Electronic / digital conveyancing, because of its nature,
• will provide industry participants with opportunities to organise their work and staffing needs more efficiently,
• to service a wider geographical distribution of transacting parties,
• to save time and expense preparing and correcting documentation, and
• to have greater confidence in the transaction process and in the other participants representing transacting parties.
These benefits will be greater the more an industry participant uses electronic conveyancing.
How will legal and conveyancing practices benefit?
Legal and conveyancing practices will benefit from opportunities to streamline their operations, saving staff time and expense through seamless integration with their case management systems. The information they already collect from their clients will be sent to the NECS and used to prepare the instruments required for the transaction.
• Paralegals and clerks will sign-on to the NECS through their in-house systems and ensure everything is in order for a legal practitioner or licensed conveyancer to certify and sign the instruments prior to the agreed time for settlement.
• Settlement will occur without having to obtain a bank cheque or send anyone to a pre-agreed location to exchange cheques and instruments.
• Lodgment will occur automatically after settlement without the need to instruct a lodging agent, and notification of lodgment will be received and recorded in in-house case management systems almost immediately.
• The conveyancing process will be completed much faster and with less effort.
It will be possible to handle many more transactions at the same time with no additional resources and to settle any number of matters on the same day.
How will financial institutions and other mortgage lenders benefit?
Financial institutions and other mortgage lenders will similarly benefit from opportunities to streamline their operations.
• The information many lenders already collect and have stored in their loan documentation systems will be automatically used through connections with NECS to populate workspaces and prepare instruments.
• Loans officers will sign-on to NECS through their in-house documentation systems and ensure everything is in order for a supervisor to certify and sign discharge of mortgage and/or new mortgage instruments prior to the agreed time for settlement.
• Settlement will occur without having to obtain a bank cheque or send anyone to a pre-agreed location to exchange cheques and instruments.
• Lodgment will occur automatically after settlement without the need to instruct a lodging agent, and notification of lodgment will be received and recorded in in-house documentation systems almost immediately.
• The process of documenting loans and lodging mortgages will be completed much faster with less effort and resources.
• The same number of staff will be able to handle a significantly greater number of loans and mortgages.
The full benefit of investments in in-house systems will be realised with straight-through processing to the Land Registry via NECS.
How will sole practitioners benefit?
Sole practitioners and small legal and conveyancer practices generally will benefit from the convenience and cost savings possible using NECS.
The practitioner will be able to complete all aspects of a conveyance without having to leave the office or having to use a courier or agent to deliver documents for client signing, to pick-up bank cheques, to attend settlement or to lodge instruments with the Land Registry.
They will be able to complete each conveyance and obtain these benefits using nothing more than an Internet browser. Alternatively, they can install and use one of a number of case management systems specially tailored by software development companies for legal and conveyancer practices.
How will the Land Registry benefit?
The Land Registry will benefit from lodgment of electronic instruments suitable for electronic examination and, ultimately, automatic registration. The electronic instruments will have been checked for consistency and completeness during preparation with opportunities for practitioners and lenders to make corrections on the spot. These checks and corrections during preparation will mean the Land Registry will not have to issue as many requisitions for additional or clarifying information during examination.
Source NSW NECS Update
Friday, July 13, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Hocking Stuart groups sold
Real estate group Hocking Stuart has been sold - to a group of its own real estate agents.
Greg Hocking and Andrew Stuart, who launched the business in 1985 from an office in Albert Park, today announced the sale to eight franchisees of Hocking Stuart offices around the state.
But neither would say how much they had sold their business for.
Mr Hocking said he was pleased to have sold out of the business.
"It has always been our goal to see Hocking Stuart pass into the hands of ... successors," he said.
The company, which last financial year said it had achieved sales in excess of $2.4 billion, has 42 offices across Victoria, 500 employees and around 11,000 properties under management.
It will now look nationally for a new chief executive officer.
Individual Hocking Stuart offices will remain owned by their directors.
Mr Hocking said he and Mr Stuart had been discussing "an exit strategy" for a number of years.
The company's name and branding would not change, Mr Hocking said, because the new owners were all already involved with the business.
"So from a grass roots level we know what to expect," he said.
Mr Hocking will now focus on a mortgage broking business he has been developing for the last 12 months, while Mr Stuart has retained an interest in Hocking Stuart's Albert Park office.
Source The Age
Clay Lucas
Greg Hocking and Andrew Stuart, who launched the business in 1985 from an office in Albert Park, today announced the sale to eight franchisees of Hocking Stuart offices around the state.
But neither would say how much they had sold their business for.
Mr Hocking said he was pleased to have sold out of the business.
"It has always been our goal to see Hocking Stuart pass into the hands of ... successors," he said.
The company, which last financial year said it had achieved sales in excess of $2.4 billion, has 42 offices across Victoria, 500 employees and around 11,000 properties under management.
It will now look nationally for a new chief executive officer.
Individual Hocking Stuart offices will remain owned by their directors.
Mr Hocking said he and Mr Stuart had been discussing "an exit strategy" for a number of years.
The company's name and branding would not change, Mr Hocking said, because the new owners were all already involved with the business.
"So from a grass roots level we know what to expect," he said.
Mr Hocking will now focus on a mortgage broking business he has been developing for the last 12 months, while Mr Stuart has retained an interest in Hocking Stuart's Albert Park office.
Source The Age
Clay Lucas
Monday, July 09, 2007
LIXI selected for the National Electronic Conveyancing System
The National Electronic Conveyancing Office (NECO) has announced an agreement with LIXI to create common data standards for the National Electronic Conveyancing System (NECS).
The NECS project is a co-operative initiative governed by a National Steering Committee (NSC) consisting of representatives of government land administrations, revenue commissioners, lawyers, conveyancers, bankers and the information brokers and law stationers.
Whilst this is a complex process involving different jurisdictional and industry policies and practices, Simon Libbis, executive director of NECO, says announcing data standards is a major milestone.
“LIXI’s facilitation of data standards for the national roll out of electronic conveyancing is crucial to the project’s progression. LIXI has demonstrated world class innovation and we are very excited to have their expertise available for electronic conveyancing” he said.
According to Socrates Vasiliadis, this agreement solidifies the importance of one standard for the industry.
“This announcement means LIXI is validated as the data standard for the industry and delivers value to our members. This project will change the way transfer of ownership of property is managed and will help the whole settlement process become more simplified” he said.
Property transactions in Australia account for 28% of GDP. The benefits that are expected to flow from the National Electronic Conveyancing System are:
* consumer and practitioner convenience
* user efficiency and consumer benefits
* straight-through processing from dealing preparation to registration
* single interface for national businesses
* common functionality for users in all jurisdictions
* easier cross-border transactions
* transparent application of jurisdiction rule differences.
Industry uptake in LIXI membership has increased since companies are now able to join without licensing IP. Members can therefore join yet hold off on purchasing IP until they’re ready to implement e-commerce facilities in the future.
Source lixi.org.au
The NECS project is a co-operative initiative governed by a National Steering Committee (NSC) consisting of representatives of government land administrations, revenue commissioners, lawyers, conveyancers, bankers and the information brokers and law stationers.
Whilst this is a complex process involving different jurisdictional and industry policies and practices, Simon Libbis, executive director of NECO, says announcing data standards is a major milestone.
“LIXI’s facilitation of data standards for the national roll out of electronic conveyancing is crucial to the project’s progression. LIXI has demonstrated world class innovation and we are very excited to have their expertise available for electronic conveyancing” he said.
According to Socrates Vasiliadis, this agreement solidifies the importance of one standard for the industry.
“This announcement means LIXI is validated as the data standard for the industry and delivers value to our members. This project will change the way transfer of ownership of property is managed and will help the whole settlement process become more simplified” he said.
Property transactions in Australia account for 28% of GDP. The benefits that are expected to flow from the National Electronic Conveyancing System are:
* consumer and practitioner convenience
* user efficiency and consumer benefits
* straight-through processing from dealing preparation to registration
* single interface for national businesses
* common functionality for users in all jurisdictions
* easier cross-border transactions
* transparent application of jurisdiction rule differences.
Industry uptake in LIXI membership has increased since companies are now able to join without licensing IP. Members can therefore join yet hold off on purchasing IP until they’re ready to implement e-commerce facilities in the future.
Source lixi.org.au
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Penthouse living
Reproduced from Fairfax Domain
Author Ann Pilmer - June 27, 2007
Melburnians are increasingly swapping the purchase of land for air. In a turnaround from conventional wisdom that acquiring land was the way to go, today's urban property buyers are forking out for highrise apartments on footprints little bigger than a sizeable suburban block.
The ultimate purchase is literally the pinnacle of the building, that is, the penthouses and sub-penthouses at the top.
The newest penthouse at 150 Clarendon at East Melbourne was valued at $15 million last month. Top-floor places in Eureka Tower, Lucient, Yve, the Mercy hospital site, Freshwater Place, The Melburnian and the Domain in St Kilda Road usually trade in the high-million-dollar range.
But their owners are far from airheads. They're spending - and making - big money on these "islands in the sky".
A St Kilda Road penthouse-style apartment, for example, increased in value by more than $500,000 in a matter of months. Bought for $2 million in February last year, it was put back on the market twice, selling in May for $2.3 million, then in September for $2.6 million to a London-based buyer.
Penthouse specialist Robert I. Mitchelson of Icon Property, who handled all three sales, says highrise buyers tend to be 45-plus baby boomers who have sold the big family home and still want plenty of living space, but without the maintenance.
"The kids have gone, they are free to travel and have the money for such a lifestyle," says Mr Mitchelson. "They love the security of an apartment because they can lock it up and go and the body corporate will look after the maintenance. They free up their lives."
For many buyers, the penthouse becomes not just a home, it's a lifestyle. And financially, "there's not a better investment" than a good penthouse, says Mr Mitchelson.
"They're as scarce as hen's teeth because they can't be built without the block of lesser apartments underneath and there's not as much apartment building going on."
Mr Mitchelson says demand has always outstripped supply in his agency.
Canny buyers recognise the quality of existing buildings such as Eureka and realise that similar apartments in new developments will be considerably more expensive, reflecting the cost of living and increases in the price of building and land.
The penthouse is also seen as a prestigious buy.
When Eureka Tower was launched seven years ago, there was a rush to buy off the plan by investors keen to rub neighbourly shoulders with celebrities and the city's leading lights. Many of those apartments are now being resold.
Hocking Stuart's Brett Jarvis, a highrise apartment specialist, lives on the 60th level of Eureka Tower (sometimes called "towers" because it's effectively three highrise buildings in one) with wife Jill.
"I bought it way back and wish I'd bought more," he says. "We have a bedroom and a study and plenty of living space with views of Albert Park Lake, the Botanic Gardens, Government House and the yachts on Port Phillip Bay. It's something special. I give traffic reports to people coming to the football. You're 17 minutes from the airport and you can walk everywhere in the city so you don't need a car."
Mr Jarvis says any big apartment near the top of Eureka's 580 apartments on the 88 residential floors, fetches high prices. A penthouse shell on level 86 sold for $7 million. And a 320-square-metre apartment with 290-degree views on the 73rd level is for sale at $4.3 million.
Aside from the "million-dollar" views - which Mr Jarvis reckons more than make up for the price of the apartment - buyers like a big apartment with quality finishes. They are realising that quality comes at a price and because of rising costs new developments will be more expensive than existing ones. Mr Jarvis says good apartments on levels 50 to 60 in the Eureka Tower have jumped, from $100,000 to $600,000 and $700,000, since selling started seven years ago. A spacious 250-square-metre apartment on level 30, completed 21/2 years ago, would have sold at around $985,000 and is $1.4 million today.
He estimates apartment prices leap from $5000 to $10,000 a floor, depending on the view, and average $8000 to $10,000 a square metre.
A lot are bought by overseas buyers who find Melbourne's apartment prices very competitive on a global scale. Many former tenants are also buying into the building, and owners who bought on lower floors often buy higher up as they get used to the style of living.
Tim Blackett of Kay & Burton says a big problem is finding large, quality apartments for buyers selling the family home who don't want maintenance but still want space.
He says the right property with the right space, location, quality finishes, outdoor terrace and views will easily fetch from $10,000 to $15,000 a square metre.
For these buyers, says Mr Blackett, budget is secondary to finding the right property.
Bird's eye on the jams below
One of the best things about high-rise living - apart from the lack of maintenance - is that you can spot the traffic jams before you leave home. That's the view of Fiona and Bob (who did not want to include their last name).
Five years ago, the couple swapped an outer suburban house on two hectares with horses, chickens and dogs for a city penthouse on the 27th floor.
Traffic is not a problem for Bob, who is a property developer. His office happens to be on the ground floor of the building, and while he has a car, he rarely drives, preferring to use a bike for getting around the city.
After three years in their original three-bedroom apartment, the couple also bought the three-bedroom apartment next door and hired Ferntree Gully building company Rori Homes to renovate the two units into one big home.
Their grown children and partners also live with them, so residential space for six adults - and pet pooch Brando - was a priority.
The spaces are vast and include a family area, a formal space on a raised podium with a Versace couch, home theatre, and an entertainment area with a bar bigger than those in an average nightclub.
Fiona and Bob spent more than a $1 million on renovations, including $400,000 on electronics. Now, fibre optic lights around the base of the bar change colour at the push of a button and a television set drops out of the bar's rounded back wall.
The apartment also has three large bedrooms, four balconies (one with a gas barbecue and outdoor heater), gymnasium, five bathrooms, office, six car spaces and three storage cages.
The main bedroom includes a library and two bathrooms. If he doesn't watch the TV mounted on the wall, Bob can sit in his bath and look out onto Albert Park and St Kilda.
Stylish interiors aside, Bob says the penthouse is unique because of its size.
He's not in the market to sell but, if someone came up with $8.5 million, he says he might consider it.
Eureka! Loving the view from 49 floors up
Up-market apartment dwellers are notoriously shy of publicity, so Warren and Raelene Gainsmith of Gainsville Furniture were initially reluctant to tell their story. But they say they have the best of both worlds.
They still have their suburban home and, seven years ago, bought two apartments off the plan and rebuilt them into one on the 49th floor of Eureka Tower (pictured).
They combined the three- and two-bedroom apartments to get more living space and four bedrooms.
They use the apartment, which they moved into two years ago, during the busiest period for their business.
"Having a spot here has been fantastic. We're 30 seconds away from the business so I've cut down on travel time," says Mr Gainsmith, "and we've used the apartment as a display suite and now we've become specialists in apartment fitouts."
In their spacious apartment, with its lime green walls and aubergine carpet, mirrors are strategically placed to reflect views to Geelong, Albert Park, Port Phillip Bay and the helipad on the Yarra.
"You don't feel any movement," says Mr Gainsmith, who admits he won't let his young grandchildren on the narrow balcony without adult supervision.
The main bedroom, or parents' retreat, is a vast, angled space, dominated by a central leather bed overlooking the city.
"The city is lit up like a Christmas tree at night," Mr Gainsmith says. "You never get tired of looking at it. We put in a mirrored wall to reflect the lights of the Bolte Bridge, which gives the room a floating effect. "The sunsets are great, too, and there is always so much going on in the city," Mr Gainsmith says.
"On our days off, there is just so much more to do in the city. There's a great community atmosphere at Eureka and we've made some good friends here.
"They tell us the cost of building has gone up about 80 per cent since we bought. And in any future picture of Melbourne, you'll see the Eureka Tower like an icon." He's satisfied that the penthouse has been a "red hot investment".
What makes a great penthouse?
What exactly is a penthouse these days?
According to agents Robert I. Mitchelson and Brett Jarvis, definitions have become a bit elastic.
Once defined as the large, luxurious apartment at the top of the building, a "penthouse" now embraces any large apartment high up in the building.
A sub-penthouse used to be on the floor below the penthouse. Now it includes floors near the top of a tall building, with apartments offering penthouse-style trappings of spaciousness, luxurious finishes and desired location.
Buyers prefer apartments of more than 300 square metres, including plenty of living space. Formal rooms are not a priority and neither is a separate kitchen but sheltered, wide terraces and sweeping views are.
Ideally those views should be on the north-east away from south-west winds and fierce west summer sun.
Mr Mitchelson has had buyers fleeing winds - so strong in parts of Port Melbourne and Docklands that they have had to tie the outdoor furniture down so it didn't blow away - to the more sedate surroundings of St Kilda Road and Southbank.
