BIG Brisbane Meeting / Oct 27th / Lester Dew

[BIG]

Better Investing Group
Meeting 27th October, 2009

Guest Speaker
Lester Drew


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Hello everyone!

Speaker for this month is Lester Drew.

He has been involved with real estate since 1971 both as an agent and as a property developer. At the age of twenty five, Lester opened his first real estate office at Coopers Plains in Brisbane. Lester successfully developed many and varied projects, including acreage estates, industrial buildings, and a high rise building on the Sunshine Coast at Mooloolaba called "Syrenuse" which won a H.I.A. design award with all apartments and commercial area being sold prior to completion. Now residing with his family in the Gold Coast hinterland, Lester applies the years of creative and innovative marketing experience he has gained to assist property developers, investors and home owners buy and sell properties at realistic prices.

He is an early adopter of eco-housing and believes that this is a market niche that can add significant value for home owners and investors alike. Lester’s current project is ‘Greenwood Village’ Eco Estate. Greenwood Village

Lester is a foundation member and past president of the Rotary Club of Archerfield, a past Trustee of Redeemer College and a keen Polo player.

www.big.org.au

When: Tuesday 27th October 2009.
Where: The Jindalee Hotel, Sinnamon Rd, Jindalee QLD 4074.
Map: www.big.org.au/content/view/15/29/
Time: 7:30pm.
Cost: $15/singles or $25/couples.

Haven't been to a BIG meeting before? FREE ENTRY for your first meeting this month!

Everyone interested in property or the forum is welcome to come along. Having an IP is not a pre-requisite, only a motivation to do so. See you there!

Craig

 

[Spectre]

Hi

Small group tonight but Lester was a fascinating speaker. As it was mentioned by some of the others who attended, he didnt make any real discussion of his project or eco-friendly projects (outside of they perform better than non eco). The discussion was more around just his history in the industry, how he continually improved on property and made a heap of money in doing it along the way. My impression was he did it fairly and with the market the whole time as well.

Thanks to BIG

 

[TinHua]

Lester was a fascinating speaker. For those who missed out, here is a quick summary.

He has been in the property game since the 70s and has had many "Character Building" experiences. Eg paying 24% interest on muliti-million dollar loans.

It was great to hear from someone who has been active over several property cycles and how he progressed from small deals to huge subdivisions.

He was responsible for some iconic developments in West End, Kangaroo point and the Sunshine Coast. He stressed the importance of having the right team around you and being able to trust their actions. However, he has had problems with partners and professionals which have cost him too.

He touched briefly on eco housing and how in the future, with rising electricity and water bills, houses with 5 star and higher ratings will be more valuable and yeild more rent. Canberra was used as an example where 1 star houses have declined in value and are more difficult to rent. 1 star houses can be upgraded to 4 star for about $5000. This might not add significant value immediately but will make the property more and more attractive as we become more aware of our environmental responsibilities and the costs associated with it.

Hope to see more of you all at our next meeting
Tin

 

[Andrew_A]

Another great speaker this evening, glad I was there.

Fascinating to get an insight into the value add you can do with large acreage blocks. Also good to get that 40 year history of Brisbane real estate, who remembers the 1974 crash!? I didn't even know that one existed.

A few selected bullet points from my notes.

* Lester used to buy acreage on 30 days and sell it on 90 days. Mow the grass, clean it up then onsell.

* Started with a 6 lot acreage subdivision, then went to a 10 and just kept building up size. Was persistent in dealing with council and good at getting rezonings.

* Owned 7 real estate offices by 1989

* Buy bigger blocks on the edge of development. The value is in the land.

* SEQ is the Florida/California of Australia, people wants to move here. Ipswich is a potentially great growth area going forward as the government is targeting there for growth.

* Aged care is a growth industry and an opportunity. Also Eco housing as Tin mentioned above.

* When the Brisbane median got to 100k people were saying 'Who is going to buy property, who can afford it?' same as when it got to 150k etc etc. The biggest problem was in their own minds.

* Opportunities are still here. Need to learn how to 'value add'.

"Success is not the mountain we conquer, it is ourselves" Sir Edmund Hillary