jad n rich

We flipped a property in Eltham. Loved the green hilly aspect. Most facilities available in a short drive or the village.

Downsides are the traffic trying to get anywhere , double the sat nav time usually at least.

Surprised that the main street gets its share of down and outs, and few junkies. Its middle class and no longer cheap house prices, so not what we expected on such a regular basis. Also lots of service station, fast food hold ups etc in entire area, greensborough, monty etc. So if OP is expecting crime free it would be more of a reality check. Neighbours house, talking very upmarket area, was broken into, burglary they claim 3 times. Not exactly 100% it was so often as they were semi retired whingeing type, but they were burgled.

Nice area, but look at SOLD prices, not the guide prices, way different!

Pete39

Out of interest where is Chapel Street - in a suburb or the CBD?

Japonica

Sometimes during the day too. It just has a rough vibe about it sometimes. And I work in Fitzroy twice a week and it has its share of characters, although with a twist I guess. A few months ago, I was waiting for the tram on Brunswick and two people were fighting in the street and one threw a one litre tetra pak of coconut water at the other, where it skidded along Brunswick St and burst open. I remember thinking, "Hmm, isn't that stuff like $4 a litre or something?"

I think if the OP is living somewhere rural and quiet, Melbourne is going to be a bit of an adjustment and part of the culture shock won't be so much due to the nature of Melbourne itself, but simply moving from somewhere sleepier to a large city. I just got back from a holiday back home and Edmonton has almost a million people now, but compared to Melbourne, it feels very small townish indeed.

bcworld

It's a long street. It goes through South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor & into St Kilda.

I used to live directly on Chapel St, St Kilda...it wasn't bad. But it's a 'going out' strip in the other suburbs. Some of the clubs are open all night...stroll down Chapel St for Sunday brunch and you'll still see the drug addled stumbling out of Revolver! Like any other late night precinct there is plenty of alcohol induced stuff going down.

I'm down there all the time...there are plenty of great places to eat at the Windsor end...I'm never too concerned about my safety.

bcworld

http://www.domain.com.au/news/hockin...161005-grvp4g/

Hurrah! While I know it happens everywhere, when I was in the market about 3 years ago I have to say that I thought Richmond was the absolute poster child for this practice with a couple of agencies in particular being the biggest offenders...this being one of them!

Beoz

Ouch ........ slapped with a $330,000 fine after admitting to underquoting properties it advertised for sale.

Honesty prevails.

They should slap the vendor too for allowing their agents to do it.

Jilliebee

Lets hope the other agencies step into line now too!

jad n rich

There was another big fine too, about a year ago.

But I cant see it stopping them. Spent 3 hours at 4 auctions a while back, just observing an area, advertised 650 to 700's, sold prices 880, to 930 so not much has changed.

The tactics are the same too, nobody bids, auctioneer bids ( at the highest guide point, ) if somebody does make a first bid below that, the auctioneer takes the piss and knocks it back, making his own bid. then he calls for shots, usually of 50 or even 100 in upmarket auctions , that goes on, till he might allow 20's, hes really calling the bids the whole time, knocking back small bids. When it finally gets to way over the reserve and some poor hopefuls think they have a glimmer of hope, the auction starts again with the big boys who appear at the back.

Its pretty insane, must be totally devastating for people who are doing this with their heart involved on a property. Plus the time and money spent to research a property they have no hope of getting.

Did you buy in Richmond? Nice spot, middle sons first GF in Melb was from South Korea, a sculptor, beautiful lovely girl, anyway she was sharing a house with student friends, one, his parents had bought him the house and I mean a real Richmond house

OzTennis

Surely people realise that what it is advertised for is not what it will definitely go for? Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending the tactics for one moment. If anyone reads any of your posts on property they will see the warning that it is the actual price not the quoted price which counts which I would have thought is common sense; it's an auction after all and not a fixed priced or offers over contract. A friend has a Barry Plant agency somewhere in the west and he deplores the under quoting tactic used by some of his colleagues. He also does over 90% of his business 'For Sale' and rarely uses auctioning. Agents in property hot spots nearly always use auction to get more commission and a better price for their vendor of course.

