is a cold comfort to find out during settlement other tall buildings are around blocking the views that one pays that premium price for, and let sunlight in during the broad daylight.

The coronavirus pandemic reveals what I have saying again and again - space to roam and neighbourhood. I am not in favour of apartment living. Nevertheless , one cannot be certain about the future, and it is wise not to deny "never say never".

Now why does the valuation become lower than the contract price? It is all about the supply and demand. Besides, value of the property depends on land. I am not going to elaborate more, because I have written too many times about land, land, and land.

Just be careful with your money. Feel it, touch it, and talk about it when you want to invest in real estate property. You spend so much much time to find out the car, laptop, and restaurants before you purchase the product or service, make sure you are doing likewise when investing you hard earned hundreds of thousands or even millions. .

If you want to learn more about marketing, including selling and buying real estate property, do read my free education blogs in SFC Marketing Blogs & Lessons.

Thank you for reading.

One in 10 off-the-plan apartment sales collapse

Inside a rush pre-auction-day auction prompted by COVID-19

Post to Facebook on 4/7/2020 8:20 PM
Commenting on “Inside a rush pre-auction-day auction prompted by COVID-19”
https://www.domain.com.au/news/melbourne-auctions-rush-to-bring-kensington-sale-forward-as-pandemic-escalates-967009/

If I was a serious buyer or bidder at the auction of 25 Neville Street, Keilor East, I would report the real agent to Consumer Victoria for underquoting.

The price guide was $800,000 to $880,000, but after the failed auction, which only attracted only one bidder who gave his final offer of $790,000, the property is now listed at $890,000. What it means, the seller / owner would not let go of the property for $880,000 at the auction.

Underquoting is an illegal oractice, and agents who do not comply with underquoting laws risk a penalty of more than $31,000 (200 penalty units).

Thank you for reading.

Inside a rush pre-auction-day auction prompted by COVID-19