The Balmain Hospital

Next Tuesday, on August 10, the Balmain Hosptial will be holding an open day to celebrate its 125th Anniversary of providing health care for the district. The hospital will host the public in a festival full of guided tours, music, food and showbags! Everyone is welcome and it should be a fantastic day.

The hospital began in 1885 to support the growing population of the penninsular. In the beginning, only men could recieve treatment at the hospital, while women still had to commute to the city. This changed when as the hospital grew and changed it's location to Booth St, where it still stands today.

Social Media & Real Estate

Real estate is a business that is all about being noticed and providing customers with the best access to our services. One thing that is new to the industry is the addition of social media sites like Twitter, linkedin and Facebook as a tool to build a client base and promote our stock. This is an area that we at Sarah Lorden are looking into seriously and I have taken on the role to explore this new medium to its full potential.
So I then pose a question to you - what sort of information would you like to receive from your real estate agent's Twitter or Facebook account? News on properties and market news? Or peices and comments on community happenings? Or special topics on the industry and area?

This is a topic that I would love to hear your feedback on so we can make this work for you. Would you follow us on Twitter or Facebook? And if so, what type of information would you like to receive?

The History of early Real Estate Agents in Balmain & Rozelle

Happy Easter Everyone!

Today I thought I'd talk about the history of the pioneering real estate agents in Balmain and Rozelle. We all know that for the past 14 years Sarah Lorden Real Estate have been paving the way in real estate excellence throughout the area, but who were the original Property Agents in Balmain? Many of these agents have streets named after them and some even became influential members in the local government.

The very first land auction that took place in Balmain was on the 25th October 1836 in Lookes Avenue, Balmain East. Marine Captain John Roach, purchased what was then known as Lot 9 but what is now known as 13 Lookes Avenue. He later sold this plot of land to real estate developer Joseph Looke who built the current house on it in 1840.

Alfred Hancock - known as the "Father of Rozelle" was an estate agent who encouraged the working class in the area to build and own their own homes. He along with his business partners William Paling and Louis Foucart bought up large areas of Balmain & Rozelle and sold them off in allotments. Hancock St in Rozelle is named after him, Elizabeth St Rozelle is named after his wife while Percy St Rozelle is named after his son. Other areas such as Ruess St, Birchgrove and Springside St Rozelle were also in his portfolio. Hancock lived in Balmain at Mertonville (what is now Cashman Reserve, the park between Lawson, Beattie & Elliott Streets).

Roger Kenniff - Was an estate agent who owned the area around Kenniff Street, Rozelle. He was Alderman on the Balmain Council in 1882-86.

George Clubb - Was an estate agent that became Mayor of Balmain in 1909, 1912-13. Clubb Street Rozelle is named after him.

Robert Ford - was a well known agent in the 1860's. He lived in Ewell Street.


George Paul - was Balmain's most successful auctioneer in the early 19th century. He bought the area what is now known as Paul Street, Balmain East in 1836 and built two houses - both which still stand - c.1840 7 Paul Street & c.1843 13 Paul Street. George Paul's auctioneering firm became the most successful in the Colony. In 1828, he and his brother became the proprietors of The Australian newspaper.


An unknown real estate agent also gave the original title of "the Avenue" to The Avenue in Balmain at the first round of land sales in 1885. We have evidence of the kinds of prices that the lots on The Avenue sold for "...prices ranging from 4pounds to 19pounds per foot."

Interesting to see how much 4pounds would buy you now days!!

Birchgrove - A suburb that began with a single house.

Well hello again!
I'm sorry I haven't written in a while, I have recently become super agent Cherry Owen's assistant and she's had me rushed off my feet!
We've seen the market in Inner West take off with media reports showing a growth in the area by over 11% in the past year!
http://www.smh.com.au/national/affluent-suburbs-lead-new-rise-in-house-prices-20100127-myzj.html
While Balmain is now considered to be a new member of the million-dollar suburb club: http://www.smh.com.au/news/domain/australian-capital-territory/milliondollar-clubs-unlikely-new-members/2010/03/22/1269106231444.html

Today I want to talk about the suburb of Birchgrove which is buried in the northern end of the peninsular and is now, one of the premier suburbs in Sydney.

The original inhabitants of the Birchgrove area were aboriginals belonging to the Eora gens. The land back then was known as "Yurulbin" or "Swift running waters". In 1796, the area was granted to a Private George Whitfield by Governor Macquarie who built an orange grove on the area. In 1806, the land came under the ownership of Captain Edward Abbott who was a key member of the Rum Rebellion that deposed Governor Bligh. Abbott was later court marsheld for treason and sent back to England but not before he had sold the land to John Birch, a paymaster, of where Birchgrove gets its name.

