Come and join the Friends of Moonee Ponds Creek improve the environment at Talbot Reserve on May 20. Volunteers are welcome between 10am and Noon. Please bring your own gloves, hat and drinking water. Tools and Light refreshments will be supplied. The meeting point is in the Reserve, behind Talbot Rd, parking is available in Talbot Rd or Wallace Cr. Mel Ref 16 K12. For more information please contact the Conservation Ranger on 9243 8888.

Date:	20 May 2012 – from 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM
Location:	Talbot Reserve, Talbot Rd, STRATHMORE VIC 3041

This celebration between 2pm and 6pm before the Walk to the G will involve plenty of great entertainment including Benny Walker, Illana Atkinson, Yung Warriors, Sean Choolburrra and a live edition of the Marngrook Footy Show.

The annual commemoration of Michael’s historic walk to Canberra is now a popular celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement featuring inspiring speeches, great bands, loads of kids activities, market stalls and much more.

Both the community celebration and The Long Walk to Dreamtime at the ‘G are free public events before the ticketed on ground walk at the MCG.

Take part in the Dreamtime at the ‘G on ground experience on Saturday 19 May by joining Essendon legend Michael Long as part of the pre-match entertainment for the round 8 match against Richmond.

The Long Walk onto the ‘G gives you exclusive access to walk on the ground before the AFL’s premier event for the indigenous round while raising funds to support The Long Walk’s events and programs.

STAG presents their next production by Melbourne playwright and composer Cenarth Fox, “Scrubbers” at the Strathmore Community Hall from 31 May to 9 June.

Five women clean a large multi-storey office building and every night before work chat in their tea-room. Each woman has some sadness in her life which ‘disappears’ thanks to an amazing activity. Money troubles, lousy relationships, career failure and a difficult family history are replaced with a great bond of friendship. The scrubbers sing, dance and laugh their way into people’s hearts. Oh and they throw in two other surprising and delightful ingredients with their unique form of entertainment.

Season:
31-May-12 to 9-Jun-12

Theatre:
Strathmore Community Hall
Loeman Street
Strathmore
Melway map 16 H10

Performances:
8:00pm / 2:00pm matinee

Prices:
Adult $20.00 ($15.00 concession/child)

Bookings:
9382 6284

The 50 basis point fall comes on the back of evidence the economy is struggling with weaker-than-expected inflation figures released late last month.

The official interest rate is now 3.75 per cent.

It is good news for mortgage holders who were earlier this year hit with out-of-cycle rises by many lenders.

“This is quite a heavy cut and the Reserve will be hoping that it has maximum impact,” says Domain property expert Carolyn Boyd.

Each 0.50 per cent drop in interest rates slices about $120 off the monthly interest cost of an average Australian mortgage.

All eyes will be on the financial institutions to see if they follow suit, says Boyd. It is possible lenders could pass on a smaller proportion of the official drop to their own customers.

At least one bank will hold off announcing a decision for more than a week with the ANZ Bank set to release its move next Friday, the second Friday of the month.

If lenders do make cuts, Boyd says it is a smart idea for borrowers to maintain their current repayment levels.

“Many institutions don’t automatically adjust repayments down in line with lower rates, and if you think yours might, you should speak with them and ask for your repayment amounts to be kept as they are,” says Boyd.

“It is inevitable that rates will rise again in the future, so this is a golden opportunity to pay some extra money off your loan if you can afford to do so.”

Source: domain.com.au

Whether you are buying or selling, many people will offer their advice unsolicited. Some of this unsolicited advice will be sound, some will be well meaning and some may be completely ignorant of the facts.

Buying or selling real estate is usually the largest transaction that many will ever make. The misinformation and vested interest that is pumped into the marketplace makes it even trickier to tread a safe path. A real estate angel helping you through the process offering guidance and grounded advice is an enormous benefit.

Identifying the right people to guide you is the key though. It is quality advisors not a quantity of advisors that will ensure you successfully transact. One thing is for certain, you need to put advisors into two categories quickly, lest you turn your thinking inside out or upside down. Are the advisors that pass on their real estate wisdom well meaning or are they competent professionals? Well meaning advisors will offer advice but are not paid to do so. Furthermore, they often don’t have to live with the consequences of their advice.

The well meaning advisor can be a friend at work who “bought a bargain last year”
or neighbour that says “you’d be crazy to sell at that price”. It is easy for a well meaning advisor to say “reject the offer, it’s too low”. It is easy for them to say this because they are not the ones that could potentially sell for less down the track. The well meaning advisor won’t be found for love nor money if they tell you to reject an offer that ultimately
proves to be the best offer. To enlist someone as an unpaid trusted advisor, you need to look for a track record of success from this person, not a fortunate one off transaction in the past.