Most buyers are not height-phobic, even in apartments with walls of floor-to-ceiling glass. "Some of the elderly might worry," Mr Mitchelson says. "But with time you don't even think about it."
Author Ann Pilmer - June 27, 2007
Melburnians are increasingly swapping the purchase of land for air. In a turnaround from conventional wisdom that acquiring land was the way to go, today's urban property buyers are forking out for highrise apartments on footprints little bigger than a sizeable suburban block.
The ultimate purchase is literally the pinnacle of the building, that is, the penthouses and sub-penthouses at the top.
The newest penthouse at 150 Clarendon at East Melbourne was valued at $15 million last month. Top-floor places in Eureka Tower, Lucient, Yve, the Mercy hospital site, Freshwater Place, The Melburnian and the Domain in St Kilda Road usually trade in the high-million-dollar range.
But their owners are far from airheads. They're spending - and making - big money on these "islands in the sky".
A St Kilda Road penthouse-style apartment, for example, increased in value by more than $500,000 in a matter of months. Bought for $2 million in February last year, it was put back on the market twice, selling in May for $2.3 million, then in September for $2.6 million to a London-based buyer.
Penthouse specialist Robert I. Mitchelson of Icon Property, who handled all three sales, says highrise buyers tend to be 45-plus baby boomers who have sold the big family home and still want plenty of living space, but without the maintenance.
"The kids have gone, they are free to travel and have the money for such a lifestyle," says Mr Mitchelson. "They love the security of an apartment because they can lock it up and go and the body corporate will look after the maintenance. They free up their lives."
For many buyers, the penthouse becomes not just a home, it's a lifestyle. And financially, "there's not a better investment" than a good penthouse, says Mr Mitchelson.
"They're as scarce as hen's teeth because they can't be built without the block of lesser apartments underneath and there's not as much apartment building going on."
Mr Mitchelson says demand has always outstripped supply in his agency.
Canny buyers recognise the quality of existing buildings such as Eureka and realise that similar apartments in new developments will be considerably more expensive, reflecting the cost of living and increases in the price of building and land.
The penthouse is also seen as a prestigious buy.
When Eureka Tower was launched seven years ago, there was a rush to buy off the plan by investors keen to rub neighbourly shoulders with celebrities and the city's leading lights. Many of those apartments are now being resold.
Hocking Stuart's Brett Jarvis, a highrise apartment specialist, lives on the 60th level of Eureka Tower (sometimes called "towers" because it's effectively three highrise buildings in one) with wife Jill.
"I bought it way back and wish I'd bought more," he says. "We have a bedroom and a study and plenty of living space with views of Albert Park Lake, the Botanic Gardens, Government House and the yachts on Port Phillip Bay. It's something special. I give traffic reports to people coming to the football. You're 17 minutes from the airport and you can walk everywhere in the city so you don't need a car."
Mr Jarvis says any big apartment near the top of Eureka's 580 apartments on the 88 residential floors, fetches high prices. A penthouse shell on level 86 sold for $7 million. And a 320-square-metre apartment with 290-degree views on the 73rd level is for sale at $4.3 million.
Aside from the "million-dollar" views - which Mr Jarvis reckons more than make up for the price of the apartment - buyers like a big apartment with quality finishes. They are realising that quality comes at a price and because of rising costs new developments will be more expensive than existing ones. Mr Jarvis says good apartments on levels 50 to 60 in the Eureka Tower have jumped, from $100,000 to $600,000 and $700,000, since selling started seven years ago. A spacious 250-square-metre apartment on level 30, completed 21/2 years ago, would have sold at around $985,000 and is $1.4 million today.
He estimates apartment prices leap from $5000 to $10,000 a floor, depending on the view, and average $8000 to $10,000 a square metre.
A lot are bought by overseas buyers who find Melbourne's apartment prices very competitive on a global scale. Many former tenants are also buying into the building, and owners who bought on lower floors often buy higher up as they get used to the style of living.
Tim Blackett of Kay & Burton says a big problem is finding large, quality apartments for buyers selling the family home who don't want maintenance but still want space.
He says the right property with the right space, location, quality finishes, outdoor terrace and views will easily fetch from $10,000 to $15,000 a square metre.
For these buyers, says Mr Blackett, budget is secondary to finding the right property.
Bird's eye on the jams below
One of the best things about high-rise living - apart from the lack of maintenance - is that you can spot the traffic jams before you leave home. That's the view of Fiona and Bob (who did not want to include their last name).
Five years ago, the couple swapped an outer suburban house on two hectares with horses, chickens and dogs for a city penthouse on the 27th floor.
Traffic is not a problem for Bob, who is a property developer. His office happens to be on the ground floor of the building, and while he has a car, he rarely drives, preferring to use a bike for getting around the city.
After three years in their original three-bedroom apartment, the couple also bought the three-bedroom apartment next door and hired Ferntree Gully building company Rori Homes to renovate the two units into one big home.
Their grown children and partners also live with them, so residential space for six adults - and pet pooch Brando - was a priority.
The spaces are vast and include a family area, a formal space on a raised podium with a Versace couch, home theatre, and an entertainment area with a bar bigger than those in an average nightclub.
Fiona and Bob spent more than a $1 million on renovations, including $400,000 on electronics. Now, fibre optic lights around the base of the bar change colour at the push of a button and a television set drops out of the bar's rounded back wall.
The apartment also has three large bedrooms, four balconies (one with a gas barbecue and outdoor heater), gymnasium, five bathrooms, office, six car spaces and three storage cages.
The main bedroom includes a library and two bathrooms. If he doesn't watch the TV mounted on the wall, Bob can sit in his bath and look out onto Albert Park and St Kilda.
Stylish interiors aside, Bob says the penthouse is unique because of its size.
He's not in the market to sell but, if someone came up with $8.5 million, he says he might consider it.
Eureka! Loving the view from 49 floors up
Up-market apartment dwellers are notoriously shy of publicity, so Warren and Raelene Gainsmith of Gainsville Furniture were initially reluctant to tell their story. But they say they have the best of both worlds.
They still have their suburban home and, seven years ago, bought two apartments off the plan and rebuilt them into one on the 49th floor of Eureka Tower (pictured).
They combined the three- and two-bedroom apartments to get more living space and four bedrooms.
They use the apartment, which they moved into two years ago, during the busiest period for their business.
"Having a spot here has been fantastic. We're 30 seconds away from the business so I've cut down on travel time," says Mr Gainsmith, "and we've used the apartment as a display suite and now we've become specialists in apartment fitouts."
In their spacious apartment, with its lime green walls and aubergine carpet, mirrors are strategically placed to reflect views to Geelong, Albert Park, Port Phillip Bay and the helipad on the Yarra.
"You don't feel any movement," says Mr Gainsmith, who admits he won't let his young grandchildren on the narrow balcony without adult supervision.
The main bedroom, or parents' retreat, is a vast, angled space, dominated by a central leather bed overlooking the city.
"The city is lit up like a Christmas tree at night," Mr Gainsmith says. "You never get tired of looking at it. We put in a mirrored wall to reflect the lights of the Bolte Bridge, which gives the room a floating effect. "The sunsets are great, too, and there is always so much going on in the city," Mr Gainsmith says.
"On our days off, there is just so much more to do in the city. There's a great community atmosphere at Eureka and we've made some good friends here.
"They tell us the cost of building has gone up about 80 per cent since we bought. And in any future picture of Melbourne, you'll see the Eureka Tower like an icon." He's satisfied that the penthouse has been a "red hot investment".
What makes a great penthouse?
What exactly is a penthouse these days?
According to agents Robert I. Mitchelson and Brett Jarvis, definitions have become a bit elastic.
Once defined as the large, luxurious apartment at the top of the building, a "penthouse" now embraces any large apartment high up in the building.
A sub-penthouse used to be on the floor below the penthouse. Now it includes floors near the top of a tall building, with apartments offering penthouse-style trappings of spaciousness, luxurious finishes and desired location.
Buyers prefer apartments of more than 300 square metres, including plenty of living space. Formal rooms are not a priority and neither is a separate kitchen but sheltered, wide terraces and sweeping views are.
Ideally those views should be on the north-east away from south-west winds and fierce west summer sun.
Mr Mitchelson has had buyers fleeing winds - so strong in parts of Port Melbourne and Docklands that they have had to tie the outdoor furniture down so it didn't blow away - to the more sedate surroundings of St Kilda Road and Southbank.
Most buyers are not height-phobic, even in apartments with walls of floor-to-ceiling glass. "Some of the elderly might worry," Mr Mitchelson says. "But with time you don't even think about it."
Monday, June 25, 2007
Melbournes winter is hot
Woodards Ruth Roberts. Caulfield auction. Property on the market at 750K sold $895K.
Buxtons Craig Williamson. Reported fierce competition for an ordinary house with a quirky layout on the wrong side of the street. The house, at 12 Huntley Road Bentleigh, sold for $760K, 100K above the reserve.
Craig said there had been 23 requests for contracts, and six bidders competed furiously. 23 requests!!
"South facing, main roads, railway lines, quirky floor plans - it's like "who cares?" he siad. "Its creating real estate heaven."
Buxtons Craig Williamson. Reported fierce competition for an ordinary house with a quirky layout on the wrong side of the street. The house, at 12 Huntley Road Bentleigh, sold for $760K, 100K above the reserve.
Craig said there had been 23 requests for contracts, and six bidders competed furiously. 23 requests!!
"South facing, main roads, railway lines, quirky floor plans - it's like "who cares?" he siad. "Its creating real estate heaven."
Thursday, June 21, 2007
247Legal - digital conveyancing for vendors & clients
247Legal is digital conveyancing. Its makes the conveyancing process simple to follow. Its online. Its interactive. You can follow the progress of your file online. The information is shared with your agent making their job of selling easier.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
NZ - conveyIT partners with Fairfax Trade Me
The national network of property conveyancers, conveyIT, is now in partnership with New Zealand’s largest online marketplace Trade Me, to provide legal information to Trade Me property buyers.
Property listings on Trade Me have a direct link to conveyIT for purchasers seeking advice. The website also contains a network of local firms throughout the country that will provide property conveyancing for Trade Me members.
Tony Southall, chair of Gibson Sheat Lawyers – the law firm behind the development of the conveyIT system – says, “Increasingly, people are conducting their property transactions over the net, so it is important that legal information is as accessible as the property listings”.
Trade Me Property is the most visited real estate website in New Zealand and currently has over 38,000 properties listed, with an estimated 100,000 listings across New Zealand to appear over the next year.
Trade Me general manager Sam Morgan says conveyIT was selected for its “obvious commitment to eCommerce”.
“The conveyIT website gives the Trade Me community of 1.6 million users a source of free legal information and access to lawyers in their area.”
Property listings on Trade Me have a direct link to conveyIT for purchasers seeking advice. The website also contains a network of local firms throughout the country that will provide property conveyancing for Trade Me members.
Tony Southall, chair of Gibson Sheat Lawyers – the law firm behind the development of the conveyIT system – says, “Increasingly, people are conducting their property transactions over the net, so it is important that legal information is as accessible as the property listings”.
Trade Me Property is the most visited real estate website in New Zealand and currently has over 38,000 properties listed, with an estimated 100,000 listings across New Zealand to appear over the next year.
Trade Me general manager Sam Morgan says conveyIT was selected for its “obvious commitment to eCommerce”.
“The conveyIT website gives the Trade Me community of 1.6 million users a source of free legal information and access to lawyers in their area.”
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Telstra wants out of the Trading Post
Print can't compete with online ad sites
The Age online
James Kirby
June 17, 2007
Three years after Telstra paid a pricey $636 million for the publication, it has put the business back on the block and it will be lucky to cover its costs.
At first glance, it's another flop from Telstra (in this case its directory business, Sensis) but who could have known three years ago that the internet would not just threaten print media in the "non-journalism" categories but beat it out the door.
In the world of job ads, real estate ads, exchange and mart classifieds, such as those in The Trading Post, a whole generation has popped up that would not dream of waiting for a weekly magazine.
They move instantly — and they move online. Telstra's shift into "media without journalists" — as the purchase of The Trading Post was considered in 2004 — was much riskier than buying, say, the Packer group's magazine stable.
With the planned sale of The Trading Post, Telstra is acknowledging it does not have the expertise in traditional media to recreate the publication as a successful print/online hybrid, which it must become to survive.
The 7 per cent drop in interim revenues at The Trading Post in the six months to December is inexcusable. No wonder Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo pulled the trigger. He is much more excited by new media ventures such as SouFun.com, the real-estate website Telstra owns in China that is everything The Trading Post is not — new, exclusively online, low-cost and free of baggage.
The sale of the Packer group's Australian media interests is a sign that shifting traditional media assets into an online environment quickly is too hard. However, Packer's buyers, private equity group CVC, clearly have no fear.
Telstra might not look too clever when it sells The Trading Post. But at least Telstra knows what it doesn't know.
The Age online
James Kirby
June 17, 2007
Three years after Telstra paid a pricey $636 million for the publication, it has put the business back on the block and it will be lucky to cover its costs.
At first glance, it's another flop from Telstra (in this case its directory business, Sensis) but who could have known three years ago that the internet would not just threaten print media in the "non-journalism" categories but beat it out the door.
In the world of job ads, real estate ads, exchange and mart classifieds, such as those in The Trading Post, a whole generation has popped up that would not dream of waiting for a weekly magazine.
They move instantly — and they move online. Telstra's shift into "media without journalists" — as the purchase of The Trading Post was considered in 2004 — was much riskier than buying, say, the Packer group's magazine stable.
With the planned sale of The Trading Post, Telstra is acknowledging it does not have the expertise in traditional media to recreate the publication as a successful print/online hybrid, which it must become to survive.
The 7 per cent drop in interim revenues at The Trading Post in the six months to December is inexcusable. No wonder Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo pulled the trigger. He is much more excited by new media ventures such as SouFun.com, the real-estate website Telstra owns in China that is everything The Trading Post is not — new, exclusively online, low-cost and free of baggage.
The sale of the Packer group's Australian media interests is a sign that shifting traditional media assets into an online environment quickly is too hard. However, Packer's buyers, private equity group CVC, clearly have no fear.
Telstra might not look too clever when it sells The Trading Post. But at least Telstra knows what it doesn't know.
Dont qualify for a loan - turn to the web for help
New York Times
By JULIE CRESWELL
Published: June 16, 2007
Want to buy a home, but hampered by bad credit, an empty bank account or no job? No problem!
That may sound like an exaggeration of a late-night infomercial. But it is, in effect, the pitch that a number of Web sites are making to consumers, saying insolvent home shoppers can be made to look more attractive to lenders.
The sites, for example, offer better credit scores by hitching customers to a stranger’s credit card, or providing them pay stubs from a bogus company. One has even offered a well-stocked bank account to rent for a month or two.
Industry experts say these sites, which are relatively new, played a role in fueling the rampant mortgage fraud that has caused a huge spike in loan defaults in recent months because people bought homes they could not afford.
“There is a whole underground world — an online cottage industry — that has grown up that allows anyone to commit mortgage fraud,” said Constance Wilson, executive vice president at the financial fraud detection firm Interthinx.
Regulators and the mortgage industry are now vowing to crack down on aggressive lending practices that have led to a rising number of foreclosures. But that greater scrutiny, including lenders requiring more documentation than they have in the past, may actually increase demand for some of the services that these Web sites offer.
“We think these types of Web sites are increasing,” said Frank McKenna, chief fraud strategist at BasePoint Analytics, which helps banks and mortgage lenders identify fraudulent transactions.
Policing them is difficult, partly because it is unclear which laws, if any, the Web sites might be breaking (for their customers, though, the laws are clear — anybody who uses fake paycheck stubs or other false documents to misrepresent financial status to a bank or mortgage lender is committing fraud).
The people who operate these sites can also be hard to track down. At the first whiff of trouble, they can easily shut down and then quickly start a new Web site with a different name.
No statistics exist on the number of these Web sites and how many people use them, or whether any of the operators of such sites have been prosecuted.
An examination of loans made last year, including prime and subprime, in which some sort of fraud occurred, showed that incidents of false tax or financial statements had risen to 27 percent from 17 percent in 2002; fraudulent verifications of deposit had climbed to 22 percent from 15 percent four years ago; and false credit reports rose to 9 percent from 5 percent in 2002, according to a report issued this spring by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute based in Virginia.
