JPP News

Ian, Sam & the JPP Team would like to send our thoughts & wishes to those who have suffered loss & major inconvenience in the recent floods, We talk daily about how Australia is a lucky country, and of course it is a wonderful place to live, however this has just shown, anyone can be dealt a really tough blow.

Hearing how many people have gone through this multiple times in the last 18mths is such sadness to us.

When you live in a suburb where this has not happened it is just so hard to imagine all this water flowing through your home, it is just terrible event. However this really shows how tough we can be, as these people, who are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents etc., just keep moving forward with what they can.

After discussing this situation with many people from here & abroad, we are yet to find anyone who hasn�t been touched by all this recent weather, from the top end to the bottom of Australia.

All families which are trying to survive and rebuild from these difficult times we hope you stay strong and know that we are all willing to help in any way we can. As we said our thoughts are with you all, & we hope your lives return to normality as soon as possible.

What a great sight to see our wonderful soldiers assisting in these areas. Great effort, to see so many people chipping in to help.

Sam James

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Property Management

JPP Property Management is a boutique agency Our team are available to discuss your investment at any time. If you are unhappy with the service you are paying for with your current property manager, you can transfer across to JPP Property Management as easy as a phone call to start. Or if you are a new landlord, call now to chat about how we can assist you.

A recent Phone call to JPP from prospective landlord.

Landlord - Tired of no communication with current property manager & no suggestions from property manager to update of improve property, minimal inspections getting done as required.

Our property Manager called current property manager to transfer tenancy & property to JPP, to be told tenants had given notice 3 weeks earlier & would be vacating property in 7 days!!!!

After querying if correct notification was given, current property manager had said she sent a letter to the landlords, we asked why the property was not being advertised for new tenant. Her response was she had not heard back from the landlord!

This is 1 week prior to property being vacant.

When we spoke with the landlord we were told no mail correspondence had come to them, no phone calls made!

After all this our landlord decided to let the current property manager finish the lease with current tenants to finalise their relationship.

When we received keys from landlord for the property, we met landlord at the property to find it in VERY poor & not tenantable condition.

The landlord is now repairing the property at his own cost, He will then see whether his insurance or the previous property manager will help with some of the cost to rectify damage.

JPP will work closely with this landlord to get the property up to a speedy tenantable condition.

This situation is not isolated, we have had several landlords come to us, explaining similar situations where property managers are just not doing what is required to care & maintain your investment.

Communication between landlord & property management should not only involve when something needs to be repaired.

The same goes for tenants, the horror stories of what tenants go through are similar: this should not happen if you care for your investments.

If you have a happy tenant, they will care for your investment; our property managers are always available for a chat!

Sam James

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Market Overview

Three day cooling off laws change significantly from 1st March.

With summer over, both by date and weather, the Melbourne property market has shown some signs that the autumn season may have some strength to it. The REIV clearance rate again exceeded 60% with just short of 800 auctions. There were also nearly 650 private sales reported throughout the week. These numbers will vary slightly throughout the week as more results come through.

It seems much of the strength is in the sub $1.5M market. Many of the 2nd home buyers seem to be slowly coming back to life after a two year hiatus. This is beginning to increase stock levels in the sub $700k bracket and with investors also breathing life in the lower end; it seems turnover numbers will most likely increase this year.

Next week numbers are well down due to the long weekend, and then we should see a brief frenzy of activity until the Easter slow down. It is what happens after Easter that will really shape this year�s property market.

There was a significant change to the law that came into force on March 1st. In Victoria, buyers of property who sign a contract of sale have three clear business days with which to withdraw from the contract for any reason they so choose. There were a few exceptions to this rule, the main two as far as the average buyer was concerned were: If you signed the contract of sale within three business days either before or after a publically advertised auction or if you had received advice from a legal practitioner before signing the contract. The latter no longer is in force.

You can now receive legal advice prior to signing the contract and you still have your cooling off period. Even though I only work for buyers, this change to the law doesn�t necessarily help us. It removes the possibility of finality. It makes it impossible to offer a good deal that gives the vendor surety. We have made many deals happen specifically because of this. The three day cooling off period was designed to allow those purchasers who signed a contract without legal advice time to get someone to look over the deal they had made. It is now designed to allow people to change their minds.

