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Friday, September 29, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Buying and selling real estate on line (like CHESS for shares)
Jon Denovan from Gadens does a video blog on eConveyancing. Listening to Jon you would almost think we can just about jump online and buy or sell and settle a property - just like a share trade.
Its a short highlight on the degree of change the new NECS property settlements system will bring about one day.
Thanks Jon for making it seem like its happening today.
Its a short highlight on the degree of change the new NECS property settlements system will bring about one day.
Thanks Jon for making it seem like its happening today.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Long live paper conveyancing
ANZ have admitted that not only did they lose the first original executed Transfer but their securities department have managed to lose the second replacement stamped Transfer.
Not only is it embarrassing but for the client but there are potential losses, unwanted scrutiny from, in this case, the Liquidator to the Transferor company. This has taken place over several months, was a related party transaction done for full consideration and the ripple effects are ever widening.
In the first case the ANZ lost the Transfer before it was stamped. If my memory serves me thats how the client realised the bank had not done the job as the stamp duty had not been withdrawn from the account. In the second case the Transfer had been stamped and sent to Securities for registration. Into the black hole I say.
If there is a third time round we have to revisit the State Revenue Office, look up records, etc. and as mentioned above our client will be put under unwanted scrutiny.
It is horribly tragic but these things happen all too often when important Deeds and Documents are shuffled from one person, company, law firm, financial institution, settlement agent to another and back again.
In a digital electronic environment it is unimaginable that anything like this would or could happen.
Not only is it embarrassing but for the client but there are potential losses, unwanted scrutiny from, in this case, the Liquidator to the Transferor company. This has taken place over several months, was a related party transaction done for full consideration and the ripple effects are ever widening.
In the first case the ANZ lost the Transfer before it was stamped. If my memory serves me thats how the client realised the bank had not done the job as the stamp duty had not been withdrawn from the account. In the second case the Transfer had been stamped and sent to Securities for registration. Into the black hole I say.
If there is a third time round we have to revisit the State Revenue Office, look up records, etc. and as mentioned above our client will be put under unwanted scrutiny.
It is horribly tragic but these things happen all too often when important Deeds and Documents are shuffled from one person, company, law firm, financial institution, settlement agent to another and back again.
In a digital electronic environment it is unimaginable that anything like this would or could happen.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Lo Doc Loans – Caveat Emptor - Tax Blitz
Mortgage Brokers selling low-doc loans are the targets of and Australian Tax Office (ATO) probe into tax avoidance.
Take out a low doc loan is like raising the flag to have your affairs the subject of a tax audit.
The result has been numerous prosecutions involving borrowers and brokers. It is reported the most serious cases involved 16 finance brokers all who have been sent tax avoidance assessments.
As of July the ATO is said to have examined 133,000 loan records and uncovered 19,500 taxpayers with outstanding returns with at least 109 taxpayers being prosecuted. Convictions stemmed from failure to lodge tax returns or concealment of income. At least $24m in tax and penalties has been recouped.
Not everyone can qualify for a full income and security tested loan. Many Lo Doc borrowers are funding repayments from legitimate sources like inheritances and capital gains vis a vis property investments. Undoubtedly income has been concealed, most of it derived from the cash economy related to the building and construction industry.
Take out a low doc loan is like raising the flag to have your affairs the subject of a tax audit.
The result has been numerous prosecutions involving borrowers and brokers. It is reported the most serious cases involved 16 finance brokers all who have been sent tax avoidance assessments.
As of July the ATO is said to have examined 133,000 loan records and uncovered 19,500 taxpayers with outstanding returns with at least 109 taxpayers being prosecuted. Convictions stemmed from failure to lodge tax returns or concealment of income. At least $24m in tax and penalties has been recouped.
Not everyone can qualify for a full income and security tested loan. Many Lo Doc borrowers are funding repayments from legitimate sources like inheritances and capital gains vis a vis property investments. Undoubtedly income has been concealed, most of it derived from the cash economy related to the building and construction industry.
UK Energy Rating Certificates - vendor disclosure
You sell a house in the UK – part of the vendor disclosure requirements is providing prospective buyers with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
Homes will be rated on a scale of A-G, similar to fridge ratings, as well as a list of practical measures to cut their fuel bills and carbon emissions. By acting on the recommendations listed in the Energy Performance Certificate, the average homeowner is expected to save £300 a year on fuel bills and help to reduce the 27% of the UK’s carbon emissions currently generated by our homes.
The EPC will be compulsory as part of Home Information Packs from 1 June 2007. The EPCs will outline the costs of heating, hot water and lighting in homes and give practical advice on how to cut these costs and reduce emissions
If one fifth of homeowners made the basic changes set out in their EPC they could save around £100 million a year on their energy bills and cut carbon emissions by the equivalent of taking 100,000 cars off the roads.
By cutting energy consumption, society will be working together to tackle climate change. A UK statistic is 27% of carbon emissions come from homes. Until now householders haven't had energy efficiency facts about their houses upfront; but next June 2007 every homebuyer will know exactly how energy efficient their homes are - and how they can improve this.