If any documents were required, it was unclear whether the bogus documents were created by do-it-yourselfers or whether they turned to the products and services sold over the Internet.
Still, Joan E. Ferenczy, director of institutional investigations at Freddie Mac, said there had been a growing discussion in recent months among industry investigators about Web sites offering false identifications and income statements.
“Either it has been underground all along, or there has been a spike of activity there,” she said.
One service that appears to have grown exponentially in recent months, investigators say, are sites that offer to improve an individual’s credit score by adding them onto the credit cards of individuals with good credit scores and histories.
The practice, known as piggybacking, started innocently enough with individuals adding their spouses or children to their credit card accounts as authorized users.
One site, RaiseCreditScoreNow .com, offers to add a person to four separate $20,000 credit lines with 10 years of “perfect payments” for $4,000 (although they do not have access to the actual credit line). Doing so could increase an individual’s credit score by as much as 200 points in 90 days, the site says, and make the difference between qualifying for a home loan or not.
People with strong credit scores and a reliable payment history of at least 24 months on various credit accounts can be paid up to $1,000 for each person they add to the account as an authorized user, the site offers.
Several lawyers said it was unlikely that this practice was illegal, although many warned it could open the person renting out their credit card lines to fraud or identify theft. Attempts to contact the Web site were unsuccessful.
Another company, which operates SeasonedTradeLines.com, claims on its site to have an inventory of more than 100 real, verifiable credit card accounts with perfect payment histories dating back to 1974. The site asks: “How would your life be different with a 700+ credit score?”
A person answering the phone at the company declined to comment. “I’m not going to answer any questions,” he said. “I’m not going to give out any information.”
Last week, the Fair Isaac Corporation, the company that developed FICO credit scores, said it was trying to shut down piggybacking.
Starting in September, Fair Isaac said people who were added to someone else’s credit line would not benefit from the secondhand credit history in its formula, which is used by the three major credit bureaus.
“There is going to be no way to get around the new system,” said Ron Totaro, vice president for global scoring solutions at Fair Isaac.
One Web site that prompted mortgage regulators in Nevada to issue an alert to consumers and the mortgage industry two years ago offered to set up a bank account that could be “rented out” and verified to creditors or lenders at a cost of about 5 percent of the value of the assets. The people renting the assets did not actually have access to them.
While that site has disappeared, fraud experts say others have moved in to replace it.
“We’re seeing now a lot of checking accounts where funds are going in and out,” said Mr. McKenna of BasePoint. “Borrowers begin the month with $4 in the account and end the month with much, much more.”
Other sites offer help to people who need proof that they are working.
For $55, for example, the company that operates VerifyEmployment .net will ostensibly hire a person as an independent contractor, providing a paycheck stub showing an “advance,” with the corporate name and address. Another $25 will assure telephone verification of employment when a lender calls to check.
By JULIE CRESWELL
Published: June 16, 2007
Want to buy a home, but hampered by bad credit, an empty bank account or no job? No problem!
That may sound like an exaggeration of a late-night infomercial. But it is, in effect, the pitch that a number of Web sites are making to consumers, saying insolvent home shoppers can be made to look more attractive to lenders.
The sites, for example, offer better credit scores by hitching customers to a stranger’s credit card, or providing them pay stubs from a bogus company. One has even offered a well-stocked bank account to rent for a month or two.
Industry experts say these sites, which are relatively new, played a role in fueling the rampant mortgage fraud that has caused a huge spike in loan defaults in recent months because people bought homes they could not afford.
“There is a whole underground world — an online cottage industry — that has grown up that allows anyone to commit mortgage fraud,” said Constance Wilson, executive vice president at the financial fraud detection firm Interthinx.
Regulators and the mortgage industry are now vowing to crack down on aggressive lending practices that have led to a rising number of foreclosures. But that greater scrutiny, including lenders requiring more documentation than they have in the past, may actually increase demand for some of the services that these Web sites offer.
“We think these types of Web sites are increasing,” said Frank McKenna, chief fraud strategist at BasePoint Analytics, which helps banks and mortgage lenders identify fraudulent transactions.
Policing them is difficult, partly because it is unclear which laws, if any, the Web sites might be breaking (for their customers, though, the laws are clear — anybody who uses fake paycheck stubs or other false documents to misrepresent financial status to a bank or mortgage lender is committing fraud).
The people who operate these sites can also be hard to track down. At the first whiff of trouble, they can easily shut down and then quickly start a new Web site with a different name.
No statistics exist on the number of these Web sites and how many people use them, or whether any of the operators of such sites have been prosecuted.
An examination of loans made last year, including prime and subprime, in which some sort of fraud occurred, showed that incidents of false tax or financial statements had risen to 27 percent from 17 percent in 2002; fraudulent verifications of deposit had climbed to 22 percent from 15 percent four years ago; and false credit reports rose to 9 percent from 5 percent in 2002, according to a report issued this spring by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute based in Virginia.
If any documents were required, it was unclear whether the bogus documents were created by do-it-yourselfers or whether they turned to the products and services sold over the Internet.
Still, Joan E. Ferenczy, director of institutional investigations at Freddie Mac, said there had been a growing discussion in recent months among industry investigators about Web sites offering false identifications and income statements.
“Either it has been underground all along, or there has been a spike of activity there,” she said.
One service that appears to have grown exponentially in recent months, investigators say, are sites that offer to improve an individual’s credit score by adding them onto the credit cards of individuals with good credit scores and histories.
The practice, known as piggybacking, started innocently enough with individuals adding their spouses or children to their credit card accounts as authorized users.
One site, RaiseCreditScoreNow .com, offers to add a person to four separate $20,000 credit lines with 10 years of “perfect payments” for $4,000 (although they do not have access to the actual credit line). Doing so could increase an individual’s credit score by as much as 200 points in 90 days, the site says, and make the difference between qualifying for a home loan or not.
People with strong credit scores and a reliable payment history of at least 24 months on various credit accounts can be paid up to $1,000 for each person they add to the account as an authorized user, the site offers.
Several lawyers said it was unlikely that this practice was illegal, although many warned it could open the person renting out their credit card lines to fraud or identify theft. Attempts to contact the Web site were unsuccessful.
Another company, which operates SeasonedTradeLines.com, claims on its site to have an inventory of more than 100 real, verifiable credit card accounts with perfect payment histories dating back to 1974. The site asks: “How would your life be different with a 700+ credit score?”
A person answering the phone at the company declined to comment. “I’m not going to answer any questions,” he said. “I’m not going to give out any information.”
Last week, the Fair Isaac Corporation, the company that developed FICO credit scores, said it was trying to shut down piggybacking.
Starting in September, Fair Isaac said people who were added to someone else’s credit line would not benefit from the secondhand credit history in its formula, which is used by the three major credit bureaus.
“There is going to be no way to get around the new system,” said Ron Totaro, vice president for global scoring solutions at Fair Isaac.
One Web site that prompted mortgage regulators in Nevada to issue an alert to consumers and the mortgage industry two years ago offered to set up a bank account that could be “rented out” and verified to creditors or lenders at a cost of about 5 percent of the value of the assets. The people renting the assets did not actually have access to them.
While that site has disappeared, fraud experts say others have moved in to replace it.
“We’re seeing now a lot of checking accounts where funds are going in and out,” said Mr. McKenna of BasePoint. “Borrowers begin the month with $4 in the account and end the month with much, much more.”
Other sites offer help to people who need proof that they are working.
For $55, for example, the company that operates VerifyEmployment .net will ostensibly hire a person as an independent contractor, providing a paycheck stub showing an “advance,” with the corporate name and address. Another $25 will assure telephone verification of employment when a lender calls to check.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Houses with a past
Does Ontario need a law requiring real estate agents or sellers to disclose whether a home being sold has a history of violence?
The question arises in the wake of the publicity surrounding the sale of a house in rural Lake County, Fla., last month. On May 5, when John and Kathy Johnson and their 24-year old daughter Christina began to move into the $227,000 house they had just bought, they were shocked to learn from a neighbour that the Greenbrier St. residence was the scene of a grisly triple murder and suicide.
Back in February 2006, local police officer Michael Mount shot his estranged wife Kim, fellow officer Joe Gomez and Gomez's wife Serena in a jealous rage, before turning the gun on himself.
Six-year old Justin Gomez inherited the house. His maternal grandmother, Debra James, represented the estates of her daughter and son-in-law. She listed the house with Larry Beard, owner of Beard Pippin Properties Inc.
James specifically instructed Beard not to reveal details of the murders and suicide to potential buyers. A Florida state law allows real estate companies to withhold details about a house if they would tend to stigmatize the property.
That law says that the fact that a property was the site of a homicide, suicide or death is not a material fact that must be disclosed in a real estate transaction.
Since the purchasers were moving into the area from another part of Florida, they were not aware of the home's grisly history.
The Johnsons have decided not to move into the house, and have put it back on the market. Relying on an old Catholic tradition that purports to speed the sale of real estate, they buried a statue of St. Joseph in the yard.
"There was no way we could ever stay here," Kathy Johnson told a local newspaper. "It would be like living in a morgue."
Events such as homicides, suicides and deaths, or even the allegation that a house is haunted have been known to affect the value of a property.
The National Association of Realtors in the U.S. requires its members to reveal all material factors that might affect the desirability of a house, but psychological factors are a grey area.
In a study published in 2000, James Larsen, a professor at Wright State University in Ohio, surveyed more than 100 stigmatized houses, including those associated with murders, sex scandals, suicides and hauntings.
Ohio does not have a law requiring disclosure of real estate stigmas, and Larsen discovered that disclosure practices varied widely. More than one-third of the surveyed brokers disclosed relevant information to all potential purchasers, but 19 per cent never disclosed the information at all.
Larsen's study concluded that stigmatized homes sold for just 3 per cent less than those not associated with scandal or violence, but stayed on the market for 45 per cent longer than average.
American law books are filled with reports of cases involving the lack of disclosure of property stigmas. Typically, the vendors and the real estate agents get sued by unhappy buyers. About half of the U.S. states have disclosure laws, and the other half do not.
Toronto real estate appraiser and educator Barry Lebow is a frequent lecturer on haunted and stigmatized houses.
As the unknowing former buyer of a house that was the site of a messy suicide, Lebow believes Ontario law should protect buyers and require disclosure.
"Quebec has disclosure laws," he told me, "while to the best of my knowledge the rest of the country is a free-for-all."
Frequently, says Lebow, the realtor becomes the "fall guy" for failing to disclose the history of a house, even if the seller is not totally honest with the listing agent.
He called on Queen's Park to enact a law requiring vendor disclosure of events that could stigmatize property.
Perhaps there should even be a registry of stigmatized properties. After all, the Toronto police maintain a list of marijuana grow operations, but not (to my knowledge) a list of the local homes that have been the sites of suicides, murders or other grisly crimes.
In the meantime, for most buyers of stigmatized homes in this province, Ontario law remains "buyer beware."
The question arises in the wake of the publicity surrounding the sale of a house in rural Lake County, Fla., last month. On May 5, when John and Kathy Johnson and their 24-year old daughter Christina began to move into the $227,000 house they had just bought, they were shocked to learn from a neighbour that the Greenbrier St. residence was the scene of a grisly triple murder and suicide.
Back in February 2006, local police officer Michael Mount shot his estranged wife Kim, fellow officer Joe Gomez and Gomez's wife Serena in a jealous rage, before turning the gun on himself.
Six-year old Justin Gomez inherited the house. His maternal grandmother, Debra James, represented the estates of her daughter and son-in-law. She listed the house with Larry Beard, owner of Beard Pippin Properties Inc.
James specifically instructed Beard not to reveal details of the murders and suicide to potential buyers. A Florida state law allows real estate companies to withhold details about a house if they would tend to stigmatize the property.
That law says that the fact that a property was the site of a homicide, suicide or death is not a material fact that must be disclosed in a real estate transaction.
Since the purchasers were moving into the area from another part of Florida, they were not aware of the home's grisly history.
The Johnsons have decided not to move into the house, and have put it back on the market. Relying on an old Catholic tradition that purports to speed the sale of real estate, they buried a statue of St. Joseph in the yard.
"There was no way we could ever stay here," Kathy Johnson told a local newspaper. "It would be like living in a morgue."
Events such as homicides, suicides and deaths, or even the allegation that a house is haunted have been known to affect the value of a property.
The National Association of Realtors in the U.S. requires its members to reveal all material factors that might affect the desirability of a house, but psychological factors are a grey area.
In a study published in 2000, James Larsen, a professor at Wright State University in Ohio, surveyed more than 100 stigmatized houses, including those associated with murders, sex scandals, suicides and hauntings.
Ohio does not have a law requiring disclosure of real estate stigmas, and Larsen discovered that disclosure practices varied widely. More than one-third of the surveyed brokers disclosed relevant information to all potential purchasers, but 19 per cent never disclosed the information at all.
Larsen's study concluded that stigmatized homes sold for just 3 per cent less than those not associated with scandal or violence, but stayed on the market for 45 per cent longer than average.
American law books are filled with reports of cases involving the lack of disclosure of property stigmas. Typically, the vendors and the real estate agents get sued by unhappy buyers. About half of the U.S. states have disclosure laws, and the other half do not.
Toronto real estate appraiser and educator Barry Lebow is a frequent lecturer on haunted and stigmatized houses.
As the unknowing former buyer of a house that was the site of a messy suicide, Lebow believes Ontario law should protect buyers and require disclosure.
"Quebec has disclosure laws," he told me, "while to the best of my knowledge the rest of the country is a free-for-all."
Frequently, says Lebow, the realtor becomes the "fall guy" for failing to disclose the history of a house, even if the seller is not totally honest with the listing agent.
He called on Queen's Park to enact a law requiring vendor disclosure of events that could stigmatize property.
Perhaps there should even be a registry of stigmatized properties. After all, the Toronto police maintain a list of marijuana grow operations, but not (to my knowledge) a list of the local homes that have been the sites of suicides, murders or other grisly crimes.
In the meantime, for most buyers of stigmatized homes in this province, Ontario law remains "buyer beware."
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
EC Stage 2
Stage 1 update
Stage 1 pilot is in full swing with all financial institutions who signed up to the EC Pilot having formally subscribed and using the system to process transactions.
At the start of April, Stage 1 will have been in production for over seven months. There have been 354 discharges of mortgage created and 346 of these transactions have been processed through to the Victorian Land Registry.
Release 1.2 was deployed on 14 May 2007 and allows subscribers to create new mortgages through EC.
Stage 2 preparations
Planning and preparation for the next phase of the Victorian Electronic Conveyancing pilot is continuing. Stage 2 will include financial settlement via the Financial Settlement Manager including the calculation and payment of duty to the State Revenue Office.
Rick Dixon (EC Project Manager) and Victorina Pena (EC Implementation Manager)recently visited solicitors and conveyancers in Geelong and Traralgon involved in the Stage 2 pilot. Participants are enthusiastic and looking forward to trialling the system in their geographic regions.
To prepare for Stage 2, a combined meeting between the Financial Institutions Operations Group (FIOG) and the Solicitors and Conveyancers Advisory Forum (SCAF) was held on the 18 April 2007. A demonstration of the stage 2 system was provided to the group. The meeting allowed participants to discuss common and interrelated
approaches and issues.
THe proposed start date is 16 November 2007
Source EC Express
Stage 1 pilot is in full swing with all financial institutions who signed up to the EC Pilot having formally subscribed and using the system to process transactions.
At the start of April, Stage 1 will have been in production for over seven months. There have been 354 discharges of mortgage created and 346 of these transactions have been processed through to the Victorian Land Registry.
Release 1.2 was deployed on 14 May 2007 and allows subscribers to create new mortgages through EC.
Stage 2 preparations
Planning and preparation for the next phase of the Victorian Electronic Conveyancing pilot is continuing. Stage 2 will include financial settlement via the Financial Settlement Manager including the calculation and payment of duty to the State Revenue Office.
Rick Dixon (EC Project Manager) and Victorina Pena (EC Implementation Manager)recently visited solicitors and conveyancers in Geelong and Traralgon involved in the Stage 2 pilot. Participants are enthusiastic and looking forward to trialling the system in their geographic regions.
