The Question: “I’m Bored, What Can We Do Today?”

From the desk of Leah Calnan, Director of Metro Property Management
With the school holidays coming to a close this weekend you may be asking yourself “What else can I do to entertain the kids?” (or maybe they are asking you?). Well we have found a few relatively inexpensive things to do to keep them active and occupied.

Firstly there is ‘The Enchanted Maze’ garden located at Arthurs Seat. Four mazes for you and the kids to get lost in (and hopefully find your way out of by dinner time!) It is something many children may not have experienced and so much fun will be had. Not only do the different mazes have different points of interest for the kids, ie: finding the 5 Buddhas in the Hampton Court Maze or stopping off to play on the beach hut and pier, complete with sandpit in the Turf Maze Labyrinth, but there are also plenty of other activities including an area with brain teaser challenges, a small animal farm, sculpture park which has large sculptures carved out of tree stumps and plenty of interesting little gardens for you to enjoy. There’s even a cafe if you don’t wish to bring along your own picnic. For more information visit their website at http://ow.ly/5E5Dk  

Our second idea is to take the kids to the ‘St Kilda Adventure Playground’. A great playground full of different things for the children to jump, climb, run and swing from. There’s a big aeroplane, wooden horse with saddle, big metal slide, trampolines, go-kart path, a small basketball court, they can ride on a dinosaur, have a zip on the flying fox, play on the pirate ship, big tepee and a big wooden castle. Open 10am - 5.30pm on weekends it is staffed & tea and coffee is provided. Again, for more info visit http://ow.ly/5E5dJ

Lastly have the kids ever ridden a pony? Well now’s your chance to take them. ‘Ace-Hi Ranch’ is a large property just south of Rosebud in the Mornington Peninsula. The experience is that of the Wild West and as for the kids they will just love it. They cater for all age groups and levels of horse-riding experience (or lack thereof!). Take a pony ride, a scenic horse ride or even a bush ‘n’ beach ride. The ranch also includes a free range style of wildlife park set on 10 acres and gives all visitors the chance to view their native animals in their typical surroundings. They have over 14 varieties of birds including- Emu's, Parrots, Cockatoos, Peacocks & Fowl. Visitors are welcome to feed & pat their furry friends - Koala's, Wombat's, Kangaroo's, Wallaby's, Deer & Dingo's.... a very cool experience for the kids to go to back to school and tell their friends about. Visit http://ow.ly/5E5CL  

So there’s our Top 3 ideas, we hope you enjoy them and if you don’t get a chance to do them these holidays maybe keep them in mind for the next lot of holidays when you are asked the age old question “What can we do today?”.

Until next time.....

Busy Bees this July!

From the desk of Leah Calnan, Director of Metro Property Management...
And here we are at July. As usual much has been happening and will be happening this month here at Metro PM. The first weekend of July saw the team head out to the Red Emperor for a beautiful Chinese banquet as a reward for all of their hard work this year. Many laughs and stories were told and a great time was had by all.

Leah & Matt

Rebecca, Eleanor & Melissa

Josh, Hayley, Tracey & Dave

June, Chen, Rod & Merryn

Peter & Jan

This month we continue with the office renovations – out go the carpets in the foyer and meeting rooms and in goes the crisp white tiling and funky new seating for our guests. Later in the month we will be also carpeting throughout the office entirely which will be lovely as we have lived with the pink, grey and mauve carpet for quite sometime now and you know what they say, ‘a change is as good as a holiday’.

Our team have been busy little bees as it’s all hands on deck putting together our End of Financial Year Packs from the 1st July onwards and we aim to have them all out by the 14th of this month, so keep an eye out in your mail box. In your specialised EOFY folder you will find the Annual Statement for your property/s 2010/2011, as well as some information on Metro Wealth and a handy checklist to help you prepare for your tax return.

In other news Samantha Taylor from our office and myself will be off to Sydney early August to attend a fantastic event called ARPM or the Australasian Residential Property Management Conference. The event runs over 2 days and I am looking forward to hearing from some world class property management and real estate gurus. I am also excited about discovering what fantastic new ideas myself and the team can implement into Metro Property Management in order to keep us at the top of our game in providing the best possible service to our clients. So we’ll keep you posted of what comes about from our little trip interstate.

Until next time...

Don’t Rest on Your Laurels, Be Proactive with Your Finances!

From the desk of Leah Calnan, Director of Metro Property Management...

