TODAY'S HEADLINES
"Take Mr. Buffet's word for it before property heats up"
A LEADING Gold Coast prestige property agent says that despite the idling property market and volatility in the global commodities now is the best time to buy.
PRDnationwide Elite Properties director John Natoli said astute investors should move to secure property, before the market gathers steam due to the recent interest rate drop.
"People are often influenced by 'dinner party' conversation -- by the opinions of their friends and family -- and those conversations often centre on the property and share markets," he said.
"Many have the conservative opinion that when the markets quiver they should wait before buying further property.
"They take their eyes off the ball for a spell and consequently only come back into the market when everybody is talking about buying again.
"By then the markets have already taken off and most of the capital gain has been lost."
Mr Natoli said, however, taking direction from the likes of Kerry Packer that you should 'buy in gloom and sell in boom'.
"Building on that philosophy legendary American investor Warren Buffett said in a recent interview 'a simple rule dictates my buying: be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful'.
"And most certainly fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors.
"Warren Buffett continued by saying he is buying American stocks and feels that fears regarding long-term prosperity of country's many sound companies 'makes no sense'.
"The recent one per cent interest rate cut by Australia's big five banks has signalled the start of such a trend, and rates are expected to continue to drop for the next few years.
"Pundits have recently predicted rates will drop as low as five per cent by the end of next year, and that, coupled with new reduced stamp duty charges should provide the impetus for the property market to surge once again."
Mr Natoli said if a buyer was looking for a new primary residence, they were buying and selling in the same market and the ups and down of property values should not matter.
"I'm not suggesting that you go out and rush into any acquisitions nor am I suggesting that you place yourself under hardship, but I'm suggesting that the market presents exciting opportunities," he said.
Have a great weekend!
"HISTORIC DAY for THE FIRM"
2.00pm, 4th September 2008
Good morning everyone,
Great news! ... Finally after all these years of preparation we have lodged our Expression of Interest with the Federal Government for the National Rental Affordability Scheme and Low Cost Affordable Housing. The deadline for our registration of Expression of Interest was submitted at 2.00pm, 4th September, 2008. This is another milestone, a historic day for The FIRM ... PHEW!!!!
For those members who remember back 6 to 8 years ago when I met with the Federal Government. and presented a solution for a Affordable Housing Fund and was declined, years later they released our proposal in the last Federal Budget March, 2008.
Our application is made in advance of legislation be enacted to establish the National Rental Affordability Scheme so I will keep you in the loop as we progress.
Under the auspices of the Council of Australian Governments details of the following initiatives are being finalised:
- A Housing Affordability Fund - to reduce infrastructure development and holding cost burdens for upto 50,000 new homes.
- A National Rental Affordability Scheme- to invest $620ml over the next 4 years in rental housing for low to moderate income households in housing stress, at 20% below market rents.
- A National Housing Supply Council - to analyse the adequacy of construction and land supply for the next 20 years.
- A Commonwealth Land Audit - to expedite the release to surplus Commonwealth land by revamping the Commonwealth Property Disposals policy.
In our final proposal we will include a range of National development projects, Tenancy and Property Management, Investors and Affordable and faster construction techniques. A full turn-key solution!
Our consortium includes:
- One of the largest construction companies in the world - a provider of professional services and products, currently engaged in Government schemes. Is a Fortune 500 company.
- A provider of local manufacturing plants and local job opportunities.
- 28 National and Local developers with whom The FIRM has had long term relationships. These developers will provide housing stock to the consortium to meet guidelines of the Government.
- A large National Real Estate corporation to provide Tenancy and Property management to the consortium.
- The FIRM to provide investors.
The Prime Minister and the Treasurer are committed to these initiatives because they have heard first hand from those Australians and their families who are struggling to buy or rent a home and for those who give up on their dream of home ownership.The massive decline in housing affordability presents real challenges for the residential property market as it is no point to build houses if no-one can afford it. Today the average house costs seven and a half times the annual wages compared to four times in 1996, says the Minister Housing, Tanya Plibersek.