To prepare for Stage 2, a combined meeting between the Financial Institutions Operations Group (FIOG) and the Solicitors and Conveyancers Advisory Forum (SCAF) was held on the 18 April 2007. A demonstration of the stage 2 system was provided to the group. The meeting allowed participants to discuss common and interrelated
approaches and issues.
THe proposed start date is 16 November 2007
Source EC Express
Monday, May 28, 2007
Permit debacle may leave owners high and dry
THOUSANDS of building permits issued in Victoria over the past five years are believed to be invalid.
The revelation raises fears that many properties could be illegally occupied, not covered by insurance, and in some cases unlawfully bought or sold.
Industry sources say the discovery — which is expected to cost the Building Commission millions to rectify — is being covered up, with the commission playing down the debacle as a "paperwork issue".
The Age has been told that permits issued for new homes, renovations, sheds, swimming pools and spas in up to 60 local government areas are believed to be invalid, possibly affecting more than 3000 property owners. In some cases, the permits have never been finalised.
Building permits for public housing properties may also be in doubt, sources claim.
The Building Commission announced last week that it had suspended a building inspector for unprofessional conduct, following "an investigation into the alleged issuing of irregular building permits".
A statement claimed his suspension related to 785 permits issued by a now defunct Cranbourne company, Casey Building Services, between September 2005 and August 2006. But sources have told The Age that this was a conservative estimate. The commission alleges that during the 11-month period a building inspector, Geoffrey "John" Chambers, signed-off on several occupancy permits (also known as final certificates) without authorisation.
The permits are required to show that the building works have been completed in accordance with the stamped plans and Australian standards.
They can be signed only by the relevant building surveyor appointed at the project's outset.
But when Casey Building Services' surveyor ceased working at the company after a stroke on September 4, 2005, Mr Chambers is alleged to have signed the documents on his behalf. A local government planning officer raised the alarm after seeing an unfamiliar signature above the surveyor's name.
The commission's investigation into Mr Chambers has also revealed that final permits for many jobs have never been completed.
After his suspension, doubts have been raised within the industry about whether any of the jobs that Mr Chambers approved were ever inspected at all. One source said the debacle was likely to have huge ramifications for the building industry, because without the appropriate paperwork, the properties should not be occupied.
One surveyor, who did not want to be named, expressed concerns that some of the affected properties might have also been illegally sold, considering invalid permits formed part of the section 32. He said this also meant properties might not be covered by insurance if, for instance, the structures fell down.
Mr Chambers was charged by the Building Commission in 2003 for operating a company that provided surveyor services without having a surveyor as a director.
He appointed a surveyor as a director and the matter was dropped.
He was this week served with documents to appear before the Building Practitioner's Board on June 4 for a preliminary hearing. He declined to comment on the allegations.
Building Commissioner Tony Arnel last week assured those involved that they would not be disadvantaged by the mess.
He said the commission would provide householders and builders with free advice, inspections and reports and would meet the costs of issuing new building permits if they were needed. He said the irregularities related to "paperwork issues", and there was no reason to believe that the actual building work was substandard or dangerous.
A commission spokeswoman has since said builders and householders who had dealt with Mr Chambers in good faith were assured the discrepancies would not affect the use of their properties or insurance. A Building Commission hotline has been set up for anyone seeking more information. Phone 1300 360 320
The Age
28 May 2007
Andrea Petrie
The revelation raises fears that many properties could be illegally occupied, not covered by insurance, and in some cases unlawfully bought or sold.
Industry sources say the discovery — which is expected to cost the Building Commission millions to rectify — is being covered up, with the commission playing down the debacle as a "paperwork issue".
The Age has been told that permits issued for new homes, renovations, sheds, swimming pools and spas in up to 60 local government areas are believed to be invalid, possibly affecting more than 3000 property owners. In some cases, the permits have never been finalised.
Building permits for public housing properties may also be in doubt, sources claim.
The Building Commission announced last week that it had suspended a building inspector for unprofessional conduct, following "an investigation into the alleged issuing of irregular building permits".
A statement claimed his suspension related to 785 permits issued by a now defunct Cranbourne company, Casey Building Services, between September 2005 and August 2006. But sources have told The Age that this was a conservative estimate. The commission alleges that during the 11-month period a building inspector, Geoffrey "John" Chambers, signed-off on several occupancy permits (also known as final certificates) without authorisation.
The permits are required to show that the building works have been completed in accordance with the stamped plans and Australian standards.
They can be signed only by the relevant building surveyor appointed at the project's outset.
But when Casey Building Services' surveyor ceased working at the company after a stroke on September 4, 2005, Mr Chambers is alleged to have signed the documents on his behalf. A local government planning officer raised the alarm after seeing an unfamiliar signature above the surveyor's name.
The commission's investigation into Mr Chambers has also revealed that final permits for many jobs have never been completed.
After his suspension, doubts have been raised within the industry about whether any of the jobs that Mr Chambers approved were ever inspected at all. One source said the debacle was likely to have huge ramifications for the building industry, because without the appropriate paperwork, the properties should not be occupied.
One surveyor, who did not want to be named, expressed concerns that some of the affected properties might have also been illegally sold, considering invalid permits formed part of the section 32. He said this also meant properties might not be covered by insurance if, for instance, the structures fell down.
Mr Chambers was charged by the Building Commission in 2003 for operating a company that provided surveyor services without having a surveyor as a director.
He appointed a surveyor as a director and the matter was dropped.
He was this week served with documents to appear before the Building Practitioner's Board on June 4 for a preliminary hearing. He declined to comment on the allegations.
Building Commissioner Tony Arnel last week assured those involved that they would not be disadvantaged by the mess.
He said the commission would provide householders and builders with free advice, inspections and reports and would meet the costs of issuing new building permits if they were needed. He said the irregularities related to "paperwork issues", and there was no reason to believe that the actual building work was substandard or dangerous.
A commission spokeswoman has since said builders and householders who had dealt with Mr Chambers in good faith were assured the discrepancies would not affect the use of their properties or insurance. A Building Commission hotline has been set up for anyone seeking more information. Phone 1300 360 320
The Age
28 May 2007
Andrea Petrie
Saturday, May 26, 2007
92% of consumers use real estate websites to look for property
Shaun Di Gregorio, General Manager–Australia & New Zealand of realestate.com.au offers tips to marketing your property online.
The growth of Perth house prices maybe showing signs of slowing but the number of properties for sale is definitely not. The West Australian market is rich with listings and this can make it tough for sellers to stand out amongst a crowded market.
Standing out from the pack is key when trying to sell property in a competitive market. Choosing an agent who advertises on the Internet is the best starting point. According to Nielsen//NetRatings’ The Australian Property Search Report’ 92% of consumers use real estate websites to look for property and cited them as ‘the most useful resource’.
But remember, not all internet advertising is the same. Make sure your agent advertises on one or more of the most popular sites to maximise exposure. This means a site that reaches local, state, national and international audiences.
Once the property is listed online, encourage your agent to include as much information about the property as possible.
Our research indicates that buyers like to see:
Be honest about the price you are seeking. In a recent survey by realestate.com.au, 92 per cent of people said they would be unlikely to enquire about a property with no price indication. Price on application (P.O.A) is a confusing term that either shows the property is too highly priced, or there is something to hide. Similarly, avoid using broad price ranges like $400-$550,000.
As simple as it sounds, ensure that the complete address is detailed. This is really important for potential interstate and international buyers so they can assess the location’s suitability. It also gives local buyers an opportunity to drive past the property and rule it in or out of the shortlist.
Remember, internet users are information hungry.
Your agent can also take some extra steps to give your property a higher profile. For example, if your agent advertises on realestate.com.au, ask if your home can become a “featured property.” This is an inexpensive option that highlights your property graphically and ensures you receive three to four times the property views.
Database marketing is another good option for ensuring everyone sees your property. Seek out agents that send e-brochures and eAlerts to property seekers who have registered to receive information on news listings. This approach will help target potential buyers who have expressed an interest in a property like yours.
While driving bulk visitors to online listings sounds impressive, it's the quality of these leads that counts. As a vendor, you want to know where the enquiries are coming from. Are most of your enquiries coming from the Internet? Are they coming from the Sale board? Speak to your agent about how you can maximise your on going advertising and the response rate. More importantly, are you spending your advertising dollars where the most enquiries are coming from?
These basic tips are cost effective and really work.
Source realestate.com.au
The growth of Perth house prices maybe showing signs of slowing but the number of properties for sale is definitely not. The West Australian market is rich with listings and this can make it tough for sellers to stand out amongst a crowded market.
Standing out from the pack is key when trying to sell property in a competitive market. Choosing an agent who advertises on the Internet is the best starting point. According to Nielsen//NetRatings’ The Australian Property Search Report’ 92% of consumers use real estate websites to look for property and cited them as ‘the most useful resource’.
But remember, not all internet advertising is the same. Make sure your agent advertises on one or more of the most popular sites to maximise exposure. This means a site that reaches local, state, national and international audiences.
Once the property is listed online, encourage your agent to include as much information about the property as possible.
Our research indicates that buyers like to see:
- detailed descriptions
- as many high quality photos as possible
- accurate floor plans and
- virtual tours
Be honest about the price you are seeking. In a recent survey by realestate.com.au, 92 per cent of people said they would be unlikely to enquire about a property with no price indication. Price on application (P.O.A) is a confusing term that either shows the property is too highly priced, or there is something to hide. Similarly, avoid using broad price ranges like $400-$550,000.
As simple as it sounds, ensure that the complete address is detailed. This is really important for potential interstate and international buyers so they can assess the location’s suitability. It also gives local buyers an opportunity to drive past the property and rule it in or out of the shortlist.
Remember, internet users are information hungry.
Your agent can also take some extra steps to give your property a higher profile. For example, if your agent advertises on realestate.com.au, ask if your home can become a “featured property.” This is an inexpensive option that highlights your property graphically and ensures you receive three to four times the property views.
Database marketing is another good option for ensuring everyone sees your property. Seek out agents that send e-brochures and eAlerts to property seekers who have registered to receive information on news listings. This approach will help target potential buyers who have expressed an interest in a property like yours.
While driving bulk visitors to online listings sounds impressive, it's the quality of these leads that counts. As a vendor, you want to know where the enquiries are coming from. Are most of your enquiries coming from the Internet? Are they coming from the Sale board? Speak to your agent about how you can maximise your on going advertising and the response rate. More importantly, are you spending your advertising dollars where the most enquiries are coming from?
These basic tips are cost effective and really work.
Source realestate.com.au
Question to the House on Electronic Conveyancing
Question Without Notice in the Victorian Legislative Council to the Minister for Planning concerning electronic conveyancing.
24 May 2007 COUNCIL
Mr TEE (Eastern Metropolitan) -- My question is to the Minister for Planning. Can the minister advise the house how the $6 million in funding for electronic conveyancing will position Victoria as a leader in streamlined property transactions, reduce the regulatory burden for business and the community and minimise costs to business?
Hon. J. M. MADDEN (Minister for Planning) -- I thank Mr Tee for his question because I know he has a specific interest in this area. No doubt people in this chamber would appreciate that the budget provided a huge $1.5 billion commitment to maintaining Victoria's competitive business environment. Not only has land tax been slashed but WorkCover premiums have been cut by 10 per cent, providing immediate and obvious benefits for investment in Victoria.
I am delighted to advise the house that this budget provides $6 million to complete the development of and to switch on our new electronic conveyancing system to support faster, more efficient property settlements. Cutting red tape is imperative for business and the community and is a hallmark of this government. Cutting business costs is an integral part of supporting economic growth.
We appreciate that the small business statement released by the Bracks government in August 2006 commits to the reduction of red tape by 25 per cent over the next five years. This government has consistently stripped away layers of unnecessary and time-wasting processes to allow Victorian businesses to remain competitive.
The introduction of electronic conveyancing for property transactions is part of our very clear intention to cut red tape in business.
It puts Victoria at the forefront of the Australian states and indeed makes it a world leader in financial property settlement and lodgement of land transfers and mortgages.
Financial institutions like Westpac, ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Macquarie Bank and Bendigo Bank are already using mortgage transactions as part of the electronic conveyancing system.
Even greater benefits will emerge in stage 2, and that will do away with the paper shuffle that often goes on with these transactions where a number of parties have to come together and shuffle papers in order to settle a transaction. This will mean a saving on average of up to $395 per four-party settlement on an average saving of up to $108 for each vendor and purchaser.
That might not seem a lot on each transaction, President, but let me reinforce that more than $70 million of annual savings for the industry and community are forecast from this initiative. The Bracks government recognises the challenges of the future, and we are delivering on our promises to reduce cost to business and invest in services that matter to Victorian businesses -- and all that will flow on to jobs and make Victoria a great place not only to do business but to live, work and raise a family.
Extract from Hansard
24 May 2007 COUNCIL
Mr TEE (Eastern Metropolitan) -- My question is to the Minister for Planning. Can the minister advise the house how the $6 million in funding for electronic conveyancing will position Victoria as a leader in streamlined property transactions, reduce the regulatory burden for business and the community and minimise costs to business?
Hon. J. M. MADDEN (Minister for Planning) -- I thank Mr Tee for his question because I know he has a specific interest in this area. No doubt people in this chamber would appreciate that the budget provided a huge $1.5 billion commitment to maintaining Victoria's competitive business environment. Not only has land tax been slashed but WorkCover premiums have been cut by 10 per cent, providing immediate and obvious benefits for investment in Victoria.
I am delighted to advise the house that this budget provides $6 million to complete the development of and to switch on our new electronic conveyancing system to support faster, more efficient property settlements. Cutting red tape is imperative for business and the community and is a hallmark of this government. Cutting business costs is an integral part of supporting economic growth.
We appreciate that the small business statement released by the Bracks government in August 2006 commits to the reduction of red tape by 25 per cent over the next five years. This government has consistently stripped away layers of unnecessary and time-wasting processes to allow Victorian businesses to remain competitive.
The introduction of electronic conveyancing for property transactions is part of our very clear intention to cut red tape in business.
It puts Victoria at the forefront of the Australian states and indeed makes it a world leader in financial property settlement and lodgement of land transfers and mortgages.
Financial institutions like Westpac, ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Macquarie Bank and Bendigo Bank are already using mortgage transactions as part of the electronic conveyancing system.
Even greater benefits will emerge in stage 2, and that will do away with the paper shuffle that often goes on with these transactions where a number of parties have to come together and shuffle papers in order to settle a transaction. This will mean a saving on average of up to $395 per four-party settlement on an average saving of up to $108 for each vendor and purchaser.
That might not seem a lot on each transaction, President, but let me reinforce that more than $70 million of annual savings for the industry and community are forecast from this initiative. The Bracks government recognises the challenges of the future, and we are delivering on our promises to reduce cost to business and invest in services that matter to Victorian businesses -- and all that will flow on to jobs and make Victoria a great place not only to do business but to live, work and raise a family.
Extract from Hansard
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
ANZ to end paper loan trail
ANZ customers will be able to track their home loan applications online from initial form-filling to settlement of funds in their accounts as the bank becomes the first Australian major to take its mortgage operations completely electronic.
The technology will slash the 4.7million pieces of paper a year generated as part of ANZ's credit approval process.
The $70 million investment will cut the time taken to process a loan from up to a week to two days, and in theory will avoid the need for two million telephone inquiries a year relating to the status of loan applications.
Once the process is automated, a "small" proportion of about 900 back-office mortgage jobs would be sent to Bangalore in India, ANZ mortgages managing director Michael Rowland said yesterday.
The system involves the use of imaging technology, rather than paper, to digitise the mortgage process. But unlike low-doc loans, supporting documentation such as proof of earnings will still be required.
Mr Rowland said the technology had been successfully introduced by banks offshore, which were keen to reduce their costs, add to their range of products and make the mortgage approval process more efficient.
"This is a big change, because fundamentally the system now is paper-based," Mr Rowland said.
"If we don't do this, we won't be competitive; our profit margins continue to decline in mortgages, which is close to being the most competitive part of retail banking.
"International players like GE, BankWest and ING are playing very heavily in this space," he said. ANZ would be the only bank of the Big Four to fully automate all its mortgage processing.
This would enable work currently performed in Australia to be done offshore.
There are 1500 people employed in ANZ's mortgage area. The final number of jobs to be sent offshore was yet to be determined, Mr Rowland said, but the employees affected would be retrained and redeployed.