Trials will begin shortly with inspections being managed by Surveyors and Valuers Accreditors (certifiers for inspectors)
Source Department Communities and Local Government UK
But according to John Howard Prime Minister Australia – “There is no scientific evidence for climate change”
On the day the Kyoto Protocol came into effect the Prime Minister, John Howard, dismissed it as "next to useless" and harmful for Australia to participate in the international global warming agreement.
Victoria - what are you waiting for? Act now and follow the example and lead being set by the UK. Provide economic incentives, Ditto mortgage lenders could all be issuing green mortgages linked to Home Energy Ratings.
Homes will be rated on a scale of A-G, similar to fridge ratings, as well as a list of practical measures to cut their fuel bills and carbon emissions. By acting on the recommendations listed in the Energy Performance Certificate, the average homeowner is expected to save £300 a year on fuel bills and help to reduce the 27% of the UK’s carbon emissions currently generated by our homes.
The EPC will be compulsory as part of Home Information Packs from 1 June 2007. The EPCs will outline the costs of heating, hot water and lighting in homes and give practical advice on how to cut these costs and reduce emissions
If one fifth of homeowners made the basic changes set out in their EPC they could save around £100 million a year on their energy bills and cut carbon emissions by the equivalent of taking 100,000 cars off the roads.
By cutting energy consumption, society will be working together to tackle climate change. A UK statistic is 27% of carbon emissions come from homes. Until now householders haven't had energy efficiency facts about their houses upfront; but next June 2007 every homebuyer will know exactly how energy efficient their homes are - and how they can improve this.
Trials will begin shortly with inspections being managed by Surveyors and Valuers Accreditors (certifiers for inspectors)
Source Department Communities and Local Government UK
But according to John Howard Prime Minister Australia – “There is no scientific evidence for climate change”
On the day the Kyoto Protocol came into effect the Prime Minister, John Howard, dismissed it as "next to useless" and harmful for Australia to participate in the international global warming agreement.
Victoria - what are you waiting for? Act now and follow the example and lead being set by the UK. Provide economic incentives, Ditto mortgage lenders could all be issuing green mortgages linked to Home Energy Ratings.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Land Title Fraud - Ontario - Fraudulent Power of Attorney
Response to Land Title Fraud Bruce Schneier Founder and CTO Counterpane Internet Security, Inc.
There seems to be a small epidemic of land title fraud in Ontario, Canada.
What happens is someone impersonates the homeowner, and then sells the house out from under him. The former owner is still liable for the mortgage, but can't get in his former house. Cleaning up the problem takes a lot of time and energy.
The problem is one of economic incentives. If banks were held liable for fraudulent mortgages, then the problem would go away really quickly. But as long as they're not, they have no incentive to ensure that this fraud doesn't occur. (They have some incentive, because the fraud costs them money, but as long as the few fraud cases cost less than ensuring the validity of *every* mortgage, they'll just ignore the problem and eat the losses when fraud occurs.)
The Article from The Toronto Star August 26, 2006
'My sense of security in Canada is gone' says Paul Reviczky, who learned about identity theft the hard way
Aug. 26, 2006. 07:47 AM
HAROLD LEVY
An 89-year-old man has been left both heartbroken and betrayed after his North York bungalow was stolen from him in the rising wave of title fraud.
Paul Reviczky, who fled Hungary in 1957 to escape Communist persecution, is one of the latest homeowners to discover that Ontario law favours banks, mortgage companies and purchasers over victims of fraud.
"I was shocked to learn that this could be the law in Canada," Reviczky says. "I fled Hungary to escape lawlessness like this and now my sense of security in Canada is gone."
Gerry Phillips, Ontario's minister of government services, vowed yesterday to change the land-registry system to protect homeowners like Reviczky from title fraud.
Reviczky purchased the property at 220 Sheppard Ave. W. in 1980 for $67,500 to generate a rental income that would help pay for the education of relatives back in Hungary.
The retired tobacco farmer, who came to Canada 49 years ago with his wife Ilona and his then 3-year-old daughter Marietta, says he felt so strongly about his duty to help out the family he left behind that he specified in his will that the property could not be sold after his death because the income was to be used for their support.
Since his wife's death in February 2005, he has lived alone in his home a few kilometres from the rental property.
Reviczky could not believe his ears on June 26 when his neighbour, a real estate agent, told him she had noticed on the computer that he had sold his rental property in May.
"So I went back to my office, got the record from the computer and showed it to him," Vivian Ho told the Toronto Star. "His face turned red and I was worried that he was going to have a heart attack."
Police believe Reviczky's most recent "tenants" forged his name on a power of attorney that purported to give a grandson named "Aaron Paul Reviczky" authority to sell the home on his behalf.
"I don't have a grandson named Aaron," Reviczky says. "I don't have any grandsons."
On May 15, "Aaron Paul Reviczky" sold the property on his behalf for $450,000 to a purchaser named Pegman Meleknia, who took out a mortgage of $337,500.
"I did not get the proceeds," Reviczky says.
Reviczky's lawyer, Tonu Toome, says it was "very painful" to have to break the news to Reviczky that he may lose his house forever — even though he was an innocent victim of fraud — because Ontario law recognizes the transaction as valid where the purchaser is unaware of the scam.
