Victorian Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) Review
The Victorian Government is currently reviewing the Residential Tenancies Act – the law that governs the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants. Significant changes to the legislation have been proposed in the Government’s options paper Heading for Home, released in January this year. The REIV strongly opposes many of these reforms, including: Changes to […]
Victorian Stamp Duty changes for first homebuyers
The Victorian State Government has from the 1st of July, 2017, abolished Stamp Duty for first homebuyers who buy a property with a value less than $600,000 and is implementing a sliding scale of reduced stamp duty between $600,000-$750,000. So, all first home-buyers with contract prices under $750,000 will have some reduction in Stamp Duty, if […]
New Birrarung Council Protecting the Yarra River
Planning Minister Richard Wynne has announced that a new council called Birrarung Council will enforce the Yarra River Action Plan which applies to a 42 kilometre stretch of the Yarra River, running between Richmond and Warrandyte. This section of the river is under threat of over-development which can compromise not only the beauty of the […]
Great morning with colleagues from Brisbane
I spent the morning today with Maddyson and Zoran Solano from Hot Property Buyers Agency and Hot Property Management based in Brisbane. We are both members of REBAA and Zoran is the Queensland State Representative and I am the Victorian State Representative. As you can imagine, Melbourne coffee fuelled active conversation on REBAA and the […]
2017 Residential Tenancies Act Review
The Victorian Government has been undertaking a review of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, as a part of its platform for housing related initiatives entitled ‘Fairer Safer Housing’ over the past year. The final RTA Options Paper outlines an extensive range of proposed changes which are extremely concerning to the REIV and may have substantial […]
Victorian Fencing Law
Most of us have neighbours and many of us have fences that separate us from said neighbours, but ironically the fence that is meant to keep people separated is often what brings people together…in conflict. Because fences are usually erected on property lines they really belong to both properties. Costs of establishing a fence as […]
Estate Agents Council appoints Janet Spencer as Member
I am very honoured to have been appointed a Member to the Estate Agents Council (EAC) in Victoria. The Estate Agents Council (EAC) reports to and advises the Minister for Consumer Affairs on: – the operation of the Estate Agents Act 1980 (the Act) and its regulations – the efficiency and effectiveness of industry regulation […]
Buyer Solutions pulls out of investment property purchase. Why?
To save our client money and to ensure they buy a better property. What happened? We inspected the property Wednesday. The selling agent assured us there were multiple other buyers and he was selling the property on Thursday. They would not allow a building inspection before offers were remitted which was an immediate red flag. It’s […]
Buyer Solutions Market Roundup 2016
Rental Round Up If you plan to buy an investment property in 2017, please book a consultation with Buyer Solutions. Your asset selection criteria need to be very rigorous or you may find it hard to secure a quality tenant. In traditionally strong rental areas like South Yarra rents are softening in the face of […]
Our client had the budget, so why did we stop bidding?
One of the biggest concerns potential clients have when considering hiring a buyer’s agent is whether they will overpay. Many buyer’s agents charge a percentage of the final purchase price. The higher that price the more the Buyer’s Agent gets paid. And here lies the main difference between a greedy buyer’s agent and an honest […]