IN Ice Hockey

They’ve only played one full season but Perth’s first Australian Ice Hockey League team, Perth Thunder, made plenty of noise over the winter season.


They’re one of Perth’s best kept sporting secrets, but Perth Thunder – our first national ice hockey team – have had a phenomenal season in the world’s fastest team sport.


Twenty-four-year-old defensive player Riccardo Del Basso, known as Ric in the No 12 jersey on the ice, is the co-owner of Perth Thunder alongside head coach Stan Scott.


Perth Thunder are a not for profit, semi-professional team which is part of the Australian Ice Hockey League. Though established in 2010, this is the first year of the team’s full inaugural licence. Ric says the team have done extraordinarily well on the ice by already battling for the playoff position this season. They’re also garnering the interest of bigger sponsors, which is what supports the team’s travel and home series logistics.


The team train two nights a week on the ice, do their own fitness work and fly east regularly to compete against the other national teams or host local games at their home ground, the Perth Ice Arena. As they don’t get paid, every player has a fulltime job, including the imported talent.


The Australian season, which is played across our winter, also allows players to head to the northern hemisphere for their winter season to compete while still being able to play in the off-season.


Of the 26 players on the team, most of them were born in Perth with a handful of Canadians and another handful born in the US, New Zealand and England. They range in age from late teens to early 40s, though the majority are in their mid-20s.


Ric fell in love with the ice in his early teens and eventually spent a year in Canada skating everyday, which only reinforced his love for the sport. When he returned home he realised there were not many opportunities to compete in the sport and eventually set about creating one.


“I didn’t really want to leave Perth and go anywhere else,” says Ric, who is also an accountant. But he wanted to keep playing ice hockey at a high level, so he co-founded Perth Thunder in 2010 and after jumping through the regulatory league hoops, the team have been actively competing in their first inaugural season.


Living here is about a lifestyle, which is why the overseas players come here too. They want to play ice hockey and see Australia.


Across the winter season – which runs from April to September – Perth Thunder will have played 24 games, 12 of which were played in Perth. Ric says local support for the team continues to grow and it seems that fans are coming from all age groups.


“It’s a sport which welcomes everyone,” Ric says. “We’re already starting to see some strong development players coming up, which I think has something to do with them seeing there’s a place they can play and seeing the team be successful is great for young players."


For more information, check out www.perththunder.com
The Perth Ice Arena is located at 708 Marshall Road, Malaga.

In Auctions

If you’re ready to sell your property, consider an auction rather than doing what everyone else does.


Around 97% of all properties in Western Australia are sold the same way – with a for sale sign on the verge. With sellers looking for ways to differentiate themselves, auctions are now gaining popularity around Perth, but they still have a way to go.


Phil Hayes is an auctioneer and associate director of Realmark Coastal who says the days of feeling that an auction is a combative way to sell your home is long gone. These days an auction equals communication and is a much more personal affair during the four week campaign where the seller is kept totally in the loop.


“When working an auction you virtually speak to the vendor everyday to update them on any changes,” Phil says. “It’s an intense campaign which is designed to climax with multiple offers at the auction at the end.


“The more available a property is the better, because we can bring more people through which creates more buyer engagement plus a buyer favourable time to consider the property and hopefully fall in love with it."


Realmark’s managing director John Percudani says if you’re going to auction your home, it’s imperative your agent understands how to run an effective marketing campaign.


“It requires a great amount of communication between the agent and the client and it’s imperative the client is given lots of the right amount of information,” John says. “When it’s done by the right person it gets a great result because the client is really getting information in real time about the market and understands their position in order to make a good decision.”


In the past a hesitation by agents in general to be confident in the process is why we don’t see as many auctions in Perth compared to cities like Melbourne, but that’s changing.


For a buyer, having the date of an auction gives you a known timeframe to decide that you want to bid on the house, ready your finances and do any associated homework. It also allows you to view the house numerous times as well.


“For the purchaser, the process is a lot more transparent,” Phil says. “Rather than making multiple offers you are able to compete as you know what the last bid was. Also, the time of the actual sale is compressed into the time it takes to complete the auction.”


Don’t be put off by the number of people who turn up at an auction either. Some of them are simply there to watch and others to take in what can be a rather entertaining and compelling 20 minutes.


“A good auction is quite exciting and entertaining. That’s why it gets a crowd, because it’s an event and people like the sport of it. If you have an engaging auctioneer, it’s even  more entertaining."

IN Full Swing

The upswing is in full swing.


In recent months, we’ve been seeing increasing signs that the residential property market is arising from its slumber and for those who’ve been standing on the sidelines; it really is time to take note of what opportunities are being offered up.


There are green shoots appearing in several sectors of the market. First home buyers are more active as are the so-called upgrade buyers. Investors are responding to higher rental yields and even the top end is showing modest but positive signs again.


Here at Realmark, we’ve been seeing some intense pressure on prices in the $400,000 - $600,000 band and that pressure is beginning to start spreading upwards of the $600,000 mark.


Investors are particularly focussed on properties below $600,000 and the apartment market is noticeably attracting their interest.


Realmark has also experienced a marked increase in properties being referred to its property management division from many renewed or new investors in both the residential and commercial markets.


Even Australia’s top banker – the Governor of the Reserve Bank – last month said that house prices weren’t unreasonably high and affordability is in fact much better than it has been in the past decade or so.


Whilst there are statistics upon statistics, when the person at the helm of all interest rate decisions in this country says house prices have declined to where they were in 2002 and that housing is now more affordable than it was four or five years ago then it’s truly time to sit up and listen.


And that’s when we go back to fundamentals that we now see: construction is down, interest rates are down, supply of houses is tight, rental vacancies are very tight and unemployment is historically low.


At the same time, savings and household income are on the rise, rental returns are strong and rising and buyer enquiries are up.


Add to that the estimated 1,000 or so people flocking into Western Australia each week for the work and the strong economy we have here, and it’s no surprise that the property market is heating up. And right now the market is transitioning from a buyers’ market to a sellers’ market.


So what does that mean for you? As an investment buyer, you need to focus on the quality of the asset, the yield on investment, security, facts rather than emotion and the options to exit.


As a seller, you must be very cautious not to “under sell” in the current environment.


Both buyers and sellers must work with an agent who takes the time to understand their individual needs and goals and then provides them with a selection of selling and marketing options.


In this time of transition, it’s never been more important to seek out an agent that uses the customised solution most suited to YOU.


At Realmark, we call this, My Agent, My Advantage – and it’s what we provide for YOU.