Risky ride on the vendor-go-round

Posted to The Age (22/1/2012) on 24/1/2012 at 3:46 PM
Commenting on "Risky ride on the vendor-go-round"
http://theage.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/risky-ride-on-the-vendorgoround-20120121-1qbal.html

It is most unfortunate that many vendors and buyers do not take the trouble to learn more about sale / purchase of property and real estate agents' behaviour. Vendor selling a property is in fact conducting a small business, even though the business concern lasts hopefully within days or weeks. Some potential business operators attend related TAFE courses or seminars prior to sinking their hard earned money in for the venture, and yet many property vendors just blindly follow the instructions of the agents or agent representatives. The present property median price of $551,000 is worth more than a small grocery store or milk bar. In order to run a successful business, the operators do need to understand a bit of business plan, marketing, budgeting and decision making.

Analogous to a property buyer, we know that many people shop around for a thousand-dollar fridge and 20-30 thousand-dollar car for days and weeks. However, purchasing a property is very different from these items; there is no warranty period or refund policy. Once purchased, the buyer cannot return the property to the previous owner and ask for a refund if the buyer changes his/her mind. Property buyers must not think that they are expert in this field even if they have sold or purchased several properties before. A good agent or representative is required to sell a property a week or around 40 in a year. This is beyond the capacity of many property investors!

I have written a lot of blogs on this subject matter, and I must reiterate here that real estate agents piggy-back on vendors' advertisements to promote their profile, thus relying on the vendors' advertising expenses.

Anonyupload: faceless group steps in after Kim Dotcom's arrest

Posted to The Age (24/1/2012) on 24/1/2012 at 2:43 PM
Commenting on "Anonyupload: faceless group steps in after Kim Dotcom's arrest"
http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/security-it/anonyupload-faceless-group-steps-in-after-kim-dotcoms-arrest-20120124-1qewy.html

How interesting to observe history is repeating? I don't think many computer users these days know what PC stand for, and why Apple and IBM PC were "invented"?

Miranda Kerr: Australia's new Wonder Woman

Posted to Grazia Ninemsn (23/1/2012) on 23/1/2012 at 10:12 PM, 7/2/2012 at 5:46 PM (Not published by Newspaper)
Commenting on "Miranda Kerr: Australia's new Wonder Woman" (Wonder Woman is a Yank)
http://grazia.ninemsn.com.au/blog.aspx

Pea brain - whoever came up with the idea and agreed to the photo shoot! It is an insult to our national flag, because Wonder Woman was not and will never be an Australian.

The Australian public should be given a public apology by Miranda Kerr for misrepresenting all the other great and wonderful (not wonder) women of Australia for selling Australia short (of fabric material), and promoting the "wonder" of Americanism by misleading Australians that we are connected with it via the display of the Australian flag.

Racism very much alive in Australia, says Dr Charles Te

Posted to Herald Sun (20/1/2012) on 20/1/2012 at 3:42 AM (Not published by Newspaper)
Commenting on "Racism very much alive in Australia, says Dr Charles Teo"
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/racism-very-much-alive-in-australia-says-dr-charles-teo/story-fn7x8me2-1226247766763

Won't it be funny if the indigenous people were to tell the descendants of the convicts, fleet officers, migrants and refugees to go back to where they came from?

3000 more uni places

Posted to The Age (17/1/2012) on 17/1/2012 at 12:17 PM
Commenting on "3000 more uni places"
http://www.theage.com.au/national/tertiary-places/3000-more-uni-places-20120116-1q3a5.html

Having a degree from a university or college that offers higher qualification does not guarantee that graduate actually earns his/her mark.

Many universities of today are no better than a college with a facelift. TAFE and private colleges that offer Advanced Diploma as the highest qualification can no longer survive. Some have transformed into high-ed institutions offering degree courses, even though they are NOT universities.

The numbers game does not necessarily produce academics or achievers, but on the contrary it makes top students average, and unjustifiably lifts the non-deserving ones at par with the top graduates.

It is disgraceful that university standards have been lowered to improve pass rate. Plagiarism is so prevalent and close to epidemic proportion. Students pay professionals or past year’s students to complete their assignments. Hardworking and top performing students are frustrated by lazy and good for nothing team members in team project work; and unfortunately the genuine students’ outcome is affected negatively.

Australia needs more tradies, NOT university graduates who cannot fix plumbing, electrical works, or build houses. There are not enough upcoming tradies to replace the retiring ones. Whether it is about fixing a leaking toilet cistern, building a house, laying out NBN cable, etc, tradies’ charges will continue to soar unless more qualified tradies enter the workforce.

We MUST lift the educational standards from primary level onwards. A smart nation needs smart people. Unfortunately with our country is run by not so smart politicians, things will never work out!