The National Rental Affordability Scheme is aimed at increasing the supply of affordable rental accommodation, thus offering the members properties that are more affordable with the combined added bonus of the Federal and State Government incentives rebate of upto $8,000 per year over 10 years.
Take this a step further, we could design a perfect exit strategy for the members after the 10 years has lapsed if we educate the tenant for a buy back after this period.
We ran a Personal Investment Analysis (PIA) which shows unbelievable figures when you include the Govt. rebate. Very, very affordable weekly contributions ... Like the good old days!
If you require more details please do not hesitate to call me.
Enjoy the weekend!
Courtesy Gold Coast Bulletin
Good afternoon guys,
Just in case you heard there is doom and gloom out there, yesterday's headlines provide a very encouraging future, so there is no better time to consider expanding your property port-folio than now, as there are bargains out there and our developers are prepared to negotiate to clear excess stock prior to 30th June 2008.
So what are you waiting for ...call me now!!!!
We had a very interesting meeting yesterday with the Queensland Government, Department of Housing who were very helpful in the direction we need to go. They also confirm that our original proposal that we presented 5 years ago is certainly on track. We are currently drafting our Expression of Interest which will be lodged to State and Federal Government early July 2008.
As always, I will keep you in the loop as we continue to deliver our "Standard of Excellence"
Have a great day!
Beattie Rd, COOMERA to house 45,000 new residence
Courtesy Gold Coast Bulletin, Thursday, June 5,2008
Good morning fellow members,
Congratulations to all those 1,000+ members who had faith in following their instincts on Beattie Rd, Coomera for the past 10 years as we have now all hit pay dirt ... YIPPEEE!!!!
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Savannah Palms
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Oak Park
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Savannah Waters
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The Cove
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Evergreen Manors
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Beattie Place
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Samarinda
The 3000ha site on Beattie Rd near Dreamworld have been declared 'greenfield' sites that can be accelerated to get new properties on the market quickly in the hope of making housing more affordable by driving down prices.
The Coomera site would be able to provide 18,000 average size dwellings to house 45,000 people.
Ms Bligh said the government was determined to tackle the supply side of housing affordability. "I want the Australian dream to be alive and well here in Queensland, and I want it particularly for young people wanting to buy their first home," she said.
Ms Bligh said a team would be established in the Department of Infrastructure and Planning to bring the sites to market by this time next year. "Buying a home is one of the most significant investments any of us will ever make," she said. "I want to ensure that it remains in the reach of everyday Queenslanders."
The state budget handed down yesterday included duty exemptions for first-home buyers and other measures aimed at addressing housing affordability.
Remember, around 5 years ago when I was battling with Federal and State Govt. with a proposed plan to eliminate the Low Cost Housing crisis here in South East Queensland, well, guess what, contact has been made to consider the proposal, so stay tuned as we continue to offer a "Standard of Excellence" that is exclusive to all the members.
CONGRATULATIONS ... Ring your partner and share the news ... and get excited ... you deserve it!
Have a great day!
2008 Federal Budget News at a glance
Courtesy Gold Cast Bulletin, May 14, 2008
Good morning fellow members,
Interesting Federal Budget with many mixed feelings however a snapshot of how it will effect us (investors) for the future according to Peter Cameron, who has been reporting on big issues for four decades.
Housing affordability, renting
- $2.2 billion package, including saver accounts to help people save for first homes.
- First $5,000 of individual contributions in saver account to attract 17 per cent government contribution.
- Earnings from account to be taxed at 15 per cent.
- Rental affordability scheme to encourage building of 50,000 new rental properties by 2011-12, costing $623 million over four years.
- Investors to get $8,000 a year for 10 years for each dwelling rented to low income earners.
If you have not bought a Merc or Porsche by now, chances are you will be left at the Treasurer's starting grid.
