Who are positive renovations?

[tgan]

Hello investor friends!
Firstly, I hope I am posting in the correct category.
In my quest to locate a property that will provide me with dual income, thus high yields, I have come across a group called Positive Renovations. They are are buyers agent who specialise in locating a property that is also suitable to add a granny flat too. They will, for a fee of under $10k, find the property and co-ordinate the granny flat, all from woe to go! I have spent months looking at so many properties via the net, and with me being in melb and all these propeties being in nsw, its created a head ache to say the least, so much so, that i am very tempted to give them the go ahead because i am starting to wonder if i can actually pull this off on my own. But does anybody know anything about this group?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Teagan

 

[wylie]

They are are buyers agent who specialise in locating a property that is also suitable to add a granny flat too. They will, for a fee of under $10k, find the property and co-ordinate the granny flat, all from woe to go! I have spent months looking at so many properties via the net, and with me being in melb and all these propeties being in nsw, its created a head ache to say the least, so much so, that i am very tempted to give them the go ahead because i am starting to wonder if i can actually pull this off on my own. But does anybody know anything about this group?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Couldn't help but wonder if this "typo" might turn out to be true

You might end up in "woe".

Why not use one of the buyers agents who post here on Somersoft? They have walked the walk already, have plenty of people who vouch for them and I imagine would do the same job that you are thinking of paying someone for who you know nothing about.

 

[Coconutwheels]

No idea what their buyers agents are like, but I used them to build a GF on one of my properties last year.

No major issues other than quite a lot of delays due to their suppliers, I believe they have a new supplier now and improved this issue.

If was going to do the process again though, I'd probably just go directly through Surge.

Cheers,

Ben

 

[Jacque]

I have come across a group called Positive Renovations. They are are buyers agent who specialise in locating a property that is also suitable to add a granny flat too. They will, for a fee of under $10k, find the property and co-ordinate the granny flat, all from woe to go!....

Thanks in advance,
Teagan

Hey Teagan

Just do some more research. From my understanding from reading their site:

Once we review the sales contract, we typically eliminate a further nine properties, leaving your ideal property, which we’ll offer to you through a buyers agency.

what buyers agency are they referring to here? It appears that neither Rick Stapleton or Rebecca Hawson are registered with the OFT as having a RE or BA licence, so they cannot claim to be acting as BAs. Certainly if they are acting as buyers agents they require at the very least a BA licence (though a full RE licence is preferred) so more digging is required.

 

[JennD]

Have a feeling they are owned by Positive Real Estate? Same logo, and registered under Shay Whitton.

 

[tgan]

Thanks so much for your replies.
I gathered that they are connected to Positive Real Estate, who I am bit confused about whether they are a real estate agent acting for the vendor or buyers agent acting for the buyer. mmmm? Not sure.
Anyway, Jaque thanks for your reply. I will definately look in to it further. In fact it was Rebeca Hawson who I delt with, and I must admit, she was very very knowlegble. She did say that they made a fee from the builder who they would commision to build my granny flat because I wondered how they would make money if all they charged me was a fee of about $8k to find a property and co-ordinate a gf build to the end when other buyers agents are charging $10k just o locate a property. I will keep digging.
Thx

 

[ZaynHarwood]

So who did you end up using?

 

[tgan]

hi zaynharwood,
i havent used anybody yet..just digging around.
somebody i was talking to yesterday refered to them as 'builders', so
i thought that was interesting.
do you know anything about positive renovations?
thx
teagan

 

[datto]

Tgan, its "from go to woe". It means from start to finish. Just thought I'd clarify....woe boy...lol

 

[brazen]

I do all of the approvals for Positive Renovations and Ive found them to be very professional and efficient tbo. They build nice granny flats too

 

[mrmonopoly]

If you're looking for more info. Rick Stapleton of Positive Renovations is the guest speaker at the next 'Sydney Real Estate Buying and Investing Meetup Group' on March 12th

http://www.meetup.com/real-estate-sydney/events/105997762/?a=co1.3_grp&rv=co1.3

 

[grannybec]

Hi all, its Rebecca here from Positive Renovations. Hi Teagan

I will try to clear some things up. Positive Renovations is neither a buyers agent, or a builder. We project manage the construction of Granny Flats "from go to woe"! Our sister company PRE is a licensed real estate agency, trading for 10 years.

Positive Renovations does not receive a fee from a buyer for a buyers agent service. We promote this service to our clients, but the Agency Agreement is between the client and Positive Real Estate. Rick and I provide all the granny flat due diligence required for our team to assess the opportunity as a good granny flat opportunity before it is offered to a client.

Its really important that buyers agents are also experienced with all Complying Development requirements (under the AHSEPP) that a Granny Flat property must meet. We had a client who found that the property the buyers agent had got him into, did not meet his requirement of adding a Granny Flat. Yes, it was a nice large lot, but there was a sewer main running through the Granny Flat "build zone" that was not picked up. We were able to help this client avoid a potentially costly mistake and he is now in a fantastic property and about to construct his granny flat.

Positive Renovations have a team of builders that we work with, who specialise in Granny Flat construction. We manage and co-ordinate the whole process (including the approvals process, which Serge (Brazen) looks after for us…. pls see Serge's post in this thread). Our Granny Flat package pricing is VERY competitive. Our fee comes from the package price of arranging the building works. This is disclosed in full.

We have overcome some supply issues we experienced last year, but we are always at the mercy of suppliers. We have also overcome some issues with builders who have let us down. We believe we have a great team now and are looking forward to working with new clients this year.

Please feel free to contact me directly with any further questions or granny flat enquiries you might have - 02 8014 6113.

Rgds
Rebecca

 

[peterlandlord]

Watch out

Not so positive Positive Real Estate. My encounter with Rick Stapleton.

On 27 May, 2011 I settled on a house in Western Sydney and paid $10457 buyers advocacy fee to Positive Real Estate with undertaking of a granny flat to be built there within ?2 ? 4 weeks?.

The inhouse project manager, Rick Stapleton from Positive Real Estate took over and $62 000 granny flat with $62 500 already spent is still $25 300 away from completion.

Builder, hired by Rick Stapleton from Positive Real Estate, went bankrupt and replacement did not turn up.
And why would a good builder go bankrupt? On Sept 19th 2011 Rick Stapleton from Positive Real Estate wrote ?Before the builder starts we will need $10,000 deposited into our account. This amount will be credited against the final payment when the granny flat is complete? He didn't pay this $10 000 to builder. So builder coudn't pay his tradesmen and went bankrupt.

Project manager, Rick Stapleton from Positive Real Estate when asked to refund $10 000 says he decided to keep it for himself as a fee for project (mis)management. And then he goes silent. Nothing heard.
Laidback landlord

 

[Peterw]

What have the Office of Fair Trade said about this? or perhaps the BSA? What sort of contract was signed? If you hired them for a $10,00 fee, then I guess he may be entitled to retain. Not sure about the next agreement/contract.