An article by Jennifer Duke “In Victoria underquoting is endemic, rampant, it’s grubby, it’s misleading and deceptive and it’s a fraud on home buyers,” explained Rowe. “Consumer Affairs Victoria lacks the necessary laws and resources to police underquoting. Real estate agents enjoy the luxury of loop holes in the rules to bait home buyers into attending auctions which are outside their budget. This frustrates buyers. Underquoting causes home buyers to waste their time, money and...
Continue Reading »
OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd Enzo Raimondo is the CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV), but he is not a lawyer. In fact, Mr. Raimondo is not even a licensed real estate agent, and he is certainly not a qualified real estate valuer. So why is Mr. Raimondo telling consumers about the role(s) of professional real estate valuers? Enzo Raimondo, CEO...
Continue Reading »
OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd In his regular propaganda column in the Domain section of The Age newspaper, the CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV), Enzo Raimondo, pretends to inform consumers about the auction myth. Asking the question, “Is it sold after the hammer falls?” Raimondo casts the question as one relating only to the right of the vendor to sell or...
Continue Reading »
OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd The hypocrisy is astounding. Enzo Raimondo told the Herald Sun newspaper “If stamp duty rates are not reduced then anyone buying an average home will pay, as a percentage of the purchase price, a higher amount of stamp duty than they ever have before.” What Enzo chooses to ignore is that real estate agent commissions have doubled, and none...
Continue Reading »
OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd There is little doubt that the real estate industry in Victoria is the most corrupt in Australia. This is largely due to the power and arrogance of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV). The recent dismissal of Mr. John Keating from the REIV ethics committee is an example of the contempt the REIV has for ethical conduct, and...
Continue Reading »
by Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd We now have the REIV inventing, and forcing its own legislation on real estate consumers. When will journalists, regulators, lawyers and consumers start thinking for themselves instead of simply watching Enzo Raimondo and the crew at the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) make fools of them. It’s time to put vendors and purchasers back in control, and to...
Continue Reading »
OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQu alified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd Following on from my previous posting in which I acknowledged Enzo Raimondo, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) as a master of the partial-truth, comes a newspaper article in which Raimondo confirms that “Much misinformation is abroad about property sales” (sic). Of course, Raimondo does not acknowledge his own role in the dissemination of this...
Continue Reading »
OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd Enzo Raimondo, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) is a master of the partial-truth. In a recent article in the Herald Sun newspaper Raimondo purports to advise consumers on “forming an accurate view about the value of a property” but deliberately avoids informing consumers of the easiest and most accurate method of all. In his regular...
Continue Reading »
OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd Is it any wonder that the REIV (Real Estate Institute of Victoria) misleads, misguides and misinforms its members when its own CEO Enzo Raimondo fails to understand the role of the real estate agent in a sale transaction? In his regular propaganda piece in the Domain section of The Age newspaper, Enzo Raimondo tells consumers that when negotiating for...
Continue Reading »
OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd I believe that the real estate industry in Victoria is the most corrupt in Australia. This is confirmed time and again, not only by the conduct of individual real estate agents, but also by the behaviour of the peak body representing real estate agents, the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV). We have seen how the REIV condones criminal...
Continue Reading »