Enjoy your day!
QUEENSLAND IS TOP'S AGAIN
Good afternoon everyone,
Another interesting article I wanted to share with you about the current economic climate according to the experts, courtesy of Andrew Bell, Ray White, Surfers Paradise.
A number of interesting commentaries point to a general consensus regarding real estate and, more particularly, Queensland real estate.
BIS Shrapnel, through their Senior Economist, Jason Anderson says, "household income growth in Queensland has been significantly higher than NSW or Victoria over the past 3 years, which, together with an extended phase in rents and reduced vacancies, translates to a positive outlook for good positive growth for Queensland apartments. It adds up to still being a very strong fundamental environment in terms of property price growth over the course of this year and into 2009".
This is part of an article which recently featured in Domain (SMH) under the sub-heading "Our northern neighbour offers several advantages to investors".
Also in the same feature real estate author Terry Ryder from the Hotspotting website says, "Queensland remains the property market of choice for investors across the country - particularly those with a long-term view".
"Queensland is driven by the pistons of strong state economy and nation-leading population growth. The major markets of south-east Queensland are well into a recover phase and locations beyond SE Queensland continue to show life, especially those impacted by the resources boom", Ryder says.
Accordingly to BIS Shrapnel forecasts, Brisbane is projected to show the best growth over the next 3 year and, by 2010 will be the leading long-term growth average of Australian capital cities.
BIS Shrapnel research also shows that Brisbane, which of course represents a barometer for the whole SE Queensland region, is showing an imbalance between supply and demand and that Brisbane, as a result, is set to affect apartment prices. Jason Anderson believes the capital will soon face a dire shortage of apartments, especially for renters.
"The imbalance is going to get even worse in the inner-ring suburbs...."So, in that sense, there is a leaning towards that end of the market - particularly if you are looking at the volume of demand, which will rely substantially on new office developments to be completed in 2008 and 2010".
According to a nationwide study released by property services company Herron Todd White, the Gold Coast market is set to perform well throughout the first half of 2008. Gold Coast director Tod Gillespie said this buoyancy was borne by the fact that agents were reporting limited supply levels in most property sectors across the city and there was good enquiry from local and interstate buyers.
All of the above commentaries certainly are supporting our forecast that the most fundamental of all drivers of the real estate market, namely the growth in population versus the levels of construction, play heavily in favour of strong support for current prices and price growth throughout 2008.
We are simply not building properties fast enough to support the population growth, so the increased competition for the limited housing supplies available will certainly support strong prices.
Month on month there may be variations, but the trend is clearly very solid.
Yours faithfully
Andrew P. Bell
Chief Executive Officer
Thankyou Andrew for sharing your wonderful update with us.
No wonder why there is such a shortage of good quality stock. Appreciate your patience for the next HOT PROPERTY release as it is certainly worth waiting for ... Coming soon!
Enjoy the rest of your week!
March 2008
"Experts buoyed by 6pc growth"
EAGLEBY 88.8%
Courtesy Gold Coast Bulletin, Thursday, March 13, 2008
 
Good morning guys,
Here it is! ... Townhouse and unit figures just released from REIQ (Real Estate Institute Queensland) for this quarter showing a total growth of 6%.
Check out the areas highlighted where we have all invested over the years ... Great News!!!!!
EAGLEBY has reached a staggering 88.8% change over 1 yr ... and stage 2 of "Lincoln Green" settles mid to late April ... COOMERA is still maintaining over the odds. How good is that!
Brisbane Region
Figures just in for Genesis, Upper Mt Gravatt show the latest re-sale was $420K and the same with Marque on Manley, Wakerley. This is over $50,000 to $70,000 more than we all paid for them just 12 months ago. ... YIPPEEE!!!
Congratulations to everyone, you have the faith and I thankyou for your support, otherwise none of this would have ever happened.
