Buying Off The Plan

Etienne Lawyers was again asked to film a presentation for ICLE. Steven Brown’s presentation was focused on purchasers buying off the plan and developers selling off the plan. Steven has many years experience acting for both developers selling off the plan and purchasers buying off the plan. He understands the benefits and pitfalls from both the purchaser and developers point of view. Steven’s extensive experience in this area made him the logical choice for ICLE in presenting this area of law as training for other lawyers.

This is a very topical subject at the moment. With the Sydney skyline having more cranes than any other in the world except Dubai. Most of the buildings are new apartments. With interest rates low and overseas buyers being restricted to mostly new properties – new apartments are very popular. Also peaking interest in NSW is the First Home Owner Grant and First Home – New Home scheme offered by the State Government. New apartments can be cheaper than houses and land making them easier to satisfy the rules of the government schemes.

With property prices rising sometimes 10% a year developers can sell a property off the plan and not complete the building for 5 years. In that 5 years the selling price may have increased by $100,000.00 making it advantageous for the developer to decide not to sell to the original purchaser and put the property back on the market and sell for a higher price.

Buying off the plan has advantages for the purchaser but also disadvantages. There have been many examples recently in the media of developers withdrawing properties from sale, changing the size of lots, changing the fixtures and fittings, even reducing the number of bedrooms. All of this was discussed in Steven’s presentation.

There are proposed updates to laws being proposed by several State Governments.

To find out more about Buying Off the Plan, download our free reference here.

Linkedin for Lead Generation

James Cooke from Linkedin Success gave a fabulous presentation on using Linkedin as a Lead Generation Tool for Lawyers. James is passionate about using Linkedin as a lead generation tool and he conveys this passion in his presentations. His presentation was not only educational but practical and fun. James’ vast experience using Linkedin to generate leads for his Debt Collection business has enabled him to develop a proven formula that he now shares both online and in live presentations.

If you would like to learn about using Linkedin as a Lead Generation Tool for your business, why not try James’ free Udemy course

As always Alice from ICLE and Tristan from BAM Studios made the day of filming fun and productive.