OPINION by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.B Solicitor Consumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Six months after successfully settling a sale to private buyers, Paul & Janet Goodfellow were shocked to receive a solicitors’ letter enclosing a $14,355 invoice. The solicitors represented Goodfellows’ former agent, Acme Realty. The invoice was for Acme’s commission on Goodfellows’ sale to their buyers, John and Jill Scott. The letter recited that in May 2008 Goodfellows appointed Acme as their sole agent...
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The Administrative Decisions Tribunal has upheld a decision by NSW Fair Trading to cancel the licence of former Maroubra real estate agent, Glenn George Farah of NG Farah Pty Ltd, and disqualify him from being involved in the direction, management or conduct of a real estate business until 9 September 2021. Glenn Farah was a former Director and Secretary of NG Farah Pty Ltd, a licensed real estate agency. Mr Farah was the subject of an...
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OPINION by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.B Solicitor Consumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au What do you do when a property you have contracted to sell is damaged (by flood, fire or whatever) before settlement? What do you do if you are the buyer of that property? These critical questions arose for more than a few sellers and buyers across Queensland during the State’s extensive flooding of December 2010 and January 2011. A year later, with Queenslanders currently remembering...
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OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate Consumer AdvocateReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd Rabies is a terrible affliction. It can can quickly turn a friendly family pet into a belligerent biting beast. Commission rage can have a similar affect on real estate agents, changing them from ordinary salespeople into cruel and manipulative bullies. Like rabies, commission rage cannot be treated. However, early detection means that a consumer can take precautions...
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OPINIONby Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au To my mind agents particularly should be prohibited from giving buyers so much as a bus timetable, and from recommending even the local Chinese restaurant. Needless to say, solicitors and other service providers to residential buyers should also be prohibited from acting if they are not independent of everyone else involved in the transaction. A recent edition of Australian Property Investor Magazine ( http://www.apimagazine.com.au/ ), on sale...
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by Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd “As it stands, Real Estate is the only consumer industry that manages to command percentage fees on selling prices. In an era where average agents will gradually be squeezed out by the internet, it’s a wonder the most costly agents have not been first on the chopping block!“ This is one of the observations made by Michael Atwell, a...
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No, SLOD! is not a typographical error, it’s the name of the website Lawyers Real Estate uses to sell properties for its clients. Lawyers Real Estate is a law firm that sells real estate for its clients for a single fixed-fee, without involving real estate agents. To see the property most recently sold by Lawyers Real Estate, just click on the Facebook link below. To hear some past clients of...
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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...
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OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd The ultimate real estate office model has arrived. It’s the ILP – a lean, clean sales machine that combines the roles of lawyer, conveyancer and real estate agent to provide an optimum real estate service on a fixed fee basis. Anyone can establish an ILP, including real estate agents, conveyancers and accountants, to provide clients with a one-stop-shop for...
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OPINIONby Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au When will governments put in place stronger legislative measures to protect real estate consumers not only from self-serving real estate agents, but also from their own trusting natures? The story below from a school teacher client of mine, whilst ending happily, gives ample reason for a long-overdue legal prohibition on agents’ referring buyers to building inspectors, mortgage brokers, solicitors and the like. “A recent experience with building inspectors...
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