Now tell me that property investments do not work ... LETS GO SHOPPING!!!!! ...
Get ready for an exciting wave of HOT PROPERTY soon to be released which will knock your cotton socks off!
"Again, first in, best dressed as the frenzy continues"
Have a great week!
January 2008
What suburbs did you invest in last year?
Courtesy Gold Coast Bulletin
The highlighted suburbs in yellow are the areas we all concentrated on over the past 8 years. All areas highlighted performed magnificently.
Highest % (equity) over 1 year -
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1st place Eagleby 52.2%
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2nd place Hope Island 37.6%
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3rd place Broadbeach 29.3%
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4th place Beenleigh 20.0%
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5th place Benowa 17.5%
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6th place Coomera 14.4%
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7th place Robina 11.5%
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8th place Mudgeeraba 11.1%
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9th place Ormeau 8.3%
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10th place Varsity Lakes 0.06%
Congratulations to all those members who recently invested in the 120 townhouse complex "Lincoln Green" at Eagleby. Stage One settled in October 2007 and we await the final stage of Stage 2 to be completed, hopefully February 2008. Then we can go shopping again ...YIPPEE!!!!
Congratulations to all the other members who have the faith in the long term commitment to secure a better lifestyle for their future.
These results have proven to be better than we all anticipated especially over the short term ... Congratulation again!
"PAMELA MUNCE our favourite accountant strengthens relationships with The FIRM"
Courtesy Gold Coast BULLETIN Friday, 7th December, 2007
Good morning fellow members,
The $24ml financial planning, investment, business broking and accounting company, UPA, established 17 years ago by husband and wife team Suzanne and Stuart Webley, acquired Business Growth Professionals (BGP) recently.
Pamela Munce, Executive Accountant, BGP and former KPMG business manager, has now relocated to UPA's stunning offices, overlooking the Broadwater in Marine Parade, Southport.
Pamela and her highly skilled team continually support many of our members of The FIRM for many years, most of who are business people and individuals with high taxable positions. The UPA purchase opens up new opportunities to all of our valued members as they now have access to the full range of professional services from accounting through to financial planning.
Pamela invited me to the new diggs last week to meet with Stuart. We both look forward to a mutually beneficial association for future discussions.
As always, I will keep you up to date with the progress.
Congratulations Pam, as we continue our standard of excellence. Check out Pam's Profile on www.the-firm/about-us
"Coomera on top 12 property hot-spot list"
Courtesy Sunday Mail, December 2, 2007
Good morning everyone,
Trust you are enjoying another fabulous Sunday.
Zingara's performance at Jupiter's Casino was a spectacular show and certainly worth visiting. I wont spoil the surprises with my comments however you must book in early.
Coomera hits the headlines once again. Queensland Govt. also identified Coomera as the key growth area, and the suburb has a projected future population of more than 80,000 residents.
I guess most of them will be our tenants when you include all our tenants in our developments which include Savannah Palms, Savannah Waters, Oak Park, Coomera Cove, The Cove, Evergreen Manors, Beattie Place, Samarinda, Riverlinks, Oxford Mews, Havard Mews, and the foundation development way back in the 1990's Koala Town.
WOW!!!! Just listing them was a mouthful, I cant believe that we as a group have collected so many developments over the years in the area of just Coomera... That's incredible... 1000's of tenants.
Now for the BIG one ... FIRMWOOD Estate ... "The BIG momma of them all" with over 1,200 tenants living in a very unique development that will envy tenants and owners alike. This very special project will be something that you will certainly be very proud to be a part of.
So, stay tuned as I continue to deliver our standard of excellence.
Enjoy your Sunday and chat soon.
Kindest regards,
John Ibbitson
Founder & Chairman
"TO BE or NOT TO BE?"
Good afternoon everyone,
Thankyou to all the members who concerned why I haven't emailed you recently. In fact I have been so flat out with the new development of FIRMWOOD Estate that time has absolutely flown by. Everyone is just going to be blown away with what proposals are earmarked for the development. So, stay tuned for the next exciting episode to be announced very soon, hopefully Santa's present to everyone.