"I had to tell him that although he would ultimately receive financial compensation for the loss of his home, this would entail legal fees and an application to Ontario's Land Titles Assurance Fund, which could take several years," Toome says.
Says Reviczky: "I want my home ... not just some money."
Phillips, who bears responsibility for the province's land titles registration system, says he met last week with 50 representatives of all the communities affected by title fraud — including police, real property and financial institutions — to get advice on how to stem this increasingly prevalent crime.
"This is a high priority for our government and I want people to know that we are treating it seriously," Phillips says.
Earlier this summer, several other identity-theft victims in Toronto were also shocked to discover they weren't protected by the law.
Susan Lawrence is a North York widow who faces the loss of the 100-year-old Victorian home she had lived in for 30 years — after criminals used publicly available information to sell her house without her knowledge and put a $300,000 mortgage on it.
Elizabeth Shepherd, an actress, lost her furnished Leslieville home to identity thieves, who rented the home and sold it to an accomplice after creating a false Elizabeth Shepherd. The accomplice took out a $250,000 mortgage, defaulted and disappeared.
Both women expect to spend years — and money they would rather not spend on lawyers — trying to sort out the mess.
Reviczky had put a "for rent" sign on his property on March 1 after the previous tenants who had lived there for 12 years had gone back to British Columbia.
Five days later, he agreed to rent the home to a couple who identified themselves as "Kristina and Adam Skurik." They signed rental papers and handed him $2,500 in $100 bills for first and last month's rent.
But the house remained empty. In mid-April, Reviczky says, he was told by Kristina Skurik that the couple had rented the house to someone who was coming from Russia.
The last time he ever saw either of the Skuriks was May 13, when Kristina gave him $1,250 in cash and told him the people would arrive "in a short time."
"Kristina was a very pretty, quiet girl, about 5 feet, 6 inches, and she appeared very likeable and trustworthy," Reviczky says.
A telephone check of listings throughout North America failed to turn up any Kristina or Adam Skurik.
Reviczky is now aware that he allegedly sold his house through the power of attorney that had been notarized by a North York lawyer named Sheldon Caplan, who said in an interview he is unable to discuss the case.
Reviczky says he was surprised to see at the bottom of the power of attorney — which Caplan notarized above what appears to be his scribbled initials — a notation that the document was "acknowledged before me this 18th day of April 2006 by Reviczky Paul, who is personally known to me of who has produced Drivers Licence."
"I have never retained solicitor Sheldon Caplan," Reviczky said in a statement he prepared for his lawyer. "I do not know him and did not communicate with him."
Toronto lawyer Satwant Singh Khosla, who represented the purchasers — parents who bought the property as an investment for their son — says his clients are "innocent buyers" who have suffered emotionally and financially because of the fraudulent transaction "through absolutely no fault of their own."
"It was a straightforward transaction," Khosla said. "We never realized that the power of attorney under which the property was transferred was fraudulent."
Khosla says his clients are on the hook for mortgage payments even though they have been unable to access the property because its legal status is in a state of flux.
Reviczky's daughter, Marietta Reviczky-Dolan, who lives in Montana, says people like her father should have the title returned to them and not left with the purchaser.
"They (the owners) have invested more than money in it," she says. "It is their past and their lives have been centred around it. It means more to them."
Meanwhile, the tiny house remains unoccupied and shows signs of disrepair, its yard often cluttered with garbage. It sits in a state of legal limbo while lawyers attempt to sort out the mess and the police hunt for the criminals and the $450,000 stolen along with Reviczky's heart.
Reviczky cannot even enter the home because that could technically be trespassing and police have told him that they will need consent from the new owners to enter the premises.
Toronto lawyer Sidney Troister, an expert on real estate and mortgage fraud, says the Reviczky case is perplexing because "while we can feel sorry for the first owner, we can feel equally sorry for the buyer, who like every other buyer could never be certain that their vendor is the real owner."
Troister says Ontario's land titles system is a good system, "except in the event of fraud where it breaks down, and leaves innocent owners and innocent buyers and lenders helpless and without speedy and fair relief."
"Until the province can prevent this type of fraud from happening, it must formulate a more responsive and all-inclusive compensation scheme for title fraud," Troister says.
"Innocent people, whether it is the innocent owner or the innocent buyer or lender, get hurt because the province does not protect innocent people registering documents in the system."
Ralph Roberts, a Michigan-based expert on mortgage fraud, says inroads will not be made into burgeoning real property and mortgage fraud until more homeowners and legislators become aware it exists. "There is not enough of a public awareness," he says. "People just keep getting dragged into it one after another."
Last month, state legislators in Michigan declared war against mortgage and title fraud after FBI disclosures that mortgage fraud losses in the state jumped from almost $9 million in 2003 to $26 million in 2005.
Several bills introduced in July contain an arsenal of measures, such as designating millions of dollars for investigation of unlicensed real estate brokers and making mortgage fraud a serious crime punishable by 10 years in prison for a first offence.
Mortgage and title fraud have also taken on a higher profile in Canada recently. Organizations such as the Law Society of Upper Canada have been meeting with their counterparts in the real estate and financial industries, and police authorities, to try and solve the problem.
