In this episode of The Drive Home to Hawkesbury, Rachael speaks with Sensei Mark Lendrum from GKR Karate ~ Strong + Humble + Brave ~ about a fun in-school Karate Fit Program being held at Windsor South Public School – 77A Church St, Windsor South NSW 2756. Their goal is to teach children the basics of self-defence, how they help build the confidence of those who attend, and some great tips on how to get fit with karate including stretching and flexibility training.

Mark is the Senior Instructor and Regional Manager of Sydney. He oversees the training and administration of over 70 classes, 60 branch instructors and literally hundreds of students who train each and every week.

If you would like your children to get involved or help out in any way, please watch and share this episode to spread the community word.

I Live, Love, Hawkesbury and can’t wait to get into today’s episode.

I’m Rachael Goldsworthy, and welcome to the drive home to Hawkesbury, where I believe every home has a story and I love sharing those stories on real estate in the Hawkesbury with you. Here we share the best ways to add value to your property, and avoid the common mistakes people make when buying and selling property, and how to get the maximum return on your investment with a focus on supporting local business. I live love Hawkesbury and can’t wait to get into today’s episode with you, so let’s get started.
Good morning, good afternoon or good evening depending on what time you’re watching the drive home to Hawkesbury. I’m Rachael Goldsworthy and today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Mark Lendrum, I just punched him into the show.
How are you Mark?
Good Rachael, how are you?
Yeah good, really good. Mark, tell me a little bit where you started with the karate and GKR and a little bit of a history on that for me.
No worries. So, I started with GKR karate when I was 19 years old. I had no martial arts experience prior to that, but I used to play rugby league, and a lot of competitive sports and that kind of stuff. I had an opportunity to come in and become a member of GKR and start training in karate and, yes it’s been really great for my confidence, I was a really shy person when I first started I really hated public speaking, and that kind of thing and my confidence just sky rocketed since I started with GKR. I’ve always fantasised and had dreams of learning martial arts. I used to read the old Blitz magazines and things like that, try to learn the different moves out of there, but just for whatever reason never got involved as kid, but I’ve been training since I was 19, so I’m 28 now, so nearly 10 years of training.
I’ve seen some great videos online and you’re all very active in the karate community, and you’re obviously very talented. My little nephew does karate, little brown belt that he is, and he loves it as well. It’s a great discipline for the kids to learn and also adults to learn as well and I think it serves you well in the community if you feel, you’re walking down a dark alley, you make sure you feel safe doing that I suppose without endangering yourself.
Oh, definitely. Yeah, although I mean 65 or 70% of our students are children. But, I think adults maybe realise how beneficial it is to do some fitness training and martial arts training even in your 30’s and 40’s or even older. Some people are even training in their 70’s. I had a guy I had lunch with today, he’s an instructor with us and he started training when he was 62, and he’s about 64 now so, yeah.
Wow, yeah. And how long does it take somebody when they start karate, to go from the first belt right through to the black belt? Or whatever the belt is that you need to get to to become the master.
Yeah, great question. It depends on the individual, you know, some people are just natural at it and they can up and run with it. Some people take a long time, and it depends how often you train and that kind of stuff. If you’re serious, you take it serious, you get serious results. If you’re kind of casual about it, it’s a really GKR really too is a very community, family kind of orientated club. You know, people just come down just like being around us, and doing a bit of training, not really taking the grading and not too serious about getting a black belt, but then you get the people who are really serious about it and then
Little bit competitive, it doesn’t matter how old you are, there’s still a competitive streak in us all.
Yeah, for sure, yeah yeah definitely.
Yeah, and tell me, you’ve started a programme which is in schools and GKR seems to help the young kids in those school programmes with the karate and there’s a couple focus points that you do and what they get out of doing those programmes in schools. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Yeah, well it’s kind of started I guess over the last year, was going into public schools, and running two types of programmes. We’ve got a stranger danger safety awareness programme which goes through 10 traps to avoid when being approached by someone and how to get around those things, and we also go through, in those programmes go through three self-defense, or escape tactics I guess it’s called, like for little kids if someone grabs them and that kind of thing and how to get out of those kinds of situations. And the other one is more of like a karate fit programme, which is an ongoing, you usually go for the term, and it goes over 10 weeks, some of it is just 5 week programmes, and here with those we just go through, we sort of start small with the foundation, the basics, which is their and then we move onto more advanced things as the term goes on, but the main part of that is teaching self-defense and giving a bit of head start I guess if they want to further their karate career after.
I’ve seen some terrific videos on GKR’s Facebook site, that the kids just love it. They love turning up, it doesn’t feel like a chore to them. It doesn’t feel like it’s a “Oh, gosh, I’ve got to go to karate,” it’s they can’t wait to get to karate, and they can’t wait to get the results as a result of attending the classes with all the teachers and senseis.
Did you manage to check out the Region 2 Facebook page?
Yes, I did, and it’s so cool.
Did you watch the try not to laugh challenge?
I was going to say, the laughing challenge or the, you know, the win. It had me in stitches, I think even the photographer and videographer behind the scenes, she was struggling to keep a straight face as well.
Yeah, Natasha, she’s one of our students as well and I think she enjoyed it a lot too.
Big shout out to Natasha, she had a lot of fun and a big shout out to everybody from GKR and those people that are watching online and if anybody’s got any questions and they want to interact as we’re going through the broadcast, feel free to put them on the screen, we’re happy to get Mark to answer those questions and anything that you might have in regards to karate. So, in regards to the school programmes, is there some way that people can help out with those, because I know it’s only a small donation that might help a child be able to do these courses. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Yeah, well, the last few we’ve been running, we’ve got sponsorships from external companies to run the programme so it actually cost the children at those schools nothing, and it cost the school nothing as well so that’s a bonus. It’s probably as little as $2-3 per child to do a 5 week course. So it’s really not that much and it can help get kids through their stuff, and we really I guess rely on those companies to funding those things so we can run them to their full ability as well.
And you’re doing one in the Hawkesbury at the moment aren’t you? You’re just about to start a programme?
Yeah, we’re just about to kick off 2. We’ve got 1 at Hobartville Public School, which is great, I think they’ve got about 400 students there, so we’re going to be running that a whole day actually, so we’re going to be spending all of Thursday there, it’s just in term 4, so we’re spending all of Thursday there just teaching every one of them karate basics and stuff so it’s going to be a massive day, a lot of fun. And the other one is Windsor South Public School, so we ran one there term 4 last year, and it was massive, it was really really good. That was a 6 week course there, and it was awesome.
I think the kids just love it, and they love being there with their mates and just learning and just sort of playing a bit of team sport together and working out how to do one on one challenges. What do you find with karate is the most challenging for people that want to start?
Good question. I guess maybe seeing themselves as being someone who can do it. Seeing themselves wearing the white outfit and the belt and badge and that kind of stuff. Maybe they feel like it’s a bit beyond them to do and maybe they don’t have the self belief to stand up in front of a group and do the training I guess, but once you start doing it you see some success and you start feeling like “I’m getting the hang of this” and you see the overall health benefits of doing it, you stick around longer and you form a relationship with the instructor and they kind of coach you and guide you and try to get you to each of those belts and levels and hopefully one day you can even get a black belt.
Yeah, absolutely. It seems to me, with what you do and what the team at GKR do, is a real sense of belonging, and a real sense of community. Would that be right?