Am I cynical? Yes I am.

Australia the slow coach in starting fast trains

Posted to The Age (16/1/2012) on 16/1/2012 at 4:24 PM
Commenting on "Australia the slow coach in starting fast trains"
http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-news/australia-the-slow-coach-in-starting-fast-trains-20120115-1q1fg.html

This is an expensive transport system, and don't expect the fast train to stop at all stations. The crux of the matter is, why do we need such high speed train, and can the cost justify the real benefit to the Australian population and economy?

How often are our different modes of mass transport system fully booked? The ordinary mass transport systems are close to empty after the peak hours. We have shouldered enough tax burdens by all the various direct and indirect taxes, and a fast train system will send most Australians below poverty line.

Fast train will cannibalise other industries, and in fact send many country towns broke. Some towns rely on the passing trades from tour coaches and self-drive tourists travelling to other major cities.

I am always fascinated by the argument on the security aspects of air travel versus rail travel. Any idiot having the determination to blow up a plane can do likewise to a train or important venue. We cannot constantly subject ourselves to such fear, or else life is not worth living! So what if I have to go through all the checks at an airport; I spend more time sitting at the waiting lounge than just a few minutes of inconvenience!

Any Australian government or private consortium dare to introduce it are likely have rocks in their heads.

Counting eggs before they hatch (Part 4 of 4)

Posted to The Age (13/1/2011) on 13/1/2011 at 2:59 PM
Commenting on “Counting eggs before they hatch”
http://theage.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/blogs/domain-investor-centre-blog/counting-eggs-before-they-hatch-20120110-1pt5n.html

It is frightening to read more and more reports about companies sacking or retrenching staff. These reports do not only fuel public unease about job insecurity, but also national economic uncertainty. Many potential home buyers will defer their purchasing decisions, and investors will reassess whether their investing in properties could attract tenants if job opportunities dwindle.

The existing Labor government make mistakes after mistakes wasting good money on things that don’t create more employment. The Government introduce taxes which bring more hardship to businesses that need to compete with cheap imports and online market. The flow on effect creates more hardship to the defenceless – Australian public who have to face high utility costs.

Real estate industry is a very large industry (may be RP Data can supply some statistics on this), and it is not a static, stand-alone one. Including all the other related industries, they are the largest employers in any nation. The Government need to have a cold hard look on their policies and review how these can impact on the real estate industry.

End Part 4 of 4

Counting eggs before they hatch (Part 3 of 4)

Posted to The Age (13/1/2011) on 13/1/2011 at 2:58 PM
Commenting on “Counting eggs before they hatch”
http://theage.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/blogs/domain-investor-centre-blog/counting-eggs-before-they-hatch-20120110-1pt5n.html

RP Data sell data. When they make controversial / nonsensical predictions or statements, they attract attention from readers and people interested in real estate, including the real estate professionals, thus creating a higher profile and exposure for the business. This is exactly what they want, so that they can go to potential clients to sell other services including some “more reliable” data.

Reported statistics can only be used as a guide and not as a bible. Many agencies do not report auction bad results, and delay the sales on leaner weeks instead. Most private sales are not included in weekly auction report because they have not gone through an auction process. Some of the RP Data are extracted from various government departments, which are not readily available until they have been entered and processed. The report of rise and fall of 0.1% as a basis for predicting the health of real estate trend is unprofessional and the spokesperson should be reprimanded and come clean with a public apology.

End Part 3 of 4

Counting eggs before they hatch (Part 2 of 4)

Posted to The Age (13/1/2011) on 13/1/2011 at 2:55 PM
Commenting on “Counting eggs before they hatch”
http://theage.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/blogs/domain-investor-centre-blog/counting-eggs-before-they-hatch-20120110-1pt5n.html

If there is a bush fire in a country town does not imply the whole of Melbourne is on fire. The crash in some regions is more evident and severe than others. Indeed, some suburbs do experience fall of 40%.

Many properties in certain suburbs are highly inflated, due to overseas investors’ coming to snap up properties in a rather uncontrolled manner – without requiring FIRB’s prior approval. This was an ill-thought out policy from Kevin Rudd who tried to avoid the GCF. This policy has now been reversed, and the overseas investors’ retreat stops further speculation, and the prices fall substantially and hurt many locals who follow the Joneses. Easy finance also attracted many who could not afford to fall into the mortgage trap and these people will be victims suffering from financial suffocation.

Life is more than just possessions and owning a property. During difficult times, people need to make sacrifices. My wife and I went without chairs for two years when I bought my first home. We used to sit on cardboard health drink cylindrical boxes.