A number of big corporations with large customer bases, including all the major banks except the Commonwealth, are "offshoring" jobs, despite a vigorous campaign by the Finance Sector Union to keep the work at home.
Unlike business rivals that outsource to specialist firms overseas, ANZ has a company-owned facility in Bangalore. There the bank employs 1700 Indians on the same terms and conditions, but significantly less pay, than Australian workers would receive.
The Australian - news.com.au
By Richard Gluyas
May 15, 2007
This is huge news. The banking and mortgage processing system has been crying out for news like this.
A few questions
But $70M. Does it really cost this much to implement change?
Back end settlements has been and still is the bane of the conveyancing industry. The ANZ initiative is long overdue but welcome announcement. I for one would refer more business to the ANZ and I would expect that brokers would also welcome the change and refer more loans as a result. As the ANZ claims it reduces the bank end cost but I would expect ANZ's market share will increase as well. I trust the other banks will follow.
The technology will slash the 4.7million pieces of paper a year generated as part of ANZ's credit approval process.
The $70 million investment will cut the time taken to process a loan from up to a week to two days, and in theory will avoid the need for two million telephone inquiries a year relating to the status of loan applications.
Once the process is automated, a "small" proportion of about 900 back-office mortgage jobs would be sent to Bangalore in India, ANZ mortgages managing director Michael Rowland said yesterday.
The system involves the use of imaging technology, rather than paper, to digitise the mortgage process. But unlike low-doc loans, supporting documentation such as proof of earnings will still be required.
Mr Rowland said the technology had been successfully introduced by banks offshore, which were keen to reduce their costs, add to their range of products and make the mortgage approval process more efficient.
"This is a big change, because fundamentally the system now is paper-based," Mr Rowland said.
"If we don't do this, we won't be competitive; our profit margins continue to decline in mortgages, which is close to being the most competitive part of retail banking.
"International players like GE, BankWest and ING are playing very heavily in this space," he said. ANZ would be the only bank of the Big Four to fully automate all its mortgage processing.
This would enable work currently performed in Australia to be done offshore.
There are 1500 people employed in ANZ's mortgage area. The final number of jobs to be sent offshore was yet to be determined, Mr Rowland said, but the employees affected would be retrained and redeployed.
A number of big corporations with large customer bases, including all the major banks except the Commonwealth, are "offshoring" jobs, despite a vigorous campaign by the Finance Sector Union to keep the work at home.
Unlike business rivals that outsource to specialist firms overseas, ANZ has a company-owned facility in Bangalore. There the bank employs 1700 Indians on the same terms and conditions, but significantly less pay, than Australian workers would receive.
The Australian - news.com.au
By Richard Gluyas
May 15, 2007
This is huge news. The banking and mortgage processing system has been crying out for news like this.
A few questions
- when will this be implemented?
- will the customer's legal representative be part of the loop?
- what about introducing a digital loan?
But $70M. Does it really cost this much to implement change?
Back end settlements has been and still is the bane of the conveyancing industry. The ANZ initiative is long overdue but welcome announcement. I for one would refer more business to the ANZ and I would expect that brokers would also welcome the change and refer more loans as a result. As the ANZ claims it reduces the bank end cost but I would expect ANZ's market share will increase as well. I trust the other banks will follow.
Friday, May 18, 2007
South Australia - not to be left behind
Readiness Planning for NECS
Land Services Group of the Department for Administrative and Information Services has undertaken extensive consultation with stakeholders on the concept of electronic conveyancing in South Australia. This consultation undertaken as part of the land administration reform program ATLAS culminated in the publishing of a “Proposal for Digital Conveyancing in South Australia” in late 2004. Key actions identified in the proposal as necessary prior to the introduction of Electronic Conveyancing were:
* The removal of the Duplicate CT
* Implementation of Priority Notices
* Reforms to witnessing and Identification procedures
* Implementation of Dual Certification
* Introduction of Agency Agreements
Legislative changes to the Real Property Act to allow for electronic conveyancing have also been identified and forwarded for drafting.
This item appeared on the NECS pages
Land Services Group of the Department for Administrative and Information Services has undertaken extensive consultation with stakeholders on the concept of electronic conveyancing in South Australia. This consultation undertaken as part of the land administration reform program ATLAS culminated in the publishing of a “Proposal for Digital Conveyancing in South Australia” in late 2004. Key actions identified in the proposal as necessary prior to the introduction of Electronic Conveyancing were:
* The removal of the Duplicate CT
* Implementation of Priority Notices
* Reforms to witnessing and Identification procedures
* Implementation of Dual Certification
* Introduction of Agency Agreements
Legislative changes to the Real Property Act to allow for electronic conveyancing have also been identified and forwarded for drafting.
This item appeared on the NECS pages
June 1 - UK HIPS going live including Energy Performance Certificates
May 17. London House Commons Debate on HIPs, Housing Minister Yvette Cooper strongly defended HIPs and the importance of including Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), saying they are vital in helping to tackle climate change while the packs give house-buyers more information upfront about their new home and cut costs for first-time buyers.
Yvette Cooper said:
“The only new document that is being added to the process is the Energy Performance Certificate. The certificates will give people’s homes an energy rating for the first time. They will give people not only the rating on their home but information on what they can do about it — what their fuel bills are likely to be and how they can cut them.
“The remaining elements of HIPs are the legal and search documents that one already needs when buying and selling a home, but they will be gathered at the beginning rather than the end of the process, to speed things up and improve competition. For many of us, buying and selling a home is a baffling process. There can be huge delays between offer and exchange. In complex chains, that can mean that sales fall through. Most people will struggle to keep track of what services they are getting and paying for. HIPs will make the process much clearer and faster”.
There's a message here for Victoria - surely we need to be debating the introduction of such a measure, both energy and water savings audits.
Yvette Cooper said:
“The only new document that is being added to the process is the Energy Performance Certificate. The certificates will give people’s homes an energy rating for the first time. They will give people not only the rating on their home but information on what they can do about it — what their fuel bills are likely to be and how they can cut them.
“The remaining elements of HIPs are the legal and search documents that one already needs when buying and selling a home, but they will be gathered at the beginning rather than the end of the process, to speed things up and improve competition. For many of us, buying and selling a home is a baffling process. There can be huge delays between offer and exchange. In complex chains, that can mean that sales fall through. Most people will struggle to keep track of what services they are getting and paying for. HIPs will make the process much clearer and faster”.
There's a message here for Victoria - surely we need to be debating the introduction of such a measure, both energy and water savings audits.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Iacocca - Where have all the leaders gone?
Referring to the mess in US politics, Iacocca asks "Why are we in this mess?"
How did we end up with this crowd in Washington? Well, we voted for them—or at least some of us did. But I'll tell you what we didn't do. We didn't agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn't agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from that's a dictatorship, not a democracy.
And don't tell me it's all the fault of right-wing Republicans or liberal Democrats. That's an intellectually lazy argument, and it's part of the reason we're in this stew. We're not just a nation of factions. We're a people. We share common principles and ideals. And we rise and fall together.
Where are the voices of leaders who can inspire us to action and make us stand taller? What happened to the strong and resolute party of Lincoln? What happened to the courageous, populist party of FDR and Truman? There was a time in this country when the voices of great leaders lifted us up and made us want to do better. Where have all the leaders gone?
The Test of a Leader
I've never been Commander in Chief, but I've been a CEO. I understand a few things about leadership at the top. I've figured out nine points—not ten (I don't want people accusing me of thinking I'm Moses). I call them the "Nine Cs of Leadership." They're not fancy or complicated. Just clear, obvious qualities that every true leader should have. We should look at how the current administration stacks up. Like it or not, this crew is going to be around until January 2009. Maybe we can learn something before we go to the polls in 2008. Then let's be sure we use the leadership test to screen the candidates who say they want to run the country. It's up to us to choose wisely.
So, here's my C list:
A leader has to show CURIOSITY. He has to listen to people outside of the "Yes, sir" crowd in his inner circle. He has to read voraciously, because the world is a big, complicated place. George W. Bush brags about never reading a newspaper. "I just scan the headlines," he says. Am I hearing this right? He's the President of the United States and he never reads a newspaper? Thomas Jefferson once said, "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter." Bush disagrees. As long as he gets his daily hour in the gym, with Fox News piped through the sound system, he's ready to go.
If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale. If he doesn't put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he's right? The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don't care. Before the 2006 election, George Bush made a big point of saying he didn't listen to the polls. Yeah, that's what they all say when the polls stink. But maybe he should have listened, because 70 percent of the people were saying he was on the wrong track. It took a "thumping" on election day to wake him up, but even then you got the feeling he wasn't listening so much as he was calculating how to do a better job of convincing everyone he was right.
A leader has to be CREATIVE, go out on a limb, be willing to try something different. You know, think outside the box. George Bush prides himself on never changing, even as the world around him is spinning out of control. God forbid someone should accuse him of flip-flopping. There's a disturbingly messianic fervor to his certainty. Senator Joe Biden recalled a conversation he had with Bush a few months after our troops marched into Baghdad. Joe was in the Oval Office outlining his concerns to the President—the explosive mix of Shiite and Sunni, the disbanded Iraqi army, the problems securing the oil fields. "The President was serene," Joe recalled. "He told me he was sure that we were on the right course and that all would be well. 'Mr. President,' I finally said, 'how can you be so sure when you don't yet know all the facts?'" Bush then reached over and put a steadying hand on Joe's shoulder. "My instincts," he said. "My instincts." Joe was flabbergasted. He told Bush, "Mr. President, your instincts aren't good enough." Joe Biden sure didn't think the matter was settled. And, as we all know now, it wasn't.
Leadership is all about managing change—whether you're leading a company or leading a country. Things change, and you get creative. You adapt. Maybe Bush was absent the day they covered that at Harvard Business School.
A leader has to COMMUNICATE. I'm not talking about running off at the mouth or spouting sound bites. I'm talking about facing reality and telling the truth. Nobody in the current administration seems to know how to talk straight anymore. Instead, they spend most of their time trying to convince us that things are not really as bad as they seem. I don't know if it's denial or dishonesty, but it can start to drive you crazy after a while. Communication has to start with telling the truth, even when it's painful. The war in Iraq has been, among other things, a grand failure of communication. Bush is like the boy who didn't cry wolf when the wolf was at the door. After years of being told that all is well, even as the casualties and chaos mount, we've stopped listening to him.
A leader has to be a person of CHARACTER. That means knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing. Abraham Lincoln once said, "If you want to test a man's character, give him power." George Bush has a lot of power. What does it say about his character? Bush has shown a willingness to take bold action on the world stage because he has the power, but he shows little regard for the grievous consequences. He has sent our troops (not to mention hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens) to their deaths—for what? To build our oil reserves? To avenge his daddy because Saddam Hussein once tried to have him killed? To show his daddy he's tougher? The motivations behind the war in Iraq are questionable, and the execution of the war has been a disaster. A man of character does not ask a single soldier to die for a failed policy.
A leader must have COURAGE. I'm talking about balls. (That even goes for female leaders.) Swagger isn't courage. Tough talk isn't courage. George Bush comes from a blue-blooded Connecticut family, but he likes to talk like a cowboy. You know, My gun is bigger than your gun. Courage in the twenty-first century doesn't mean posturing and bravado. Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk.
If you're a politician, courage means taking a position even when you know it will cost you votes. Bush can't even make a public appearance unless the audience has been handpicked and sanitized. He did a series of so-called town hall meetings last year, in auditoriums packed with his most devoted fans. The questions were all softballs.
To be a leader you've got to have CONVICTION — a fire in your belly. You've got to have passion. You've got to really want to get something done. How do you measure fire in the belly? Bush has set the all-time record for number of vacation days taken by a U.S. President—four hundred and counting. He'd rather clear brush on his ranch than immerse himself in the business of governing. He even told an interviewer that the high point of his presidency so far was catching a seven-and-a-half-pound perch in his hand-stocked lake.
It's no better on Capitol Hill. Congress was in session only ninety-seven days in 2006. That's eleven days less than the record set in 1948, when President Harry Truman coined the term do-nothing Congress. Most people would expect to be fired if they worked so little and had nothing to show for it. But Congress managed to find the time to vote itself a raise. Now, that's not leadership.
A leader should have CHARISMA. I'm not talking about being flashy. Charisma is the quality that makes people want to follow you. It's the ability to inspire. People follow a leader because they trust him. That's my definition of charisma. Maybe George Bush is a great guy to hang out with at a barbecue or a ball game. But put him at a global summit where the future of our planet is at stake, and he doesn't look very presidential. Those frat-boy pranks and the kidding around he enjoys so much don't go over that well with world leaders. Just ask German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who received an unwelcome shoulder massage from our President at a G-8 Summit. When he came up behind her and started squeezing, I thought she was going to go right through the roof.
A leader has to be COMPETENT. That seems obvious, doesn't it? You've got to know what you're doing. More important than that, you've got to surround yourself with people who know what they're doing. Bush brags about being our first MBA President. Does that make him competent? Well, let's see. Thanks to our first MBA President, we've got the largest deficit in history, Social Security is on life support, and we've run up a half-a-trillion-dollar price tag (so far) in Iraq. And that's just for starters. A leader has to be a problem solver, and the biggest problems we face as a nation seem to be on the back burner.
You can't be a leader if you don't have COMMON SENSE. I call this Charlie Beacham's rule. When I was a young guy just starting out in the car business, one of my first jobs was as Ford's zone manager in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. My boss was a guy named Charlie Beacham, who was the East Coast regional manager. Charlie was a big Southerner, with a warm drawl, a huge smile, and a core of steel. Charlie used to tell me, "Remember, Lee, the only thing you've got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and your common sense. If you don't know a dip of horseshit from a dip of vanilla ice cream, you'll never make it." George Bush doesn't have common sense. He just has a lot of sound bites. You know—Mr.they'll-welcome-us-as-liberators-no-child-left-behind-heck-of-a-job-Brownie-mission-accomplished Bush.
Former President Bill Clinton once said, "I grew up in an alcoholic home. I spent half my childhood trying to get into the reality-based world—and I like it here."
I think our current President should visit the real world once in a while.
The Biggest C is Crisis
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. Where was George Bush? He was reading a story about a pet goat to kids in Florida when he heard about the attacks. He kept sitting there for twenty minutes with a baffled look on his face. It's all on tape. You can see it for yourself. Then, instead of taking the quickest route back to Washington and immediately going on the air to reassure the panicked people of this country, he decided it wasn't safe to return to the White House. He basically went into hiding for the day—and he told Vice President Dick Cheney to stay put in his bunker. We were all frozen in front of our TVs, scared out of our wits, waiting for our leaders to tell us that we were going to be okay, and there was nobody home. It took Bush a couple of days to get his bearings and devise the right photo op at Ground Zero.
That was George Bush's moment of truth, and he was paralyzed. And what did he do when he'd regained his composure? He led us down the road to Iraq—a road his own father had considered disastrous when he was President. But Bush didn't listen to Daddy. He listened to a higher father. He prides himself on being faith based, not reality based. If that doesn't scare the crap out of you, I don't know what will.
A Hell of a Mess
So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.
Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when "the Big Three" referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen—and more important, what are we going to do about it?
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bobblehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough?
Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope. I believe in America. In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises—the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to action for people who, like me, believe in America. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the horseshit and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had enough.
Excerpted from Where Have All the Leaders Gone?. Copyright © 2007 by Lee Iacocca. All rights reserved.
I haven't read the book, but Iacocca certainly is pissed off with the current leadership in the US, both GWB and Congress. In this excerpt he is letting off steam. But as for solutions I guess he is suggesting you need leadership and leadership that follows Lee's gospel of the 9Cs. As for the US it is stuck with GWB til Jan09.
How did we end up with this crowd in Washington? Well, we voted for them—or at least some of us did. But I'll tell you what we didn't do. We didn't agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn't agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from that's a dictatorship, not a democracy.
And don't tell me it's all the fault of right-wing Republicans or liberal Democrats. That's an intellectually lazy argument, and it's part of the reason we're in this stew. We're not just a nation of factions. We're a people. We share common principles and ideals. And we rise and fall together.
Where are the voices of leaders who can inspire us to action and make us stand taller? What happened to the strong and resolute party of Lincoln? What happened to the courageous, populist party of FDR and Truman? There was a time in this country when the voices of great leaders lifted us up and made us want to do better. Where have all the leaders gone?