Oh, definitely. Yeah, GKR karate massive family club, as moms and dads are trying together, with their kids and grandparents as well. There was a tournament a couple years ago and there was a thing called a team kata and kata is basically like a pattern of moves where, it’s sort of like a dance routine, but basically in this team kata there was three generations, so those three people in the team kata, so they had a granddaughter, the mom, and the grandmother doing a kata together and they won a bronze medal at the tournament.
Nice to have the generations through the family and obviously they’re getting a lot out of it, and not only that, you all get to train and have fun together and get on the field together. What do you call it, the mat? Is it the mat in karate?
Yeah, well you can train on the mats if you’re doing like a tournament, sparring, that kind of thing you want to use those, but we mostly train on hardwood floors.
I think you’re a bit of an iron man behind the scenes or even on the scenes with your Facebook page and what you do, but what sort of training does somebody like you have to do to keep as fit as you are and win what you do?
That’s a good question too, I had a couple people ask me that question not long ago, like the last few days. “What do you do to keep your strength up?” I think it should be a rule for yourself, I mean when I go to the gym I don’t like going there, sometimes I don’t like going to the gym, sometimes I don’t like waking up and going to work out that kind of thing. And sometimes I don’t like training, but once you’ve made a decision to do that, now the new excitement is the discipline of doing it every day. It’s a really rare day if I don’t exercise.
I think, too, it’s all about aligning our behaviours with where we want to be, because if we set a goal that we want to be fit or we want to be the best sensei or we want to be the best trainer in karate, you can’t do that by sleeping in, you can’t do that by eating hamburgers and chips for lunch and by not doing the exercise that you need to do. You’ve got to be disciplined I would imagine, and just set those, that ideal week and just go for it.
What you mentioned with the iron man thing, though, that was actually, someone took the photo on the right, which is me. Someone actually made that up from a tournament we had last year at the end of the year, and I did a kata, just the performance, and someone stole that photo and put it next to the iron man kind of doing a similar thing mashed it up and sent it to me. So, I stole that and yeah, I don’t think anyone calls me iron man or anything, I just did the video to be fun.
Well I’ve seen some of the videos and you look pretty iron man to me and you’re out there doing lots of things for the crew there. Who is Mark? And family? Those sorts of things, are they all involved in karate as well?
Yeah, my daughter, she’s six and she tends to tag long to class and that kind of thing. She doesn’t train so much and get involved in the process of doing the grades and that kind of thing. Her and I occasionally spar, and kick and just muck around that kind of stuff. I think sometimes, when you try to be tough, and play that role, that sensei role in the class, you know, I’ve had my daughter come and train with me before, and she gets freaked out because sometimes I’ll be a bit of a different person teaching. So she’s like, “why is dad angry at me?”
Yeah, and yet you’re just putting on that iron man mask that you have to do, and part of what you are on the field or on the mat as you say.
I think she knows how laid back and how fun I am at home. Especially when you’ve got large classes with kids, adults, everyone, that you can’t, you know we have fun, and we get casual a bit too, but you gotta have that serious look sometimes, otherwise kids can, you know you give them an inch and they take a mile kind of thing, and they think everything’s okay.
And, for those that are watching that don’t know, what is a sensei, and how do you become one?
A sensei is a coach, or a teacher, and to become one with GKR, you need to be super keen, super passionate. You don’t have to have the best karate technique, but you gotta have a real passion for helping people, and passion for your karate and train really frequently, and have big goals and that kind of thing. I guess have good communication skills, and be able to communicate that with other people to help them get to where you’re at. Each of those people that we select, go through a 6 week intensive training programme, and then at the end of that, hopefully come out with their sensei degree, and they start helping out in classes for a bit and then one day getting up to teaching their own classes.
Okay, that’s terrific. And how long would it take somebody to get to that point?
Again, I guess it depends on the individual and their background. Going from scratch, with a good personality, probably a year and a half, two years, of good training to start to help out in classes and teaching and that kind of thing. In region 2, which it has split up into regions, my region is region 2, we’ve got around 80, 86 instructors who teach nearly 60 classes throughout the region. And all those guys are volunteers, and they volunteer their time each week to teach those classes, and help the students get to the next level, and I help them get to the next level.
That’s terrific. And the regions that you cover, you talk about region 2, where do you go from in 2, and is this region 1?
Yeah, good question. So, region 2 is probably the largest region in GKR geographically we go from Katoomba all the way through Cherrybrook and Castle Hill and that kind of thing so, it’s a big area with about 34 suburbs that we’re in and 60 classes in those 34 suburbs, and it’s a big thing and we’ve got a big responsibility I guess with that big area to bring high quality self-defense classes and karate classes you know martial arts classes to those people.
Yeah, for sure. And so if somebody wanted to get involved with GKR, they wanted to start becoming either a sensei or even start with the basics, and just get the first belt down pat, how would they get in contact with you, who do they need to speak to?
Yeah, probably the best bet would be to call me directly, I’m not sure if we can share my number maybe in the comments.
I can share your number, please tell me what your number is and I’ll type it in.
04 50 86 1018. So, my name’s Mark and I’m the region manager in Sydney, karate instructor for Sydney region 2. The other thing they can do is jump on the GKRkarate.com website and just send an inquiry through the, fill out like location tracker, or location finder and just find the closest location, you can send an inquiry in and details in somebody will contact you and get your local classes.
Now that’s great. And with Mother’s Day coming up, we always love to reward those special moms that do so much for us. In the karate world, how can we help the moms that want to get fit or just continue their karate journey?
Yeah, definitely, I mean like you and I discussed before we went live, and you know, any mom who would like to get involved between now and their Mother’s day, we’d be happy to organise a free membership and some free gear and stuff to get them trained and say thank you for being an awesome mom. And you get them training and if they have an interest in it, they can take it further and like you said they can become a sensei or a senpai and things like that.
What’s a senpai in comparison to a sensei?
A senpai is an assistant instructor. Well, actually one of my really good instructors is Davy Wujay and he told me that sensei means big brother and senpai means little brother, and shihan, which is, actually the definition of shihan, which is a top instructor is classified as an expert in karate, so shihan is actually like father. So you have a shihan, sensei and senpai, so it’s like a family, and teaching classes with family as well.
I was just going to say that it sort of basically resembles a hierarchy of a family and big little brother and looking out for one another and somebody who’s the an expert and mom and dad sort of looking over the clan and making sure that everybody’s holding steady and on the right path in life. Well, it’s been great to speak to you today, I’ll put the links up as well for people to find GKR karate, but I really appreciate your time and if anybody wants to you know GKR karate and putting some money towards some of the programmes for the schools, if you’re a business and you’d like to support locally to the Hawkesbury or to any of the region 1 or 2 for GKR I’m sure Mark would love to hear from you. I really appreciate everybody being online today and quite a few people who have been online, and we like to say hello to everybody and if you’ve got any other questions that you can’t get through to Mark and you want to speak to me and I can shoot them across to Mark, I’d be happy to do so. So, thanks again Mark, really appreciate your time and look forward to catching up with you on the next episode.
No worries, thank you so much.
You’re welcome.
Talk soon. Bye.
See you later. Bye bye.
Thank you so much for taking time out, listening to today’s episode. If you have any questions on the process of buying, selling, leasing or management, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, and I’d really appreciate it if you could spread the word by liking and sharing this episode with your family and friends. I’m Rachael Goldsworthy and I look forward to catching up with you on the next episode of the drive home to Hawkesbury.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

If you are not sure on

1. Why have a Rental Appraisal or want to know What is My Rental Property Worth? Or equally
2. Why have a Sale Appraisal or want to know What is My Property Worth?