End Part 2 of 4

Counting eggs before they hatch (Part 1 of 4)

Posted to The Age (13/1/2011) on 13/1/2011 at 2:54 PM
Commenting on “Counting eggs before they hatch”
http://theage.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/blogs/domain-investor-centre-blog/counting-eggs-before-they-hatch-20120110-1pt5n.html

Costs of material and labour have soared substantially and new constructions are not good proposition for many, unless they are replacement of properties in prime areas. In the 50’s to 70’s blue collar workers could earn a lot more than white collar workers until Paul Keating decided that Australia needed more people to be academically qualified and the switch from trade oriented training to college and university education. With those pieces of certificates and degrees, the paper-qualified workers’ income began to climb, and less people would turn to the less glorified jobs including those related to construction.

The older tradies are retiring fast, and there are not enough to replace them. Australia is still facing a shortage of tradies, and enrolment in TAFEs is still disappointing. If it is not for the overseas students or new migrants doing these courses, the labour cost will even sky rocket further.

End Part 1 of 4

More bleak times ahead for housing

Posted to The Age (10/1/2012) on 10/1/2012 at 11:32 AM (Not published by Newspaper)
Commenting on "More bleak times ahead for housing"
http://theage.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/more-bleak-times-ahead-for-housing-20120107-1ppiy.html

The unreasonable property price rise was a fault of the government policy by introducing FHOG, which indirectly put extra money in the developer's and vendor's pockets from its early introduction. The long term effect is propagated and felt until today.

In order to soften the impact of GFC, Rudd introduced policy in removing the FIRB approval on foreign investment, which unleashed a real estate monster. This policy is now being reversed.

One must not compare our real estate prices with Canada or USA. If so, why does not one compare ours with Hong Kong or Japan? Every country goes through different phases of development and the people value ownership of properties differently.

Investing in real estate is a business and requires business, financial and management skills. Decisions should not be made by looking through a crystal ball or throwing a dart on a special real estate dart board.

Rates and costs are published and well publicised, and buyers have no excuse in blaming anyone for making wrong decisions. The current fall is a painful lesson for investors who were impatient and followed the Joneses, committing to large loans that cause untold mental and financial stresses. For the live-in owners, you have not made any loss at all because you have not sold your properties; their values are just numbers on paper.

Penalty rates under fire from celebrity chef

Posted to The Age (10/1/2012) on 10/1/2012 at 10:51 AM
Commenting on "Out of the frying pan: penalty rates under fire from celebrity chef"
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/restaurants-and-bars/out-of-the-frying-pan-penalty-rates-under-fire-from-celebrity-chef-20120109-1prx3.html

The labour and industrial relation systems must be revamped if Australia is to survive for long haul. Pay rates must be deregulated, where there is one and only one minimum wage set for all industries, including senior and CEO positions.

This may sound like exploitation of cheap labour at first glance, but on the contrary only the good, willing and genuine workers will get the job. A job is a commodity, and it is up to the job seeker to bid for the job through a combination of pay rate and negotiation skill. If consumers go for cheap imports or online bidding / purchasing for goods of certain quality, why can’t the employers do the same?

Once an employee has proven their ability and effective contribution, it is unlikely for an employer to go for someone cheaper of unknown quality.

There are people who want to work weekend or nightshift due to other commitment, and are prepared to accept normal rate. There are good workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of theirs, are prepared to take on jobs at any rate in order to keep up with the mortgage payment and put food on the table. Being employed is a privilege as well as a right.

Teach migrants about deodorant says MP

Posted to The Age (10/1/2012) on 9/1/2012 at 10:14 AM
Commenting on "Teach migrants about deodorant, queues: MP"
http://www.theage.com.au/national/teach-migrants-about-deodorant-queues-mp-20120110-1ps6o.html

Hygiene is virtually a non-existing word in many people’s vocabulary these days.

Do you walk around in the house with the same pair of shoes that you use outside? Can you imagine how much filth has been brought in, possibly with disease carrying germs being deposited in the carpet? Worse still your toddler may crawl round on the carpeted floor in the house.

Do you wipe the seat or ground in the public place before sitting down with that clean pair of pants or dress? Whatever is on that garment is going to be transferred to the furniture or bed in the house.

So, you may be hygiene conscious and wash your hands after using the toilet; but do you realise that you turn on the tap using the dirty or contaminated hand and turn it off after washing the hand which is now supposedly clean? Furthermore, you turn the dirty door handle/knob when you get out of the wash room.

Do you kiss a friend on the cheek as a friendly gesture at a gathering or function? There is a good chance that one person who is not in the best of health has kissed on the same cheek during the occasion.

Above all these is that not many people change to clean clothing or have a complete wash down after a hospital visit, as germs can harbour in the clothing and body parts. Unfortunately doctors and nurses may be not as hygienic as one who has BO and does not use deodorant.

That's all folks for my hygiene lesson.