Police forces in Greater Toronto are struggling to cope with a noticeable increase in complaints of title fraud. A report published in March 2005 by the law society says the fraud is often facilitated because the parties to the transaction may never know or actually meet each other in person.
"Without due diligence throughout the process, it is easy for fraudsters to pass themselves off and to take advantage of the lack of oversight," the report says.
"Mortgage fraud and other frauds relating to title are all on the rise," says Det. Steve Majoran of the Toronto force's fraud and forgery squad. "That's my overall impression."
Majoran advises people renting out their homes to check references and verify backgrounds "as best as you can," heeding gut feelings where an applicant puts you off, and to question offers of cash rent.
"You really have to do due diligence these days," he says.
Majoran, who cannot discuss individual cases, says title-fraud investigations can be challenging because they involve following a paper trail and tracking back through a scheme to try to determine who committed the crime, "often months after the fact."
"It's a total shock to the homeowner because the home has been stolen from under them without their knowledge — and usually without their complicity whatsoever," Majoran says.
"I found in a lot of title fraud cases that the person has worked all their life for a property and regards their home as their castle," he says. "To find it's been stolen right out from under them is totally devastating."
Gabriella Toth, who is Reviczky's niece, says she can't understand how anyone could steal an 89-year-old man's home.
"These have to be heartless persons," says Toth, a vice-principal at a Toronto high school. "I think he was targeted because he is elderly."
With files from Associated Press
There seems to be a small epidemic of land title fraud in Ontario, Canada.
What happens is someone impersonates the homeowner, and then sells the house out from under him. The former owner is still liable for the mortgage, but can't get in his former house. Cleaning up the problem takes a lot of time and energy.
The problem is one of economic incentives. If banks were held liable for fraudulent mortgages, then the problem would go away really quickly. But as long as they're not, they have no incentive to ensure that this fraud doesn't occur. (They have some incentive, because the fraud costs them money, but as long as the few fraud cases cost less than ensuring the validity of *every* mortgage, they'll just ignore the problem and eat the losses when fraud occurs.)
The Article from The Toronto Star August 26, 2006
'My sense of security in Canada is gone' says Paul Reviczky, who learned about identity theft the hard way
Aug. 26, 2006. 07:47 AM
HAROLD LEVY
An 89-year-old man has been left both heartbroken and betrayed after his North York bungalow was stolen from him in the rising wave of title fraud.
Paul Reviczky, who fled Hungary in 1957 to escape Communist persecution, is one of the latest homeowners to discover that Ontario law favours banks, mortgage companies and purchasers over victims of fraud.
"I was shocked to learn that this could be the law in Canada," Reviczky says. "I fled Hungary to escape lawlessness like this and now my sense of security in Canada is gone."
Gerry Phillips, Ontario's minister of government services, vowed yesterday to change the land-registry system to protect homeowners like Reviczky from title fraud.
Reviczky purchased the property at 220 Sheppard Ave. W. in 1980 for $67,500 to generate a rental income that would help pay for the education of relatives back in Hungary.
The retired tobacco farmer, who came to Canada 49 years ago with his wife Ilona and his then 3-year-old daughter Marietta, says he felt so strongly about his duty to help out the family he left behind that he specified in his will that the property could not be sold after his death because the income was to be used for their support.
Since his wife's death in February 2005, he has lived alone in his home a few kilometres from the rental property.
Reviczky could not believe his ears on June 26 when his neighbour, a real estate agent, told him she had noticed on the computer that he had sold his rental property in May.
"So I went back to my office, got the record from the computer and showed it to him," Vivian Ho told the Toronto Star. "His face turned red and I was worried that he was going to have a heart attack."
Police believe Reviczky's most recent "tenants" forged his name on a power of attorney that purported to give a grandson named "Aaron Paul Reviczky" authority to sell the home on his behalf.
"I don't have a grandson named Aaron," Reviczky says. "I don't have any grandsons."
On May 15, "Aaron Paul Reviczky" sold the property on his behalf for $450,000 to a purchaser named Pegman Meleknia, who took out a mortgage of $337,500.
"I did not get the proceeds," Reviczky says.
Reviczky's lawyer, Tonu Toome, says it was "very painful" to have to break the news to Reviczky that he may lose his house forever — even though he was an innocent victim of fraud — because Ontario law recognizes the transaction as valid where the purchaser is unaware of the scam.
"I had to tell him that although he would ultimately receive financial compensation for the loss of his home, this would entail legal fees and an application to Ontario's Land Titles Assurance Fund, which could take several years," Toome says.
Says Reviczky: "I want my home ... not just some money."
Phillips, who bears responsibility for the province's land titles registration system, says he met last week with 50 representatives of all the communities affected by title fraud — including police, real property and financial institutions — to get advice on how to stem this increasingly prevalent crime.
"This is a high priority for our government and I want people to know that we are treating it seriously," Phillips says.
Earlier this summer, several other identity-theft victims in Toronto were also shocked to discover they weren't protected by the law.
Susan Lawrence is a North York widow who faces the loss of the 100-year-old Victorian home she had lived in for 30 years — after criminals used publicly available information to sell her house without her knowledge and put a $300,000 mortgage on it.