In this blog I thought I’d take the time to let you know about a fantastic service we have started to offer this year called Metro Wealth, some of you may already have read about this service but for many of you this may be the first time you will have heard about it and boy we have seen some fantastic results for our clients.

Metro Wealth is a joint initiative between Metro Property Management and Nicholas Don of Odyssey Financial. This new business has been established to assist Metro owners (and those interested in allowing Metro to become their Property Manager/s) in achieving the best possible results from their current property investments and improving their current position.

Instead of having to visit a number of separate and different business’ and service providers, then having to try to co-ordinate each piece of advice and assistance themselves, Metro Wealth is able to provide a holistic solution with one main point of contact for its members. Metro Wealth have assembled a team of professionals to assist with everything financial from initial advice through to implementation of a financial plan to ongoing management and then to annual or more regular reviews.

As a member you are entitled to a complimentary membership package which will provide all of the necessary products and services, from financial planning, mortgages, superannuation and tax advice. Metro Wealth also has exclusive access to many amazing brand new properties that you may be interested in purchasing.

I am so pleased to let you know that already this year over 80 people have already joined Metro Wealth. Those clients have had a review of their current situation and financial position along with many purchasing another property. These clients were never aware they could afford to make a purchase until they sought the assistance of Nicholas Don and the Metro Wealth Team.

If you yourself would like to become a Metro Wealth member, visit http://www.metrowealth.com.au/ or simply contact me on (03) 9831 3000 to chat about it further or email me at leah@metropm.com.au

Until next time...

Leah Calnan

The Launch Day of 'AMIA' Apartments - Brunswick

From the desk of Leah Calnan, Director of Metro Property Management...

Well the time has finally come for us to launch the fabulous AMIA Apartments to the public this coming Saturday the 4th June from 11.00am - 12.30pm.

Come and enjoy a morning coffee, tea or hot chocolate on us from the coffee cart whilst you decide which apartment you’d love to make your new home! Brand new apartments in a designer complex in the central hub of everything that Brunswick has to offer! These luxurious 1 & 2 bedroom apartments grant a superior level of peace, privacy and exclusivity. Open plan living, quality galley-style kitchen with dishwasher, modern bathroom, separate laundry and private balconies. There is a selection of different styles, floor plans & levels available.

Many of the Metro team will be there on the day to greet you with an AMIA/Metro Promo Bag containing all you will need to apply for these fantastic properties - applications, floor plans as well as some goodies such as a Metro shopping bag, jelly beans and various info and vouchers from local businesses surrounding AMIA are all included.

We hope to see you there and should you have any further queries on the apartments please do not hesitate to call our Leasing Specialist Samantha Taylor on 0434 313 588 or 9831 3000 or visit http://www.metropm.com.au/ for more information.

Until next time...

New Additions to the Team & an Exciting New Development in Brunswick!

From the desk of Leah Calnan, Director of Metro Property Management...

Well April passed as quickly as it had come and now here we are in May.

This past month we have added a couple of new members to the Metro team. Karli Wise and Danielle Burian, they each join us in an ‘Assistant Property Management’ role and we are thrilled to have them both on board.

Karli has a strong background in real estate having previously worked for many years in customer service/admin across different roles & fields including a stint in commercial real estate. Karli enjoys a busy and fast paced environment, which she feels Property Management offers and boy is she right, you are never twiddling your thumbs in Property Management!

Danielle also comes to us with experience in both reception and customer service within the Real Estate industry, she holds a Bachelor of Business as well as recently completing her Agents Representative certificate. Danielle has a passion for property and she has attended a few investment & property seminars in the past, these have opened her eyes to many potential investment opportunities. Danielle says that her Business degree has given her an “in-depth knowledge of economic and social aspects of business that I feel will assist me in my role here”.

In other news Metro is excited to be launching the completion and subsequent leasing of ‘AMIA’ in Brunswick another fantastic development by Caydon, the team that brought us ‘The Marque’ apartments in Collingwood late last year (of which we lease and manage just under 50 apartments). Metro will be holding an official launch day on Saturday the 4th of June so if you are keen to be one of the first to register to see these apartments on their very first open day then please just email Samantha Taylor our Leasing Specialist for this building at samanthat@metropm.com.au or call us on 03 9831 3000. To see some of the fantastic floor plans that will be on offer for lease with Metro please take a look at http://www.amialiving.com.au/ you won’t be disappointed.

