Our first resort investment was not all smooth sailing

Our first resort investment was not all smooth sailing
Swarnie CondonDecember 8, 2020

I bought my second investment property in early 2005. This purchase was a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment bought off the plan at the Surfair Resort on MarcoolaBeach on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.

Friends recommended that we go to a development group, and we didn’t really know what we were doing, but we trusted in their recommendation as they had bought several properties through this same group.

The absolute beachfront, brand-new complex promised a 7% rental guarantee for the first two years, so we placed our deposit down and waited for it to be constructed. The apartment was $301,000, which included a furniture package and car space. We haven’t done too badly with this investment overall in terms of capital growth, but the purchase process was fraught with dramas, basically due to our lack of knowledge and the fact that we didn’t know what to ask.

Firstly, we trusted the group marketing the property. We failed to conduct proper due diligence, and it wasn’t until after settlement that we discovered the exorbitant management fees of 49.5%.   Being a real resort for holidaymakers, they charge these high fees in order to cover their marketing and management expenses.

Through this experience we learnt how chilling it can be to trust these property marketers. About a week before settlement, they called and casually asked what we had borrowed and what money we had for settlement.   We assumed that this would have been the balance of the purchase price less deposit, so we were shocked to hear them say, “Oh no, the money you put down already was purely for the builder to fund the building of the complex. We still need you to come up with the full purchase price plus costs, and the deposit will be refunded after settlement.”

This was incredibly dodgy as at no time was this ever mentioned to us until suddenly and very casually, a week before settlement.

In any case, our brilliant mortgage broker did what she had to do and in five days, she was able to come up with the extra funds we required. I called the property marketers office to have my say, only to be greeted by the receptionist. I politely told her that my comments were not directed to her personally but “#?A$%^&!@” and could she please pass those comments on.

I later found out that this marketer had said to my broker that I was the client bitch from hell – what’s that saying about the pot and the kettle?! In any event, we settled and we haven’t dealt with those people ever again.

After the first year, it was time to prepare our tax and we thought we would be covered with our 7% rental guarantee, but this was not the case. We were advised that we had to deduct the cost of the furniture and the GST from the purchase price – or something to that effect! Therefore the 7% guarantee was actually calculated on $265,000, not $301,000 using the gross rental amount.

Also, because the apartment is part of the rental pool, we only get the seasonal rental, so it’s not exactly great on the cash flow. We do have the option of permanent rental, but the rental pool option allows us to stay there on holidays for free, so it’s not all bad. We let our friends stay there so they too can enjoy the resort and have a great holiday.

The Facts

Purchase Price 2005

Current Value 2010

Rental
Start

Rental Current

Yield Current

$301,000

$350,000

N/A - part of rental pool

N/A - part of rental pool

Differs each year

 

This is an exerpt from  Journeys Along the Property Path: 12 real life stories of 12 property investors, published by Inspirational People in Property. Two of the authors are fighting against breast cancer, and IPIP has aligned with the McGrath Foundation to raise money to fund McGrath breast care nurses in communities across Australia and raise awareness of breast cancer, particulary among young women. The initiative aims to sell 9,000 books in nine days to raise $90,000 to support the McGrath Foundation.

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