Cup weekend was bustling in Lorne last week! Busy on the sales front and our accommodation business “Great Ocean Road Holidays” had the greatest occupancy of any ‘cup weekend’ since we have been trading. The girls did a fantastic job with minimal issues.

On the sales front.

We had one sale in Lorne that sold 8% above its asking price due to two parties offering and interestingly we had the same event occur the week before on a top end property that sold before any marketing was implemented.

It is so easy for an agent to spruik that “the market is hot” but results speak for themselves – there is no doubt we have gathered momentum and our selling agents and most importantly our Vendors, are starting to smile again.

On the local news front.

Weather and waves look good for the weekend ahead and the crowds are normally reduced after any long weekend. Book online (24 hours) www.greatoceanroadholidays.com.au if you require any accommodation.

I went to the Aireys Inlet / Lorne school fair last weekend over at Aireys Inlet, chomped on some fairy floss, bought some cheap jewellery for my unsuspecting 7 y.o. daughter, wore a padded sumo wrestling suit and shirt fronted my 10 y.o. son (which he thoroughly enjoyed!). Many local towns have similar fairs or festivals eg. Aireys, Lorne, Birregurra, Deans Marsh. Email me should you like a calendar of dates. Come along and enjoy the hospitality and get a feel for each town’s local character.

Michael Coutts

Steve Ryan Photography

Michael Coutts

An unbelievable amount of property was appraised this week in Lorne and the surrounding hamlets (e.g. Sep Creek, Wye, Kennett, Deans Marsh, Birre). Many listings will be posted on our website over the next month so stay tuned.

Most listings will be marketed through our usual mediums but others we will simply receive formal instruction and place with our established and well serviced buyer database. Should you wish to receive the weekly email about all new listings our company has and other vital sales and marketing information, please register through our “subscribe” icons on the first page.

Lorne Pool Heating

Lorne is a special environment in that it is one of the few seaside localities in Australia where the ocean is visible from the main street. A heated pool on the Foreshore would provide residents with an easily accessible facility and visitors with a unique tourism experience.

In 2006, the community identified the need for a heated pool in Lorne as one of the priority community projects. The Lorne Aquatic Project (LAP) Team was formed in response to this need.

The LAP Team has worked diligently for two years to achieve this goal for the Community. Progress has been methodical, guided by the Committee of the Lorne Community Building Initiative (LorneCH).

The committee has reached a very critical stage on the journey towards a Heated Pool for Lorne, at the moment there are two funding applications in place. These applications are for funding to renew the infrastructure of the pool and to provide the heating system, using Geoexchange technology which the Lorne Aquatic Project (LAP) Team identified as the most cost and energy efficient.

This committee is in need of support, if you think you can be of any assistance or would like more information, email lornepool@gmail.com or call Peter Spring on 0417 514 807.

For any real estate matters please contact me on michael@greatoceanroadrealestate.com.au or 0438 356 624

Steve Ryan Photography

As you read this post the new hot mix tarmac of Lorne’s multi million dollar streetscape will be all but complete and the end clearly in sight – hooray! Not only does it look great but you can now get here quicker thanks to the recently opened Geelong Ring Road.

With Melbourne’s best view in my rear vision mirror from beneath the Australian flag on top of the Westgate Bridge, I pressed the start button on the stop watch of my iphone to time the journey back to Lorne. I arrived after precisely 1 hour and 36 minutes at the front door of our Lorne office. 20 – 25 minutes quicker than any other time in the past 10 years. Hail welcome the Geelong Ring Road and come on down. Torquay, Aireys Inlet, Lorne and Apollo Bay have never been closer!

All the “ducks are lining up” to ensure this year on the coast is one of the best of recent times and our town hasn’t looked better.

The coastal market is statistically poised to rock the cradle of the coasts sleeping giant – Lorne. Having seen the market sit relatively idle since late 2003 early 2004 these localised positives are reinforced buy a couple of external factors.

