Courtesy of our friends at the Urban Dictionary I have unearthed what I believe to be the definitive description of this month’s bulletin title:  Crash and Burn : to come to grief or fail spectacularly. If you are an industry professional active in the management rights industry I suspect this description may resonate with you.  Our own observations and feedback from the coal face suggests that deals have never been harder to hold together with many “surprises” along the way. Why is it so? Let’s have a look at the key moving parts, the accepted best practice processes and see if we can identify someRead More →

Contributed By: Nick Buick on

Naturally, onsite managers always prefer to sell to an investor, it just makes sense from a business perspective… But more than that, managers know their stock inside-and-out, they literally *live* and breath their listings, unlike a conventional agent. The manager understands how units behave as investment vehicles, and they can do an excellent job explaining all this to a prospective buyer without even thinking about it. It just rolls off the top of their head. They know the condition of the sinking fund, the admin fund, how the committee is performing, the schedule for upgrades, the return potential and current rental demand, and of courseRead More →

Contributed By: Suzette Sutton - Founder, Australian Home Hosting Expo on

The recent trend in home sharing has brought the tourism industry a whole new pool of customers. And they are travelling to non-traditional tourist locations. Looking at the volume of travellers and destinations, (without getting into policy issues), a whole new and separate market has been created by the home sharing economy. Many home hosts around the world are listing their family home – the WHOLE home – for travelers to rent by the night, by the week or longer. Yes, there are a lot of rooms in private homes available on these platforms if you are a solo traveller or a couple, but have you ever tried to travel with 3 (orRead More →

Contributed By: Small Myers Hughes Solicitors on

Licensing A NSW owners corporation may engage a licensed strata managing agent to help manage their strata scheme. Unlike the position in Queensland, only a person who is licensed (under the Property, Stock and Business Agents Act 2002) can be appointed. What are their responsibilities? An owners corporation can choose the responsibilities of their appointed strata managing agent in negotiating the contract with them (apart from where the owners corporation’s powers cannot be delegated). A strata managing agent cannot: delegate their powers, authorities, duties or functions to others; set the contributions to be paid by the owners; make a decision on a restricted matter (aRead More →

Contributed By: Ben Hanley of TravelTripper on

In the digital age, online reviews have become an important digital currency for hotels—the more you have, the stronger your online position. Savvy online travelers frequently make their decisions based on the recommendations of others, and 95% of people say they read reviews before making a booking. Of all the review sites out there, TripAdvisor is still widely regarded as number one. But things are changing. A number of review sites are now stepping up their prominence in the hotel space. The power of social media is also creating a shift in the way travelers seek out suggestions and tips to inform their booking decision. InRead More →

Contributed By: Nick Buick on

Under new rules announced on the weekend by the Andrews government, tenants in Victoria will now access a raft of new rights and liberties at the expense of landlords and managers. Among such new laws, landlords are no longer allowed to solicit for higher bids above the advertised rental price on a listing. Bonds will be shrunk to no more than 4 weeks (which is the same as in QLD). Landlords will also be unable to issue a notice to leave at the conclusion of a lease, without a specific reason. By far the biggest shake-up, however, comes in the form of changes to theRead More →

Contributed By: Bonnie Tai of SpiceNews.com.au on

W Hotels, part of Marriott International, is set to open the first five-star hotel in Brisbane’s central business district in two decades. Located at 300 George Street, W Brisbane will mark the re-entry of the W brand into Australia, with room bookings to commence in November 2017. The new hotel will offer 312 rooms, including 29 suites, many with stellar views across Brisbane River to South Bank and Mount Coot-tha. For meetings and events, approximately 1,100 square metres of flexible spaces, fully equipped with the latest AV facilities, will be on offer. There will also be three onsite venues to eat, mix and mingle. WRead More →

Contributed By: Resort Brokers on

With 150 franchised properties across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, Quest Apartment Hotels is the largest and fastest growing apartment hotel operator in Australasia, and a brand that business travellers have come to rely on. Learn about becoming a Quest franchisee at an upcoming seminar in Brisbane, on Tuesday October 17 at Quest Woolloongabba, from 6pm. With new greenfield and existing opportunities currently available in the Brisbane area, come along and listen to experts from Quest explain the Quest franchise business model, which has been created to remove some of the challenges of achieving success in small business. Quest’s partners Holmans Accounting, Mike Phipps Finance, Milicevic Lawyers and ResortRead More →

Contributed By: Staff Writer on

It’s been a bumpy ride, but the NBN looks like it’s finally approaching the home straight. According to NBN Co’s latest Corporate Plan, 2018 will be its biggest year for installations. Combined with the 2017 financial year, they predict almost 5 million additional connections nationwide, on track for a planned completion date of sometime in 2020-21. That’s great to hear, but the situation on the ground for most of us is one of confusion and frustration, especially for people living in or managing multi-dwelling units (MDUs). This guide aims to help explain the basics of the NBN in MDUs. If you have additional questions onRead More →

Contributed By: Mike Phipps Finance on

After last month’s bulletin (some said rant but no offence) regarding bank lending and personal responsibility we received quite a lot of feedback.  Most was based around misconceptions of how lender security works with suggestions that we need to drill down and provide some detail.  Given that books have been written on this subject any brief summary will, of necessity, only skim the surface. I should also point out that I am going to talk about a variety of security arrangements in very general terms and borrowers should always seek independent advice to ensure they fully understand their obligations. So, without further ado, here goes!Read More →

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