Attention Chief of Staff / Property Editor

MEDIA RELEASE

Tuesday, 13 January 2015

REAL ESTATE AGENTS AND PROPERTY MARKETERS IN THE MACKAY REGION CALLED ON TO PROVIDE MORE HONEST DISCLOSURE TO BUYERS

REAL ESTATE AGENTS CHALLENGED TO PROVIDE MORE HONESTY IN DEALING WITH BUYERS AND SELLERS IN THE MACKAY REGION

Australia’s largest property investment Group wants real estate agents and property spruikers in the Mackay region to agree to a new code of conduct to provide greater transparency to buyers and sellers.

The Group says complaints against agents and property spruikers are at an all time high because the public does not enjoy full disclosure in property transactions, including accurate valuations.

Kevin Young, founder of the Property Club (www.propertyclub.com.au) is calling for changes to legislation to make it compulsory for real estate agents and anyone involved in the sale and purchase of property in Australia to provide higher levels of disclosure.

The Property Club advises buyers and sellers on an average 900 property transactions per year throughout Australia and says real estate agents and property spruikers need to be brought to heel.

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Mr Young listed four Pillars of Honesty in Property that he wants to see legislated:

Ø Full disclosure of the valuation amount by the bank is to be given to the client. This enables consumers to ensure they are borrowing what the property is worth. The Government has yet to legislate to make this compulsory

Ø Full written disclosure by licensed agents of all sales made within a one kilometre radius in the previous 12 months. This ensures consumers don’t pay too much relative to other properties in the area

Ø Real estate agents and other property marketers must make their entire existing client base available to intending purchases to obtain references on how they have been treated by the agent

Ø Three local rental appraisals by three local letting agents must be provided if the purchase is for investment purposes. This ensures consumers can expect a reasonable rate of return and helps cut out the two and three tier marketers.

Mr Young said the law relating to real estate agents in the..............region and other parts of Australia were sloppy and unstructured.

“When people are involved in million dollar transactions, only the highest level of professionalism should be allowed. “

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“It has been far too long since Governments have had a serious look at the complete lack of transparency that real estate agents can get by with.

“Anyone else in business involved in million dollar deals is required to provide a lot more transparency than property agents and spruikers.

“They need to be brought into line.”

ENDS

MEDIA RELEASE

ABOUT

Kevin Young: Mr Young is a BRW rich lister with an estimated personal fortune in excess of $200 million. He founded the Brisbane based Property Club 20 years ago and it has now grown into an Australia wide property buyer and property education network whose members purchase around 3,000 properties per year. It also has a Property Millionaires Club with over 4,000 members who have purchased multiple properties through the Club.

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Media Contact:

Troy Gunasekera

National Manager

The Property Club

0417 132 732

Kevin Young

Founder & Director

The Property Club

0400 324 909

Released by:

Patrick McGuire

Marketplace Communications

0412 748 161

MEDIA RELEASE