AWARE - A Business in a Book. Lucille Orr
license and create the AWARE Properties business. Now more than a decade on she is a mentor to women (and men) who invest in property and work in the real estate industry.
Don’t be afraid to ask Lucille for what you want because she’ll show you how to get it! She has helped thousands of Australian women start their own successful small businesses in various fields through her workshops, books, consulting services and network of mentors across Australia.
Julie Micarone
Acknowledgements
Writing and publishing a book and starting a new business venture is not possible without the help of many other people and for this reason I’d like to thank Barbara Achetz for being at my office from the first day we opened. Jill Luscombe for making it possible to open my own Real Estate office a few months before I gained my license.
Paul Edwards and his team at Carrington Conveyancers, without their professional support it would have been impossible to have achieved so much in such a short time; Susan Wahhab my accountant, for encouraging me and being there whenever I needed her; Margaret Goodwin for choosing me to sell her home and spending time with me when the real estate studies became almost too much to bear; Anita, State Manager of RP Data who kept a regular eye on our Trust Accounting in the early years.
A special thank you to my son Steve Orr who assists us with property management, professional photography, brochure design, window displays, signboards and Internet management. Along with this he also operates his own successful photography and graphic design business.
A grateful thank you to Jackie Davies who came to us as a Rental Search client and stayed to become my Personal Assistant and our National Administrator.
To our faithful editor, Nancy Robinson Flannery for editing all our books; we missed her this time, but welcome editor, Robert Stephenson for his professional work on this book.
A sincere thank you to our Finance Broker, Matt Stouppos - Thru Finance.
And to all the women who read my book, “How to Ask for What You Want and GET IT!” Thank you for encouraging me with your phone calls, letters and emails to create the best business opportunity I could to help you to start your own small business.
Thank you to all the vendors and landlords who trusted AWARE Properties to sell and manage their homes; and the home-buyers, tenants and investors who used our services to secure the right properties. Without you this book could not have been written.
Lucille Orr
COVER STORY
Our Resort Style Home.
On 29th February 2008 (a leap year) I could have officially retired from the work force according to the Australian Government, as I was 62.5 years of age. I remember my mother retiring and living on the Seniors Pension at 60 but I still felt far too young and ambitious to retire.
One of my goals for many years was to purchase a home that I could share with the members and associates of AWARE and the Australian Executive Women’s Network.
I found it in 2006. The moment I walked into the two-storey, seaside residence at Port Noarlunga South I knew this was the perfect place for me to live and invite you to join me for exciting seminars and holidays by the ocean.
I remember saying to the owners, “Oh, I love this home its perfect!”
It had two offices, a reception area and a large meeting room where we could hold great inspirational seminars.
After a quick tour of the home I became even more excited, the owners probably didn’t understand why, all they wanted to know was how much they could earn if AWARE Properties was managing it as a holiday home.
“How much would you like us to earn for you?” I asked. Looking rather sheepish they suggested, “$2,000 per week, maybe?”
I quickly responded, “You want $2,000 a week, then that’s what we’ll ask for it.
In the two years that followed, we did earn $2,000 a week, then $2,200 a week, and as much as $350 a night when the bookings were for less than a week’s duration.
The landlords were thrilled and offered us more of their investment properties as well as introducing us to their family and friends who had also invested in properties. They helped me achieve another of my goals… to build a solid income from Property Management.
When managing properties you get to know the landlords. As you learn more about each other, a mutual admiration for one another’s achievements is gained. I made no secret of the fact that I wanted to buy their seaside home at Port Noarlunga South.
In June 2007 they asked me if I thought I could sell it for a million dollars, as the valuation given to them by the bank was $900,000 at the time. I knew they weren’t serious about selling, but by October of 2007 they asked me the same question again, so this time I gave them a written offer on a Sales Contract for $1,000,000. Instead of accepting my offer, they gave the property to another real estate agent to see if it would sell for $1.2 million.
A Big Disappointment
I was so disappointed I remember driving down to the property one evening after work just to take a photograph of the sun setting on the sea from the huge, upstairs balcony. As I climbed the stairs it was too late, I lifted my digital camera just as the sun dropped out of sight. I missed the photograph.
As I stood there gazing at the ocean I thought, “If this home is meant to be mine, it will be. If not, I will enjoy managing it through the summer months. I will count my blessings for all the landlords this family has introduced to us and what that has meant to AWARE Properties, my son and me.”
Several months passed, the other agent showed prospective buyers through the home and I continued to rent it to holiday tenants. When the other real estate agent’s sole agency expired, the owners approached me again and asked me if I was still interested in buying the home.
There were times during those uncertain months when I convinced myself I was too old, if I was only ten years younger I could take on another huge mortgage, as I would have the time and energy to achieve my goals.
But when faced with the decision to proceed with the purchase or not, I remember thinking, “Lucille, you are only 62. If you wait another ten years at 72 you will be saying, I should have bought the property ten years ago when I was still young enough.”
As soon as I started thinking this way my whole attitude changed, I felt young again and I regained my original, excited feelings about living in the home. Immediately, I started arranging finance to purchase the property.
I contacted Matt, the Finance Broker the vendors had suggested. Matt owns his own company, Thru Finance and he was wonderful. I went ahead and signed a new contract. Even though Matt was booked to travel overseas, he worked tirelessly to submit my loan application to Commonwealth Australia Bank to ensure my interest rates would be held firm. He expected another interest rate rise while he was away. In 2003 the National Australia Bank loaned me one million dollars making it possible to purchase four more investment properties. I purchased two homes at Christies Beach back then for $303,000. They were now valued at $300,000 each, enabling me to use the $600,000 equity as a good deposit on the $1.2 million loan I needed to buy the home and do some major upgrades.
By the time Matt was back from his trip interest rates had increased twice, so I was pleased to have my interest rates fixed for three years due to Matt’s foresight. I wanted to add at least two more bedrooms and another bathroom, making it six bedrooms with four bathrooms. I love an out-door entertaining area with an in-ground pool so that was another goal.
This is where I planned to have our southern office… where I could sit on the huge, upstairs balcony and write my life story. I could see myself writing and going downstairs to the pool and cooling off when I needed a refreshing break from writing, to renew my energy and collect my thoughts.