Elizabeth Shepherd, an actress, lost her furnished Leslieville home to identity thieves, who rented the home and sold it to an accomplice after creating a false Elizabeth Shepherd. The accomplice took out a $250,000 mortgage, defaulted and disappeared.
Both women expect to spend years — and money they would rather not spend on lawyers — trying to sort out the mess.
Reviczky had put a "for rent" sign on his property on March 1 after the previous tenants who had lived there for 12 years had gone back to British Columbia.
Five days later, he agreed to rent the home to a couple who identified themselves as "Kristina and Adam Skurik." They signed rental papers and handed him $2,500 in $100 bills for first and last month's rent.
But the house remained empty. In mid-April, Reviczky says, he was told by Kristina Skurik that the couple had rented the house to someone who was coming from Russia.
The last time he ever saw either of the Skuriks was May 13, when Kristina gave him $1,250 in cash and told him the people would arrive "in a short time."
"Kristina was a very pretty, quiet girl, about 5 feet, 6 inches, and she appeared very likeable and trustworthy," Reviczky says.
A telephone check of listings throughout North America failed to turn up any Kristina or Adam Skurik.
Reviczky is now aware that he allegedly sold his house through the power of attorney that had been notarized by a North York lawyer named Sheldon Caplan, who said in an interview he is unable to discuss the case.
Reviczky says he was surprised to see at the bottom of the power of attorney — which Caplan notarized above what appears to be his scribbled initials — a notation that the document was "acknowledged before me this 18th day of April 2006 by Reviczky Paul, who is personally known to me of who has produced Drivers Licence."
"I have never retained solicitor Sheldon Caplan," Reviczky said in a statement he prepared for his lawyer. "I do not know him and did not communicate with him."
Toronto lawyer Satwant Singh Khosla, who represented the purchasers — parents who bought the property as an investment for their son — says his clients are "innocent buyers" who have suffered emotionally and financially because of the fraudulent transaction "through absolutely no fault of their own."
"It was a straightforward transaction," Khosla said. "We never realized that the power of attorney under which the property was transferred was fraudulent."
Khosla says his clients are on the hook for mortgage payments even though they have been unable to access the property because its legal status is in a state of flux.
Reviczky's daughter, Marietta Reviczky-Dolan, who lives in Montana, says people like her father should have the title returned to them and not left with the purchaser.
"They (the owners) have invested more than money in it," she says. "It is their past and their lives have been centred around it. It means more to them."
Meanwhile, the tiny house remains unoccupied and shows signs of disrepair, its yard often cluttered with garbage. It sits in a state of legal limbo while lawyers attempt to sort out the mess and the police hunt for the criminals and the $450,000 stolen along with Reviczky's heart.
Reviczky cannot even enter the home because that could technically be trespassing and police have told him that they will need consent from the new owners to enter the premises.
Toronto lawyer Sidney Troister, an expert on real estate and mortgage fraud, says the Reviczky case is perplexing because "while we can feel sorry for the first owner, we can feel equally sorry for the buyer, who like every other buyer could never be certain that their vendor is the real owner."
Troister says Ontario's land titles system is a good system, "except in the event of fraud where it breaks down, and leaves innocent owners and innocent buyers and lenders helpless and without speedy and fair relief."
"Until the province can prevent this type of fraud from happening, it must formulate a more responsive and all-inclusive compensation scheme for title fraud," Troister says.
"Innocent people, whether it is the innocent owner or the innocent buyer or lender, get hurt because the province does not protect innocent people registering documents in the system."
Ralph Roberts, a Michigan-based expert on mortgage fraud, says inroads will not be made into burgeoning real property and mortgage fraud until more homeowners and legislators become aware it exists. "There is not enough of a public awareness," he says. "People just keep getting dragged into it one after another."
Last month, state legislators in Michigan declared war against mortgage and title fraud after FBI disclosures that mortgage fraud losses in the state jumped from almost $9 million in 2003 to $26 million in 2005.
Several bills introduced in July contain an arsenal of measures, such as designating millions of dollars for investigation of unlicensed real estate brokers and making mortgage fraud a serious crime punishable by 10 years in prison for a first offence.
Mortgage and title fraud have also taken on a higher profile in Canada recently. Organizations such as the Law Society of Upper Canada have been meeting with their counterparts in the real estate and financial industries, and police authorities, to try and solve the problem.
Police forces in Greater Toronto are struggling to cope with a noticeable increase in complaints of title fraud. A report published in March 2005 by the law society says the fraud is often facilitated because the parties to the transaction may never know or actually meet each other in person.
"Without due diligence throughout the process, it is easy for fraudsters to pass themselves off and to take advantage of the lack of oversight," the report says.
"Mortgage fraud and other frauds relating to title are all on the rise," says Det. Steve Majoran of the Toronto force's fraud and forgery squad. "That's my overall impression."
Majoran advises people renting out their homes to check references and verify backgrounds "as best as you can," heeding gut feelings where an applicant puts you off, and to question offers of cash rent.
"You really have to do due diligence these days," he says.
Majoran, who cannot discuss individual cases, says title-fraud investigations can be challenging because they involve following a paper trail and tracking back through a scheme to try to determine who committed the crime, "often months after the fact."
"It's a total shock to the homeowner because the home has been stolen from under them without their knowledge — and usually without their complicity whatsoever," Majoran says.