In this episode of The Drive Home to Hawkesbury Rachael helps you navigate through What is a Rental or Sale Appraisal of Property and How to Organise One.

I Live, Love, Hawkesbury and can’t wait to get into today’s episode.

I’m Rachael Goldsworthy, and welcome to The Drive Home To Hawkesbury, where I believe every home has a story and I love sharing those stories on real estate in the Hawkesbury with you. Here we share the best ways to add value to your property, how to avoid the common mistakes people make when buying and selling property, and how to get the maximum return on your investment with a focus on supporting local business. I live love Hawkesbury, and can’t wait to get into today’s episode with you, so let’s get started.
Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on what time you’re listening to this video. I’m Rachael Goldsworthy, and welcome to The Drive Home To Hawkesbury. Today I wanted to cover off on a topic of rental or sale appraisal. Now often as a real estate agent in the Hawkesbury, we get called in to appraise a property, now whether that’s with a rental property or whether it’s somebody that owns a property and they’re actually living in it, owner occupied, and they just want to get an idea as to how much their property is actually worth in the current market.
Sometimes too those properties that people have are managed by different agents, and they don’t necessarily want that particular agent to appraise the property, they want somebody like myself to appraise the property, which is absolutely fine and we’re happy to do that. So if you don’t want to have the same agent that’s leasing your property appraise your property, that’s entirely up to you as to which agent that you do choose. As an agent going out to the property, we just have a look at the property, compare it against other sales that have happened recently, the condition of the property, the fixtures and fittings that you have there, the location, the size of the block, the benefits and features, the amenities, whether there is a fire risk, termite risk. Any of those sorts of things all come into play when you’re looking at appraising a property.
Once you’ve had a look at the property, you can give the owners an idea as to what that is. It generally only takes sort of 15 minutes to half and hour, depending on the more questions you have the longer it will take. But we’re also happy to meet somebody on site if you’re unable to be there yourself, or as I say if it’s already tenanted through another agency we’re happy to help with that as well.
If you have any question in regards to appraising a property, getting an idea as to what sort of rental return you should be receiving for your property, or sale property, we’re happy to help out. I’m Rachael Goldsworthy, I can be contacted on 0418 410 498. Or you can get me at rachaelgoldsworthy.com.au, that’s our website, and also rachael@rachaelgoldsworthy.com.au if you wanted to email me any of your questions, I’m happy to answer them on the next episode. Have a great day, and we’ll catch up with you again soon.
Thank you so much for taking the time out and listening to today’s episode. If you have any questions on the process of buying, selling, leasing, or strata management, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, and I’d really appreciate it if you could spread the word by liking and sharing this episode with your family and friends. I’m Rachael Goldsworthy, and I look forward to catching up with you on the next episode of The Drive Home to Hawkesbury.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

In this episode of The Drive Home to Hawkesbury Rachael covers off on what happens on settlement day when buying or selling a house and how to avoid the common traps on that all important day.

If you have any questions on the settlement of your property or otherwise please do not hesitate to contact me, I’m always happy to help.

I Live, Love, Hawkesbury and can’t wait to get into today’s episode.

I’m Rachael Goldsworthy and welcome to the Drive Home to Hawkesbury, where I believe every home has a story and I love sharing those stories on real estate in the Hawkesbury with you. Here we share the best ways to add value to your property, how to avoid the common mistakes people make when buying and selling property, and how to get the maximum return on your investment with a focus on supporting local business. I live, love Hawkesbury and can’t wait to get into today’s episode with you. So let’s get started.
Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on what time you’re listening to this video. I’m Rachael Goldsworthy and welcome to the Drive Home to Hawkesbury and today I wanted to talk to you about a topic of settlements. Anybody that is buying a house or selling a house, they’ve always got to have that final day where it all comes together and money’s transferred, and either you’re buying the house or you’ve finalised the sale of the house. That settlement is usually on one particular day that’s been booked in by the conveyancers or your solicitor, they have settlement clerks in town that generally attend on your behalf. So as a buyer you don’t need to attend to the actual settlement but you do need to speak to your real estate agent that you’re purchasing the house through, to ensure that you go and have a look at that house prior to. You want to make sure that everything is exactly the way that you saw it, the day that you looked at purchasing and the day that you put the deposit down on the house.
So for example we had one the other day where the owners had moved out but they’d had revivalists come in and look at removing the furniture out of the house for these owners. Now the owners, for all intents and purposes did the right thing and had the removalists do this, but unfortunately the removalist wasn’t that careful in what they were doing, and they removed the washing machine without turning the taps off, which created a little bit of a flood, which luckily enough it was in the back area of the laundry which was all concreted. So there was just water coming out onto the actual cupboard. What we needed to do is just check that there wasn’t any damage to the property. So by having that final inspection on the day of the settlement, it’s much better for the buyer and also for the owner because you want to make sure that everything is right for both parties before you complete that settlement. So, that situation was averted. I was able to turn the taps off, that hadn’t been turned off by the removalists, which is fairly simple.
We isolated the problem, let the owners know, let the buyers know once they were onsite, and everything was a good result for all parties. So in that circumstance, if it hadn’t of been a positive result, and say for example there was damage or water damage or something that had happened, you’d contact your solicitor or conveyance as a purchaser or as a seller, and say “This is the situation, what do you recommend?” Generally speaking they keep some sort of funds in the trust account as a potential hold or a bond, just in case there’s some sort of problem that needs to be fixed. That there’s an agreed price on what that may be, or a reduction it the price. So it really, as I say, depends on each individual circumstance, but it can be sorted out, as long as the communication works well with everybody. I’ve always found it’s been a positive experience for people, as long as you’re all on the same page. So I just wanted to touch base in regards to that.
In regards to the settlement as I say, the buyer and the seller, you don’t need to attend the actual settlement day. The settlement is held generally in town, and that’s booked in by your conveyancer or solicitor. So the only things that you need to do is collect the keys, the fun stuff. Collect the keys from the real estate agent, when the settlement has gone through. Also, as the buyer, you’ll be contacted by your real estate agent and also from your conveyancer or solicitor in that regard. They will help you with that process. Equally, the owner will be contacted by the agent and their conveyancer. Sometimes the conveyancer will call the purchaser first, and we usually get what they call an “order on the agent”, from the conveyancer or solicitor in that matter, so that that confirms that we are able to hand over the keys to the new owner, and it’s all been settled, before we can do that.
So it’s a positive experience for everybody. I always love settlement day. It’s an exciting day for both the seller and also for the buyer because the buyer moves into the dream house that they’ve been wanting, the seller’s actually sold their house, closed the chapter on the book on that one, but going into probably another property. The other thing that can happen on settlement days too is a simultaneous settlement. So often what you’ll find is you have three, four, five settlements that are all reliant on one another. So the buyer may be buying a house, the money that’s put down on the house that they’re buying, that seller is buying another house. The whole process starts again with the other ones.
So it’s really interesting to see how it all comes together, but if you get the right advice, if you need any help in regards to which conveyancer or which solicitor to use, we’ve got any number of people that we can tap into in the Hawkesbury that are most helpful, and even abroad, if there’s other areas that you’re looking at going into, and you’re not too sure. Always happy to help. In regards to settlement, if you’ve got any questions, you know I’m here for you and we’ve done it may times over the years for different people with the settlements, so we’re happy to help you as well. Anyway that’s it from me today. Thank you very much for listening. I really look forward to hearing all your questions, so I can add some more to the next video that we put together for you, but great to catch up with you, and we’ll talk to you again on the next episode. See you later.
Thank you so much for taking time out and listening to today’s episode. If you have any questions on the process of buying, selling, leasing, or strata management, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and I’d really appreciate it if you could spread the word by liking and sharing this episode with your family and friends. I’m Rachael Goldsworthy and I look forward to catching up with you on the next episode of the Drive Home to Hawkesbury.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

