Peter Fletcher

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The world’s worst real estate photos

January 26, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

If you’re looking for some comic relief go check out this blog and it’s associated Twitter account.

Some of these pics are just wrong…but very funny.

Here’s a sample to get you started.

A rare example of what architectural historians refer to as a “fertility window”: http://t.co/xlUG9cHQ9J pic.twitter.com/Fvqfi8cJHp

— Bad Realty Photos (@BadRealtyPhotos) December 12, 2013

 

Where did they go, and are they still in the house? http://t.co/xlUG9cHQ9J pic.twitter.com/uAmmzm6WVL

— Bad Realty Photos (@BadRealtyPhotos) January 16, 2014

 

A recent restraining order prevents this agent being seen within 500 yards of the building. http://t.co/xlUG9cHQ9J pic.twitter.com/F9BrHw5BPr

— Bad Realty Photos (@BadRealtyPhotos) January 2, 2014

 

Agent gives up sales in favour of documenting an accident involving some brown sludge.http://t.co/xlUG9cHQ9J pic.twitter.com/1oW1ZEe9Hb

— Bad Realty Photos (@BadRealtyPhotos) December 29, 2013

 

Blurring the boundaries between inept photography and conceptual art: http://t.co/xlUG9cHQ9J pic.twitter.com/SHG5LAddn0

— Bad Realty Photos (@BadRealtyPhotos) December 16, 2013

 

Ideal for those of you with a particularly fast metabolism. http://t.co/xlUG9cHQ9J pic.twitter.com/qY8z1Tcd0v

— Bad Realty Photos (@BadRealtyPhotos) November 29, 2013

Filed Under: Daily blog, Real Estate

Explore, Dream, Discover.

January 24, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore, Dream, Discover.

– Author unknown although it may have been Mark Twain

Filed Under: Daily blog, Inspirational quotes

Got something important to do? Get it done before breakfast: study

January 23, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

Runner on a bridge in the morning

Successful people exercise before breakfast.
Image: Don McCullough http://www.flickr.com/photos/69214385@N04/

If you want to get something important done get it done before breakfast. That’s the advice from Laura Vanderkam, author of What the Most Successful People do Before Breakfast.

Vanderkam cites Florida State University research, which indicates that willpower is a muscle and fatigues as the day wears on. Knowing this, it’s wise to get that which takes willpower and effort out of the road early, while your stores of willpower are high.

According to Vanerkam there are 12 things that successful people do at the start of the day that others don’t.

1. Get up early.

Most top operators are up anytime after 4. 6am is late. 4:30 is common. Many are at work by 7am.

2. They hit the pavement or gym first

Well, duh. Leaving it until the end of the day is a recipe for running out of time and willpower.

3. Work on big, important projects

Get something important done, something that’s going to make a difference.

4. Work on passion projects

Nope, that doesn’t mean THAT – although it could. What it does mean is taking the time to do something on a personal project, like writing a book or a screenplay.

5. Invest time with the family

That means chatting with the kids, getting them ready for school and helping them prepare for their day.

6. Spend time with your spouse

Rita and I have a coffee together every morning around 7am. It’s a nice way to come up to speed together, especially if you’ve done well in step 4.

7. Network

Breakfast and coffee is a great way to get the day off to a flying start while you’re building your network.

8. Meditate

If you have a lot going on it makes sense to give yourself the time and space to clear your mind. Observe like a sentry on nightwatch.

9. Write things down you’re grateful for

It’s a great way to put yourself in a positive frame of mind. Make it even more impactful by writing handwritten thank you notes.

10. Plan and strategise

If you haven’t planned your day before you hit the office it’s too late. The quiet of the morning is a great time for big-picture thinking.

11. Check your email

If you’re going to do this, don’t just check it – get your inbox down to zero. Delete early, delete often.

12. Read the news

That might be via an app, Twitter or a newsreader. Whichever way they do it with purpose.

What’s your morning ritual?

 

Filed Under: Daily blog, Productivity

15 ways to get motivated for exercise when it’s the last thing you feel like doing

January 22, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

Paintball players in action

Don’t be a slave to your exercise goals. Sometimes it’s good to do something different.
Image: Andrés Aguiluz Rios http://www.flickr.com/photos/magoexperto/

A text arrived. It said: “Hey PF, if you’re keen, we’re doing the 80 mins as per program tomorrow. 5:14am at my place then heading…”

My eyes glazed over.

By the end of the message I’d lost interest. It was hot, I was tired and the last thing I felt like doing was grinding out 8o minutes in the heat.

Come to think of it I couldn’t bear to even think about running.

The day wore on. I wrestled with excuses.  

Then it came to me: tackle this lack of motivation head on.

The question I asked, then, was this: How can I motivate myself to run when it’s the last thing I feel like doing?

Here are the answers I came up with.