There is one benefit that I can see for the prospective purchaser. Many times we have decided to buy with a condition subject to Pest and Building and to soften the condition we agree to get the inspections within the three day cooling off period. To do this means we couldn�t, in the past get legal advice prior to signing the contract: now we can.

This has significantly changed the negotiation landscape for buying property. If a selling agent wanted to do a deal prior to an auction, he or she would normally only take an offer if the purchaser had received legal advice. In other words the offer was unconditional. That means they could call around to other interested parties and say, �We have received an offer that will buy the property prior to auction. If you wish to purchase the property please have your offer in by 5.00pm today.� They would normally give a fairly close indication as to the offer, in order to push up anyone else. They knew if they didn�t get any better offers they had the property sold regardless. This scenario is similar to a �Boardroom Auction�

With the change to the law on the 1st March this year, this is no longer an option for selling agents. Boardroom auctions are no longer viable as they are not final (the offer would have a three day cooling off period). Sale by set date, tender and expressions of interest campaigns will no longer work as they were intended. These offers usually state that the purchaser must have attained legal advice prior to submitting their offer, thereby making all offers received unconditional. This is now no longer the case.

NOBODY CAN WAIVE THE THREE DAY COOLING OFF PERIOD. YOU CANNOT CONTRACT OUT OF A LAW.

Even offers within the auction campaign will prove difficult. For example, an agent is given a very good offer on The Tuesday before a Saturday auction. If he takes it and lets all other interested parties know he has an offer that dramatically exceeds the range and will be accepted by the vendor if no better offer is received, he runs the risk of scaring off all the other contenders, albeit at a lower number, whilst he has to wait until Friday night to see if the purchaser cools off. If he doesn�t take the offer and this purchaser does not attend the auction, he may have made a substantial error for his client.

I can�t wait for someone to challenge the definition of a publically advertised auction. Can a publically advertised auction be �advertised� on the internet for today at 4.00pm? I am genuinely unsure of what the length of time needs to be before an auction is deemed �Publically Advertised� If there is no time frame, can an agent who knows he is going to get an offer at 2.30pm advertise the property on the internet at 1.00pm, that the property will be for public auction at 5.00pm on the same day and therefore alleviate the cooling off period?

It will be interesting to see how the next few months negotiations play out in the public arena. If you are interested in purchasing property please do not hesitate to give me call and we will see if we can assist you

Ian James
Director
JPP Buyer Advocates

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Spotlight On Melbourne Suburbs

In our regular spotlight section we examine a selection of Melbourne suburbs, highlighting what's happening in these areas right now

Ballarat

Municipality: City of Ballarat
Population: 94,088 (2006 census)
Postcode: 3350
Location: 105km from Melbourne CBD

Located 105km north west of Melbourne which � including the urban areas � has a population of 94,088 (2006 Census) and spans 740 square kilometers. Ballarat is the largest inland centre in Victoria (third in population). Arguably the most significant Victorian �boomtown� (gold being discovered in the 1950�s) with a rich history (notable for the Eureka rebellion). Ballarat is a scenic location, with views of the Great Dividing Range and the man-made Lake Wendouree, and features a mixture of Victorian architecture and post war housing on large blocks of land. Units are popular in the denser central locations and as Ballarat is home to the University of Ballarat, there is also a large student contingent which keeps demand for cheap rental accommodation high. As well as being one of Melbourne�s rapidly growing population areas, Ballarat also attracts plenty of Tourists. The scenery is attractive and unlike Melbourne, it�s hilly and green with forested areas. One of Ballarat�s main attractions is Sovereign Hill � an open air museum on a 25 hectare sight in Golden Point. Ballarat has a substantial amount of heritage architecture � in the city you�ll find wide avenues and boulevards lined with deciduous trees, abundant park land and 19th century statues and monuments. Bridge street is the main pedestrian shopping mall, however other significant shopping areas include Central square shopping Centre, Norwich Plaza and the City Arcade. Expect the population of Ballarat to keep expanding, land is cheaper than Melbourne and the area attracts families on lower incomes looking for a more affordable life style with an average population growth of 1700 people per year.