On this episode of The Drive Home to Hawkesbury Rachael talks about Local Community Projects such as Bells Line of Road development which follows on from the community meeting on Wednesday with BLORCAG, attended by the community, Local and Federal Members and other Government Departments such as NSW Transport.

We will also catch up with mother of five, Hypnotherapist and Naturopath, Kathryn Hams with some further insight on the questions raised this week from last week’s podcast.

Lots to cover and something for everyone in this Community Noticeboard episode. I Live, Love, Hawkesbury and can’t wait to get into today’s episode.

Rachael: Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on what time you’re tuning into The Drive Home to Hawkesbury. I’m Rachael Goldsworthy, local real estate agent for those that haven’t met me or I haven’t met you, and I’m looking forward to that opportunity. But I’m also joined today by Kathryn Hans. How are you, Kathryn?
Kathryn: I’m good. Thank you, Rachael. It’s a lovely day out there today. The temperature is getting too … you wouldn’t think it’s winter, would you?
Rachael: I know. I was only thinking that over the weekend actually. The temperatures we’ve been enjoying are almost like spring time versus autumn which we’re meant to be into, aren’t we?
Kathryn: That’s right. I mean, this time you’re usually getting your timber together so you can start making those fires for those who have those stove combustion fires inside. And-
Rachael: It’s interesting-
Kathryn: With the way we’ve been having that temperature, too warm.
Rachael: I know. Exactly. Everybody’s been talking about the fires like you said. And interesting you say that too because on the weekend I had a question from a buyer and also from a tenant. The question was around fireplaces and those sorts of things and some times with leases properties have fire places or combustions, and they’re not too sure whether to use them or not. So it’s really important that as part of the lease that it’s included on the lease that the fireplace is okay to use. Because some of the older fireplaces, like those heritage houses that we have in and around the Hawkesbury, they do have fireplaces that have been blocked off because they’ve got such a narrow flue, or they might have been blocked off for other reasons that it might be so wide at the top of the flue that there’s a big draught coming through.
So depending on what the situation is there you need to check before … and this time of year I think … like you, you’ve got an open fireplace or a combustion fireplace. You would know that it’s good to check whether those things are working before you stoke it with copious … and you add some fodder and create a bit of a situation with smoke and also sorts of other things.
Kathryn: Yeah. And most definitely because I do know that with some of those older houses like you’re saying that if they haven’t been used for a while that you really do need to sweep them because you can catch fire inside. And I don’t know if this is correct or not, but some of those really old places, well, they’re not only coal based on something? So they have different sort of fire mediums I think it is that you can use.
Rachael: Yes, it’s an interesting topic, isn’t it? And you’ve quite rightly said the inside of the fireplaces can often have, say for example, a bird’s nest that’s been created over spring time, and if you don’t realise this and you don’t get a chimney sweep in to clean the flue, do what you need to do, sweep it out as you said, you can create a lot of heat in the flue and that may create a fire. So it’s really important for that maintenance on a regular basis. So it’s like anything, isn’t it, whether it’s houses or whether it’s people or whether it’s life in general? If you keep up with that regular maintenance and you stay on top of things life flows a little bit better.
Kathryn: I think also people that have put insulation into their roof … now, I had this happen with my own place where I’ve got a open and a slow combustion. And I had insulation put in the roof making sure that I try to do the good thing for the environment and everything like that. Well, the fellow that installed the insulation batts put it all nicely around the flue that went through, but you don’t do that. And then the first fire we put in there it actually burnt them which then put a fire down into ceiling and then melted the paint back and created the most interesting of smells in the place that took quite a few weeks to get rid of.
So even with people that have newly had things insulated and things, it wouldn’t hurt just to pop up in the roof and just have a look around and make sure everything is okay, because it’s not an experience you’d want to have.
Rachael: No, that sounds dreadful. And I guess too, like you said, making sure you’ve got the right people on the job because if they’re not qualified or if they’re not familiar with that style of house or that style of insulation in and around particular products or materials it’s really important to get it right. So once again engaging the right professional to do the right thing. So we do have contacts with chimney sweeps and those sorts of people and people that insulate the roofs. So if anybody needs any referrals for that, happy to put you in touch with the guys and girls that do that for us. So with all this cooler weather but then beautiful weather at the same time I believe you’ve taken a trip to visit your beautiful grandchildren.
Kathryn: I have. I went up to the Hunter Valley about a week ago and my oldest daughter has got her child up there, my lovely granddaughter Sidney, Sidney Rose. She is teething. So of course as soon as I walked it was, “Hello mom. Here’s the baby,” which is wonderful. So it was great because for everyone out there that’s had children and is going either into grandparenthood like I am it’s when you’re handed the baby you don’t go, “Oh, what do I do?” It just comes back so quickly, so quickly. So I thank God our mind is great and it stores what we need to store. Sometimes it stores not very good stuff. But that was great.
But I think that young moms go through such a lot of new things and things that they haven’t experienced, and to see your child crying and uncomfortable and not being able to help, and of course at that age they can’t speak, apart from being really hard for the child that’s cutting those teeth for the mother or the father it’s also a really hard thing as well. And the grandparent. Don’t forget the grandparent.
Look, my daughter tried cold things, an amber necklace that apparently … my other daughter has a baby. She does that do. The heat of the body is supposed to let off this acid that has got relieving properties for pain and things. By the way that my granddaughter was screaming I don’t think it was working to its maximum that day. But the other thing they’ve got a lot of other natural things they can do with camomile and things like that. But at the end of the day it’s just what happens.
Rachael: Yeah, yeah. I think it’s really important to I guess acknowledge too that when you’re a young mum or dad there’s lots of resources out there but you don’t sort of read a book and go, “Okay. I’ve got this. I know exactly what I’m doing.” Because it’s like anything in life. We’re always learning, aren’t we?
Kathryn: We are. And hands-on experience. I mean, no one can tell you what to experience before you have a child, what it’s going to be like, and every child is unique and different. So in some ways the book is a great guide and with the internet, I mean, a lot of young moms and dads will be just googling away on their phones, and that’s really great, but the one thing I just want to is put out there for everyone is to make sure the information you’re getting is really good quality information. You don’t want to be going to a blog or something, going, “Oh, well, I’ll try that little bit of hocus-pocus,” because it’s your child. So any information. Dr Google is great but really always make sure your source is good.
Rachael: Yeah. No, absolutely. That’s great advice. And what else has been going on for you, Kathryn? Anything exciting?
Kathryn: Well, I’ve been doing my cooking as I always do and been sort of working on the broth situation of doing those. I’m going to put a few videos up. And I want to cook as well, doing the broths with people and teaching them, and just teaching them actually. I did a lot with my daughter when I was up there, the nutritional value in them, but also it’s cost effective. So coming into winter, wonderful time to do it.
Rachael: I love your broths. I think they’re brilliant. You gave me a few pointers on putting things together and what to put in there and it’s so simple. You put them in the slow cookers and away you go. So I’m looking forward to seeing those videos on the broths, and I might be able to help out a few people. And also when you’re marketing a home, I mean, they talk about the bakery and the coffee, but broths go a long way too because there’s some great aromas coming through the house from that. So yeah, really important to get that right.
Kathryn: Gives that homely feel, doesn’t it?