The Test of a Leader
I've never been Commander in Chief, but I've been a CEO. I understand a few things about leadership at the top. I've figured out nine points—not ten (I don't want people accusing me of thinking I'm Moses). I call them the "Nine Cs of Leadership." They're not fancy or complicated. Just clear, obvious qualities that every true leader should have. We should look at how the current administration stacks up. Like it or not, this crew is going to be around until January 2009. Maybe we can learn something before we go to the polls in 2008. Then let's be sure we use the leadership test to screen the candidates who say they want to run the country. It's up to us to choose wisely.
So, here's my C list:
A leader has to show CURIOSITY. He has to listen to people outside of the "Yes, sir" crowd in his inner circle. He has to read voraciously, because the world is a big, complicated place. George W. Bush brags about never reading a newspaper. "I just scan the headlines," he says. Am I hearing this right? He's the President of the United States and he never reads a newspaper? Thomas Jefferson once said, "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter." Bush disagrees. As long as he gets his daily hour in the gym, with Fox News piped through the sound system, he's ready to go.
If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale. If he doesn't put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he's right? The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don't care. Before the 2006 election, George Bush made a big point of saying he didn't listen to the polls. Yeah, that's what they all say when the polls stink. But maybe he should have listened, because 70 percent of the people were saying he was on the wrong track. It took a "thumping" on election day to wake him up, but even then you got the feeling he wasn't listening so much as he was calculating how to do a better job of convincing everyone he was right.
A leader has to be CREATIVE, go out on a limb, be willing to try something different. You know, think outside the box. George Bush prides himself on never changing, even as the world around him is spinning out of control. God forbid someone should accuse him of flip-flopping. There's a disturbingly messianic fervor to his certainty. Senator Joe Biden recalled a conversation he had with Bush a few months after our troops marched into Baghdad. Joe was in the Oval Office outlining his concerns to the President—the explosive mix of Shiite and Sunni, the disbanded Iraqi army, the problems securing the oil fields. "The President was serene," Joe recalled. "He told me he was sure that we were on the right course and that all would be well. 'Mr. President,' I finally said, 'how can you be so sure when you don't yet know all the facts?'" Bush then reached over and put a steadying hand on Joe's shoulder. "My instincts," he said. "My instincts." Joe was flabbergasted. He told Bush, "Mr. President, your instincts aren't good enough." Joe Biden sure didn't think the matter was settled. And, as we all know now, it wasn't.
Leadership is all about managing change—whether you're leading a company or leading a country. Things change, and you get creative. You adapt. Maybe Bush was absent the day they covered that at Harvard Business School.
A leader has to COMMUNICATE. I'm not talking about running off at the mouth or spouting sound bites. I'm talking about facing reality and telling the truth. Nobody in the current administration seems to know how to talk straight anymore. Instead, they spend most of their time trying to convince us that things are not really as bad as they seem. I don't know if it's denial or dishonesty, but it can start to drive you crazy after a while. Communication has to start with telling the truth, even when it's painful. The war in Iraq has been, among other things, a grand failure of communication. Bush is like the boy who didn't cry wolf when the wolf was at the door. After years of being told that all is well, even as the casualties and chaos mount, we've stopped listening to him.
A leader has to be a person of CHARACTER. That means knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing. Abraham Lincoln once said, "If you want to test a man's character, give him power." George Bush has a lot of power. What does it say about his character? Bush has shown a willingness to take bold action on the world stage because he has the power, but he shows little regard for the grievous consequences. He has sent our troops (not to mention hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens) to their deaths—for what? To build our oil reserves? To avenge his daddy because Saddam Hussein once tried to have him killed? To show his daddy he's tougher? The motivations behind the war in Iraq are questionable, and the execution of the war has been a disaster. A man of character does not ask a single soldier to die for a failed policy.
A leader must have COURAGE. I'm talking about balls. (That even goes for female leaders.) Swagger isn't courage. Tough talk isn't courage. George Bush comes from a blue-blooded Connecticut family, but he likes to talk like a cowboy. You know, My gun is bigger than your gun. Courage in the twenty-first century doesn't mean posturing and bravado. Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk.
If you're a politician, courage means taking a position even when you know it will cost you votes. Bush can't even make a public appearance unless the audience has been handpicked and sanitized. He did a series of so-called town hall meetings last year, in auditoriums packed with his most devoted fans. The questions were all softballs.
To be a leader you've got to have CONVICTION — a fire in your belly. You've got to have passion. You've got to really want to get something done. How do you measure fire in the belly? Bush has set the all-time record for number of vacation days taken by a U.S. President—four hundred and counting. He'd rather clear brush on his ranch than immerse himself in the business of governing. He even told an interviewer that the high point of his presidency so far was catching a seven-and-a-half-pound perch in his hand-stocked lake.
It's no better on Capitol Hill. Congress was in session only ninety-seven days in 2006. That's eleven days less than the record set in 1948, when President Harry Truman coined the term do-nothing Congress. Most people would expect to be fired if they worked so little and had nothing to show for it. But Congress managed to find the time to vote itself a raise. Now, that's not leadership.
A leader should have CHARISMA. I'm not talking about being flashy. Charisma is the quality that makes people want to follow you. It's the ability to inspire. People follow a leader because they trust him. That's my definition of charisma. Maybe George Bush is a great guy to hang out with at a barbecue or a ball game. But put him at a global summit where the future of our planet is at stake, and he doesn't look very presidential. Those frat-boy pranks and the kidding around he enjoys so much don't go over that well with world leaders. Just ask German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who received an unwelcome shoulder massage from our President at a G-8 Summit. When he came up behind her and started squeezing, I thought she was going to go right through the roof.
A leader has to be COMPETENT. That seems obvious, doesn't it? You've got to know what you're doing. More important than that, you've got to surround yourself with people who know what they're doing. Bush brags about being our first MBA President. Does that make him competent? Well, let's see. Thanks to our first MBA President, we've got the largest deficit in history, Social Security is on life support, and we've run up a half-a-trillion-dollar price tag (so far) in Iraq. And that's just for starters. A leader has to be a problem solver, and the biggest problems we face as a nation seem to be on the back burner.
You can't be a leader if you don't have COMMON SENSE. I call this Charlie Beacham's rule. When I was a young guy just starting out in the car business, one of my first jobs was as Ford's zone manager in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. My boss was a guy named Charlie Beacham, who was the East Coast regional manager. Charlie was a big Southerner, with a warm drawl, a huge smile, and a core of steel. Charlie used to tell me, "Remember, Lee, the only thing you've got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and your common sense. If you don't know a dip of horseshit from a dip of vanilla ice cream, you'll never make it." George Bush doesn't have common sense. He just has a lot of sound bites. You know—Mr.they'll-welcome-us-as-liberators-no-child-left-behind-heck-of-a-job-Brownie-mission-accomplished Bush.
Former President Bill Clinton once said, "I grew up in an alcoholic home. I spent half my childhood trying to get into the reality-based world—and I like it here."
I think our current President should visit the real world once in a while.
The Biggest C is Crisis
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. Where was George Bush? He was reading a story about a pet goat to kids in Florida when he heard about the attacks. He kept sitting there for twenty minutes with a baffled look on his face. It's all on tape. You can see it for yourself. Then, instead of taking the quickest route back to Washington and immediately going on the air to reassure the panicked people of this country, he decided it wasn't safe to return to the White House. He basically went into hiding for the day—and he told Vice President Dick Cheney to stay put in his bunker. We were all frozen in front of our TVs, scared out of our wits, waiting for our leaders to tell us that we were going to be okay, and there was nobody home. It took Bush a couple of days to get his bearings and devise the right photo op at Ground Zero.
That was George Bush's moment of truth, and he was paralyzed. And what did he do when he'd regained his composure? He led us down the road to Iraq—a road his own father had considered disastrous when he was President. But Bush didn't listen to Daddy. He listened to a higher father. He prides himself on being faith based, not reality based. If that doesn't scare the crap out of you, I don't know what will.
A Hell of a Mess
So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.
Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when "the Big Three" referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen—and more important, what are we going to do about it?
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bobblehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough?
Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope. I believe in America. In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises—the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to action for people who, like me, believe in America. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the horseshit and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had enough.
Excerpted from Where Have All the Leaders Gone?. Copyright © 2007 by Lee Iacocca. All rights reserved.
I haven't read the book, but Iacocca certainly is pissed off with the current leadership in the US, both GWB and Congress. In this excerpt he is letting off steam. But as for solutions I guess he is suggesting you need leadership and leadership that follows Lee's gospel of the 9Cs. As for the US it is stuck with GWB til Jan09.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
ANZ looks to back office savings in mortgage processing
AN industry-wide crunch in home-lending profit margins has led ANZ to embark on a three-year program to automate its mortgage processing operations.
The $70 million program will enable ANZ to offshore a "small" proportion of around 900 back-office jobs in the mortgage area to Bangalore in India, where the bank has its own facility.
In the half-year to March, ANZ gave up four basis points of home-lending margin at a cost to group profit of $40 million.
"We have to get a lot of that back," ANZ managing director mortgages Michael Rowland said.
"We're still working through how much we will get back, but there's a reasonable amount of cost savings in it."
As lending volume turns down and competition intensifies, the big banks are increasingly looking to offshoring and big-ticket information technology projects to cut costs and maintain profit growth.
While other banks too had automated part of their mortgage processing function or other areas of their operations, Mr Rowland claimed ANZ was the industry leader in "end-to-end" transformation.
Apart from cost reduction, Mr Rowland said the new platform would enable better management of higher mortgage volumes, as well as deliver new products more quickly.
The automation part of the project, involving greater use of imaging rather than paper processing to digitise the mortgage process, will absorb most of the $70 million.
But ANZ will also use so-called Six Sigma** management techniques to make the process more efficient and reduce multiple handling of documents.
The time taken to fully process a mortgage from application to settlement of funds in the customer's account will be cut from up to a week*** to two days.
Source The Australian IT
By Richard Gluyas
May 15, 2007
** Six Sigma is a system of practices originally developed by Motorola to systematically improve processes by eliminating defects. Defects are defined as units that are not members of the intended population. Since it was originally developed, Six Sigma has become an element of many Total Quality Management (TQM) initiatives.
Source Wikipedia
*** Where does the writer get the statistic to quote a mortgage can be processed in a week from application to money in the account. I have been doing conveyancing for long enough to know a furphy when I see one!!
The $70 million program will enable ANZ to offshore a "small" proportion of around 900 back-office jobs in the mortgage area to Bangalore in India, where the bank has its own facility.
In the half-year to March, ANZ gave up four basis points of home-lending margin at a cost to group profit of $40 million.
"We have to get a lot of that back," ANZ managing director mortgages Michael Rowland said.
"We're still working through how much we will get back, but there's a reasonable amount of cost savings in it."
As lending volume turns down and competition intensifies, the big banks are increasingly looking to offshoring and big-ticket information technology projects to cut costs and maintain profit growth.
While other banks too had automated part of their mortgage processing function or other areas of their operations, Mr Rowland claimed ANZ was the industry leader in "end-to-end" transformation.
Apart from cost reduction, Mr Rowland said the new platform would enable better management of higher mortgage volumes, as well as deliver new products more quickly.
The automation part of the project, involving greater use of imaging rather than paper processing to digitise the mortgage process, will absorb most of the $70 million.
But ANZ will also use so-called Six Sigma** management techniques to make the process more efficient and reduce multiple handling of documents.
The time taken to fully process a mortgage from application to settlement of funds in the customer's account will be cut from up to a week*** to two days.
Source The Australian IT
By Richard Gluyas
May 15, 2007
** Six Sigma is a system of practices originally developed by Motorola to systematically improve processes by eliminating defects. Defects are defined as units that are not members of the intended population. Since it was originally developed, Six Sigma has become an element of many Total Quality Management (TQM) initiatives.
Source Wikipedia
*** Where does the writer get the statistic to quote a mortgage can be processed in a week from application to money in the account. I have been doing conveyancing for long enough to know a furphy when I see one!!
Standards win for property market
A NATIONWIDE electronic platform for real estate conveyancing is a step closer following an agreement by the Lending Industry XML Initiative (LIXI) to develop common data standards.
National Electronic Conveyancing Office executive director Simon Libbis said LIXI's involvement was crucial for the project's success.
"It is invaluable to have data standards that are consistent with those currently used in mortgage processing," Mr Libbis said. "We are very pleased to have LIXI's expertise available to us for e-conveyancing."
NECO is a co-operative venture between state government agencies, conveyancers, banks and independent mortgage processors, which aims to build an electronic exchange by 2010.
The platform will provide a convenient means of handling changes in property ownership, payment of government duties, and lodging details with state land registries.
LIXI was set up in 2000 as a non-profit industry group with the aim of developing software standards for data exchange across the lending market.
LIXI chief executive Socrates Vasiliadis said the agreement validated the group's work and delivered value to members.
"This project will change the way transfers of property ownership are managed, and simplify the settlement process," he said.
The Australian IT Section
Karen Dearne
MAY 15, 2007
National Electronic Conveyancing Office executive director Simon Libbis said LIXI's involvement was crucial for the project's success.
"It is invaluable to have data standards that are consistent with those currently used in mortgage processing," Mr Libbis said. "We are very pleased to have LIXI's expertise available to us for e-conveyancing."
NECO is a co-operative venture between state government agencies, conveyancers, banks and independent mortgage processors, which aims to build an electronic exchange by 2010.
The platform will provide a convenient means of handling changes in property ownership, payment of government duties, and lodging details with state land registries.
LIXI was set up in 2000 as a non-profit industry group with the aim of developing software standards for data exchange across the lending market.
LIXI chief executive Socrates Vasiliadis said the agreement validated the group's work and delivered value to members.
"This project will change the way transfers of property ownership are managed, and simplify the settlement process," he said.
The Australian IT Section
Karen Dearne
MAY 15, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Young Lawyers Journal - Climate Change Issue
The Young Lawyers Section of the Law Institute of Victoria devoted an entire edition to addressing the monumental questions of climate change. The editors published a contribution
Conveyancing - its impact on climate change
Paper feeds the conveyancing and mortgage industry. We know we feel a pang of guilt when we hit the print button or copy and collate five times the 100 page vendor statement for the sale of another apartment in Southbank. The agent then makes further copies to hand out to prospective buyers. There just seems to be an insatiable cycle of wasted paper in the endless grind of the property and mortgage industry. In Victoria, it is a sobering to think that residential conveyancing consumes at least 52 km of paper every year.
By comparison, former federal Human Services Minister Joe Hockey said his department would look at destroying 275km of paper records held by Centrelink and three square kilometres of Medicare records as part of the access card project to digitise all its paper-based records.
The National Electronic Conveyancing System is coming and that will mean no more physical settlements and no more over-the-counter stamping and registration of the transfer and mortgage. But this will not put an end to the paper warfare. We will still have the requirement of the vendor statement, the contract of sale, the mortgage and documenting the loan contract.
But can we change? What changes can we make, collectively, as an industry to reverse the trend? The legal office is often just a great big paper processing machine. It receives, files, retrieves, creates, file notes, collates, copies, distributes and archives paper - piles of it. While the term the "paperless office" was coined in the 80s with the advent of the PC and the word processor, these tools actually spurred an addiction to paper. We now have the tools available to create "digital paper". PDF technology is the new environmentally-friendly digital paper.
Can we make conveyancing and mortgage processing an entirely digital process, not unlike share trading and the money markets that turnover billions daily? The answer is an emphatic Yes.
Canada and New Zealand may have led the way for electronic registration of land dealings, but Victoria is leading the way forward for online electronic settlements. A Victorian-based company 247legal.com.au has developed the first web-based delivery of vendor statements and contract documentation. The system is fully automated and saves time and money. Our firm has been using the systems for the past 24 months. True to the firm's roots to develop an ethically-based conveyancing practice, it does not possess a photocopier. Our costs are down and our revenues have grown exponentially.
The company 247legal.com.au provides an excellent forum to develop the concepts of digital conveyancing. The vendor disclosure concepts are well and truly proven. The next step would be having the purchaser electronically acknowledge receipt of the vendor statement, without actually ever having to print and physically sign the document.
There are not really any regulatory barriers to doing this, just years of entrenched practices of vendors and buyers signing physical documents. Introducing such changes is beyond the efforts of any individual. What is required is a quorum of lawyers to get together and initiate change. A group of like-minded young lawyers seeking change would be the ideal forum.
