AFTER 23 YEARS marketing and selling real estate in this area, specifically around the Montville region, I genuinely feel privileged to have been invited to so many interesting and varied properties and to have met so many varied and interesting people.

In simple terms an offer to buy property can be either made verbally – or in writing by way of a contract signed by the purchaser, commonly referred to as “on paper”.

A verbal offer, even if accepted by both parties, is not legally binding on either party.

Whereas, an offer to purchase, committed to paper, signed by both parties and with a deposit paid, is a legally binding contract.

Both parties are bound by the terms and conditions of the contract with the main standard conditions usually – “subject to a satisfactory building and pest inspection” – and – “subject to satisfactory finance approval”, either of which must be satisfied within a specific time period, usually 14 days for the former and 28 days for the latter. The word “satisfactory” leaves many openings for the purchaser to terminate the contract on the basis the building inspection or application for finance is “not satisfactory”.

The standard contract also includes a “cooling off period” whereby on receipt of a fully signed copy of the contract, the purchaser has 5 working days to change their mind.

If they do trigger this clause they may be obliged to pay a penalty equating to 0.25% of the purchase price to the seller.

Given the fairly open-ended ability to “escape” a contract on the finance or building and pest, the cooling off clause is rarely triggered.

As you can see a verbal agreement is not binding, whilst a written agreement in the form of a contract is, but it is not secure until the terms and conditions of the contract are met – and remember – nothing is sold until it’s settled – and – unconditional contracts have been known to fail at settlement!

Unfortunately, the “hand shake” and “gentleman’s agreement” are all but things of the past.

Both buyers and sellers should always seek legal advice before signing any contract documentation.

John Taylor (23 years Range Real Estate experience)

Combining professional expertise with innovative and environmentally-friendly building materials means this pair of entrepreneurs can’t keep up with demand. A new straw bale house in Conondale is their latest project and it was where Michael Berry caught up with Nick Dunn.

Straw bales make a perfect insulation and fire retardant building material in this post and beam construction.

“We largely work with owner builders”, said Nick who was busy applying render to an inside wall of straw bales. “We do ‘living’ or green roofs too, in fact, anything out of the ordinary. I guess it’s about bringing the old style building methods to today’s society.

Straw bale is growing in popularity across Australia, mainly because it has proven its worth and building codes have now embraced it in all states

Nick Dunn applies clay and straw render to a window deep reveal.

Nick and Roger’s current project is a small cottage on a hillside close to the village of Conondale. A basic post and beam framework with a pitched roof was erected first, before straw bales were used. The bales are compressed with wire and grippers or threaded rod, and it is the compression which adds to the solid, load-bearing structure.

Another popular aspect of using straw bales is that friends and relatives can be involved in the building.

“We had a workshop to raise the bales on this house which went up in a weekend”, says Nick.

A spacious sculptural effect is achieved.

Those same people want to come back and be involved in the rendering. That’s the attraction of the straw bale home – anyone can be involved.

Nick says it takes about the same amount of time to build with straw bales as to build a traditional brick home. The bales are totally dried and stored for many months before being delivered on site. Building inspection for a straw bale house is straight forward. It’s defined as a post and beam construction with straw bale infill, and everything is pitched and tied down as for a normal cyclone rated dwelling.

With a final earth plaster on interior walls.

“As for insulation”, says Nick with enthusiasm, “you can’t get better than straw bales. It’s an excellent insulation layer 2-3 times better than the average home which means a reduction in electricity consumption.

“Air can actually pass through the breathable nature of lime and earthern plaster, so you constantly get ‘fresh’ air into the house which people who live in strawbale houses often talk about. We don’t cement render our bales. On the outside of this house we’re going to use lime plaster and earth plaster on the inside. Nick is equally enthusiastic about the fire retardant qualities of straw bales.

“Surprisingly perhaps, because the bales are compressed so tightly, there’s very little air to help them burn.

The straw bales are covered with a 35mm render that is basically made up of clay, sand and straw. A thin top coat with an oxide colour is then applied over it. You can get different colours – blues, greens, and the standard ochre – that all come from natural pigments in the soil.

