Author Archives for Peter Mericka

Conflict of Interests

November 8, 2013 12:54 pm Published by Comments Off on Conflict of Interests "The fox guarding the hen-house" or "Dracula in charge of the blood bank". But sometimes conflicts of interests are not that obvious.

Company Share Scheme

November 8, 2013 12:49 pm Published by Comments Off on Company Share Scheme This was the first type of "unit" development. While it appears to be similar to a strata unit development, it is really quite different.

Commission

November 6, 2013 12:12 pm Published by Comments Off on Commission Commission is the way in which the commission estate agent is paid, and is probably the most unfair and unethical form of payment imaginable. Real estate commissions have been described as a form of "wealth tax" levied by commission estate agents.

Certificate of Title

November 6, 2013 12:09 pm Published by Comments Off on Certificate of Title If you wanted to identify a particular block of land, you would find out its volume and folio number, and use these numbers to look up the relevant page. To find out who owns the land, you would simply turn over the page, and see whose name was last added to the page. This person is the owner.

Certificate of Occupancy

November 6, 2013 12:04 pm Published by Comments Off on Certificate of Occupancy As the name implies, the Certificate of Occupancy certifies that a home can be lived in. It is a requirement of most local government or shire councils that an occupancy certificate be issued prior to the purchaser of a home taking occupation.

Caveat

November 5, 2013 8:11 pm Published by Comments Off on Caveat A caveat is a means by which a Certificate of Title at the Land Titles Office can be 'tagged' to show that someone has an interest in the property. Every purchaser of real estate is advised to lodge a caveat.

Buyer’s Agents – A Critique

November 5, 2013 5:44 pm Published by Comments Off on Buyer’s Agents – A Critique Desperate times call for desperate measures. In the following article the REIV’s CEO Mr. Enzo Raimondo suggests that consumers are best served, not by their own legal advisers, but by commission estate agents who charge high fees for a service of dubious value. We have examined Mr. Raimondo’s article on buyer’s advocates, and have provided some balance by way of a comprehensive critique. The Article Our Critique The Article The following article was written by...


The Buyer’s Agent

November 5, 2013 5:32 pm Published by Comments Off on The Buyer’s Agent When the housing market slows, the buyer's agents come out. Tough times for a commission estate agent means that a new source of income has to be found. By declaring himself to be a "buyer's agent" the average commission estate agent is able to charge purchasers who are buying properties through competing estate agencies.

Valuation Scam

November 5, 2013 5:08 pm Published by Comments Off on Valuation Scam Commission estate agent valuations are often like free cheese – their quality can be dubious, and they’re usually on offer for other reasons. And there’s that recurring real estate industry problem of the conflict of interests.

Appraisals

November 5, 2013 4:56 pm Published by Comments Off on Appraisals Estate agents are simply not qualified to assess the value of real estate.