  1. Don’t fight it. Roll with the flow and have a day or two or three off. Have faith that the inspiration will return.
  2. Do something short and easy. Do it for the joy of being back on the bike, back on the track or back in the gym.
  3. Adjust your workload. Trying to cram too much into the day can sap the joy out of life. Slow down.
  4. Don’t think about the big goal. Think about doing the first kilometre, the first rep, or even just getting out of bed.
  5. Read success stories, how to articles or watch inspirational videos.
  6. Make an exercise date with like-minded people. I run with a group in Victoria Park and do strongman training with some comrades in Cannington.
  7. Own your lack of motivation. Talk about it and write about it.  Own the syrup you’re trying to swim through.
  8. Don’t beat up on yourself if you skip a workout. Shit happens. There’s no point in getting down on yourself, that just makes it harder to get back on your feet again.
  9. Keep your goal in the public eye – like I’m doing with these blog posts.
  10. Look failure squarely in the eye. When I did my big ride my sports psych got me to address the worst case scenario. It was a liberating experience.
  11. Remind yourself about the good stuff you’ve done and the goals you’ve achieved.
  12. Get a good night’s rest.
  13. Take it easy on the booze. I haven’t had a drink since September 14, 2013 and I still feel flat. Imagine how much worse I’d feel if I’d ploughed through a bottle of red.
  14. Think small. Do a tiny workout even if it’s just a few pushups or a walk around the block. Something small is better than nothing at all. 
  15. Mix it up. Go for a ride instead of a run. Go for a swim or paintballing.

How do you get your mojo back if you’re in an exercise slump?

 

Filed Under: Daily blog, Motivation Tagged With: exercise, motivation, running

Why the Department of Commerce have no place telling agents to provide Property Interest Reports

January 21, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

Large buy kicks socccer ball at younger boys cowering in a cage.

The Department of Commerce has no right to bully agents about the way they run their business. Image: Thomas Ricker http://www.flickr.com/photos/trixer/

What is a Property Interest Report?

Landgate’s Property Interest Report (PI Report) provides prospective buyers with information about a range of unregistered interests that may affect the enjoyment of a property.

In their current form PI Reports includes “information such as local and regional planning schemes (including zoning), acid sulphate soil risk, garden bore suitability and land use planning in the vicinity of Perth and Jandakot airports.”

PI Reports should always be read in conjunction with a certificate of title.

It should be noted that Landgate’s interest in providing the report – itself an aggregation from several government departments – is primarily commercial. As a result they have a clearly vested interest in creating a business environment where their products are the primary means by which real estate and settlement agents can comply with consumer-based legislation.

Departmental obfuscation and threatening tactics

In a December 2013 real estate industry ebulletin, the Department of Commerce state [PDF, opens immediately]:

Section 10 of the Code requires that prior to the execution of a contract; an agent must make all reasonable efforts to ascertain or verify facts material to a transaction, that a prudent agent would have ascertained, and to promptly communicate that fact to any person affected by it.

Their view is that a prudent agent should provide prospective property buyers with a PI report as “as a central tool in informing prospective buyers about matters affecting a property.” In doing so, they contend, the agent will satisfy the requirements of sections 9 and 10 of the Code of Conduct and in so doing, lessen the chance of misrepresentation.

DoC believe that providing a PI Report provides the agent with an “easy and comprehensive way for agents to comply with obligations of disclosure…”

They claim that it’s best practice to have a buyer “sign and date an acknowledgement when they have received a copy of the PI report.”

The Department of Commerce are ambivalent when it comes to the use of PI Reports by settlement agents.

After vaguely indicating that a PI Report may be helpful in discharging a settlement agent’s duties under the Act and Code, they state [PDF, opens immediately] meekly:

[The] Department of Commerce believes that when and how a settlement agent uses a PI report will be a judgment call for individual agents at this stage of the PI report’s evolution. Use of the PI report, and other sources of information, will need to have regard to the instructions of the principal and the particular characteristics of the property. The Department will continue to expect that the requirements of the SA Code and Settlement Agents Act (1981) are met in this context.

It’s apparent from this lack of direction that the Department of Commerce is attempting to make up policy on the run.

To be crystal clear: disclosure is a central element in creating consumer confidence in real estate transactions. Better disclosure gives consumers reason to have greater faith in the property transaction process; and that equates to a healthier, more vibrant marketplace.

What I refuse to tolerate is the Department’s threatening undertones by a cynical obfuscation and conflation of terms and meaning.

For example, they fail to define the term “prudent” agent. By leaving the term undefined they implicitly threaten real estate agents who choose to conduct business in ways and means that don’t conform to their suggested best practice with prosecution.

Further, they fail to define what information is deemed “material to a transaction.” In doing so they ignore the complexities of a real estate transaction and attempt to project on buyers their own aversion to risk and they force on the buyer more information than is necessary to make a smart decision.