Rachael: It does. I think it’s really important to have that homely feel. It’s like with the feng shui of the house. It’s a harmonious feel as you’re walking through the house. You either walk into a house and go, “Oh, gee, this feels really good. I feel great. I feel energetic. And I could see myself living here,” whereas if you walk into it and you think, “Oh, gee. Look at that colour. Oh, gee, that furniture is out of place,” or things just aren’t right to that person. And I think it’s really important for the art of placement and I guess the positioning of different things throughout the house that makes a difference, the aromas throughout the house. It’s back to the senses, the basic things in life, the decluttering, all of that.
And I’m happy to help out anybody in regards to the feng shui of the home or in regards too just general tips on how to maximise a return on your investment and how to get the most out of your investment. Because a lot of people it’s hard out there trying to look after a family, look out after the young ones, and go to work and is so expensive. So the amount of money that you have left in the pay pack to spend on the house is minimal I suppose in comparison to some other things. So there’re low cost strategies that I employ to make sure you get that maximum bang on the house and just to make sure that it looks great and it feels great, because you want to come home to a nice environment. You want to come home to a peaceful environment and you want to enjoy the space that you’re in whilst you’re living in that house, don’t you?
Kathryn: Well, you do. And I suppose what you’ve got with the home is you’ve got your memories and everything that you go to create. And we have such a big thing about the family home and everyone wanting to buy one that it’s important to have that, as you say. I mean, even when selling, I mean, people are wanting to get the ultimate because they’re move on to either another scale house because their family has grown or something like that.
Rachael: That’s right.
Kathryn: I know when I first walked into the home I have that there was a smell in it that as soon as I walked in I went, “Oh, this is my home.” And I don’t know what it is but it was just something that did that. And it’s all our senses that we have, it’s what we feel with the feng shui and all that. It’s very important to have that declutter. And I know you’ve helped us out. And decluttering I think also declutters your mind as well.
Rachael: Yeah. But I think too a lot of people … and you’ve lived there with your partner for a quite a number of years, what, 16 years I think, 17 year. I think that over time we don’t realise what we accumulate. We all do it. But I’ve been to some client’s homes where they just don’t know where to begin, and I think that that’s the hardest thing. But when you have somebody objectively come into your home … I guess that’s the hardest call to make for somebody to put their hand out and say what’s going on and how can I help.
But equally it’s just the basics, going back to the basics, and once people start making the inroads with that it’s very easy to create the space that you want. And you’ve been really inspired lately in doing some great things around your place. You’ve been painting and you’ve been creating, and it just looks terrific. And I think everybody wants to do different things over the time with their homes, and it’s all positive as you’re moving towards the common goal.
Kathryn: I think what happens, Rachael, I know that with my lot of five kids I’ve got that … and as you wrote I’ve been with my current partner for 17 years. But I’ve been here for about 32 years and, I mean, 32 years of gathering children’s belongings is an interesting thing. And I’m sure there’s a lot of parents out there that have either sheds or garages or rooms that have still got piles and piles of [inaudible 00:12:23] things. And as a parent you don’t want to throw them out but the children also don’t want to take them. But then they come back a few years and they go, “Have you got this? Have got that?” It’s a hard thing. It’s like cutting those open ties that we have as parents with the children and getting to that point.
I know for me that it was overwhelming, totally overwhelming. And because I had Hashimoto’s I didn’t need that extra pressure on me. But to walk around and to look at the house and all the things that were there and you just look and you think, “How did I do this? How did I accumulate it?” It’s like turning around and one day bang, you’ve got clutter. And the best thing for me has been clearing, sorting. And I think if people have some rules and not necessarily rules I say now but work out what works for you. That’s what it’s going to be. One of my children said recently when they were doing a wedding and they said, “If we haven’t spoken to them for two years they’re not coming to the wedding.” Well, look if you haven’t looked at it for so many years or you haven’t used it or you forget about it-
Rachael: That’s right.
Kathryn: Do you need it?
Rachael: Get rid of it. Yeah. Exactly.
Kathryn: That’s it.
Rachael: Out it goes.
Kathryn: You’ve got to have some sort of boundaries and if you can keep that template in your mind and a mindset of how you can create that peace within by decluttering then good luck with it and go for it. And you know what? Garage sales are great. You get a bit of money too. So there you are.
Rachael: No, that’s so true. But, I mean, how many people and ourselves over the years … you have guilt trips everywhere around the house, whether it’s that shirt that you bought 10 years ago that you probably haven’t worn or that dress that’s sort been hanging in the cupboard that somebody gave you and seeing, “Oh, I really love that and I want to wear that but would I? Probably not.” But you don’t want to throw it out because somebody has taken that love and care to give that to you or it’s cost a lot of money or whatever it might be. Or the piece of furniture that your parents or your grandparents or your family members, it’s such a difficult thing to analyse as to which is important to keep or which is not important to keep.
And I think it’s nice to have those things in and around your house that remind you of your family and your friends and the great things that you all did together. But also you’ve got to be practical about what you keep because you can’t keep everything. And as you said 32 years of … which is generally speaking anywhere between 15 and 30 years people have been staying in their houses in and around The Hawkesbury and I find that that’s a pretty common timeline. So there’s a lot of stuff that we all collect over that time.
Kathryn: And I think that when people like giving away … have to get things passed on, like I know I have a piano of my mothers, huge item. What do you do with it? Well, I can’t let it go because it’s my mother, and for that, I mean, that’s where you need some sort of grief sort to part with that thing and look at it with the emotions out of it and say, “Well, okay. I’ve had the piano for so long. Maybe it could go to someone else who could get enjoyment from it.”
Rachael: That’s right. Yeah. So I think decluttering, all that, it’s a really good thing, certainly homes that have a lot of memories. And talking about a lot of memories with homes. You went to that talk during the week on Wednesday night about what they’re doing up at [inaudible 00:16:00], didn’t you? And you got a lot of-
Kathryn: Yes.
Rachael: Interesting things from that?
Kathryn: Yeah. Look, it was a community meeting held by the Bells Line op Road Action Group and I’ll put a link up here as we speak so that everybody’s got that there. But yeah, it was an interesting talk. There was a lot of people there. There was a lot of emotion in and around what was said, and you can understand why because there’re homes that have been lived for a long period of time, there’s families that have got businesses that have been there and they’re reliant on the income from the produce from those farms. And also it’s getting close to being gazetted. So local council was having a meeting tomorrow again, and I believe if you wanted to attend you can. And if you wanted to say anything you can speak. Yeah. You can contact council and let them know before 3:00 PM tomorrow that you wanted to have something to say or put forward your ideas. From 6:30 the meeting starts.
But I’m getting to try and get a couple of interviews, one with the BLOR group and also one with some local councillors just to get some different ideas as where things are headed with this and what’s actually going to happen as a result of it being gazetted if that does actually happen. But there’s a lot of … It was emotionally charged and I think it was a difficult night for a lot of people. But I thinking the discussions need to be had so that we can all get to the bottom of it and work out what the best way forward is. And I think out of the 192 kilometres of corridor that the New South Wales Transport were putting forward, they suggested that that would change because there’re such a large amount as to what was going to change. There was questions around that and also how the properties were going to be taken over.
So if they gazette it and they put that down for that particular area or that particular option then those homes are earmarked. And with the flow-on effect of sale value for people what information was available, how that was going to be calculated, what sort of timeframe it would take for these sorts of things to come into play. So yeah, interesting to follow it. But once again I’ll put up the website. If you go to their website you can join it if you’re a local person, and it is on Facebook. That’s their group there, and a bit of information in and around. And whether you’re for or against it doesn’t matter. It’s just good to be aware of what’s happening in your area and good to have the discussions so that it reduces fear and equitable for all parties moving forward.