Amenities

Main Schools:

• Ballarat high School
• Ballarat Secondary College
• Ballarat and Clarendon College
• Ballarat and Queens Anglican Grammar School
• Australian Catholic University
• University of Ballarat

Transport - Ballarat Train Station (which connects to Melbourne � journey is 64 minutes) & Wendouree railway station. Ballarat also has a small city airport North-West of the CBD (It is forecast that by 2012�15 regular domestic passenger services using 40�50 seat commuter aircraft may feasibly commence. � Wikipedia)

Shopping - Shopping malls include Central Square Shopping Centre, Norwich Plaza, and the City Arcade � The CBD is centred around Sturt Street, Lydiard st and Bridge Street (which is the main pedestrian shopping area) .

A mixture of Victorian architecture and post war housing on large blocks of land features in most established areas. New housing dominates in the growth areas on the outskirts of the urban boundary, units and villas are more common in the central locations, however they make up only a small proportion of the over all stock. (There is a fairly high proportion of government housing in Ballarat.)

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Recent Articles Of Interest

Number of million-dollar Melbourne suburbs falls to 17: APM

The number of suburbs with median house prices above $1 million fell both in Melbourne and Sydney over the second half of 2011, with notable falls recorded in Toorak, a suburb synonymous with wealth and prestige.

APM senior economist Dr Andrew Wilson says the Melbourne prestige market has been "very soft", with top-end buyers very scarce at the moment.

"There was some activity towards the end of the year, but this was mainly from bargain hunters � there is good value to be had," he says.

Read the rest of the article here (source: Property Observer Website)

February rental vacancy rates

The residential rental vacancy rate in Melbourne is currently 2.4 per cent, confirming that the city has moved from having a shortage of rental homes to a more balanced market.

REIV CEO Enzo Raimondo said that, while the easing in the rental vacancy rate would be welcomed by Melbourne renters, the availability of rental homes in regional Victoria remained very low.

"The February rental vacancy rate in Melbourne of 2.4 per cent indicates a greater availability of rental homes than is the case in regional Victoria, where the vacancy rate is a mere 1.4 per cent.

Read the rest of the article here (source: REIV)

Buyers rights to cool-off changed on 1 March

If you are a buyer of residential real estate you will find that cooling-off rules have now changed.

Buyers no longer lose the right to cool off just because they sought and obtained advice from a lawyer before signing a contract.

This means that if a buyer intends to use your lawyer to help with a purchase they will be on the same footing as someone who employs a conveyancer, so far as cooling-off goes.

Read the rest of the article here (source: REIV)

Sam James

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Interesting Sales

Ninemsn reported this replica home was built by a Utah homebuilder in a Salt Lake City suburb which went onto the market in June last year. The interior of the home has been painted to imitate the original house in the movie �Up�. Quoting sale price of $400k. This property has been reported to have had 45,000 visits. If only that happened in Melbourne!!!

Source: Ninemsn.com.au

Sam James

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Technology Monthly

Playstation Vita

When it comes to consoles I have always been a Sony fan boy, from the first Playstation to the PSP I have bought each console on or near their release date and have been amazed by each one in it's own way.

The Playstation Vita was a hard one, it is by far the most expensive handheld I have ever bought and the 2nd most expensive console overall. (the Playstation 3 being the first)...and it is hard justifying (to say, a wife) spending roughly $500 on something this small...but then you get it in your hands and it all makes sense.

I first saw this device in E3 videos from last year and the graphics looked unbelievable, but I wasn't sure how the touchscreen and touchpad on the rear of the device would be useful...and to be honest, I am still having trouble using them, they are awkward to reach and in the heat of a game it is quite easy to drop the device while reaching for them. The battery life is also not that impressive with 3-5 hours of life (this could be fixed by a battery accessory). these are really my only complaints with the console itself.

Being Sony, they have developed their own proprietary memory cards and game cartridges (they say to prevent piracy), which I wouldn't mind, except that the price of the memory card is more than double the price of a standard SD card of the same capacity.

