Newsletter Issue 31

We are already into the second month of 2006. Time seems to fly when you're having fun or getting older. Towns Shearing is looking forward to the rest of 2006 with eager anticipation, expecting another solid year. We very much subscribe to the philosophy that in business, as in life, there is no such thing as stopping still. You either go forwards or backwards and we choose to go forward.

This time last year I wrote about a new innovation by our Company, The Towns Shearing Guide, or "The Guide Within A Guide". We took a deliberate step to subsidise home owner's advertising so that we could showcase their property like no-one else and at unmatched rates. This has been a highly successful strategy and we will continue to grow this concept in 2006 to provide our clients unrivalled marketing and service.

Several recent innovations will be honed and expanded through 2006. Firstly, we have introduced our Preferred Client Program. This allows purchasers to contact us and register their housing requirements. Whenever a new property is listed with our company, the buyer's details are computer matched and they are immediately advised by SMS or email that a property fitting their criteria is available.

We already have hundreds of buyers registered and this is a huge advantage to Home Sellers. In some cases we are able to sell a property before it is even advertised. The buyers who register their details are also generally the hottest, having finance matters already sorted out and have usually seen a few homes and know the market, so they are ready to view immediately and make an offer.

Another innovation is the introduction for the first time of our Interactive Signboard. This new and exciting concept is only available through our company. The system operates whereby a code is placed on the for sale sign, and a potential buyer simply SMS's the Code to a designated mobile number and receives a text message with the property details including price, bedrooms, contact details etc.

With modern day technology, buyers have access to the internet and other media and are much more educated about the market. They sometimes turn up for an inspection having already made the decision to buy. Our interactive signboard is simply another tool that purchasers will have available to find out the information they want. The home seller benefits because buyers who inspect their property are usually genuine and they don't miss the many potential buyers who drive past their property and dismiss it because they cannot get access to the details quickly.

We now also have the option for home owners to attach house plans and Proactive Tours to their internet details. Genuine buyers often request house plans so that they can work out where to place furniture or even future renovation options. This is a strong buying signal. If a buyer requests a plan, they are usually more than just casually interested.

Our computer generated winner for a weekend away at Hobart's Grand Chancellor is David & Vicki Cameron. Mr. and Mrs. Cameron had their home appraised with Peter Harper last year and were ecstatic when Peter told them of their win. Congratulations David & Vicki.

Have your children experienced the 33 things they should do before they're 10? Have they built a sandcastle? Played in puddles after rain? Or created a clay sculpture? Research conducted by UK washing detergent manufacturer Persil suggests the answer is 'no'. The research shows that play these days seems to consist of spending hours in front of the TV watching videos and playing computer games. Children are missing out on traditional activities that provided their parents with hours of endless entertainment and valuable experiences that aided their development.

This has been echoed in recent Australian research, which has found that modern homes and housing estates often preclude room for 'dirty' play in gardens and neighbourhoods. The 'Positively Dirty' report revealed:

• Nearly three quarters (72 per cent) of the children claimed they regularly avoid messy indoor and outdoor play because they worry about getting told off by their parents for getting their clothes dirty.
  
  
• According to the research, children are less 'tolerant' of outdoor dirt, with 42 per cent citing mud and grass as the dirt they least like getting on their clothes, compared to just 24 per cent naming food.
  
  
• 33 per cent of kids avoid playing outside in order to keep cherished clothes and trainers clean.
  
  
• The number one stain found on children's clothes was chocolate, followed by tomato sauce, with grass stains no longer appearing in the top ten.
  
  
• Nearly two thirds (62 per cent) of parents admit they worry about being branded a bad parent if their child is seen wearing dirty clothes, so much so that 88 per cent admit they regularly made their kids change out of clothes that they deemed less than perfectly clean.

The research led to the 'Dirt is good' campaign, aimed at encouraging kids and adults to get out there and experience life and to create. Here are the top ten suggestions from the campaign's list of 33 things children should do before they are 10:

1. Roll on your side down a grassy bank
   
   
2. Make a mud pie
   
   
3. Build a sandcastle
   
   
4. Climb a tree
   
   
5. Make a painting using your hands and feet
   
   
6. Have your face painted
   
   
7. Make snow angels
   
   
8. Ride a bike through a muddy puddle
   
   
9. Make your own modelling dough mixture
   
   
10. Camp out in the garden

The Dutch have come up with what would appear to be the ultimate house for living in a flood-prone region - the amphibious house, which rises and falls with the water. Thirty seven of these houses are already in place along a branch of the Maas River in Holland. Instead of being built on foundations sunk into the ground, each one sits on a platform which works in the same way as the hull of a boat, keeping it above the water. As the water level rises, the houses slide up and down two steel posts which have been driven deep into the ground.

One of the leading architects in maritime architecture is Koen Olthuis, who has designed houseboats with a parking deck for the car and lower deck storage for a motorboat. Now, his team is coming up with further plans for office buildings a hundred meters in height that 'swim' using a technique whereby the foundation of the construction can be transformed into a float. A foam core is encased in concrete, with steel cables securing it against the pull of potential currents. Individual pontoons can be joined to one another like Lego blocks.

"This construction model is built to last at least one hundred years", Olthuis says. "If anything should happen to the foundation, the whole thing can be taken to the dockyard."

• The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a flat tyre.
  
  
• Don't aspire to become irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
  
  
• Never forget that you are unique, like everyone else.
  
  
• Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
  
  
• If you think nobody cares whether you're dead or alive, try missing a couple of mortgage payments.
  
  
• Before you judge someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you judge them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.
  
  
• If at first you don't succeed, avoid skydiving.
  
  
• Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
  
  
• If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
  
  
• Some days we are the flies; some days we are the windscreen.
  
  
• Good judgment comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgment.
  
  
• The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.
  
  
• A closed mouth gathers no feet.
  
  
• Generally speaking, you aren't learning much if your lips are moving.
  
  
• Never miss a good chance to shut up.
  
  
• Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
  
  
• When we are born we are naked, wet, hungry, and we get smacked on our bottom. From there on in, life gets worse.
  
  
• The most wasted day of all is one in which we have not laughed.
  
  
• Remember not to forget that which you do not need to know.

According to Resi Mortgage Corporation, 2006 is set to be the year of the first-home buyer with a major non-bank lender tipping a marked resurgence in this sector of the property market.

Resi's National Manager for Consumer Advocacy Lisa Montgomery says that pent-up demand from first-home buyers, combined with Government incentives, more flexible loan products and softened home prices, is likely to see first-home buyers return to the market in far greater numbers this year.

Furthermore, first-home buyers are expected to have an easier time in negotiating for the properties they want, since all but the most seasoned property investors are likely to remain cautious in the early months of 2006.

"First-home buyers began returning to the market in 2005, but the figures have still been quite low compared to 2001, when 26 per cent of all loans went to first-home buyers. And we have not even begun to tap the pent-up demand from the many who held off entering the market in 2003 and 2004", she said.

"2006 is shaping up to be the year when first-home buyers return to the market in a big way - with figures climbing back over the 20 per cent mark".

As always if you have any comments or questions do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

Noel R. Towns
Managing Director