Rachael: And the trouble is with this sort of thing, and it’s happening a lot through Sidney and other areas as well, is that when people I should say get their homes affected or their business or where we’ve just been talking about, the family home and 32 years of memory and things like that, that you can understand when going [inaudible 00:19:17] like that there’s a lot of emotionally charged people that are working off the fact they’ve paid their taxes, they’ve paid their council rates, they’ve done everything they thought, and even when purchasing their property it was never what had been written of where it was going to go, they trusted all that, but their feelings it’s ripped out from under their feet.
The problem is though that when you get a whole group of people together and even though it’s great to be united in your stats that emotional charging tends to get knee-jerk reactions. And those reactions aren’t actually positive, unfortunately, and sometimes it’s good to get a solid sort of group of information and really sit down and try and nut it out with council and to go along to [inaudible 00:20:08] and really try to work positive for a really good outcome for everyone.
Kathryn: Yeah. No, it’s a really good point. I completely agree. It is an emotional time for people but if you don’t go to the meetings or of you don’t talk to councillors, if you don’t speak to New South Wales Transport, if you don’t get involved your vote doesn’t basically. So ultimately fit in, get involved, find out what’s going in your local area, and make a contribution if you wanted to do that. And speak to the local councillors. They’re very approachable. Speak to New South Wales Transport, speak the Bells Line of Road Action Group because everybody is open to discussion and I think that that’s a good thing.
However, I guess it’s come to a point where there’s for and against and it’s just trying to nut all of that out. And as you said it’s good to try and get to a common ground that yes, you may not all of the points from one side to the other, but at least there’s some sort of compromise on both parties, and hopefully we’re able to get to that point where the majority are able to secure the best future for themselves and for the community. Yeah.
Rachael: And I think that when you say about the councillors that they’re approachable and even your local members and things like that-
Kathryn: Absolutely.
Rachael: I think people have to remember that we’re all people. We’re just people with jobs. That’s it. And they have to carry out the job they have to carry out to bring home the income to their families. So in the end they’re people and their families and we’re all living in The Hawkesbury. Absolutely. So working together really is a great thing to do.
Yeah. I completely agree. And as you say they’ve all got families, they’ve got children as well and they’re people. So whilst the anger may be directed at them perhaps it should be redirected to working out the best way forward rather than personal attacks on people, because it’s hard enough as it is I would imagine for them being in the public eye, but to be able to have a conversation with them, approach them, and speak to them because they are human beings. They’re just like all of us. And they want the best way forward for their community too. And whether we’re on the same side or not on the same side it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day if you don’t have the discussions you’ll never know, and I think it’s good to have those discussions and catch up with people as much as you possibly can and get involved.
Kathryn: Yeah. And as you said, working together, working hard at things is good. And from what I have heard from a little birdy and a puppy dog that you got there that you’ve been nominated was it was for the Women’s Altitude Businesses Excellence Awards.
Rachael: Oh, thank you Kathryn. Yes, the team and myself had been nominated for the Business Excellence Awards and we really appreciate the nomination from everybody. I guess it’s a lot of hard work of years, slugging away at different things. But we want to feel as though we make a difference and to be recognised we’re very humbled for that. And there’s a lot of great business out in the Hawkesbury and Nepean and abroad and in the mountains and I applaud everybody for the nominations, and also the ones that weren’t nominated. It doesn’t matter. We’re all in there together. And essentially that’s one of the reasons why I set up the Drive Home to Hawkesbury too is to reach out to other local businesses, because sometimes it can be a lonely place when you’re working in that business. And to have those other local businesses working together on the same page and to share ideas and thoughts.
I know that that wasn’t available to me when I first started business years ago, about 20 years ago. So I thought it was a really important part of that, and it’s just really nice to be nominated. There’s some great sponsors for that event for Women with Altitudes, Commonwealth Bank and Goodford Home Loans and there’s some other great people that are involved with that. But also great local business too. And I’m very proud and humbled to be part of that process and thank you for saying something [inaudible 00:24:32].
Kathryn: So when does it actually happen, Rachael?
Rachael: I think we’ve got a cocktail party on this week to announce the nominations. So that should be a fun night, getting to catch up with everybody, networking as they say, and just running out what going on for other business and how they’re doing things better out there in the community.
Kathryn: And where are they holding that?
Rachael: That’s at the Commonwealth Bank I believe at Penrith. So that should be good, “Hi, Barry. How you going?” Yeah. That should be really good, and we’re looking forward to catching up with everybody on the night. Yeah.
Kathryn: That’s good. And so you have the cocktail party. And what comes after that?
Rachael: I think it’s a gala ball that will be held coming up, get the party dress on and-
Kathryn: Yeah. That’s what I’m thinking here. Cocktail dresses, party dresses.
Rachael: All of that and more. Yeah. No, it sounds like a great night out. And I think Women With Altitude is a terrific organisation. They’ve been doing this for quite a few years now and supporting the local business. And I think the more people realise that the more you do things together with people the more we all achieve. And in essence that’s what I think is our businesses. We can’t do what we do without working cohesively with our community, with our staff, and we really appreciate the opportunity to do that.
I started as a solo practitioner. I had my two puppy dogs and one cat. We lived and worked from home. And that was my office. And then we’ve grown the business from that to essentially six staff or five staff and sign written vehicles and commercial premises and signs everywhere. And business is great, rent roll and those sorts of things. Strata, we look after the sales, we look after … but more importantly the community I think because it’s a big part of my life and big part of being involved with that. And I think Women With Altitude do that very well. So thank you very much to the team over there, Andrea, Stephanie, Erica, Christine and everybody else that’s involved with that. They’ve also got a men’s component to that. So there’s also a men’s awards night. So they don’t miss out as well. Some great guys in business too and it’s nice to applaud everybody within the community.
Kathryn: Yeah. And I think that like you say with the sign writing on cars I notice when I drive around that I see so many businesses and people getting out there and having a go, and I’d have to say that it really pumps me, it makes me feels good that we’ve got that attitude that get out and have a go. And there’re young people too some of them that got these aspirations of X, Y, Z. And people like yourself, Rachael, that work your way up and put the hard hours in and you to what you’re doing then you get recognition. It’s what you give in a mentoring talk to everyone else out there or young women that think, “Oh, I can’t do this.” You stand there as a person saying, “Well, you can.” And I think that’s really important.
And these awards are important to recognise the excellence in that sort of format. But as you said too there’s other people that may not get mentioned but they’re down there and they’re still working and they’re still doing it. And I just think it’s great to have that attitude in life of having a go and being able to stand up and say, “Well, look, it’s possible.”
Rachael: Yeah. And I thank you, Kathryn. It’s a great experience and it’s lots of fun to be involved with. I’m in the trenches with everybody else. I’m at the cold phase of the business. I certainly don’t ask anybody to do anything that I wouldn’t be happy to do myself. So I’m putting up signs, I’m putting up flyers. I’ve done lots of different things over the tears, and it’s all part and parcel of it. But I think having these online platforms as well to be able to say hello to everybody and meet so many great people, tenants and landlords, and owners and buyers, they’re all people like ourselves.