Similar tactics go on in all retail businesses. e.g. how about so called Sales which most businesses have? SALE - UP TO 50% off or was $999, then $899, now $799. There's always an asterisk and some fine print which will tell you that the sale price is compared to the price it was on one day in one of their stores. There used to be a well known store in Melbourne which had sales 365 days of the year - fire damage, water damage, moving location, Christmas, stock liquidation, Christmas, Mothers Day, Fathers Day ..... Nobody believed they were genuine sales.

In the UK the Daily Express is plastered with a huge 10p in red on the front - when you get closer it says underneath in very small writing - cheaper than the Daily Mail. If that's not deceptive advertising I don't know what is but it's legal (here). Last week the DM went up 5p and next day the DE had 15p etc plastered on the front!

Beoz

If the stock wasn't so low for the amount of numbers requiring property then an auction wouldn't be viable in the first place.

The investors don't care. They can get a 90% loan, pay interest only, and cut their losses on negative gearing.

The stock is low as people can't buy and sell because they can no longer afford stamp duty which has not been adjusted for property inflation. State governments won't adjust stamp duty because its a huge revenue raiser.

Agents don't have the stock on their books as they once did so they concertrate on fluffing up the prices on the stock they have to make the money on the commission, rather than volume.

Builders are loving it. Those who don't want to throw $50,000 at stamp duty throw it at an extension instead and why not. Who wants to throw $50,000 at tax.

So quite simply put, we have a major social issue heading our way. Property ownership will only be for old blokes and investors.

Melbourne is far from unique here. Its a global issue.

jad n rich

I think the link, another Melbourne resident BC, posted in post #36 explains perfectly why the Melbourne public have such a problem with it.

I think if someone is sitting in the UK thinking "I might sell up in UK , and wow look what I can buy in Melbourne" as a HUGE part of the decision process they need to know that in reality of the situation.

OzTennis

True but as I said you'd expect people to do a bit of basic research. I still don't agree that what it's quoted for is what it should sell for though as it is an auction and it's why it's used so much in markets like Melbourne - demand and supply and all that.

In Scotland there is a commonly used practice of 'offer over'. Everyone knows you can add probably at least 10% for the figure to get what the person really expects. e.g. O/o £300K means you'll probably have to offer £330K (and not £300,001 as some people expect).

DC10

I spent eight years in south London and regularly found myself spluttering on cannabis smoke from passers-by. Sometimes this happened on trains and buses. I have never, ever experienced that in Melbourne. It would not be tolerated here. I doubt the London druggies draw the line at weed (as evidenced by the, in my experience, much wider availability and acceptance of 'party drugs' there).

Pete39

Thanks for your reply a few days back. We are feeling very 'jittery' about moving - trying to recall why we said we would do
it! I know everyone's situation is different but can I ask why you say what you say.

BadgeIsBack

Just to revisit thread. Further advice and observations.

Australian life is very compartmentalised and very demographic-orientated.
Just because expensive places get burgled means absolutely nothing. Move on. Melbourne is a place where even a house fire gets on the news, or a man getting knocked off his bike. So not much going on at all, infact, let's face it. There are burbs and places where there are certain activities. Chapel St is a long thoroughfare and therefore arterial attraction with a mix of shops and eats which gets a young crowd as distinct from tourists or other inner city burbs where the population is 5-10 years older. Makes a difference. The average rice boy - I won't use the other nasty word- might take his car there to burn-out or drag on a Saturday night but he won't take it to Kew or Hawthorn with any seriousness.

If provincial UK city folk notice homeless people in Melbourne its because Hoddle Grid on which the city is based is so small in international city terms that there is only about two places near main termini to go begging (literally!). its a wonder there are not more people to step over. 3m+ in Melbourne, you expect to count 10 people homeless on Swanston. There is nowhere else to go or distribute to..

Melbourne may have graffiti but its still incredibly clean when many buildings have few decades to gather dirt and roads are wider, straighter and less cramped. Go to other parts of the world including London and they are far dirtier. I return to Melbourne and all of a sudden it doesn't seem grey at all - it sparkles by comparison!