"I found in a lot of title fraud cases that the person has worked all their life for a property and regards their home as their castle," he says. "To find it's been stolen right out from under them is totally devastating."
Gabriella Toth, who is Reviczky's niece, says she can't understand how anyone could steal an 89-year-old man's home.
"These have to be heartless persons," says Toth, a vice-principal at a Toronto high school. "I think he was targeted because he is elderly."
With files from Associated Press
Sunday, September 17, 2006
doomsayers
By a fellow blogger Bob Browning UK
"The first UK e-conveyancing pilot is being launched in October 2007. I am sure it will be successful. Participation is voluntary and therefore will only be used by technology early adopters and evangelists in larger law firms, with client who are keen to be at the forefront of technology.
I predict that the results will be published showing unbounded enthusiasm by users and great business benefits.
Wait until the thing goes live. Average punters are going to be told that they won't be signing their conveyancing documents because the technology for electronic signature is so complex that the solicitor (who probably doesn't fully understand it) has to sign everything on their behalf. This is for transactions involving 6-7 figure sums of money.
The first e-conveyancing transaction that goes pear-shaped will hit the front pages in the first year and the project will spiral out of control as people try and rescue their careers from disaster"
This is the doomsayers view and such comments would have been the same for electronic share trading, electronic banking, internet e-commerce which we all now take for granted
"The first UK e-conveyancing pilot is being launched in October 2007. I am sure it will be successful. Participation is voluntary and therefore will only be used by technology early adopters and evangelists in larger law firms, with client who are keen to be at the forefront of technology.
I predict that the results will be published showing unbounded enthusiasm by users and great business benefits.
Wait until the thing goes live. Average punters are going to be told that they won't be signing their conveyancing documents because the technology for electronic signature is so complex that the solicitor (who probably doesn't fully understand it) has to sign everything on their behalf. This is for transactions involving 6-7 figure sums of money.
The first e-conveyancing transaction that goes pear-shaped will hit the front pages in the first year and the project will spiral out of control as people try and rescue their careers from disaster"
This is the doomsayers view and such comments would have been the same for electronic share trading, electronic banking, internet e-commerce which we all now take for granted
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
A third realestate portal - propertyseek.com.au
Crikey.com.au breaks the news on Seek's online real estate classifieds play
12 September Crikey editor Misha Ketchell writes:
"In recent times Crikey has been the beneficiary of an intriguingly steady trickle of tips about online jobs site Seek branching out into the other big classified advertising category -- real estate.
In June, a source claimed that the 25%-PBL-owned Seek was looking at both developing property services internally and acquiring remaining property classifieds businesses. It was also claimed that Seek "has bought large volumes of free to air television and outdoor media to market something large in September and October".
A few weeks later we heard that Seek head of M&A, Jason Lenga, was in the final negotiations to purchase an online real estate lead generation business based in NSW – whatpricemyhouse.com. (He said it was a side deal with some mates.)
Now, finally, we've got what appear to be the juicy details:
Seek, despite their denials, are actively behind the PBL/Seek entry into the online real estate business. The new portal will launch at the beginning of October and will be called propertyseek.com.au.
Most heavily involved have been four real estate franchise groups at a Corporate level: LJ Hooker, Century 21, Elders and Raine & Horne NSW (not national). It was these four groups that approached PBL about launching another real estate portal, after the relative failure of their earlier attempts; propertypage.com.au and homehound.com.au.
It is believed that the Franchise Heads/Corporate want to make the new website exclusive ie. force the individual franchisees within their groups to advertise on the new site and stop advertising anywhere else online.
Why? Well here's the kicker. For every individual franchisee, eg LJ Hooker Parramatta, that LJ Hooker Corporate can convince/force to advertise on the new website, the more equity that LJ Hooker Corporate gets in the new business.
So the individual offices pay to advertise on this new website only so Head office/corporate make more money (more equity). The cost to advertise on the new site will be $175 per month with a 30% price increase after the first year.
Needless to say there is no love lost between the individual real estate offices and their Franchise Heads (corporate). This new business "model" will do nothing to help those relationships. Most real estate offices will probably see this for what it is: Head office trying to squeeze the little guys so Head office can profit. And all this after two previously unsuccessful attempts by the abovementioned Franchise groups to run their own website (propertypage.com.au and homehound.com.au).
The prospect of these individual real estate agencies being told "where to advertise" is unlikely to be successful, particularly when their competitors will be free to advertise wherever they like! Add this to the fact that that the main people profiting from the new website will be the Corporate Head offices by way of their equity stake and the likelihood of this getting off the ground seems to be wishful thinking more than careful planning.
So it seems to be on, and the online turf war is about to get a whole lot more interesting. If Seek can make serious inroads into the property market, James Packer might yet get to score another victory over News Ltd and Fairfax without buying into the dinosaur world of dead tree newspaper journalism."
Source Crikey.com.au
12 September Crikey editor Misha Ketchell writes:
"In recent times Crikey has been the beneficiary of an intriguingly steady trickle of tips about online jobs site Seek branching out into the other big classified advertising category -- real estate.