Their “best practice” suggestions add significant overheads to the operating costs of real estate agents and yet they provide no mechanism by which these additional imposts can be recovered from either the seller or the buyer.

Furthermore they encourage buyers to rely on data that’s clearly deficient in scope. According to their own ebulletin there are up to 100 interests that might affect an owner’s use and enjoyment of land and yet there is only 44 of these interests listed on the PI report.

This lack of information and the department’s own posturing on the issue run the real risk of misleading home buyers into thinking that this is the only information they need source in the home buying process.

How the department can claim that providing such a limited report is “comprehensive” defies explanation.

The Department of Commerce hold a legitimate place within the real estate industry to ensure that all property sellers – not just real estate agents – comply with the disclosure requirements contained within a range of consumer-based legislation.  While their charter includes the provision of advice to businesses as a means to creating a “fair and competitive marketplace” their advice is just that – advice.

Now is the time for them to step back and stop lecturing small business – real estate agents particularly – on how to run their business. And now is the time for them to start respecting the home buying public for their ability to make wise property decisions.

Rather than force feed buyers with disclosure they, along with Landgate, should get off their backsides and start marketing their information products like any other business.

If their business model is sound PI Reports will find their way into the hands of the home buying public. If it’s not, PI Reports will be consigned for use by those who need extra information to help them make decisions.

Filed Under: Daily blog Tagged With: Department of Commerce, DoC, PI Reports, Property Interest Reports, real estate agents, settlement agents

Why Gen Y stereotypes are a load of crap

January 20, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

Photo of young lady looking confused.

Many believe that Gen Y are self-obsessed whiners. Image: longhairbroad http://www.flickr.com/photos/67705205@N00/

Gen Y, Gen Whine, call them what you will but they’re “lazy, social media obsessed and filled with a sense of entitlement.”

They’re lazy and ungrateful, they’re bankrolled by their parents, and they spend their lives “constantly tweeting and Tumbling, always about themselves.”

These are today’s twentysomethings “who can’t get their act together to do anything” but bitch and moan about how badly off they are.

We’re ruined, right?

That’s not how I see it. Not by a long shot.

As you may know I went back to uni full-time in 2006 and 2007. I lived the life, wading through impossible-to-read French philosophy under the pine trees at Curtin University.

It was there I was introduced to that most Gen Whine of all evils, Facebook.

But more importantly I was introduced to some amazing people. They were smart and witty and could hold a conversation about Deleuze and Guattari’s Rhizome to feminism to drinking beer.

Yes, some were my lecturers but most were my fellow students. Unlike me, they were young, having barely reached their twenties.

They were kids who today are members of the much-maligned Gen Whine.

They were women like Shama Adams who, after graduating from Honours, immediately enrolled to complete a PhD.

Shama writes with such clarity and precision that the words jump off the page and punch you in the nose. Such is her intellect and skill that she’s presented academic papers to a number of prestigious universities throughout the world. In July of this year Shama will submit the final version of her thesis entitled The Ghost in the Machine: History, Progress, and the Enlightenment.

One day she’ll be the dean of a university or a senior figure in government.

Then there’s Rebecca Higgie who had a mind so sharp and so quick that it was close frightening.

In classroom debates she would show me up for the philosophical imposter that I was. Her intellect was so sharp and so immediate it was frightening.

When she wasn’t studying Rebecca was handing out how to vote cards and volunteering for her chosen political party.

And there’s Emily Murphy who’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever had the privilege to work with. Emily has a moral keel that’s deep and steady. She thinks through problems and issues with the clarity you’d expect of of someone in the C-suite.

Yet these are just a few amongst dozens of young people I know who provide a clear and compelling case the the Gen Whine stereotype should be resisted and rejected for the lie that it tells and the truth that it hides.

These young people give up their weekends to serve as volunteers. They attend Rotary and help run soccer clubs. They study, they work, and they pay tax.

They’re not demanding. They’re not angsty. And many of them don’t even have a Facebook account.

They’re really no different to you and me.

Filed Under: Daily blog Tagged With: gen whine, Gen-Y, young people, youth

The single best and proven way to be smarter and healthier

January 18, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

People running

There’s a direct relationship between a healthy lifestyle and success.
Image: Josiah Mackenzie http://www.flickr.com/photos/josiahmackenzie/

You want to be smarter, right?

You want to be healthier, too?

Not sure how to do it?

The answer is simple. Stop staring at this screen and go for a run. Get your blood pumping.

And do it again tomorrow and the next day.

Make it a life-long habit.

Want proof that the recipe works? Read this article.

Then for god’s sake, go make yourself sweat.

Filed Under: Daily blog, Motivation Tagged With: exercise, health, success, well-being

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About Peter

Speaker, trainer and coach. I write about living, loving and working better. Love a challenge. More...

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