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Dreaded return of property spruiker (The Australian)
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Author: Anthony Klan
647 words
16 May 2009
The Australian
English
Copyright 2009 News Ltd. All Rights Reserved
THEY’RE back. The first-home owners grant, low-interest rates and public fears about slashed superannuation savings have drawn property spruikers into the market at levels not seen since the peak of the last boom in 2004.
Property investment seminars -- which typically use the guise of “education” to sell properties for developers for a healthy fee -- have sprung up across the nation, advertising heavily in tabloid newspapers and online.
"This is the regrowth of the spruikers,” said real estate advocate Neil Jenman. “They’re back in the market at levels not seen since the boom, and again we are seeing the seeds of future disaster being sown today.”
Mr Jenman said the economic downturn meant many people approaching retirement were “scared senseless amid huge superannuation losses”.
“Spruikers have always played to fear and there is now far more fear in the economy, so people are going to be more susceptible to these activities,” he said.
On Wednesday night, Joseph Chou -- founder of property spruiking group Ironfish and author of From bicycles to Bentleys -- hosted an ``educational event’’ for about 30 people in Sydney’s CBD.
“One of the tragic things facing many Australians is that they live longer than their money,” Mr Chou told the predominately Asian audience.
Mr Chou delivered a range of statistics -- such as that “79 per cent of retirees have an annual income of less than $12,000” -- and offered to help attendees solve money problems ``once and for all”.
Attendees were later asked to fill out “feedback forms” that asked for financial details, including their income and the value of equity they had in their homes.
Sydney investor Paul Elliott bought a one-bedroom apartment from Mr Chou’s previous property spruiking company Aldy off the plan in 2003 for $428,000.
He later discovered the property, in Rhodes in Sydney’s west, was situated near a toxic industrial site, which was “very noisy” and emitted a “horrible smell”.
The property was this year valued at between $375,000 and $395,000, substantially less than he had paid for it six years earlier.
“The location looked very good and it was waterfront property -- it ticked all the boxes from that point of view,” Mr Elliott said.
“But the developer had failed to disclose that the property was next to one of the biggest toxic waste sites in the southern hemisphere and it would be under remediation for five years.”
When contacted by The Weekend Australian yesterday, Mr. Chou said he stood by the “long-term viability” of that project.
Mr. Chou said he owned “three properties” in the apartment complex and the project had suffered because of the downturn in the broader property market, but declined to comment further.
Aldy declined to comment yesterday but has previously said it was unaware of the problems associated with the site.
Ironfish is marketing properties in the eastern capital cities, including at Docklands and Southbank in Melbourne and in inner-Brisbane Hamilton.
One group advertising in a Sydney newspaper is offering seminars showing how to achieve “50 per cent returns on your investment every 12 months”.
Another group, the Melbourne-based Knowledge Source, claims “most financial experts have got it totally wrong with their predictions of a real estate fallout”.
"Right now is the greatest real estate buying opportunity in at least a decade,” said a spokeswoman for the group.
Another group, Silverhall, is offering free “information evenings” helping people to use their superannuation – “as little as $100,000” -- to invest in property.
Property analysts have warned prices could continue to fall as the financial downturn continues.
SQM Research founder Louis Christopher warned potential first-time buyers not to rush into property, saying the federal Government’s first-home owners grant -- this week extended to December 31 -- had artificially raised prices.
[ 本帖最后由 PeteSampras 于 2009-8-27 12:21 编辑 ] |
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谈谈系列：谈谈租车 (2012-2-8) Henrychen 
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