For one swallow does not make a spring. An unpaid well meaning advisor is either an asset or a liability, dependent purely on their experience and competence.

The more advisors you inherit, the more likely they are to conflict each other and confuse your decision making process. Competent professionals whom are emotionally detached from the outcome are your greatest ally when transacting real estate.

Whilst you can feel way out of your depth talking a different language to everyone else, professionals are the voice of reason. The competent professional has seen it all before. They won’t necessarily tell you what you must do in every circumstance. The best professionals will often point out issues, details or points of consideration that you may not
have thought of. Through experience, competent professionals open your eyes
and ears where naivety could have easily ruled the day.

These people include solicitors (use a real estate solicitor), family friends with a track record of success, parents, building inspectors, independent valuers (not one from the bank), accountants or financial advisors. Each of these people, if chosen
correctly, will be devoid of emotion. Emotion is what so often rules the real estate transaction, sometimes causing people to regret their decisions in the cold light of day.

Independent:
Is the trusted advisor independent? A neighbour whom thinks you should
reject the offer seems independent. But on closer inspection, their independence is questioned when it becomes apparent they want your apartment to be worth more, so that theirs is also. After all they say, “the bank valued ours for more, and they are always conservative”.

Real estate agents can be a wonderful source of knowledge. But if they are the agent handling the sale, only in the rarest of situations should they moonlight as your trusted advisor. Your trusted advisor reserves the right to encourage you to act, but more importantly the right to encourage you to pull back. This second point is in conflict with the agent’s main motive of achieving a sale.

By all means, elicit and absorb all the advice the agent has to offer. But reflect on it in your own time independently of the agent and the persuasiveness they bring to an issue.
If your partner has strong or differing views to you, listen to their perspective prior to the decision being made. It is no good working out they were correct after the fact.

Working with your advisor:
When you want your advisors advice, ask for it. But don’t tell the advisor what you think upfront and ask them to shoot your thinking down. The advisor is not there to debate against your emotion. If you have been sold on a persuasive argument by a salesperson or a speaker (spruiker) at a seminar, pass the pitch onto your advisor and ask for their thoughts – totally independent of any you may have.

Keep in mind that your advisor is not involved to tell you what you want to hear. They are there to tell you what you need to hear. The more you push your thought pattern onto the advisor, the less you hear their reasoning. After discussions, you may go against what your trusted advisor suggests, but you do so with knowledge of the downside not just the upside.

Often salespeople and spruikers are very good at focusing their pitch on the upside. In the 80s when Donald Trump was flying high, he would always ask himself  “what is the worst that can happen in this transaction?” before committing to a deal. When things went bad for Trump in the 90s, by his own admission, it was because he failed to take his own advice.

Rarely is a decision slanted 100% one-way and 0% the other. There are often risks and considerations regardless of what direction you decide upon. The trusted advisor is truly an asset to you, if they can put you in a position to act with all of the unemotional facts before you.

Source: Harris Partners Property News.

Walk with Michael Long on to football’s most hallowed ground and take part in the action of Dreamtime at the ‘G as one of only 600 onground walkers in the pre-match entertainment.

Registration is $70 inc GST and includes a TLW 2012 Limited Edition Tee shirt as well as admission to Dreamtime at the ‘G clash Essendon v Richmond on Saturday,May 19th

What: -

- 2pm The Long Walk celebration, Birrarung Marr (free)

- 6pm The Long Walk to Dreamtime at the ’G (free)

- 6:30pm On-ground walk, MCG (ticketed)

Register here for Free activities at Birrarung Marr and The Long Walk to the ‘G

Register here to walk on the ground with Michael Long

Three quarters of respondents (75 per cent) were “greatly deterred” by properties which didn’t reveal a fixed asking price and often overlooked those properties during the search for a new home.

The survey found 20 per cent were “slightly deterred” by a property without a selling price, while only 2.5 per cent were “definitely not deterred”.

The remaining respondents (2.5 per cent) admitted they were “unsure”.

The poll, which was conducted during the entire month of March, attracted 450 respondents from across Australia.

PRDnationwide research director Aaron Maskrey said some agents and sellers listed properties without a selling price – which, the results suggest, could usefully be avoided.

“Ultimately you could be missing out on potential purchasers by not advertising a selling price,” he said.

“Typically sales activity across the market is still well below the longer term average and every effort should be made to be ‘seen’ by the most number of house hunters,” he said.

“According to the poll, stating a sale price ensures every opportunity to maximise viewings and competition.”

Mr Maskrey said there were several alternatives to fixed price marketing, including price on application and buyer feedback ranging, which both avoid fixed prices.

Source: Real Estate Business.