Brett Andreassen from Doug Disher Real Estate said all five areas the agency services in the inner western suburbs of Brisbane were affected by the floods. As a specialist in apartments in the $400,000 range, Mr Andreassen had to find a new specialty fast.
“It made me shift my focus on what type of properties I am selling and trying to get on the market at the moment,” he explained.
“I’m still trying to keep that base but the price range has gone up to apartments around the $500-600,000 range and a few houses. I’ve been listing some properties over the $1 million mark, which for me is unheard of. I had tried to really concentrate on that apartment market, but when that pipeline shut down, I had to shift fast into the next one.”
But before that new pipeline was even considered, Mr Andreassen had to become a project manager. On the day of the floods he sent out a bulk SMS to his 650 clients saying, ‘I know it’s flooding and you’ll be concerned about your property. If you want me to go around, let me know’. “I had about 480 messages back from people saying please do. Some of the properties were fine; they were nowhere near the area and people were a bit panicky, but there was one client in particular who had eight properties and six of them were affected,” he said.
Though the floods swept through the city on the Wednesday, the agency staff were back in their office by Friday, despite their competitors staying closed until the following Tuesday. They swung into gear collecting media clippings and predictions on the Brisbane property market to help owners decide what to do when banks released the three-month hold on mortgages in April.
“When we started communicating with them about the flood, it was just a continuation of the marketing we’d done in the years before. We’ve picked up more managements over the last quarter because of our efforts. Some owners hadn’t heard from their managing agents at all regarding this issue,” he said.
The agency has also been giving out information packs on rebuilding, handling trade quotes and giving out trade contacts. “It has created massive referral business for sales and the property management side. I’m not a tradesperson so I couldn’t help out on that side, but we were able to give them advice and try to coordinate the efforts,” Mr Andreassen explained.
Appraisals are now starting up again as people assess their options, but Mr Andreassen said it was difficult to give an accurate figure to owners. “We’re going to have to auction most of them.
We’ve heard from some valuers that properties that had water into the apartments will have 30 per cent wiped off the value straight away. When it starts selling we’ll get the precedents,” he said.
Flooding Adds to Toowoomba Woes
Just over 100km from Brisbane, the same floods also affected regional centre Toowoomba, but recovery has been on a smaller scale. Michael Teahan from Toowoomba City Realty said the worst affected areas in Lockyer Valley was only 20-30km from his agency’s service area.
A lot of rain before the floods meant extra run off which flooded through the middle of the city that sits high on a hill 600m above sea level. Most properties were unaffected, but shops and one of the schools were severely damaged by several metres of water and mud.
“We noticed there was a hugely sombre mood around here and people were taking stock. In November we had a rate rise and that’s when we really noticed the squeeze put on, then the flooding happened,” Mr Teahan said.
While the office lost power and staff had trouble getting home on the day of the floods (it took four hours for one staffer who lived 12km away from the office to get home), they weren’t affected personally. But it was a close call; vehicles in the car park in front of the agency were swept away in the water.
Once the water had subsided, Mr Teahan and his staff sent a bulk SMS to clients and tenants to let them know what had happened and to check on their welfare and any damage caused by the water.
“There was some damage to properties, mainly with carpet and two ovens were broken. Most owners just took responsibility and got on with it,” he said. “We had one property on the escarpment and it was unconditional when the property leaked so it was at the buyer’s risk and they were insured by a cover note.”
When the power was switched back on, the agency sent more SMS’s to every owner to keep them updated and explain they would be in contact if there were any problems with their property. “I think at first they thought we were being alarmist, but when they got home and saw the news that night they were concerned about their tenants,” Mr Teahan said.
After attending a Real Estate Academy seminar in September where the group discussed how one agency handled recovery efforts after the Christchurch earthquake, Mr Teahan said he kept the ideas in his head. “That stuck in the back of my mind and [when the flood happened] I thought we’ll use that,” he said.
Some properties are still under repair in Toowoomba, but this is covered under insurance. Toowoomba City Realty plans to keep clients informed of property updates and will include reminders in upcoming newsletters for clients to keep gutters cleared in case of future storms and floods.