And we’ve all got unique situations, and it’s just a matter of finding out what it is that they need help with and how we can best help them achieve what they want to with their goals and aspirations in regards to their homes. Because some people they’re renting a home and they’re so house proud that they love catching up with you and I love catching up with them, and the same thing with owners and people that have Strata. It’s all part and parcel of it. And it’s nice that you get to met their family, you get to meet their partners, you get to meet the important people in their lives, and you become part of the fabric of their life.
And I love that about my job. I love being involved with everybody in the community, and your clients actually become your friends and that’s a nice thing. And you get a lot of referrals from generations of families. So I’m getting grandchildren now from people that I’ve sold, from their children and their grandchildren, giving my age away a little bit here. But certainly it’s terrific to be involved in that process and certainly making me really exciting.
Kathryn: And I’ve got a question here for you because you say you get the grandchildren coming through now too. And you would have seen a lot of movement in house pricing over the years that you’ve been doing that, and I know because I have children that are trying into the market and it’s so hard. I mean, when we look at the prices of housing and what they have to put down as deposits and things like that do you think that somehow with how it used to be that [inaudible 00:30:39] the houses percentages the same or do you think it is really, and do you come across that a lot? That would have to pull on you to know that there’s young people out there trying to break in and yet the prices are what they are.
Rachael: Look, it’s a really good question, Kathryn, and I think that the stats that we’re looking at at the moment is 50% of the population currently are millennials. The median house price at the moment is just over a million dollars in Sidney, which seems really unaffordable. However, the projections for the next 20, 30 years is that the median house is going to move to 3.5 to 4 million and the millennials obviously will grow and then we’ll have a new group of people through. But it is all relative. You look at the wage amount now versus 20 years ago, the first house that I sold in The Hawkesbury was about 100000. Now, you just sort of think, “Well, why weren’t people buying the streets out? That’s so cheap.” But the wages weren’t very much at all in comparison to that.
So what the Asian countries have gone to they’ve gone to a generational loan scenario so that whilst the house and land, all those sorts of things, generally not land because there’s not much of it over there now available, but they’ve moved to generation loans because nobody can afford to buy a home themselves. So mom and dad might buy the house, they’ll start the loan, and then as the years go by they’ll pay down the loan to certain amount but then the kids will take over. The parents will still live with the children. However, the loan is then taken over by the children. And then so it goes down to the grandchildren, and you might find three generations are living within that home, which is such a nice thing to do. They really care for their family and their parents. It’s important part of Australian life and culture as well. But I think that they do that really well and their generational loan then becomes more affordable or more achievable because it is sort of worn down over the time.
But certainly it’s difficult. You’re quite right with median house price in and around a million dollars. Where do people get that from? But I guess the best advice I could give in that regard is to start saving early. Put away that 10% that you can, but also get in touch with a financial advisor that can give you the right advice around the best strategies to save the right amount of money or what sort of deposits you need for that house. Because sometimes you can buy houses with smaller deposits instead of paying the 10% deposit down to a 5% deposit. And that can often be very prior to the negotiations. So that’s possible. But also you can buy property with very little money down, so depending on whether it’s an option or whether it’s something else that you’re looking at. There’s all strategies that can be tackled to help you secure that house.
Kathryn: I know with my children that I could help them out as a person owning a home with some sort of guarantor help them to the bridge in. and I suppose that I don’t have a lot of … probably people know about this, but I think different lending agencies have different requirements and things. But I suppose I thought of that because of what you said about the family home and … We really are talking about starting today’s interview with the chimney right down to your excellence awards in what you’ve been doing which has just been producing this wonderful atmosphere for people to be able to buy or rent places in, to the point of actually people being able to do it and the young ones coming through and getting their down.
Rachael: Yes. I think it’s hard. I do agree that it’s all relevant to wages. It’s probably because … and I’m older than you and I’m looking at it and saying, “Well, you’re right.” I mean, the place I purchased was $75000 and why didn’t I buy up heaps either because $75000 was a lot money back then.
Kathryn: It was. My parents have told a few stories about $14000 as one of the first purchases that they made. And back then that was really difficult to find that $14000, and you’d look at houses every weekend. You’d do the same thing. But instead of scouring the internet you’d be scouring the newspaper, instead of ringing on a mobile you’d be ringing on a landline, or you’d be sending a letter to somebody, very official, that they wanted to have a look at the house on the weekend. So those sorts of things. Lots of things, the changes.
But I think that it’s important to look at the alternatives because even though you may be a millennial and you may be struggling with, “How I’m I going to get this deposit? There’s no way I’m going to afford a million dollars. There’s just no way I’m ever getting into the property market. That’s it. I’m going to live with mom and she’s going to take care of everything for me. Mom and dad they’re just going to look after me.”
Rachael: Well, you know you do it a lot for your family and you do help to a certain extent. But there comes a time where we’ve all got to stand on our two feet and we’ve got to go to the right people that can give you the advice. I’m happy to help out, work out a strategy with people in regards to what their strategy is for a home. Equally, I can put you with the right financial people that can help you with that plan. It’s not only just a home loan that you’re looking at from a financial plan but also people … big shout out to Sue Wingate. She’s brilliant at Windsor. She looks after lots of people, financial advisor. There’re accountants that know exactly what they need to know to be able to get people heading in the right direction and how to maximise the return for your properties and how to do it the best way.
So there’s lots of alternatives, and that’s what I say to people. Don’t worry. If you feel as though it’s too overwhelming or you can’t do it there is a way around different things or a strategy that we can work out to head towards that. It might not be yesterday when you wanted to be in the house. It might not be today. But it might be in a couple of months that we worked towards, 6 months or 12 months, depending on what it is. Because even some things like whether you’re a casual at your employment or whether you’re part time or whether you’re full-time will all adjust the amount of money that you can borrow. So whilst I’m not a financial advisor and I’m not giving any financial advice I think it’s important to understand the distinctions between there and to be able to refer onto the right people.
That’s the same thing with what you do, Kathryn, with your hypnotherapy and naturopathy. It’s important to have the right person to go to and trust and have that information on hand so that you’re able to get out to the community. So if somebody did want to get in touch with you how would the do that, Kathryn?
Kathryn: Well, they could call me on my mobile phone, 0408 411 865 or they can email me or there’s a link probably somewhere that we could put on for them if them to my Facebook page. No, I think that’s really good [inaudible 00:37:58] about working towards a home and while they work towards it with you, Rachael, I’ll help them create their dreams.
Rachael: Terrific. Happy to help out. And for those that I haven’t met or Kathryn hasn’t met we’re looking forward to catching up with you. I’m Rachael Goldsworthy and I can be contacted at the rachaelgoldsworthy.com.au website or you can email me at rachael@rachaelgoldsworthy.com.au or contact.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The Drive Home to Hawkesbury had some exciting news to share at 12 noon today. Thanks to those that tuned in live to find out first! Don’t forget to send me your real estate questions, happy to answer your questions.