In 1810, 22 years after the First Fleet landed in Sydney, John Birch built the first house on the Balmain peninsular and named it "Birch Grove." It stood for 157 years until 1967 when it was demolished. At the time of its demolition, it was the second oldest house in Australia. The site of Birchgrove House is where no.67 Louisa Road currently stands. I will speak more about Birchgrove House in the future.

In 1882, the NSW government purchased land to build the Birch Grove Recreation Ground, what is now known as Birchgrove Oval.

A bridge was also proposed to be built from Yurulbin Point to Manns Point in Greenwich. But it was scrapped because the tight road of Louisa Road would have made the thoroughfare impractical.

Getting into the Christmas Spirit!

The holidays are coming! Yay!! I know I need one!

It has been a rollacoaster year and some R&R is well deserved!

For some out there, Christmas is a lonely and difficult time and I think we should all do our part to help our fellow Australians in a period that should be a happy time. For the last two weeks, Santa came to Balmain and sat his chair at Loyalty Square for photos. Myself and the team at Sarah Lorden helped by becoming honorary elves for the day, giving out candy canes and collecting food and money for the Salvation Army. It was a great day where the kind citizens of Balmain helped raise over $500 in donations plus many boxes of food. Santa had his hands full too with over 140 children (and some adults!) posing for photographs.

I had a great time, skipping around in tight elf outfit that revealed a little bit too much, passing candy canes out to shoppers!

What am I doing over the break?
I will be spending Christmas with my family up at the Blue Mountains where I plan to get some awesome gifts (mum, if you're reading this, take note!)

I will also be off work for the month of January, indulging in some of my passions in outdoor adventure. On the cards is a summer climb of Mount Kosciusko, caving and canyoning in Jenolan Caves and a spot of white water rafting. I will be returning after Australia Day full of more stories and interesting info about Balmain and what I got up to in the break.

Next year, I will also be starting a new position within Sarah Lorden Real Estate as the assistant to Cherry Owen and if you are thinking of selling in 2010 you should make sure that you call Cherry or myself for an appraisal. We, as a team, will be a tour-de-force next year and it would be an honor to have you benefit from our future success!

I am wishing you good luck and success in 2010. In Chinese years, it will be the year of the Tiger which means it will be a very lucky and engaging year. The tiger protects us from dangers such as fire and burglary and because the tiger is a wanderer, it will be lucky in 2010 to decorate your home with pictures and artifacts of your travels and adventures.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I will see you in 2010!
Daniel.

Has the first home buyers grant really been beneficial to buyers?

It's no secret that the rite of passage of owning your first home in Sydney has become a near impossibility. A few years ago, the government created the first home buyers grant as an effort to encourage young buyers into the market. Initially, the feedback was positive but the results were not as progressive as the government had hoped. Last year, the government added an additional incentive - another $7000 to increase more first home buyers to the market. There have been a couple of positives and negatives with this move.

In 2008, the real estate market was at a lull. It was a period where stock was not only low, but so was selling. The causes of this have been attributed to the GFC and a general consensus that properties were over-valued in the Sydney market. There were complaints from renters too - rental vacancy rates were as low as 1% in many areas and the cost of renting increased by an estimated 20% in just 2 years. It was not only expensive to buy, but for many it was also becoming too expensive to rent. I remember as a leasing officer, one open house I held in Annandale - we had nearly 81 people through in a half an hour period and a line out the front door that went to the end of the street. Crazy times! The government's initiative to boost the first home buyers grant gave many buyers the opportunity to buy their first home. This was a good thing, rental rates eased, rental prices plateaued and coinciding with the record low interest rates, properties were beginning to sell again.

In 2009, the $14,000 grant and the record low interest rates made it one of the best times to buy in 40 years and the market quickly started to flood with buyers. However market stock did not grow very much in 2009. It took a while for vendors to let go of their assets in the wake of the GFC. So what began to happen was that the low stock, and high influx of buyers, fuelled by the first home buyers grant, resulted in housing prices starting to increase. It was the quickest market turn around that I had ever seen. It started as the best time to buy in nearly 40 years to suddenly switching and becoming one of the best times to sell in 40 years! Competition grew and many buyers were looking for a bargain gem, but so were a hundred other buyers in the same price range. Properties were going on the market with little or no competition and, because cut-off dates had been set for the grants to end in September and December, it enticed a flurry of furious bidding at auction pushing the housing prices up.