In June, a source claimed that the 25%-PBL-owned Seek was looking at both developing property services internally and acquiring remaining property classifieds businesses. It was also claimed that Seek "has bought large volumes of free to air television and outdoor media to market something large in September and October".
A few weeks later we heard that Seek head of M&A, Jason Lenga, was in the final negotiations to purchase an online real estate lead generation business based in NSW – whatpricemyhouse.com. (He said it was a side deal with some mates.)
Now, finally, we've got what appear to be the juicy details:
Seek, despite their denials, are actively behind the PBL/Seek entry into the online real estate business. The new portal will launch at the beginning of October and will be called propertyseek.com.au.
Most heavily involved have been four real estate franchise groups at a Corporate level: LJ Hooker, Century 21, Elders and Raine & Horne NSW (not national). It was these four groups that approached PBL about launching another real estate portal, after the relative failure of their earlier attempts; propertypage.com.au and homehound.com.au.
It is believed that the Franchise Heads/Corporate want to make the new website exclusive ie. force the individual franchisees within their groups to advertise on the new site and stop advertising anywhere else online.
Why? Well here's the kicker. For every individual franchisee, eg LJ Hooker Parramatta, that LJ Hooker Corporate can convince/force to advertise on the new website, the more equity that LJ Hooker Corporate gets in the new business.
So the individual offices pay to advertise on this new website only so Head office/corporate make more money (more equity). The cost to advertise on the new site will be $175 per month with a 30% price increase after the first year.
Needless to say there is no love lost between the individual real estate offices and their Franchise Heads (corporate). This new business "model" will do nothing to help those relationships. Most real estate offices will probably see this for what it is: Head office trying to squeeze the little guys so Head office can profit. And all this after two previously unsuccessful attempts by the abovementioned Franchise groups to run their own website (propertypage.com.au and homehound.com.au).
The prospect of these individual real estate agencies being told "where to advertise" is unlikely to be successful, particularly when their competitors will be free to advertise wherever they like! Add this to the fact that that the main people profiting from the new website will be the Corporate Head offices by way of their equity stake and the likelihood of this getting off the ground seems to be wishful thinking more than careful planning.
So it seems to be on, and the online turf war is about to get a whole lot more interesting. If Seek can make serious inroads into the property market, James Packer might yet get to score another victory over News Ltd and Fairfax without buying into the dinosaur world of dead tree newspaper journalism."
Source Crikey.com.au
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Fraud Statistics
John Barry of the Victorian Land Titles Office noted that in Victoria, the number of fraudulent applications were estimated to be of the order of 1 in 19,000.
In Victoria the witnessing requirement is only for an adult person. In other states where the witnessing requirement is for a qualified person the incidence of fraud was no less.
But with the introduction of the 100 point test and E-conveyancing, his
expectation was that the incidence of fraud would decrease.
In Victoria the witnessing requirement is only for an adult person. In other states where the witnessing requirement is for a qualified person the incidence of fraud was no less.
But with the introduction of the 100 point test and E-conveyancing, his
expectation was that the incidence of fraud would decrease.
Uniform Torrens Title
As the focus of electronic conveyancing has become a national agenda, so in the absence of a National Torrens Title Property Register, the debate is turning to a uniform Torrens Title system across State registers.
A paper has been produced by the Australian Property Law Group convened by Murray McCutcheon.
Quoting from its introduction -
The Torrens system has now been in operation for almost 150 years. It has been a great success in bringing certainty and legal predictability into land transactions. Its success is evident from the way it quickly spread from South Australia to every Australian state and territory, and then to many overseas countries.
However, while its central tenets have remained fairly constant over the 150 years, many of its incidental aspects have diverged from state to state. If anything, as time goes on, that divergence is increasing, not decreasing. This creates many practical difficulties, particularly for organizations with property interests in more than one state or territory.
The LIV Victoria has published a draft response in support of the establishment of a national best practice model. The LIV considers that every effort should be made towards uniformity. The Property Law Committee of the Property and Environmental Law Section of the LIV has provided comments upon which this submission is based and is
available to discuss any of those comments further. The LIV would be pleased to continue its participation in the project.
A paper has been produced by the Australian Property Law Group convened by Murray McCutcheon.
Quoting from its introduction -
The Torrens system has now been in operation for almost 150 years. It has been a great success in bringing certainty and legal predictability into land transactions. Its success is evident from the way it quickly spread from South Australia to every Australian state and territory, and then to many overseas countries.
However, while its central tenets have remained fairly constant over the 150 years, many of its incidental aspects have diverged from state to state. If anything, as time goes on, that divergence is increasing, not decreasing. This creates many practical difficulties, particularly for organizations with property interests in more than one state or territory.
The LIV Victoria has published a draft response in support of the establishment of a national best practice model. The LIV considers that every effort should be made towards uniformity. The Property Law Committee of the Property and Environmental Law Section of the LIV has provided comments upon which this submission is based and is
available to discuss any of those comments further. The LIV would be pleased to continue its participation in the project.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Buy Sell Contract Property Online
Really, how far away is the day when you can contract to buy property online?
Steps 3,4 & 5 are not that far away.
In fact, the US website www.buysiderealty.com is already doing Step 3. The site is bringing vendors, buyers and the agents together and bringing bringing qualified bidders to the table. You will need to register to make a bid. But have a look at the homes for sale in Hollywood as an example.