And finally just a tip from us to start organising yourself for the End of Financial Year, yes it’s fast approaching. As usual if you are an owner of ours you will be receiving your ‘End of Financial Year 2010-11 packs’ with the help of good old ‘Australia Post’ by the 14th of July this year.

All in all another busy month here at Metro.

Until next time...

Oscars, SchmOscars! REIA & LPMA Award Nights are Better!

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks here at Metro with award nominations left right and centre which has been fantastic for myself and the team.

Frocked Up!

Last Thursday evening myself, my husband and several of my team flew up to the Gold Coast to attend the REIA Awards for Excellence (a national real estate award night) where I was deemed a Finalist in the ‘Residential Property Manager of the Year’ award. Due to the fact that I had won the Victorian award for this category in October last year I was thrilled to discover I had become a Finalist in these National Awards. The evening was a gala event and we all ‘invested’ in some fabulous dresses and gowns especially for the evening which took place in the ballroom at the Marriott Resort & Spa in Surfers Paradise. There was some stiff competition for the title as 6 other fabulous women were nominated and unfortunately we did not come away with a win this time, ah well, we look forward to next year. A great time was had by all, we looked fabulous (if I do say so myself) and we certainly danced the night away.

No sooner had we returned to the cooler climate of Melbourne a few of the team including myself were off to the LPMA (Leading Property Managers of Australia) Conference which runs a 2 day Property Manager & Principals Forum once a year. Within this forum Principals and their PM’s are witness to some fantastic industry presenters and new innovations in our field. It is a great eye-opener and we always come away with some great ideas that we will no doubt be implementing here at Metro in the upcoming months. Day one at the LPMA closed with their Annual Awards evening where we discovered that we were one of only 3 Finalists for ‘Excellence in Business Development’ a fantastic result and a great surprise (I was presented with a lovely trophy too!) Again much dancing and fun were had, so a great night all in all.

Myself & some of the team that attended the LPMA Awards

Coming so close to a win with both of these award evening amongst our peers in the industry really cemented for me that the hard work and dedication that myself and my team put into taking care of our clients is recognised by our colleagues in the industry, which is very humbling. So we now look forward to the rest of this coming year and strive to continue to ensure our clients have the best advice and service from Metro PM and we will let the dice fall where they may next award season.

Until next time...

A Caramel Filled April!

From the desk of Leah Calnan, Director of Metro Property Management

Well it has been a productive month here at Metro and with another bumper month to come too!

Recently the team attended a full days training session here at the office with the fantastic Fiona Blayney (of Blayney Potential Plus). Fiona has such energy and enthusiasm for Property Management it was hard for the team not to get excited about what Fiona had to impart upon us all! I have noticed the change in the team already, communication is even better, each team member’s organisation has improved and as a result the vibe of the office is even more positive than before.

This coming month we are attending the 25th Melbourne International Comedy Festival http://ow.ly/4pdJ1 as we tend to do every year and we as a team are going to see the very talented Eddie Perfect with a pre-show dinner at the Red Emperor..delish! Our social calendar is also circled for Sunday the 17th April as we attend & support the Warwick Foundations “High Heel Race 2011” at Whitten Oval, Footscray. (The Warwick Foundation raises funds for young adults with cancer and their support networks). Lot’s of laughs will be had as we race as the ‘Metro Team’ in high heels and race attire, fascinators and all to contend to win the coveted 1st prize. We’ll keep you posted on how we faired on the day and keep an eye on facebook too as you may even get to share in our silly photos too. If you’d like to attend the day too please see the following link and get a group together for a fun day http://ow.ly/4pe5l

In other news I was very excited to be recently quoted in an article in The Sunday Age (3/4/11) regarding the changing face of renters and in particular the new breed of ‘lifestyle renters’ that are forming in the marketplace. If you would like to read the article that also queries builders and architects on what the ‘lifestyle renters’ are looking for in an inner city pad these days please do so here http://ow.ly/4sklz

Easter is again upon us and we thought we’d inform you all of our opening hours over the Easter break. Below are our trading hours over this period:

Thursday 21st April: 9.00-5.30pm (as normal)

Friday 22nd April (Good Friday): Closed

Saturday 23rd April: Closed

Sunday 24th April (Easter Sunday): Closed

Monday 25th April (Easter Monday): Closed

Tuesday 26th April (Anzac Day): Closed

Wednesday 27th April: 9.00-5.30pm (as normal)

So all in all a caramel filled April, much like the easter eggs we will be (or already have begun) eating.

Until next time...