The Console - Feels amazing, very high quality and sturdy, the d-pad is very responsive and although small the dual-analogue sticks are very easy to use. The touchscreen is particularly bad at picking up fingerprints, but the touch works very well and the rear touchpad takes a bit of getting used to, although it works well. The front and rear cameras are terrible (not that you would actually take proper photos with it) at only 0.3 megapixels each. The unit also has Wi-Fi, Built in GPS, Optional 3G, Bluetooth and the standard Playstation buttons and shoulder bumpers.

The Games - They are hit and miss - Uncharted is easily the best handheld game I have ever played, being just as good as the PS3 version, but Ridge Racer is a hollowed out shell of a game, with only 5 cars and 3 tracks, with the option (as of February 2012) to purchase one additional track for the hefty sum of $4.25 and one additional car for $2.45....oh and if you want to play some of these games online, you need to buy a pass, which in the case of wipeout 2048 is $15.95...if these publishers are going to continue to ask for up to $70 a game and then additional purchases for features which should be a standard inclusion, the console will sell poorly (until it is inevitably hacked).

Other Features - The unit has also supports apps which can be downloaded from the PS Vita store...these are quite nice to use with the usual suspects - Twitter, Facebook and Skype being present, I am sure more are on the way. One of the features I am most excited about is remote play meaning you will be able to stream games straight from a PS3 to the Vita to use as an external screen and controller, although there are only a handful of games that support it at the moment.

Verdict - If you can justify spending a small fortune on gaming, the Vita is definitly worth it, the graphics and gameplay provide a handheld experience like nothing before and as long as developers support it, there should be some amazing games on the horizon.

*Image from thetechlabs

Chris Thursfield

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Recipe (by request): Sticky Date Pudding

Ingredients:

Pudding:

• 270g (1 1/2 cups) deseeded dried dates
• 312ml (1 1/4 cups) water
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 60g (1/4 cup) butter, roughly chopped (we use salted butter)
• 2 large eggs (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
• 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
• 188g (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour
• 150g (2/3 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar

Butterscotch Sauce:

• 180g (3/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons, firmly packed) brown sugar
• 300ml (1 cup plus 2 1/2 tablespoons) cream (35 to 40 percent fat)
• 25ml (1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon) golden syrup
• 25g (1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon) butter (we use salted butter)

Method:

1. Place dates and water in a small saucepan over high heat. When the mixture starts to boil, add bicarbonate of soda and 60g butter, and remove from the heat. Stir and then set aside for 25 minutes (the butter will melt during this time).

2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Celsius fan-forced). If you are not using a fan-forced oven, adjust the oven rack to the lower half of the oven so the top of the pudding will be in the centre of the oven.

3. Grease a 20cm diameter (top inside measurement) round springform pan and line the base and side with baking paper.

4. Place cooled date mixture in a food processor. Pulse mixture a few times to form a chunky paste.

5. Add eggs and vanilla to date mixture and pulse a couple of times until just combined.

6. Stir flour and 150g (2/3 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar together in a medium bowl. Use the back of the spoon to break up any lumps of brown sugar. Add date mixture to the flour mixture and gently fold the ingredients together until just combined.

7. Pour batter into prepared pan.

8. If, when baking, the pudding starts to overbrown, loosely cover it with greaseproof paper.

9. Begin making the sauce (see instructions below) about 10 minutes before the pudding has finished baking.

10. Bake the pudding for about 50-60 minutes, or until it springs back when lightly pressed in the centre. A thin-bladed knife or wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the pudding should come out without any batter attached.

11. Leave pudding in the pan and allow it to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Using a skewer, pierce several deep holes in the pudding. Pour about 125ml (1/2 cup) of the hot butterscotch sauce over the pudding. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.

12. Reheat sauce if necessary. Serve pudding with hot butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream.

13. Store leftover pudding and sauce in the refrigerator or freezer (we freeze the sauce separately). Suitable to reheat.

14. (Butterscotch Sauce) Place sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Stir mixture over medium to medium-high heat until the mixture comes to the simmer. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

15. Remove sauce from heat and set aside until required.

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