- Properties are listed for sale online - thats a given
- Vendor disclosure and buyers completing due diligence online - have a look at 247legal.com.au
- Make an offer to the vendor
- counter-offer, offer, acceptance & consideration
- Contract
Steps 3,4 & 5 are not that far away.
In fact, the US website www.buysiderealty.com is already doing Step 3. The site is bringing vendors, buyers and the agents together and bringing bringing qualified bidders to the table. You will need to register to make a bid. But have a look at the homes for sale in Hollywood as an example.
domain vs realestate.com.au
How do these 2 sites create the top 10 or top 20 properties for a suburb search
Example - Bentleigh 3204
domain:
realestate.com.au:
Even when you go top 20
domain give precedence to LJH for another 3 spots 11, 12 & 13
realestate.com.au give over 6 spots to hockingstuart.
Yet Buxtons probably are leading the listings in the Bentleigh area.
How does it work?
Example - Bentleigh 3204
domain:
- LJ Hooker 8 of the top 10
- Ray White 1 and
- Buxton 1
realestate.com.au:
- hocking stuart 1,
- LJHooker 4,
- Buxton 3,
- Wilson Pride 1,
- Sandy Anderson 1
- hocking stuart +1 for advertised top space
Even when you go top 20
domain give precedence to LJH for another 3 spots 11, 12 & 13
realestate.com.au give over 6 spots to hockingstuart.
Yet Buxtons probably are leading the listings in the Bentleigh area.
How does it work?
Fairfax Domain meets Google Maps
It is interesting to see Fairfax domain.com.au switching to Google Maps.
realestate.com.au maps are still driven by Telstra Sensis owned whereis.
Nothing wrong with whereis. I have enjoyed using the whereis mapping service from time to time. Cant remember who domain used to use, but switching to google maps is a very smart move, judging by the innovative uses US websites have adopted with Google Maps.
Will realestate.com.au switch to the google juggernaut?
realestate.com.au maps are still driven by Telstra Sensis owned whereis.
Nothing wrong with whereis. I have enjoyed using the whereis mapping service from time to time. Cant remember who domain used to use, but switching to google maps is a very smart move, judging by the innovative uses US websites have adopted with Google Maps.
Will realestate.com.au switch to the google juggernaut?
Friday, September 01, 2006
Net impact on Fairfax's earnings
Fairfax Media reported flat earnings and a fall in net profit yesterday as weak advertising markets continued to harm its bottom line.
Fairfax's net profit fell 7 per cent to $227.45 million in the year to June 30 while its underlying net profit before one-off items was down 4 per cent to $228.48 million.
Fairfax chief executive David Kirk said advertising markets in Australia weakened further in the second half compared with the first six months.
"As expected, trading conditions remain constrained in our core publishing markets," Fairfax said.
Growth in publishing would be achieved by continued diversification into regional, business and magazine publishing, Mr Kirk said, along with cost management.
Fairfax reported earnings before interest and tax of $425.5 million, in line with its June forecast and steady with the previous year's result, while revenue rose 2 per cent to $1.91 billion.
Fairfax's metropolitan papers, including The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review reported growth in circulation and readership.
However, metropolitan advertising fell 1.6 per cent to $1.04 billion which caused EBIT to fall 10 per cent to $231.1 million.
Mr Kirk said the impact was a mix of cyclical and structural factors particularly in employment and real estate advertising in New South Wales and Victoria.
"There is no doubt that we are seeing some structural movement of that online and some of it won't come back, but a good deal of it also has to be cyclical," he said.
The main bright spot for Fairfax was the continuing improvement in the profitability of its digital arm.
Fairfax Digital's revenue rose 75.6 per cent to $96.4 million while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation leapt from $6.6 million in 2004-05 to $24.3 million last financial year.
Source news.com.au
Fairfax's net profit fell 7 per cent to $227.45 million in the year to June 30 while its underlying net profit before one-off items was down 4 per cent to $228.48 million.
Fairfax chief executive David Kirk said advertising markets in Australia weakened further in the second half compared with the first six months.
"As expected, trading conditions remain constrained in our core publishing markets," Fairfax said.
Growth in publishing would be achieved by continued diversification into regional, business and magazine publishing, Mr Kirk said, along with cost management.
Fairfax reported earnings before interest and tax of $425.5 million, in line with its June forecast and steady with the previous year's result, while revenue rose 2 per cent to $1.91 billion.
Fairfax's metropolitan papers, including The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review reported growth in circulation and readership.
However, metropolitan advertising fell 1.6 per cent to $1.04 billion which caused EBIT to fall 10 per cent to $231.1 million.
Mr Kirk said the impact was a mix of cyclical and structural factors particularly in employment and real estate advertising in New South Wales and Victoria.
"There is no doubt that we are seeing some structural movement of that online and some of it won't come back, but a good deal of it also has to be cyclical," he said.
The main bright spot for Fairfax was the continuing improvement in the profitability of its digital arm.
Fairfax Digital's revenue rose 75.6 per cent to $96.4 million while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation leapt from $6.6 million in 2004-05 to $24.3 million last financial year.
Source news.com.au
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