If we really want to stretch the boundaries and remove an even bigger environmental footprint, we should tackle the mortgage industry head on. The lack of communication is the problem. What needs to be done? Financial institutions must give lawyers and conveyancers:
• online tracking of client's mortgage status;
• online booking of settlements;
• online advice of available funds; and
• online settlement cheque details.
Lawyers unfortunately are locked into systems that see great swathes of forests disappearing for the wood chip industry for paper manufacture. And for what? Once the property transaction has settled, the transfer and mortgage are registered, money banked, who ever looks at the file again?
The article was put together by Brett Hayton, Jaci Wang and Michael Jellis of Hayton Kosky Lawyers.
Young Lawyers Journal Issue 36 April 2007
Editors Judd Young, White Cleland and Adam Bushby, Nicholls Legal
Conveyancing - its impact on climate change
Paper feeds the conveyancing and mortgage industry. We know we feel a pang of guilt when we hit the print button or copy and collate five times the 100 page vendor statement for the sale of another apartment in Southbank. The agent then makes further copies to hand out to prospective buyers. There just seems to be an insatiable cycle of wasted paper in the endless grind of the property and mortgage industry. In Victoria, it is a sobering to think that residential conveyancing consumes at least 52 km of paper every year.
By comparison, former federal Human Services Minister Joe Hockey said his department would look at destroying 275km of paper records held by Centrelink and three square kilometres of Medicare records as part of the access card project to digitise all its paper-based records.
The National Electronic Conveyancing System is coming and that will mean no more physical settlements and no more over-the-counter stamping and registration of the transfer and mortgage. But this will not put an end to the paper warfare. We will still have the requirement of the vendor statement, the contract of sale, the mortgage and documenting the loan contract.
But can we change? What changes can we make, collectively, as an industry to reverse the trend? The legal office is often just a great big paper processing machine. It receives, files, retrieves, creates, file notes, collates, copies, distributes and archives paper - piles of it. While the term the "paperless office" was coined in the 80s with the advent of the PC and the word processor, these tools actually spurred an addiction to paper. We now have the tools available to create "digital paper". PDF technology is the new environmentally-friendly digital paper.
Can we make conveyancing and mortgage processing an entirely digital process, not unlike share trading and the money markets that turnover billions daily? The answer is an emphatic Yes.
Canada and New Zealand may have led the way for electronic registration of land dealings, but Victoria is leading the way forward for online electronic settlements. A Victorian-based company 247legal.com.au has developed the first web-based delivery of vendor statements and contract documentation. The system is fully automated and saves time and money. Our firm has been using the systems for the past 24 months. True to the firm's roots to develop an ethically-based conveyancing practice, it does not possess a photocopier. Our costs are down and our revenues have grown exponentially.
The company 247legal.com.au provides an excellent forum to develop the concepts of digital conveyancing. The vendor disclosure concepts are well and truly proven. The next step would be having the purchaser electronically acknowledge receipt of the vendor statement, without actually ever having to print and physically sign the document.
There are not really any regulatory barriers to doing this, just years of entrenched practices of vendors and buyers signing physical documents. Introducing such changes is beyond the efforts of any individual. What is required is a quorum of lawyers to get together and initiate change. A group of like-minded young lawyers seeking change would be the ideal forum.
If we really want to stretch the boundaries and remove an even bigger environmental footprint, we should tackle the mortgage industry head on. The lack of communication is the problem. What needs to be done? Financial institutions must give lawyers and conveyancers:
• online tracking of client's mortgage status;
• online booking of settlements;
• online advice of available funds; and
• online settlement cheque details.
Lawyers unfortunately are locked into systems that see great swathes of forests disappearing for the wood chip industry for paper manufacture. And for what? Once the property transaction has settled, the transfer and mortgage are registered, money banked, who ever looks at the file again?
The article was put together by Brett Hayton, Jaci Wang and Michael Jellis of Hayton Kosky Lawyers.
Young Lawyers Journal Issue 36 April 2007
Editors Judd Young, White Cleland and Adam Bushby, Nicholls Legal
Print Less - The Green PDF
PDF documents are an environmentally friendly way to communicate, but only if you don’t click the Print button. "Print Less" is an awareness campaign by the lads at GreenPDF.com The message from GreenPDF is Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions One Ream at a Time.
247Legal has always been committed to the concept of digital conveyancing to make conveyancing faster, simpler and greener. An original idea was to make the Vendors Statement available to the public by a simple search at the web site 247legal.com.au Simple. Anyone can search, view or download the Section 32, copy of the title, the plan of subdivision etc. But you can't print it. The ability to print the PDF had been disabled. No printing allowed. If someone wants a print version they need to contact the estate agent to obtain a print copy. The result - less paper being consumed. And in many cases such as apartments, there can be vendor statements that are 100+ pages in length. Yet the buyer may only be interested in one or two specific pages in the Plan Subdivision. It makes complete sense to deliver the information digitally rather than printing and distributing multiple copies of the paper document.
Remember Print Less.
247Legal has always been committed to the concept of digital conveyancing to make conveyancing faster, simpler and greener. An original idea was to make the Vendors Statement available to the public by a simple search at the web site 247legal.com.au Simple. Anyone can search, view or download the Section 32, copy of the title, the plan of subdivision etc. But you can't print it. The ability to print the PDF had been disabled. No printing allowed. If someone wants a print version they need to contact the estate agent to obtain a print copy. The result - less paper being consumed. And in many cases such as apartments, there can be vendor statements that are 100+ pages in length. Yet the buyer may only be interested in one or two specific pages in the Plan Subdivision. It makes complete sense to deliver the information digitally rather than printing and distributing multiple copies of the paper document.
Remember Print Less.
Missent to Belgium
Australia Post: Caulfield - Belgium - Bentleigh. Having written off the possibility of receiving a package from a client enclosing an original will, original death certificate, etc. Australia Post finally came through with the goods, having crossed at least 2 continents!
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Fairfax the Digital Media Company
Extract from Fairfax Media CEO David Kirk
Our second priority has been rapid growth in our internet earnings. We have made the major and very successful acquisition of Trade Me and we have developed and grown a wide range of online businesses. In Australia we are #1 in news and information (our launch of brisbanetimes.com.au has been an unprecedented success), we are #1 in dating and holiday rentals and we have strong #2 positions in jobs, homes and cars classifieds. (behind seek, realestate.com.au and carsales)
Our business news and information and investor positions are very powerful with afr.com and BusinessDay.com.au, which complement each other as they cover and expand the market. We are rapidly implementing a successful online entertainment strategy with Austereo in music and Anytime for online video-on-demand downloads.
Our travel strategy is moving fast with online hotel bookings launched and online flights and cars on the way.
Overall, Fairfax Digital's contribution to Fairfax Media's profits has grown from 1% to 14% in two years and there is much, much more to come.
Our third priority has been to build a digital media company, by adapting our media products, working processes, systems and organisation to the new converged world of digital media.
And at the same time job cuts of 35. Perhaps that can be attributed to better productivity from technology changes
Our second priority has been rapid growth in our internet earnings. We have made the major and very successful acquisition of Trade Me and we have developed and grown a wide range of online businesses. In Australia we are #1 in news and information (our launch of brisbanetimes.com.au has been an unprecedented success), we are #1 in dating and holiday rentals and we have strong #2 positions in jobs, homes and cars classifieds. (behind seek, realestate.com.au and carsales)
Our business news and information and investor positions are very powerful with afr.com and BusinessDay.com.au, which complement each other as they cover and expand the market. We are rapidly implementing a successful online entertainment strategy with Austereo in music and Anytime for online video-on-demand downloads.
Our travel strategy is moving fast with online hotel bookings launched and online flights and cars on the way.
Overall, Fairfax Digital's contribution to Fairfax Media's profits has grown from 1% to 14% in two years and there is much, much more to come.
Our third priority has been to build a digital media company, by adapting our media products, working processes, systems and organisation to the new converged world of digital media.
And at the same time job cuts of 35. Perhaps that can be attributed to better productivity from technology changes
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Depression - Lawyers top the list of professionals at most risk
LAWYERS are more likely to suffer depression than any other group of professionals in the country, reported by The Age.
They are also more prone than others to drinking and taking drugs to help ease the pain of their depression, research shows.
An obsession with billing targets, deadline pressure and inflexible working hours contributed to the problems.
The research, by mental health group beyondblue and management consultancy firm Beaton Consulting, found that 15 per cent of legal professionals experienced moderate or severe depressive symptoms, a rate 2½ times that of the general population. More than 5 per cent also admitted using non-prescription drugs and alcohol to manage.
Law Institute of Victoria chief executive Mike Brett-Young said law firms were reporting a growing attrition rate, particularly among younger lawyers.
"Because lawyers are also dealing with everyone else's problems they think they should be able to handle their own," he said.
Perhaps it is litigation lawyers are the most at risk. General property law is naturally less combative. I can understand the pressure that lawyers practising predominately in commercial, family and personal injury law must face over a period of time. As a professional it would be difficult to not get involved. I dont know what the answers are.
They are also more prone than others to drinking and taking drugs to help ease the pain of their depression, research shows.
An obsession with billing targets, deadline pressure and inflexible working hours contributed to the problems.
The research, by mental health group beyondblue and management consultancy firm Beaton Consulting, found that 15 per cent of legal professionals experienced moderate or severe depressive symptoms, a rate 2½ times that of the general population. More than 5 per cent also admitted using non-prescription drugs and alcohol to manage.
Law Institute of Victoria chief executive Mike Brett-Young said law firms were reporting a growing attrition rate, particularly among younger lawyers.
"Because lawyers are also dealing with everyone else's problems they think they should be able to handle their own," he said.
Perhaps it is litigation lawyers are the most at risk. General property law is naturally less combative. I can understand the pressure that lawyers practising predominately in commercial, family and personal injury law must face over a period of time. As a professional it would be difficult to not get involved. I dont know what the answers are.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
What is Office 2.0?
"Imagine a computer that never crashes, or gets infected by a virus. Imagine a computer onto which you never have to install any application. Imagine a computer that follows you wherever you go, be it at school, at work, abroad, or back home. This computer does not exist today, but it will in the future, and this future might be much closer than you think".
This is not a bad descriptor for the digital conveyancing project being undertaken by 247legal. Simple online collaboration between conveyancers and estate agents, vendors and buyers. And why stop there? The collaboration can be extended even further.
This is not a bad descriptor for the digital conveyancing project being undertaken by 247legal. Simple online collaboration between conveyancers and estate agents, vendors and buyers. And why stop there? The collaboration can be extended even further.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
res ipsa loquitur or why cant the govt leave our beaches alone
If the Bayside Council and Department of Sustainability & Environment are allowed to get away with the destruction of the Sandringham foreshore it will be a great tragedy.
The Royal Avenue groyne is one tragedy that has been allowed to remain for too long, the Southey Street groyne is an outrage. The damage to the Southey Street to Tennyson Street beach has been quick and swift with an entire beach being swept away in less than 2 months and that has been over the relatively quiet summer period. In simple terms, the groyne has been over-engineered and the results are obvious.
Quoting Wikipedia -
“The purpose of a groyne is to create and maintain a healthy beach on its updrift side, which in turn provides protection to the land behind. These effects are achieved through two main processes. First, groynes act as a barrier to physically stop sediment transport (sand) in the direction of longshore transport through the system. This causes a build-up of the beach on the groyne's updrift side. Secondly, groynes interrupt the tidal flow forcing the tidal current further offshore beyond the groyne end. This slows the tidal current inshore causing the deposition of heavier sediments and encouraging the beach to grow in size.
However, this is often accompanied by accelerated erosion of the downdrift beach, known as terminal groyne syndrome, as it occurs after the terminal groyne, which receives little or no sand via longshore transport. (It is important to realize that groynes do not add any new sand to the beach, but merely retain some of the existing sand on the updrift side of the groin.) If a groyne is correctly designed, then the amount of material it can hold will be limited, and excess sediment will be free to move on through the system. However, if a groyne is too large it may trap all sediment reaching it and this can cause severe beach erosion problems on the down-drift side, which in turn can result in coastal erosion problems.”
I can just hear DSE saying, well lets build another groyne. No. No. NO NO. Let mother nature care for herself with little or any guidance. REMOVE THE GROYNES. Renourish the beaches every few years if you have to. The GROYNES ARE AN EYESORE. I can hear the Heidelberg artists, Streeton, Roberts, McCubbin, Condor mourning the lost natural vistas.
In the eyes of the law, Bayside Council and Department of Sustainability & Environment are guilty of gross negligence. Res ipsa loquitur. This is the legal term from the Latin meaning literally, "The thing itself speaks" but is more often translated "The thing speaks for itself". The doctrine is applied to tort claims which, as a matter of law, do not have to be explained beyond the obvious facts.
Under the old common law rule, to use res ipsa loquitur in the context of negligence the plaintiff must prove that:
The Plaintiff here is the beloved Sandringham foreshore.
The defendants are the Bayside Council and Department of Sustainability & Environment.
The damage is not irreparable. But action must be swift. The two groynes need to be removed immediately. This is not a case of lets consult for the next 3 years. I don’t recall any public consultation before works started.
Please be put on notice, that if the work to remove the groynes is not begun by 30 June 2007, legal action will be instituted in the Supreme Court of Victoria by public outrage.
The Royal Avenue groyne is one tragedy that has been allowed to remain for too long, the Southey Street groyne is an outrage. The damage to the Southey Street to Tennyson Street beach has been quick and swift with an entire beach being swept away in less than 2 months and that has been over the relatively quiet summer period. In simple terms, the groyne has been over-engineered and the results are obvious.
Quoting Wikipedia -
“The purpose of a groyne is to create and maintain a healthy beach on its updrift side, which in turn provides protection to the land behind. These effects are achieved through two main processes. First, groynes act as a barrier to physically stop sediment transport (sand) in the direction of longshore transport through the system. This causes a build-up of the beach on the groyne's updrift side. Secondly, groynes interrupt the tidal flow forcing the tidal current further offshore beyond the groyne end. This slows the tidal current inshore causing the deposition of heavier sediments and encouraging the beach to grow in size.
However, this is often accompanied by accelerated erosion of the downdrift beach, known as terminal groyne syndrome, as it occurs after the terminal groyne, which receives little or no sand via longshore transport. (It is important to realize that groynes do not add any new sand to the beach, but merely retain some of the existing sand on the updrift side of the groin.) If a groyne is correctly designed, then the amount of material it can hold will be limited, and excess sediment will be free to move on through the system. However, if a groyne is too large it may trap all sediment reaching it and this can cause severe beach erosion problems on the down-drift side, which in turn can result in coastal erosion problems.”
I can just hear DSE saying, well lets build another groyne. No. No. NO NO. Let mother nature care for herself with little or any guidance. REMOVE THE GROYNES. Renourish the beaches every few years if you have to. The GROYNES ARE AN EYESORE. I can hear the Heidelberg artists, Streeton, Roberts, McCubbin, Condor mourning the lost natural vistas.
In the eyes of the law, Bayside Council and Department of Sustainability & Environment are guilty of gross negligence. Res ipsa loquitur. This is the legal term from the Latin meaning literally, "The thing itself speaks" but is more often translated "The thing speaks for itself". The doctrine is applied to tort claims which, as a matter of law, do not have to be explained beyond the obvious facts.
Under the old common law rule, to use res ipsa loquitur in the context of negligence the plaintiff must prove that:
- The harm would not ordinarily have occurred without someone's negligence
- The instrumentality of the harm was under the exclusive control of the defendant at the time of the likely negligent act
- The plaintiff did not contribute to the harm by his own negligence.
The Plaintiff here is the beloved Sandringham foreshore.
The defendants are the Bayside Council and Department of Sustainability & Environment.
The damage is not irreparable. But action must be swift. The two groynes need to be removed immediately. This is not a case of lets consult for the next 3 years. I don’t recall any public consultation before works started.
Please be put on notice, that if the work to remove the groynes is not begun by 30 June 2007, legal action will be instituted in the Supreme Court of Victoria by public outrage.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Archiving
How many law firms think about archiving beyond long term off-site archiving of the physical file?
