Closure of 6 LJ Hooker offices

Discussion in 'The Buying & Selling Process' started by Skilled_Migrant, 29th Apr, 2016.

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  1. Skilled_Migrant

    Skilled_Migrant Well-Known Member

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  2. peastman

    peastman Well-Known Member

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    A very sad situation for everyone involved. You would think L.J. Hooker franchises in these areas would be very profitable over the last few years, so why risk everything and rip off people.
     
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  3. EN710

    EN710 Well-Known Member

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    That's shocking... Surely they wouldn't think that their client won't find out?
     
  4. Skilled_Migrant

    Skilled_Migrant Well-Known Member

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    Agents must be banking on the cash payments and hoping the cash buyers will not go to authorities.
     
  5. twobobsworth

    twobobsworth Well-Known Member

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  6. gman65

    gman65 Well-Known Member

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    No surprise, the dead fish are often left stranded when the tide starts to go out..
     
  7. Kangaroo

    Kangaroo Well-Known Member

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    After the peak of last sydney proeprty boom, several RE offices got closed either by owner themselves or by administration. A sign of slowing market since the commision starts to come in slower and can not support the overheads. The operator had to find money from somewhere.
     
  8. TMNT

    TMNT Well-Known Member

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    arent deposits put into an trust account that isnt touchable by the agents???

    one would imagine if this wasnt the case, any agent could take all pending deposits and misdirect and just close the business
     
  9. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    This was not a case slowing market, it's theft and it's going against trust account rules and breaching the terms of their real estate license.

    Money is held in "trust" for clients.
     
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  10. Foxy Moron

    Foxy Moron Well-Known Member

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    To quote Mark Knopfler and friends - 'these are classic symptoms of a monetary squeeze'.
    Anyone old enough to remember that lyric would have endured the recession of the early nineties where we really paid the price for the financial excesses of the 1980s. Heaps of companies went to the wall in a domino effect and unemployment was a big issue back then.
    At a personal level 2016 reminds me just a little bit of 1989 with worrying cracks starting to emerge in our usually resilient economy.
    This time around its the end of the mining boom, Basel adjustments and disparity in govt revenue v expenditure coupled with lack of economic and political vision from all parties to make the hard calls, to name just a few.
    The fact that our major banks have all been savagely repriced in the past 12 months tells me I'm not alone in having serious concerns about our economy. Very tough times ahead for small businesses across the board this year IMO. Expect to see more of these sorts of headlines, even though I suspect poor management played a part in this particular example.

    Memo to self : when politicians and economists start using the phrase 'soft landing' in news-bites you know we're in for some hard rain.
     
  11. thatbum

    thatbum Well-Known Member

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    I don't know why people are trying to extrapolate something about the economy from what essentially sounds like a straight up theft/fraud series of offences.
     
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  12. Nick Valsamis

    Nick Valsamis Well-Known Member

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    The licensee in charge is responsible for the trust account and funds held within. It operates like a normal account but has certain regulations on its use.
     
  13. DaveM

    DaveM Well-Known Member

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    Most of the cases of trust embezzlement I have read about have been to supportd drug or gambling debts.
     
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  14. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    :confused:
     
  15. Skilled_Migrant

    Skilled_Migrant Well-Known Member

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    Some reasons:
    • Circumstantial evidence: This incidence has not occurred in isolation. Recently, similar incidences (REA embezzlement) have started to emerge quite regularly.
    • Experience: Experienced investors ( @Foxy ***** ) are clearly able to relate these incidences to the previous downturn.
    • Sector correlation: Within the property sector, there are clear deflationary signs emerging and the REA frauds reinforce what is happening in the sector. E.g. walloping of Mcgraths shares, LMI (Genworth) losses, apartment glut, drop in median prices, drop in lending to investors, Restrictions on foreign loans....
    • Macro-economic correlation: REA frauds are being viewed as symptoms of what is happening (expected to happen at the macroeconomic level). Political uncertainty wrt to NG, CGT, APRA restrictions, deficit, banking inquiries, FIRB/ATO changes...
    • Risk aversion: The extrapolation is but a natural manifestation of risk aversion of investors given all the above. Rather be safe than sorry.
     
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  16. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    Yes and personal reasons of "why" there always has to be a reason why they did it. They must have been on drugs, not doing well, it's the economy, the voices in their head lol.
    Truth is it doesn't matter!!!!

    Theft occurred resulting in rescinding of their franchises and now the only important thing is recouping the lost money for the clients.
     
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  17. JacM

    JacM VIC Buyer's Agent - Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat Business Member

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    Just another example of why I don't like offering sizeable deposits on property.
     
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  18. jim1964

    jim1964 1941

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    They were very hard times.17.5% rates, i remember just having bought my 1st house in Melrose Park for $76,000, and my wage at the time at Mitsubishi just covered the mortgage payment, nothing else.
     
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  19. TMNT

    TMNT Well-Known Member

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    Six Melbourne LJ Hooker estate agency offices suddenly close

    ok update

    a bit confused, are these husband and wife in the process of splitting up? or are they in kahootz with eachtoher,
    have they misappropriated funds?
    if its in the trust than it should be safe?







    LJ Hooker’s customers and landlords using the chain are millions of dollars out of pocket after the sudden closure of six Melbourne offices.

    Homeowners may be fully compensated after an LJ Hooker franchisee trust account was found to be empty,


    well looks like the husband at least is a principal so he could acess the account willy nilly
     
    Last edited: 30th Apr, 2016
  20. Carrytrader

    Carrytrader Active Member

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    Cockroaches always come out after the boom.