Amazing scenes this morning as Kevin Rudd stepped down as leader of the ALP and Prime Minister of Australia. Julia Gillard has stepped into both roles and is now Australias first ever female Prime Minster. It will be interesting to see how Julia takes up the ALP platforms around housing affordability.
My brother John has had a lucky escape after being buried under over 1m of snow in an avalanche in New Zealand over the weekend. John is ok, although he has a black eye to show for it.
Here is an extract from the Herald Sun Story:
AT FIRST the Melbourne multi-millionaire John Castran thought he had escaped the avalanche unscathed, unaware that metres away his Sydney skiing companion was dead.
Buried under more than 1.8 metres of snow on a New Zealand mountain range, Mr Castran, 53, could still move his arms and legs. But then the snow shifted and he was crushed.
Pinned beneath the overwhelming weight of what moments earlier had been featherweight powder snow, Mr Castran realised he did not have enough oxygen to yell for help.
The real estate agent survived the avalanche at Ragged Range, near Methven, west of Christchurch, yesterday, but a NSW businessman, 61, whose name has not been made public, was killed.
As Mr Castran ran out of air, he too thought he would perish under the ice. "You choke with the snow, you can’t breathe, you’re suffocating … it’s like being poured into plaster of Paris. The only thing I could move was my tongue, to push the snow away from in front of my mouth.
Here is a link to the full story: http://www.smh.com.au/world/avalanche-victim-shut-himself-down-to-survive-20090724-dw62.html
Check out Mark Forytarz redesigned site at http://www.markforytarz.com.
Looks great Mark.
Suzanne Carbone, Lawrence Money from The Age have reported that Melbourne real estate agent Mark Forytarz has narroly missed the collapsing scaffolding in Melbourne last week.
Forytarz had just completed his inspection in Commercial Rd, Prahran, then minutes later, the scaffolding came crashing down. A lucky escape for Mark.
Despite everything, Australians do buy in Bali -attracted to the beauty, lifestyle and people.
The holidays are well and truly over. Surely, everyone will be back at work on Monday . . . if they’ve still got a job. With the financial situation so grim, many people will wish they could move to a tropical island to see out the rest of the year.
What about Bali? OK, so there’s been the Schapelle Corby and Bali Nine dramas, terrorist attacks, executions, threats of reprisals, security warnings, rapes and murders, even a rabies scare and a booze shortage recently but Australians do buy property there.
“There’s a whole heap of Australians,” says Charles, a Sydney caterer who bought land in Bali several years ago and intends to build a villa.
“I just fell in love with the island, the people, the scenery and the fact it offers such a relaxed lifestyle . . . and no one’s going to deny having cheap household help can swing the deal.”
This opportunity to live in the lap of luxury, complete with staff, at a relatively affordable price has transformed the Bali tourism market in the past decade - particularly around Seminyak, a haven for upmarket restaurants.
Some love it so much, they want to own a place in Bali for holidays, to rent out and eventually live in. Despite the 2002 and 2005 bombings, by last September, when Domain visited, agents said buyers were more concerned about movements in the dollar than terrorism.
Phone calls this week, though, revealed the financial crisis has had an impact and some luxury villas have had price drops of 30 per cent.
“We have a number of foreign owners who have lost money in the stockmarket and they need liquidity,” says Mike Pugh of Exotiq Real Estate in Seminyak.
Last year, when the Australian dollar was strong, nearly half his sales were to Australians.
“Especially when it went above 90 [cents to the US dollar] we had a mad rush of people coming to buy,” he says. (This week, it was 66 cents.)
Even now, some of the villas - especially with the price drops - look appealing. Particularly if you’re still employed or have a healthy redundancy cheque. Most of the foreign buyers in Bali are so rich they don’t need to borrow from a bank, which is fortunate since it’s impossible to get a loan either within Indonesia (unless they marry a local) or at home. There are also restrictions for foreigners buying freehold, though they can easily buy leasehold. Many keep quiet about their purchases for tax reasons.
“Bali is a cash market and there are no subprime mortgage meltdowns here and there are no bankruptcies or foreclosures, the only problems are that some of the developers have got their initial funding from foreign banks, which is proving difficult for some,” Pugh says.
Mira Sawitz of Jones Lang LaSalle says the financial crisis has had an impact.
“Inquiry is slowing down and clients who were hot prospects have decided to postpone their decision to buy anything,” she says.
Read the full article here: http://www.domain.com.au/Public/Article.aspx?id=1232818695940&index=NationalIndex&headline=Your%20own%20slice%20of%20paradise
Dreams become a reality sooner thanks to Castran Gilbert’s hands on approach!
Why?
Castran Gilbert’s company Principals’, get involved with all the “behind the scenes” aspects of any new project!
From interior design, floor plans, to choosing which bank to finance the project, the Principals’ aim to take the pressure off the developer by offering educated advice ensuring developers make the most from their investment. This also sees the developer’s project gets to the marketing stage quicker!!
Testimonials
At Castran Gilbert we recognise the importance of pre-selling!
It instils confidence and allows you, the developer, to finance other projects sooner!
Here’s what a few of clients have to say.
Anton Wilson: This is my 3rd pre-sold project since dealing with Castran Gilbert. Their sales team pre-sold 220 apartments giving my company on this latest project more than $50 million in sales revenue …I’m sold on Castran Gilbert!!
Peter Arundel: I first dealt with Castran Gilbert in 1991 with them pre-selling a project of mine in South Yarra within just a couple of weeks! As a developer, this made me feel confident in the project seeing their ability to pre-sell!
Martin Tissot: My latest project has seen another 100% Castran Gilbert pre-sell! They gave me the confidence they could pre-sell then actually did it!! Their huge volume of pre-sales allowed me a construction start and also financed my next project …I have never had so much success since dealing with Castran Gilbert!!
Adding to these testimonials, recently one of our clients went to 1 of the 4 major banks to finance a project and on discovery that Castran Gilbert were involved, the bank proceeded to inform them Castran Gilbert is their preferred selling agent…the bank signed off immediately on the project!!
Paul Castran and the team at Castran Gilbert would like to wish all their customers and blog readers a merry Christmas and a safe new year.
Paul Castran
ACTOR and musician Mark Wahlberg has reportedly listed his Beverly Hills home at $25.9 million.
Wahlberg bought the five-bedroom, 10-bathroom house with a two-storey private guest house in 1991.
Not surprisingly for the fitness-conscious Wahlberg, the property also has a gym, basketball court and boxing ring.