Maybe you recall that E@L has put down several deposits on investment properties under construction (or not) in Queensland, Australia. One is at prestigious Noosa Heads, the other at suspect Townsville.
Both seem to have been hit by the 2008/2009 crunch. The Townsville one stalled before a sod of turf was broken. Sigh. They are still looking for a big investor to get things rolling. It has been about 18 months. My deposit is allegedly in a trust fund, earning interest, so that if they finally give up, I SHOULD get my money back plus some.
The Noosa Heads property did get going, I've stood in the concrete shell that is supposedly my apartment. It has been ready to roll for a while, and indeed the first guests are going in this week.
Funny, because E@L hasn't paid yet. He has the loan approved, has the top-up cash, is ready make the leap back to being a property owner, something he should done years ago. A large chain (Mirvac) is doing the rental management for the development and will be operating the place as "Quay West Resort and Spa", at a 5-star level using the (conventionally) serviced apartments. Apart from the substantial deposit, E@L has already paid for the $25k furniture package, including two 42" LCD TVs, couches, tables, chairs and a couple of bland art-works.
This settlement date was supposed to be in September last year. Then December. Then late January. Then early March. It is now April and - and this is not a joke - a letter from Deloitte arrived by email this morning.
The developers have gone into receivership.
However Deloitte still want my money...
I am emotional, to say the least. Motherfuckers! I could kill them all!
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There was that time in 2004, back when I was in HK that I got burned to the tune US$25k by an utter c**t called Charles Schmidt in Hong Kong. Fortunately I have received about 80% of that back, dribbling in over the years.
Ah shit, this is redickerless... Is it just me or are all investments shit?
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Time to go soak my head in something... (If I didn't have this gastritis, it would be a bucket of some alcoholic fluid.)
E@L
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6 comments:
sorry to hear about that. not the best news to get. accountants don't do april fools very well so it can't be that. also sorry to hear you can't drown your sorrows in drink. call me if you want to go soak up a shirley temple!
I'm presuming the place is almost finished if they are letting guests in! There must be some funding issue for the finishing off of the place, can't get loans probably, didn't sell enough units, blah, blah - and funnily enough I was watching 'Drag Me To Hell' tonight... If you don't give a loan to a little old lady, the demons come and take you!
Phil I am surprised to hear that as the property market is essentially too hot to touch here at the moment, I am considering it but I found such short supply it was crazy, so I think they should have not trouble selling the rest of the development even to offshore investors (read as rich chinese with black money currently trying to buy every single house in Melbourne).
For the moment I am still doing the managed funds (units trusts offshore)
I would avoid these 'scheme' type investments Phil, if you want to buy property just buy a normal house or apartment to rent out. Someone is ALWAYS robbing you when you get into a scheme, at least you know the the real estate agent is going to rob you the other way, they do not even pretend to be honest, I almost respect them for it...
Scott: that might be the reason, the price is too high and loans are hard to come by. The Townsville "scheme" has gone under because only 40% of units were sold. The fact that the Noosa place is taking in guests should mean it'll get going for the people like us soon.
Managed funds, yet another way to lose money I have found. The only time I made money is when my broker left the company and the "managed" funds sat there for 6 months without human intervention ...
I'm buying an new mattress.
Just booze and whore it all away. This saving for the future is just a way for the govt to get additional tax off us and for some slimy creeps to charge commission on things they don't know about either.
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