Fire at Cathedral Place

There was a fire this afternoon in an apartment on the top floor of Cathedral Place.  This building is located on the edge of Brisbane City, in the Valley. The building was developed by Devine, under the control of David Devine, now of Metro Property Group.

See http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-09/residents-trapped-in-inner-brisbane-apartment-building-blaze/4742780 and Sun Herald

In my opinion, this is a very poor quality building, with small apartments, surrounded by main roads.  I would always be extremely careful before buying or renting any apartment that was built by Devine.

Some apartments for sale in Cathedral Place:  Apt 107, Apt 21, a one bedroom.

Bidding at Auction Via Skype

"In early October, a potential bidder for a two-bedroom unit at Cathedral Place in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley requested to use Skype from Sydney to see the auction room and observe the atmosphere. The bidder, who had previously inspected the property, ended up buying the apartment under the hammer for $437,000.

While it was a first for Ray White's New Farm office, other agents have been using the web-based PTY Property, which provides an online bidding service that has also racked up recent sales including one of more than $3 million."

See:  The Australian

I guess this is better than phone bidding -- at least you can try to see if there are any dummy bids and see how many people are actually at the auction.

Finding a Roommate - take care!

If you are using a room-mate service, such as EasyRoomMate and StudentFlatmates.com.au, take care. There are a few issues.

First, there are a number of scam listings, by people who pretend to have a room available, to scam the deposit or bond from you. For example, a "person" called Heather Buffington Nicole pretends to have a room for rent in Cathedral Place: 41 gotha street, brisbane. This is just a scam. See, for example, this blog.

Second, there can be disputes between flatmates regarding rent and bonds, and they get very messy. Often, one flatmate is held responsible for the conduct of another flatmate.

Devine's Cathedral Place Apartments "Unliveable"

See Brisbane Times Article