- Melbourne house prices have led the country with capital appreciation at 11.2% year to date allowing our visitors the opportunity to release some of this equity to help secure the coastal dream.
- Historically the coastal market has been 6-12 months behind the trend of the Melbourne market.
- Even with a recent 25 basis point rise, interest rates are still low and affordable for those with secure cash flow.

For any Real Estate needs please contact myself ian@greatoceanroadrealestate.com.au or anyone of our team at info@greatoceanroadrealestate.com.au

Warm regards,

Ian Stewart.

Steve Ryan Photography

Great Ocean Road Real Estate have gone through a massive “makeover” and re-developed an exciting fully interactive website, featuring interactive Google satellite imaging and hybrid mapping.

From the Great Ocean Road Real Estate site browsers can view the entire GORRE inventory. Or, via the menu go to the GORRE Lorne, Apollo Bay, Aireys Inlet, Torquay, plus the Great Ocean Road Holidays and Project Marketing sites.

This now gives subscribers a broader choice of information they wish to receive from GORRE. This information can be delivered via email or RSS feed.

You now have the option of receiving the entire GORRE portfolio or only from the areas that suit you – the choice is yours.

As a previous subscriber to Lorne, we have placed you on this mailing list. If you would like to receive information from any other office, please notify us and we’ll sign you up.

Subscribers can now receive News, New property Listings or rental/lease listings.

Take a look yourself, at our GREAT new website Great Ocean Road Real Estate.

What is a RSS feed?

A “feed” is a summary of Web content that is updated on a regular basis. It is a way for users to keep informed of a Web site’s latest changes. The feed format that GORRE uses is Really Simple Syndication (RSS) 2.0.

Feeds help GORRE make content more accessible, and they allow you to easily see new content. A summary or “headline” view lets you quickly scan recent content changes, and headlines are linked to their appropriate content.

How to subscribe to a feed
Before you subscribe to a feed, you’ll need an RSS reader or aggregator to view content in RSS. Several free and commercial RSS readers are available on the Internet. Once you have an RSS reader, simply right-click on an RSS link, copy the URL, and paste it into your reader to display the content in RSS.

The GORRE Discussion and Announcement Boards are places where content is changing on a regular basis. To make it easy for you to see recent changes and updates on these sites and boards, you can view their content in RSS.

The Geelong Ring Road is nearing completion. A small overpass at the Waurn Ponds end that connects onto the Old Geelong Road is all that is left to finish.

This is set to make a huge impact on the Surfcoast region. Dependent on your point of view locals may argue that the environmental damage and change in culture can only harm the area. And others will argue that it will provide jobs and a higher education system. The debate will go on for a long time.

But one thing is certain, the ring road is here.

The Geelong Ring Road will provide greater connectivity to some of Victoria’s most popular tourist destinations including the Great Ocean Road. If you are a regular traveler to or from Melbourne then you can eliminate 29 sets of traffic lights thereby reducing your travel time by around 10-15 minutes.

Tourism studies have an estimated 300,000 people visiting the region each year, injecting between $15 – $19 million dollars thus creating 1,400 permanent jobs per annum.

How will the ring road affect real estate?

Surf Coast Shire is expected to grow significantly, with most of this growth occurring in Surf Coast East.

The Economic and Land Use Impacts of the Geelong Ring Road (2009) is a new report that examines likely growth areas as a result of the development of the Ring Road and the duplication and upgrade of Princes Highway West. Funded by the City of Greater Geelong, G21, the Committee for Geelong and RDV, the report will inform Council and agency planning processes for services and infrastructure.

Released three weeks ago, the report shows how the Ring Road and Princes Highway Upgrade are expected to increase the region’s population, industry and employment opportunities, and how this is likely to impact on the region’s land use requirements. It also presents specific recommendations on how the region can make the most of the opportunities that these important pieces of infrastructure present.

The information provided may affect land rezoning and help target investment attraction efforts. The report will also help us understand which businesses are likely to relocate because of the infrastructure improvements. This may well result in freeing up of some large sites with redevelopment potential for more valuable uses.

Click here to view the “Economic & Land Use Impacts of the Geelong Ring Road” (2009)

www.steveryan.com.au