Nick and Roger have never been busier but they are enjoying the creative element required in their applied building skills. They also have a sculptor joining them who will contribute patterning and other creative moulding to the render.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but Nick is sold on the look of a finished straw bale home. “Aesthetically, I guess it’s what you like, but I think that the deep reveals around the windows and doors … it’s quite beautiful to look at and live in,” says Nick as he gets back to work smearing handfuls of render onto an inside wall.

The legislation that real estate agents and sales people operate under is quite specific in relation to market appraisals and an agent is not allowed to receive payment for them.

A market appraisal is not a valuation, and a valuation can only be conducted by a registered valuer.

Registered valuations are usually under the instruction of a bank or lender for finance purposes and as such they err on the side of conservative.

Invariably the instructions will include a requirement to value the property at a price that the property would sell at within a very specified period – usually no longer than six months and more often three months.

A market appraisal, on the other hand, with the use of past sales information should give a very fair indication of what the market at the time of the appraisal may pay for the property.

It’s necessary for an agent to find recent sales information (within six months), of at least three properties that are comparable to the subject property and within five kilometers.

This is not so easy on the Range and often older sales information and/or greater distances are involved. And, in some circumstances with very unique properties no comparisons are available.
According to the legislation any variation between the comparisons used, requires a detailed written explanation from the agent.

I can’t stress highly enough that the comparisons must be truly comparable and/or a detailed written explanation of how the Agent arrived at their conclusion must be provided to the property owner.

John Taylor
(23 years Range Real Estate experience)

I recently tracked vacant Rural Residential land values in Flaxton over a period of twenty years from 1990 to 2010.

Whilst the annual gain wasn’t consistent, over that period the average was between 10% and 11% per annum.

During the last ten of the twenty years (1994 through 2004) values flat lined and prices did not change, and taking into account inflation property values effectively decreased.

But like the stock market, a correction eventually occurs and with increasing activity from the period 2003 through 2005 it culminated in a doubling in value in the last six months of that previous ten year period!

So, as you can see from this somewhat radical example, in the past, if you held property long enough the gain would occur, if not annually, at least over a period of time.

What will it do in the future?

Who can say, but I believe property on the Range is very well placed to experience continuing capital gain.

We have a finite land supply on the Range with an area approximately 25kms north to south and an average 10 or so km’s west to east, with escarpments on three sides and 10,000 hectares of National Park controlled land to the north.

Add to this the scenic attractiveness, the climatic advantages, the rural amenity – and – the biggest one of all – the growing desirability to those “trapped” in the ever growing “urban jungles” off Range both locally and elsewhere in Australia.

To establish just where your property stands in relation to capital gain – just ask a reputable Agency for a Market Appraisal which they must complete in writing as a Comparative Market Assessment.

Next month I’ll address this appraisal process in detail.

John Taylor (23 years Range Real Estate experience)

Montville Real Estate
200 Main St,Montville
Phone 5478 5478

An example of where an easement can benefit a property:

John owns a tract of land that borders a national park which is a popular area for bushwalking and fishing. Ruth lives next door to John, but her land does not adjoin the national park. To avoid tresspassing, she must access the national park by walking or driving to a public entry point. Instead, John grants Ruth an easement allowing present and future owners of Ruth’s property to cross John’s land to access the national park.

How does an easement affect the person who grants it? The landowner who grants an easement usually cannot build structures within an easement area or use fencing that would hinder access. Other activities might also be prohibited. Before you purchase property you should know where all easements are located and what restrictions are associated with them.

Can easements affect property values?

Yes it is possible.

• Several easements on a tract of land might seriously limit the choice of building sites.
• High tension lines running through an easement near an otherwise great building site can be unsightly. Resale values may be affected since many people feel that living too close to power lines is a health risk.
• Buyers may simply not like the idea that others have a right to use the land in some way.