I can see many of you rolling your eyes with you're own experiences at auctions like these. You've paid for a building and pest inspection, you've worked out the finances and you turn up on the day ready to bid only to have someone else open the bidding at a ludicrously high price. At the end of the auction the property has sold for $70,000 more than what you were willing to pay for it.
I have heard may stories like this in the past year. I had one buyer say to me: "What is the point of having a $14,000 government grant when you buy the house for $70,000 more than it's value?" The answer: None.
The high house prices have knocked many buyers back to square 1 - unable to afford a house.

So what will happen in 2010?
Well the commonwealth bonus ceases on December 31st, and the $7000 Grant will remain until June 2010. This will take quite a bit of wind out of the sails in the buyers market. There has been talk that investors would fill that gap, but it looks like many investors have seen the high prices in the market and have stayed away, waiting for cheaper times. The interest rates will continue to climb, restricting peoples ability to finance their purchases and we are now seeing more stock coming onto the market. With all of these factors coming to a head in the first half of 2010, one can estimate that a probable scenario is a slowing of the market. The bubble may well just burst in a few months and we could start to see housing prices plateau in Sydney. Will they go down? If they fall, they won't fall by much, but there is a good chance that we are going to soon see an end to record sales prices in many areas.

So what should you do?
Stay informed and keep your eyes open. There are many other commentators out there who would disagree with my prediction, and they could be right, if I had a crystal ball I'd be out buying a lotto ticket right now! But the signs are pointing to a climax when the market will begin to turn and I believe it will be in 2010.

But back to the inital question: Has the First Home Buyers Grant really been beneficial to buyers? There can be no doubt that it did help those buyers who moved quickly to secure a property before the crowds and while prices were low. But for those who entered the market later, they found that the grant had too broad an appeal and buyers were wasting their money on building and pest inspections, loosing at auctions and leaving with nothing. It became a frustrating and upsetting process with little reward.

I welcome any comments or opinions on this article, including those of my professional peers.

The Origins of Darling Street

Everyone knows Balmain's Darling Street. It is the main life-line to and from the peninsular and is the most important and central road in the area. In this week's blog, we will explore the origins of Balmain's most important street.

The first land sale in Balmain took place in 1836. At that time, just 3 streets were marked on the peninsular - Nicholson St, Johnston St and Darling St. (a fifty foot dirt track leading from Balmain Road to where the wharf now stands). The origins of the dirt road that became Darling Street, was originally used as a thoroug fare by off duty soldiers from the prison on Cockatoo Island, from Birchgrove to Peacock Point, where they would embark on a ship into Sydney Cove. This worn track brought settlers whom settled, traded and enjoyed the security of the patrolling soldiers in the area.

Originally named after Sir Ralph Darling, Governor of New South Wales from 1824-1831, Darling Street went through a number of other name changes such as "Great Ferry Road," "Main Ferry Road", and "High Street". Before the trams, there were two Darling Streets in Balmain. From the ferry wharf to Loyalty Square (where the Woolworths now stands) the road was known as Darling Street then it forked at the Unity Hotel into Upper Darling Road - which is the path Darling Street today follows into Rozelle; and Lower Darling Road- what today is now known as Beattie Street.




Early settlers were attracted to settlement on Darling Street because it was "on a lovely elevation which partakes of the genial influence of the north-east winds, and the climate is mild and salubrious" - words like genial and salubrious are lost in today's real estate vocab which would probably read more like: "a rare opportunity to secure a prize piece of land with panoramic coastal views, gently kissed by welcoming north-east winds, and situated in a sunny and clean position. Don't miss this opportunity!"

Wow, times have changed!
Darling Street became one of the most progressive and popular streets in Sydney during the late 19th Century. In 1875, it was aglow with some of Sydney's first gas lamps and the shopping on Darling St was so popular that "you might imagine yourself in the city itself...so brilliantly lighted are the shops and stores..." It's popularity continued when trams were installed to carry commuters from the shopping district to the wharf in 1882.

To this day, Darling Street remains the most important street in Balmain. It is home to much of Balmain's history from the first wharf built on the peninsular, to the churches of St. Mary's Anglican and St. Thomas' Anglican to Balmain's first police lock-up at the Balmain Watch House.

Source
A Pictorial History of Balmain to Glebe J.Lawrence & C. Warne 1995
Streets, Lanes and Places 1836-2005 - Balmain Association Inc 1994