TO BE or NOT TO BE ... this is the question?
Politics & Religions are very sensitive topics, topics which most of us steer well away from as there is always many different opinions and assumptions that determine our beliefs.
An article which has just been released today from the boys of Ray White, Surfers Paradise, which I would love to share with you, couldn't of explained the situation of the election any better than I. So with his permission I would like to share with you the opinion from one of our industry leaders and personal friend, Andrew Bell.
Andrew Bell
CEO Ray White
Surfers Paradise
Whatever your political persuasion, one thing certainly stood out on Saturday night in relation to the change in Government. There was none of the bitterness or the smugness that we have seen over the past 30 years when Governments have changed hands; instead there was an environment of respect and goodwill.
Mr Howard delivered an impressive statesman-like address under what must have been incredibly difficult circumstances; it was a class act. Mr Rudd was also impressive and was gracious in his comments about Mr Howard and set a platform which, if delivered, could provide a great unification for Australia.
They were both correct on one key point. This is a magnificent country and, whatever our political persuasion, we are a nation of amazingly talented people. We have achieved so much in our very short history and, since Federation just over 100 years ago, this country has experienced periods of time under both Labor and Liberal Governments and that journey has lead us to where we are today.
We are certainly at a unique point in time for the country and much thanks must go to both Mr Howard and Peter Costello With the election behind us it is now time to get on with life. Let's make the most of the opportunities which this amazing Australian economy provides. We trust that the new Government will be disciplined in its economic management, as they have promised to be.
It is interesting to note that, in the last 30 years, we have actually had a greater number of property booms under a Labor Government than we had under Liberal, and, with the excellent platform that is in place, 2008 is looking to be a fabulous year for Gold Coast real estate.
One aspect that underlies what will happen in the Gold Coast property market is that population growth is far greater than the construction of new dwellings. Therefore, irrespective of what happens in relation to Government decisions in the foreseeable future (i.e. many years) we will experience a property market which is driven by that basic 'supply and demand' issue.
At the Ray White Surfers Paradise Group we are busily preparing for the spectacular January/February season. Everything points to a bumper season and, if you are looking for any indication as to the impact of the Government on property buyers at present, then results last week could not speak more loudly. Just three days before the election we held our November auctions, where 27 properties were submitted and 17 of those properties sold either under the hammer or prior to auction; the auction room was abuzz with activity. Several sales have since occurred also, which is a very clear sign that not one of those buyers cared if it was Liberal or Labor in power.
Such are the market forces at present, so, Australia, let's get on with the job.
Kind regards
Andrew P. Bell
Chief Executive Officer
Well, there it is! ... FREE PLUG for RAY WHITE ... Ha-ha!!!!
Have a wonderful weekend and safe celebrations as the Christmas parties commence.
We are off tonight to Jupiter's Casino to kick off the party mood with everyone from The FIRM Money to enjoy the spectacular new show that everyone is raving on about. Lucky for us we all have Sunday to recuperate ... Ha-ha!!!!
Chat soon.
Kindest regards,
John Ibbitson
Founder & Chairman
0414 888 186
"Disneyland for Coomera"
Courtesy Gold Coast Bulletin Friday 27th July 2007
Good morning everyone,
Well, I told you so, its sort of official, Disneyland is coming to town, more importantly to Coomera ...YIPPEEE!!!!!
Makes sense after all, we are the entertainment capital of Australia. Can you imagine how Coomera is now going to go right through the roof, aren't you glad you have a piece of it ... or do you!!
The FIRM Money is out of control now as they provide unbelievable deals for all of us. Check out the web-site www.the-firm.com.au or call the boys on 1300 595 110
The last Hot Property release are nearly all gone so don't delay.
Have a great weekend!
Chat soon!
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