Don’t assume that because an easement is not currently being used it will never be used. As long as an easement is registered on the title of the property there is always a possibility that the individual who benefits from it will decide to enforce it.

Easton Lawyers

62 Maple Street, Maleny Ph 5494 3511

6b/3 Obi Obi Road, Mapleton Ph 5478 6500

tove@eastonlawyers.com.au

The Housing Industry Association -CSR Queensland Housing Awards are eagerly contested from regional builders throughout the state. Regarded as Queensland’s highest accolade for building design and site position, the Grandview Homes win was for the open category for all builders with unlimited budgets.

The winning entry is called The Harvard and it comes from Grandview Homes stable of award-winning designs. It was chosen by the owners in Flaxton as the best use of their hinterland acreage and its street appeal.

The winning house scored the highest against all criteria and the judges said “the workmanship was very good, and a step up from flawless. Given the site costs, this home represents good value for money and is very competitive in its category”.

The landscaping for the winning property was by Alexander Landscapes and according to the home owners the on-site judges spent as much time outside the house admiring the landscaping as they did inside.

Grandview Homes managing director, Scott Harrison said he was honoured to receive such high praise and he commended his staff, contractors and suppliers for their high standards of performance.

JUST over a month before Christmas and without any consultation with the real estate industry, the State Government brought in new legislation making it mandatory for every residential property in Queensland on the market or coming on the market after the 1st of January 2010 to have a two page fifty six point Sustainability Declaration in place.

The declaration form is a series of questions on the number and type of energy, water use, disabled or impaired access, pool and electrical safety, smoke alarm features etc.

The obligation to complete the form rests with the property owner and incorrect information can attract a $2,000 fine.

Whilst the form can be completed by another party, agents have been warned by the Real Estate Institute of Queensland not to assist the property owner due to risk exposure – more crazy potential litigation!

Oh yes, and more stupidity – if an owner doesn’t know the answers to questions they can leave the form blank, sign it, and it’s still completely legal!

Regardless of that, in the event an agency listed or maintained an existing listing without a declaration or without stating availability on all displays, signs and making the declaration available at open houses and auctions, the agency could be fined $10,000!

As is often the case with governments and authorities these days “act first and make it work later” seems to have been the process used, as after pressure from the industry, a moratorium on fines is now in place until the 1st of march 2010.

So effectively residential property owners have until then to ensure the Sustainability Declaration is made available to any agency listing their property for sale.

Whilst it’s even more red tape, the intent of the declaration is to provide incentive to make homes more energy efficient and ultimately more desirable when available for sale.

Instead of the – No consultation – Government knows best – big stick approach – it’s just a pity that governments and authorities don’t work with, and for those, they are there to serve.

John Taylor

Montville Real Estate  200 Main St,Montville  Phone 5478 5478

Some real estate agencies are actively promoting Internet listing of property for sale as all that’s necessary to effect a sale.

If only it was that simple!

The internet is an amazing tool and used by most buyers for important market research such as price comparisons, further property details, trends and location via Google earth etc.

The agency and agent’s credentials and experience are of paramount importance and that, combined with the internet will almost certainly effect a sale, but not necessarily in the shortest possible time.

The print media, aside from being able to generate a WOW factor to your property, is also sought out by the more aggressive “in the market to buy now” buyers, who hunt out the real estate sections to locate immediately what’s available in their area of interest. These buyers will then often go to the internet to confirm more detailed information.

Comparisons then between the web and print media can be confusing as buyers may say they have been looking at a property on the web when first seeing the property in the print media.

Ultimately the best way to sell a property in the shortest possible time is to choose an agent/agency that you are comfortable with, that has a proven track record, and get involved in a print media marketing campaign combined with quality internet presentation.

To prove a point, the last significant property sold very recently through this office (over a million dollar sale) had a ratio of eight inquiries to one in favor of print media. We’ve found the inquiry ratio internet to print media normally to be around 50/50.

So, use the web for sure but don’t forget print media exposure for marketing your property.

Montville Real Estate 200 Main St, Montville Phone

PH: 5478 5478