I Live, Love, Hawkesbury and can’t wait to get into today’s episode.

I’m Rachael Goldsworthy, and welcome to The Drive Home to Hawkesbury, where I believe every home has a story and I love sharing those stories on real estate in the Hawkesbury with you. Here we share the best ways to add value to your property, how to avoid the common mistakes people make when buying and selling property, and how to get the maximum return on your investment with a focus on supporting local business. I live love Hawkesbury, and can’t wait to get into today’s episode with you, so let’s get started.
Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on what time you’re watching this video. I’m Rachael Goldsworthy, and welcome to The Drive Home to Hawkesbury. Today I wanted to send you a live video just to say hello and wish you a good day, but also with a bit of an update for a couple of things that have been happening lately. For those that have been watching me regularly, you know my puppy dogs sit with me whilst I’m doing these videos, so Topsy wants to say hello. She featured on the last video … Yes, she’s saying hello to everybody today. Okay, I might introduce her to you again later on.
Just wanted to touch base and let you know that today, or yesterday it was, I went out to the Real Estate Institute New South Wales Roadshow. I caught up with Tim McKibbin, he’s the CEO, and also Leanne Pilkington, she’s actually the President of REINSW. Great people and doing some great things out there for the industry, especially for the real estate agents that are in the industry because things are always changing in what we’re doing and one of them in particular is the laws or the legislation around the registration of licences. So the next renewal for all of the agents that are out there, we all have different changes that are made. So people that have a Certificate of Registration will no longer be able to be an agent, they’ll have to become an assistant agent until they obtain their licence. So that’s a really big distinction for the agents. Hi to everybody that’s online and joining me, I really appreciate it, thank you.
I think it’s really important that they lift the bar for real estate agents, because I think they put a spreadsheet up on the screen that basically said that there was more training involved in being a barista than there was being a real estate agent. Now that’s …. I mean, I know it’s a serious thing making coffee and those sorts of things, because we all like our daily coffee, however being a real estate agent I take it very seriously and I’ve studied long and hard for many, many years and I continue to study even after 20 years of being in real estate. I think that a lot of real estate agents do take it seriously, but I think some do want to get into it I suppose, just because they see that you can make money very quickly and it looks easy, so let’s just bang up the sign and see how we go. There’s so much more behind the scenes that goes on with a real estate agent and the process of marketing a home for sale, or for rent, or for being involved with strata. It is challenging out there for a lot of consumers trying to navigate through that, but to have an agent that is actually qualified and knows all the ins and outs is really important.
So I think it’s great that the changes are coming, but I’ll do some more videos as we get closer to it. But the renewals are looking like towards the end of the year; once October hits that’s kind of the cut off date for those sorts of things. So real estate agents that only have a CoR they need to be looking seriously about what sort of traineeships that they’re going to be taking on as an agent, and progressing their knowledge to a licenced agent’s position. Equally the licencee in charge, different things are happening for them as well. So that will change for the consumer, hopefully change the experience for a consumer to make it a little bit easier for them to navigate through the different agencies and on what the services are that they have available.
A couple of other things that I’ve been organising too; I’ve got some exciting news in regards to a book launch. I was going to enlist your help if I can. I’m going to put a couple of ideas up. We’ve had a lot of feedback from the different things that we’ve put up over the years, and one of the favourite posts that people have is the quotes, the daily quotes. What I’m doing is I’m putting together a book and going to launch that this year, just in regards to different series of quotes that we have. So if you’ve got any suggestions in regards to that, or what there is available, more than happy for you to do that. I’ll put a couple of nominations up there and see which ones you think are the best book covers, and hopefully between all of us we’ll be able to decide it and put those books out this year.
I did actually go to the Bells Line of Road meeting as well on Wednesday night, so I’m going to have a further update for you. But what I also did … That’s in regards to the changes that are happening at Bells Line of Road, the movement with New South Wales Transport. There was a big meeting with a lot of people there, local council, and we’re organising interviews this week for next week. So I’ll have some people, hopefully a representative from Bells Line of Road the action group, and also some local councillors that were interested to come on and have a bit of a chat and share some ideas and thoughts around what is actually happening up there and the notice that’s been given and also the process that’s involved with that.
Third but not last, I just wanted to say a big thank you. A big thank you to everybody that has nominated myself and my team. We’ve become the finalists in the business awards for excellence, so Business Excellence in the Women for Altitude Awards, and I’m really proud of that for the team and myself. But they work really hard and I certainly couldn’t do it without them. I’ve got Joanne who looks after all of the trust accounting and has been … We worked out the other day, it was 25 years she’s worked alongside me. Melissa and Sandra and Warren and also all my puppy dogs have been fantastic supports over the years, and I just wanted to say a big thank you to my clients as well. Because I couldn’t do what I do without everybody else doing what they do and also the support from the local community. So thank you very much. I will post some details of that online, but equally these sessions that I’m going to be doing online as well will be in and around real estate.
We do have questions from time to time, generally every week we’re always getting questions. So I will post as many of those as I possibly can for you. I’ll post up the book launch details as well, so that you can help me out if you possibly can in regards to that, and also the interviews for next week I’ll let you know as I’m going to be scheduling those. So thanks very much. I want you to all have a wonderful weekend, it looks like the sunshine’s come out for us again this week, and it’s going to be a great weekend for everybody. I’ll catch up with you again on the next episode. Take care, and have a great weekend.
Thank you so much for taking the time out and listening to today’s episode. If you have any questions on the process of buying, selling, leasing, or strata management, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, and I’d really appreciate it if you could spread the word by liking and sharing this episode with your family and friends. I’m Rachael Goldsworthy, and I look forward to catching up with you on the next episode of The Drive Home to Hawkesbury.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS