A great investment !

The sign went up on Christmas eve - click on image to enlarge

After nearly 10 years in the business, and following the extensive renovations we commenced over 5 years ago (now finally completed!), Leanne and I have decided to place the GG holiday units up for sale. As they’re strata titled we’ve put them up for individual sale, not as a whole. We’re keeping the house and we’ll be doing the management at least until all the units are sold (could be years!). Then we’ll decide what to do from there. I think they’d make a great buy to use for your own holidays AND to let out for good returns the rest of the year. 

More details available at the Grevillea Gardens website.

Happy New year.

Own a piece of paradise in Beautiful Bright - click on image to enlarge

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Message for Mark

The headline from the front page lead story of the Bright Observer.

When you get elected to council your role is to listen to and consult the community. And, when you hold the so-called ‘portfolio’ of tourism & economic development - as Alpine councillor Mark Steven does - your role is especially to listen to and consult the tourism industry … and to represent their interests. Your role is not to come out with knee jerk opinions and ”recommendations” like Cr Steven has made on the front page of this week’s Bright Observer:

Bright Rod Run under threat … again!

Club wants accommodation owners to take a hit

For the second time in recent years the organisers of the enormously popular Bright Rod Run are threatening to take the event away from the town. This time the complaint is over concerns that entrants are being “ripped off” by accommodation providers. In his letter to last week’s Bright Observer (below), Club President Ray McDonald makes it quite clear that he wants Bright accommodation owners to reduce their minimum stay requirements from 3 nights to 2 nights or the club will either take the event elsewhere or cancel it altogether. My further comments are ‘over the fold’ (click on “more” below the article to continue reading):   

Mr McDonald spells out his demands - click on image to enlarge.

A cheap and disingenuous trick

This building looks like it incurs"higher servicing costs" - we better slug it with a differential!

“It’s a cheap and disingenuous trick. It’s time for council to acknowledge that economic development & tourism benefits ALL ratepayers, not just those it thinks it can slug with extra rates.”

The above is a quote from the summary of my submission to the Alpine council concerning the proposed introduction of a 30 to 40% surcharge on the annual rates of all properties deemed to be used for commercial purposes, regardless of their zonings. The council plans to introduce this new rate surcharge effective from 1 July 2012 to replace the highly discriminatory 48% special rate surcharge (that it has levied on the same properties for the past 15 years) on the pretext that it represents “a fairer distribution of the rate burden”.

However, as you may have already gathered, I strenuously disagree. The fundamentals have not changed – i.e. the council will still be slugging a very small group of property owners with the bulk of the funding of its economic development and (farcical) tourism promotion costs (i.e. employee’s salaries). After 15 years of this fiasco it’s about time it stopped doing that. And, as highlighted in my submission, for council to claim that ALL such properties incur “higher costs of servicing” is a total fallacy … a lie! 

My full submission follows. I wonder if anyone else bothered to make one?: