Marquee auction steps up to be a Powerhouse event

INSPIRED by the feel and set up of the recent New Farm flood recovery party on the steps of the Brisbane Powerhouse is to be New Farm’s first marquee auction event, according to Ray White New Farm principal Haesley Cush.

Haesley said that seven peninsula home owners would put their properties up for auction on Saturday, May 28, in an outside/inside event that was gearing up to be “a very New Farm affair”.

One of the properties is at 532 Lower Bowen Terrace, which is owned by Michele Deveze.

In real estate speak, Haesley described the property as “a renovators delight” despite being in “the very sought after triangle” between Merthyr Road and Brunswick Street.

The agents, Sam Mayse and Andrew Drazek, remained tight-lipped on price but have said it was at “the very entry level” of house buying on the peninsula and would be selling at the auction.

Haesley said there would be a vast selection of properties auctioned ranging from entry-level units and houses through to luxury waterfront apartments.

Andreja Brkan and Regan Faulkner have three properties for sale on the day.

“It will be a wonderful way for locals to see how the Freshwater, Cutters Landing and general waterfront apartments would be selling,” Andreja said.

A full list of auctions is available in the Village News Peninsula Property section.

This article is an extract of the 'Village News' Magazine, a monthly publication by local Michael Hawke.

Local Hero.... extract from 'Village News'

Instinct gets Matt involved in cleanup

FOR 29-year-old Teneriffe resident Matt Lancashire, motivation to help his community in the aftermath of the Brisbane River flood in January was instinctive.

“It was surreal. You would see all these affected people whereas you venture outside of your own neighbourhood and it was like a bomb had gone off. It was really sad to see,” Matt said. “People got really affected by it and I just think it was one of those things where I think people needed help,” he said.

The weekend following the flood peak saw Matt and his Ray White New Farm associates set up a task force to clean up Welsby and Sydney streets at Ne Farm - two severely affected areas.

“We called council to get trucks organised, basically got all of our mates who were tradespeople and got them organised,” Matt said. “First, we started off with 40 people, then, by the end of the day, there were over 200 people helping out.”

Matt said the biggest thing was seeing every resident -from Brisbane’s wealthiest to the less fortunate - working for the same cause with an unfettered willingness to help one another.

“My principal, Haesley Cush, bought a whole heap of Coles Myer voucher cards and there was a resident who slept through her house while it was totally flooded and Haesley gave her two $500 gift cards,” Matt said, “Just for that small little thing it made such a difference to that person.”

Matt recalled the generosity of local businesses, such as the New Farm IGA which allowed a woman to supply volunteers with $1000 worth of groceries free of charge or James Street Markets which donated sausages for a barbeque.

The generosity didn’t stop there. After the clean up of New Farm was complete, Matt and another colleague spent a day helping his parents in Tennyson who were affected, as well as residents in West End.

It wasn’t the three days’ worth of cleaning that Matt remembers, it’s seeing the community unite that struck a chord.

“I think it’s one of those things that, after seeing what happened in New Farm, it’s just a really good feeling to see the community come together,” Matt said. “It didn’t matter who you were or where you were from but in this busy place, New Farm became connected.”

Matt not only has a sense of civic pride but his strong work ethic has recently won him the sixth ranking in Queensland out of 1200 Ray White real estate agents for the last quarter.

“The awards came unexpected because the calibre of agents I was up against were the ones I used to look at when I was starting out and thought if I was half as good as those guys I’d be happy,” Matt said. “This year to be up there with them and even ranked higher than some is a great accomplishment in itself.”

Now setting his sights on the number one position, Matt attributes his success to having specialised knowledge of the local market place and having an honest approach.

“I love property and definitely am passionate about real estate. At the start (4½ years ago) in a market place that’s so tough I didn’t think I would last,” Matt said, “It was just about building relationships and doing the right thing by people and that’s why I’ve done so well.”

Caption: Matt Lancashire from Ray White New Farm hard at work during the clean up

One week on.....

The waters have receded quickly and they left behind a community united in spirit and bond between neighbours that was not always present before.

Last Saturday morning hundreds, maybe thousands, of people poured into the few streets of New Farm that had minor flooding. They came armed with shovels, utes, brooms & gloves. Many people packed esky’s and distrusted drinks, while local restaurants and curb side BBQ stands fed the masses. The response across the city was humbling, every persons story was greeted with a coy smile and “well there are a lot of people worse off than me”.

In terms of property, the effects on the market will be known as time pushes forward. Most soothsayers are predicting a rise in rents, a reduction in unemployment and a potential price increase in non-flood affected addresses.

For those of you living outside the South East, or anyone interested, I have a number of property reports that I can forward on – Matusik’s Report, HTW Valuers, Propell Valuers & Westpac. Please email me if you would like a copy of any or all of these reports hc@rwnf.com.au.

At a glance:

· Full day of opens tomorrow – www.rwnf.com.au

· 5+ million in sales made so far this year (above last year’s figures)

· 7 rental properties affected by flooding (most minor, 1 relocation)

· Med-high level of enquiry on all property

· 8 streets received some minor disruption

· 4 streets medium disruption

Fishing in Villiers Street New Farm

A lighter side - a whiting caught on the Cnr of Hawthorne & Villiers St New Farm

An Aerial Shot - Before and After

Have a look at the link below:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/infographics/qld-floods/beforeafter.htm

New Farm Floods - The Clean Up

The clean up has began, thousands upon thousands of people descended on Flood affected areas in and around South East Queensland. The number of volunteers (known now as the 'Mud Army') was staggering and the amount of work already done is quite unbelievable.

Today the CBD was re-opened and power has come back to many more buildings. There is obviously still a lot of people without power and months (maybe years) away from moving back into their properties.

Council has warned of another King Tide this week as well as more rain. Whilst the river will again rise, they are planning to control the water flow with scheduled released from the dams.

New Farm Floods - Day 3 Pictures

Today the clean up began. Locals decended on the worst affected streets and helped many people.

Some of the people were just cleaning, some were preparing for an entirely new existance. Nothing spared, everything stinking, no insurance - a whole new begining.







Lamington Street looking down toward Welsby and Sydney St's. Been blocked for 3 days, covered in water, today all clear.
















Longlands & Ann St - A river yesterday, today all gone.

Cnr or Sydney and Merthyr Rd - Yesterday 1m water for 200-300m

Message from Lord Mayor last night

Message from Lord Mayor, click on link below:

https://www.thewebconsole.com/tools/dbm/campaign/view/contact/716190/_contact/4c5e6d859ed6930cd6546aedac8cbabd/campaign/263485/_campaign/5058f1af8388633f609cadb75a75dc9d/r/277641

New Farm Floods - Day 3

We have woken to the wonderful news that the waters have receded heavily. Whilst many parts of Brisbane are still holding large volumes of water, New Farm has begun it's clean up.

To those of you that own property in the area, I will be updating some photo's of the clean up later today. I been on the phones today to many landlords, tenants and prospective buyers. I believe that as an area we will bounce out of this with confidence.

We have buyers due to settle on properties in the next few days, they are thrilled with the way the area performed in such a devastating time.

New Farm Floods - Day 2

Today we have seen the waters slide back into the storm water drains, leaving behind a thick, sticky mud - but so far no smell! The River will peak again in an hour and all reports are that it will be at the same level as this morning or lower.

The sky is a flicker of silver, white and grey and the water up there is still holding (no rain).

There is some talk of a thunder storm, which could change things, but people are optimisic that the worst is over.

We are still without power at home and a number of lower lying areas are without alot more.

The worst areas are between the Milton reach of the river all the way up the River toward and past Ipswich.

New Farm Floods - Day 2

This morning many of us woke before 4am to arm ourselves for the high tide (at 4am). The peak was about 1m short of predictions, mainly due to restrictions from the dam and no overnight rain.



With the river staying level we took to the streets to assess the damage. New Farm and Teneriffe as a whole survived well, however we were not without casualty. Many residents were flooded and left without power. But having been out to Yeronga, Rocklea, Fairfield, West End and South Brisbane we dodged a major Bullet.



Some houses I saw this morning in Yeronga were simply tiled rooves poking above the brown water. Many streets were closed and we were unable to visit properties at Chelmer and Tennyson to see friends and family (all safe - just wet).



The Brisbane City Council and authorites have been fantastic, the streets are calm and people have a sense of 'let's just get this water out of here and start the clean up'. It could take a few weeks...













Coles New Farm




















New Farm Park looking back toward the Powerhouse







Bottom of the Riverwalk New Farm - Half of it is missing

Brisbane Corso Yeronga

Under the River side Express way - South Brisbane

Cnr Longlands & Ann St, Newstead

Montague Rd & Kurilpa St, West End

Sand bagging Qld style, we're not used to this much rain!!!

New Farm Floods - Day 1

What a day!! Many New Farm and Teneriffe streets have been closed. But many more have remained dry and safe. The spirit of community has been overwhelming. Many locals are in the streets, at the bars or somewhere with company waiting for high tide tomorrow.

The Police have just moved all 'pedestrians' off the boardwalks at Teneriffe, that were today still above water (in front of One MacQuarrie).

Whilst a number of apartment basements have had flooding due to the back up of storm water we have not seen it take property from the River side.

The Ferry stations have been swamped and, as you can see from the photo's, will not re-cover.

The word at this stage is the peek will be about 4am tomorrow. The water rose to about 4.5m today and is likely to hit 5.5-6m tomorrow morning. If this is the case, and the rain holds off, New Farm and Teneriffe will not be as affected as previously thought.

Power has been cut to my place, but most of the area still has power. I will endevour to keep providing photo's of the flooding and then the clean up.

Flood Update New Farm

There was a sense of irony this morning, the sun was out and people were smiling. But everyone had a sense of urgency and the under current of concern was evident as people waved and moved about their business.

My phone has been running hot with offers of help, strangers are helping eachother in the streets and the Teneriffe Sand Station has opned it's doors to the public.

The water is now over the River walks at Howard street, it has breached the Teneriffe end and a number of low lying streets have now flooded and are closed. Some power has also been cut.

The sun is still out and the mood of 'what's next' is still hevaily in the air.

New Farm & Teneriffe Flood Update

I will try to keep you updated with current information from the office (rwnf.com.au).

So far so good. I have just been for a drive around the area. The water has just come over the banks at New Farm Park, we have a part of the river walk underwater (near the Howard St Wharfs) and the City Cats are closed.

Teneriffe is holding so far and the low lying streets are still clear of water build up.

I'll keep you posted of any changes.

for more info. check out: www.brisbane.qld.gov.au; http://highload.131940.qld.gov.au/#metropolitan; http://www.ourbrisbane.com/weather.