Having recently lost access to a store room where I retained completed files, I was compelled to turn to a commercial alternative for long term off-site archiving. I made the decision there was no economic incentive or benefit to retain files older than 7 years. These older files are now shredded land fill. Lost for all eternity. When a client rings wanting to know whether the contract date for a purchase was pre-September 1985 all I can do is shrug. On this point I am researching this actual point to determine if their purchase was pre-Sep 85. The answer may lie with one of the statutory authorities who record such things.
Or you simply keep paying the ongoing price of paying monthly archive storage fees and offset the price by charging clients with a retrieval fee.
The problem of physical archives is universal for all law firms.
A better solution lies in digitising legal records on a continual ongoing daily basis. In other words maintain a digital archive, at least for all deeds and important documents like the contract of sale. Every small law firm should start by buying 1 or 2 desktop document feed scanners. The payback is not just short term but long term as there is close to a zero cost to maintaining a long term digital archive.
The NYT published an interesting article on the issue of archives contained in libraries and other important collections. History, Digitized (and Abridged)
Having recently lost access to a store room where I retained completed files, I was compelled to turn to a commercial alternative for long term off-site archiving. I made the decision there was no economic incentive or benefit to retain files older than 7 years. These older files are now shredded land fill. Lost for all eternity. When a client rings wanting to know whether the contract date for a purchase was pre-September 1985 all I can do is shrug. On this point I am researching this actual point to determine if their purchase was pre-Sep 85. The answer may lie with one of the statutory authorities who record such things.
Or you simply keep paying the ongoing price of paying monthly archive storage fees and offset the price by charging clients with a retrieval fee.
The problem of physical archives is universal for all law firms.
A better solution lies in digitising legal records on a continual ongoing daily basis. In other words maintain a digital archive, at least for all deeds and important documents like the contract of sale. Every small law firm should start by buying 1 or 2 desktop document feed scanners. The payback is not just short term but long term as there is close to a zero cost to maintaining a long term digital archive.
The NYT published an interesting article on the issue of archives contained in libraries and other important collections. History, Digitized (and Abridged)
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
US mortgage crisis looming
First the New York Times
While real estate prices were rising, the market for home loans operated like a well-oiled machine, providing ready money to borrowers and high returns to investors like pension funds, insurance companies, hedge funds and other institutions. Now this enormous and important machine is sputtering, and the effects are reverberating throughout Main Street, Wall Street and Washington.
Already, more than two dozen mortgage lenders have failed or closed their doors, and shares of big companies in the mortgage industry have declined significantly. Delinquencies on loans made to less creditworthy borrowers — known as subprime mortgages — recently reached 12.6 percent. Some banks have reported rising problems among borrowers that were deemed more creditworthy as well.
Like worms that surface after a torrential rain, revelations that emerge when an asset bubble bursts are often unattractive, involving dubious industry practices and even fraud. In the coming weeks, some mortgage market participants predict, investors will learn not only how lax real estate lending standards became, but also how hard to value these opaque securities are and how easy their values are to prop up.
Mortgages requiring little or no documentation became known colloquially as “liar loans.” An April 2006 report by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute, a consulting concern in Reston, Va., analyzed 100 loans in which the borrowers merely stated their incomes, and then looked at documents those borrowers had filed with the I.R.S. The resulting differences were significant: in 90 percent of loans, borrowers overstated their incomes 5 percent or more. But in almost 60 percent of cases, borrowers inflated their incomes by more than half.
Is Australia insulated against the cracks in the mortgage market that are widening in the US?
No, not whilst Australia's median house prices continues to be increasing. And certainly easy credit like the lo doc loan products keeps fueling the price increases.
crikey.com.au weighs in on the same topic
Glenn Dyer writes:
Some of the biggest names in US finance have been caught up in the spreading collapse of the so-called sub-prime mortgage market.
These include Citigroup, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, GMAC and General Electric's finance arm, GE Money which operates in Australia and aggressively markets similar loans through the Wizard Home Loans operation it bought in late 2004.
The crisis in the US sub-prime mortgage market (that's what we call no doc/low doc housing loans with no deposit) is worsening with the second biggest lender in the area likely to go bankrupt very shortly.
It's just not an isolated event: the sub-prime mortgage market in the US has been responsible for much of the boom in home prices over the past two years as more and more money has been lent. Some US analysts say that it has been the single most important factor in the US housing boom, which peaked last year and then collapsed, threatening the rest of the US economy.
Now billions of dollars of mortgages are going bad as default rates skyrocket, people lose their homes and new lending dries up.
GE Money bought a small sub-prime lender called WMC Mortgage Corp (US) in April 2004, fed it billions of dollars and watched it jump from number 12 to number five among sub-prime lenders.
Last Friday it shut off new loans, closed several offices and laid off at least 20% of its staff, some 450 people, as the realisation grew that it is going to lose a lot of money for GE.
The reason for the problems is that many loans were sold not only as 100% financings with no deposit and no or low documentation, but they contained cheap starter rates where the initial interest rate was held down for six months to more than a year.
Those higher rates are now kicking in and many people can't afford them: as well as the value of their houses being dragged down by the fall in the overall housing market. It's a horrible double whammy that has seen the industry contract and turn off the lending tap in the space of a month.
And why is this important in Australia? The purchase of WMC gave GE Money a taste for similar businesses and six months later it bought Wizard Home Loans and its parent, from a group of investors which included PBL, founder Mark Bouris and ABN Amro.
Last weekend saw Wizard advertising a new offering of a no doc/low doc loan with 100% finance (ie, no deposit), the very product it has stopped offering in the US because the business is imploding. Here's the Wizard website with its 100% finance offered in the banner headline at the top of the page.
There are growing problems with no doc/low doc/no deposit loans here, especially in the suburbs of western and southwestern Sydney where foreclosures are still rising and house prices are falling.
It's not the crisis it is in the US but it makes you wonder how GE can continue to offer this sort of finance here, with our problems, and knowing the problems that it has got itself into in the US.
While real estate prices were rising, the market for home loans operated like a well-oiled machine, providing ready money to borrowers and high returns to investors like pension funds, insurance companies, hedge funds and other institutions. Now this enormous and important machine is sputtering, and the effects are reverberating throughout Main Street, Wall Street and Washington.
Already, more than two dozen mortgage lenders have failed or closed their doors, and shares of big companies in the mortgage industry have declined significantly. Delinquencies on loans made to less creditworthy borrowers — known as subprime mortgages — recently reached 12.6 percent. Some banks have reported rising problems among borrowers that were deemed more creditworthy as well.
Like worms that surface after a torrential rain, revelations that emerge when an asset bubble bursts are often unattractive, involving dubious industry practices and even fraud. In the coming weeks, some mortgage market participants predict, investors will learn not only how lax real estate lending standards became, but also how hard to value these opaque securities are and how easy their values are to prop up.
Mortgages requiring little or no documentation became known colloquially as “liar loans.” An April 2006 report by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute, a consulting concern in Reston, Va., analyzed 100 loans in which the borrowers merely stated their incomes, and then looked at documents those borrowers had filed with the I.R.S. The resulting differences were significant: in 90 percent of loans, borrowers overstated their incomes 5 percent or more. But in almost 60 percent of cases, borrowers inflated their incomes by more than half.
Is Australia insulated against the cracks in the mortgage market that are widening in the US?
No, not whilst Australia's median house prices continues to be increasing. And certainly easy credit like the lo doc loan products keeps fueling the price increases.
crikey.com.au weighs in on the same topic
Glenn Dyer writes:
Some of the biggest names in US finance have been caught up in the spreading collapse of the so-called sub-prime mortgage market.
These include Citigroup, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, GMAC and General Electric's finance arm, GE Money which operates in Australia and aggressively markets similar loans through the Wizard Home Loans operation it bought in late 2004.
The crisis in the US sub-prime mortgage market (that's what we call no doc/low doc housing loans with no deposit) is worsening with the second biggest lender in the area likely to go bankrupt very shortly.
It's just not an isolated event: the sub-prime mortgage market in the US has been responsible for much of the boom in home prices over the past two years as more and more money has been lent. Some US analysts say that it has been the single most important factor in the US housing boom, which peaked last year and then collapsed, threatening the rest of the US economy.
Now billions of dollars of mortgages are going bad as default rates skyrocket, people lose their homes and new lending dries up.
GE Money bought a small sub-prime lender called WMC Mortgage Corp (US) in April 2004, fed it billions of dollars and watched it jump from number 12 to number five among sub-prime lenders.
Last Friday it shut off new loans, closed several offices and laid off at least 20% of its staff, some 450 people, as the realisation grew that it is going to lose a lot of money for GE.
The reason for the problems is that many loans were sold not only as 100% financings with no deposit and no or low documentation, but they contained cheap starter rates where the initial interest rate was held down for six months to more than a year.
Those higher rates are now kicking in and many people can't afford them: as well as the value of their houses being dragged down by the fall in the overall housing market. It's a horrible double whammy that has seen the industry contract and turn off the lending tap in the space of a month.
And why is this important in Australia? The purchase of WMC gave GE Money a taste for similar businesses and six months later it bought Wizard Home Loans and its parent, from a group of investors which included PBL, founder Mark Bouris and ABN Amro.
Last weekend saw Wizard advertising a new offering of a no doc/low doc loan with 100% finance (ie, no deposit), the very product it has stopped offering in the US because the business is imploding. Here's the Wizard website with its 100% finance offered in the banner headline at the top of the page.
There are growing problems with no doc/low doc/no deposit loans here, especially in the suburbs of western and southwestern Sydney where foreclosures are still rising and house prices are falling.
It's not the crisis it is in the US but it makes you wonder how GE can continue to offer this sort of finance here, with our problems, and knowing the problems that it has got itself into in the US.
Monday, February 26, 2007
MyHome
Crikey has been at its rumour mongering again -
MyHome feeling a bit homeless?
Now that only one franchise group (Elders) has signed up to the PBL-backed real estate website, the reality seems to be hitting home for many others. Why have LJ Hooker and others backed out? MyHome plans to go direct to the vendors of agents who use MyHome – that’s right, going "around" the real estate agent. Ray White has also said "no thank you" for the same reason. To make matters worse, MyHome is now suing Ray White (the largest franchise group in Australia) for deciding not to use MyHome. The only group promoting MyHome seems to be Raine & Horne in NSW, whose agencies are being told by Max Raine that they should stop advertising on all other real estate websites and only advertise on MyHome.
I did a quick side by side comparison for postcode 3204 - Bentleigh
MyHome - 50 entries - mostly Hocking Stuart
Realestate - 110 entries - supported by all agents
And the winner is - the punters will always decide that - and lets face facts - there is room only for two plus a number of specialty sites
Update as of March 13, 2007, Syney Morning Herald
Realestate.com.au has helpfully provided SMH with traffic figures for property classifieds in the first 10 days of March.
And it seems PBL's new site, myhome.com.au, is struggling to get off the ground, failing to reach 100,000 unique visitors despite the recent marketing drive.
Realestate.com.au had 1.6 million unique visitors over the period, followed by Fairfax Media's Domain.com.au with 852,000, according to the data from Nielsen/NetRatings.
Realestate.com.au also notes that users stayed on its site an average 11 minutes, compared to just 2 minutes for myhome.com.au.
I don't doubt the statistics
MyHome feeling a bit homeless?
Now that only one franchise group (Elders) has signed up to the PBL-backed real estate website, the reality seems to be hitting home for many others. Why have LJ Hooker and others backed out? MyHome plans to go direct to the vendors of agents who use MyHome – that’s right, going "around" the real estate agent. Ray White has also said "no thank you" for the same reason. To make matters worse, MyHome is now suing Ray White (the largest franchise group in Australia) for deciding not to use MyHome. The only group promoting MyHome seems to be Raine & Horne in NSW, whose agencies are being told by Max Raine that they should stop advertising on all other real estate websites and only advertise on MyHome.
I did a quick side by side comparison for postcode 3204 - Bentleigh
MyHome - 50 entries - mostly Hocking Stuart
Realestate - 110 entries - supported by all agents
And the winner is - the punters will always decide that - and lets face facts - there is room only for two plus a number of specialty sites
Update as of March 13, 2007, Syney Morning Herald
Realestate.com.au has helpfully provided SMH with traffic figures for property classifieds in the first 10 days of March.
And it seems PBL's new site, myhome.com.au, is struggling to get off the ground, failing to reach 100,000 unique visitors despite the recent marketing drive.
Realestate.com.au had 1.6 million unique visitors over the period, followed by Fairfax Media's Domain.com.au with 852,000, according to the data from Nielsen/NetRatings.
Realestate.com.au also notes that users stayed on its site an average 11 minutes, compared to just 2 minutes for myhome.com.au.
I don't doubt the statistics
Saturday, February 03, 2007
SPEAR - Electronic Subdivision
SPEAR covers the approval process for a number of Subdivision Act plans and includes the application for a planning permit, council certification and lodgment in Land Registry.
SPEAR allows applications to be electronically submitted to council, referred electronically for comment and tracked online from the initial planning stage through to lodgment and registration of the plan at Land Registry.
SPEAR is an internet system that enables a subdivision application to be lodged, managed, referred and tracked online. The system was developed by Land Victoria as part of its Land Exchange program.
SPEAR is comparable to an electronic mail box that stores data and allows subscribers to access this data. Its aim is to reduce the delays, duplication of data, double handling of documents and high administrative overheads that are characteristic of the current manual, paper based development approval process.
Source - Customer Information Bulletin DSE Jan 2007
SPEAR is up and running. The Plan is electronically uploaded to the Land Registry imaging system and digitally signed by Council and the Surveyor. Council digitally signs the Statement of Compliance.
The same principles that SPEAR is applying are the same as for the Electronic Conveyancing project and 247Legal is using with its Digital Conveyancing project.
SPEAR allows applications to be electronically submitted to council, referred electronically for comment and tracked online from the initial planning stage through to lodgment and registration of the plan at Land Registry.
SPEAR is an internet system that enables a subdivision application to be lodged, managed, referred and tracked online. The system was developed by Land Victoria as part of its Land Exchange program.
SPEAR is comparable to an electronic mail box that stores data and allows subscribers to access this data. Its aim is to reduce the delays, duplication of data, double handling of documents and high administrative overheads that are characteristic of the current manual, paper based development approval process.
Source - Customer Information Bulletin DSE Jan 2007
SPEAR is up and running. The Plan is electronically uploaded to the Land Registry imaging system and digitally signed by Council and the Surveyor. Council digitally signs the Statement of Compliance.
The same principles that SPEAR is applying are the same as for the Electronic Conveyancing project and 247Legal is using with its Digital Conveyancing project.
Home Buyers stamp duty relief ----- Not
Which home buyers are saying thanks Bracks for the stamp duty relief you have given us?
For a start you dont qualify for the Principal Place Residence concession for homes over $500K. That cuts out my electorate where median prices for homes is now well over $500K.
Think about this, you are eligible if your home costs between $115K and $500K. No-one can buy a home for $115K. I would have thought the majority of established home buyers is now pretty much above the $500K mark
And get this, those it might be targeting being the First Home Buyers, well think twice, they dont get it. The first home buyers elects which "benefit" they will take - the PPR concession or the First Home Bonus. No double dipping boys and girls.
And if you haven't already seen the new form, well the SRO has been busy designing forms that should be a simple one page document. Well those days as we all know are well past us. The PPR stat dec is 3 pages plus the explanatory notes.
You can download a copy here.
And for the sheer hell of it, I have redesigned a user friendly one pager, just like the good old days when the chattels stat dec was introduced. Feel welcome to download it and use it with my blessing. If you can ever find an occasion to ever use it.
For a start you dont qualify for the Principal Place Residence concession for homes over $500K. That cuts out my electorate where median prices for homes is now well over $500K.
Think about this, you are eligible if your home costs between $115K and $500K. No-one can buy a home for $115K. I would have thought the majority of established home buyers is now pretty much above the $500K mark
And get this, those it might be targeting being the First Home Buyers, well think twice, they dont get it. The first home buyers elects which "benefit" they will take - the PPR concession or the First Home Bonus. No double dipping boys and girls.
And if you haven't already seen the new form, well the SRO has been busy designing forms that should be a simple one page document. Well those days as we all know are well past us. The PPR stat dec is 3 pages plus the explanatory notes.
You can download a copy here.
And for the sheer hell of it, I have redesigned a user friendly one pager, just like the good old days when the chattels stat dec was introduced. Feel welcome to download it and use it with my blessing. If you can ever find an occasion to ever use it.
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