Department News
Week Ending 20/10/2023
People & Culture
Welcomes:
Shaun Thomas – Sales Consultant
Last week we welcomed Shaun to the sales team here at OC! Shaun comes to us from Harcourts and will be based at Eastwood. Welcome Shaun!
Veronica Joubert- Executive Assistant to Nick van Vliet
This week we welcomed Veronica back to OC! Veronica will be working at Willunga as Nick van Vliet’s Executive Assistant. Veronica previously worked in our Sales Admin team in 2020, welcome Veronica!
Elders Glenelg
Following the news of the acquisition of Elders Glenelg, we are excited to announce that on November 1st Andrew Hodge (Sales Consultant), Alex Lahey (Sales Associate) and Jennifer Stanley (Senior Property Manager) will be joining us here at OC! Cat Meredith (Senior Property Manager) will also be coming across with a start date of Monday, December 4th. Please welcome them to the OC team!
Employee Changes:
With Mel Hesketh getting ready to head off on Maternity Leave, Sam Coleman will be stepping into Mel’s role as Sales Administration Manager from Monday 20th November. Sam will be based at Eastwood, leading the Sales Admin Team! Congratulations Sam!
Excitingly, Maddy Everett’s role will also be elevated, she will be taking on the additional responsibility of Office Manager at Henley Beach. Maddy’s new role will begin Monday 20th November. Congratulations Maddy!
Farewells:
Courtney Hazell – Property Manager
Courtney has made the decision to move on from her role as Property Manager at OC after a wonderful 4.5 years! Courtney’s last official day in Property Management will be Tuesday 31st October. After this date, Courtney will be helping with data entry and admin support for the Elders acquisition on a casual basis so you may still see Courtney around the office!
October is Mental Health Awareness Month:
For the next month, you will find Zen Zones set up in our offices at Eastwood, Henley Beach and Lonsdale. We know life can get busy and finding time to disconnect and relax can be tricky. The Zen Zones are designed to be a quiet and relaxing space set up for you to take some time out for yourself to relax and unwind! You will find Zen Zones set up in the Sales corner at Eastwood, the lounge area at Lonsdale, and in the lounge area at Henley Beach.
Just a reminder that the wonderful team from Working Hands Corporate Massage will be visiting the Eastwood, Henley and Lonsdale Offices in November. To see available session times and to book, see below:
Henley Office – Monday 13th November from 10:00am – 2:00pm
https://workinghands.as.me/OCREHenley
Lonsdale Office – Thursday 16th November from 12:30pm – 4:30pm
https://workinghands.as.me/Lonsdale
Eastwood Office – Monday 20th November from 10.00am – 4.30pm.
Meeting Room 1 – https://workinghands.as.me/OCRE-Room1Lyndon
Meeting Room 2 – https://workinghands.as.me/OCRE-Room2Theresa
Kensington and Willunga teams, please book in a time at either the Eastwood or Lonsdale offices to maximise availability 😊
Benestar
Life isn’t always easy; if you feel you need mental health assistance for yourself or a loved one, Benestar – our employee assistance program is a professional and confidential coaching service that can be accessed 24/7.
You can access their flyer here
Guardian Childcare & Education
Are you, your friends or family looking for childcare in the Fullarton area? Based at 196 Glen Osmond Road, Guardian Childcare & Education have now opened in Fullarton. They are holding a tour tomorrow, 21/10/23 from 9am-1pm. See brochure below to book your tour.
OC Real Estate
The Numbers | Oct 2023
OC Projects
Update | Oct 2023
New Project – Verde in Athelstone is launched!
Signage is up & the landing page is now live, check it out here > https://verdeinathelstone.com.au/
New Project – Rose Park Apartments is launched!
Signage is up & the landing page is now live, check it out here > https://roseparkresidence.com.au/
New Project – The Osmond is launched!
Signage is up & the landing page is now live, check it out here > https://theosmondnorwood.com.au/
Property Management
The Numbers | Oct 2023
Testimonials
“Cassie Hughes was very reasonable to us as tenants and very approachable. Cassie has been out property manager since 2015 and we will miss her 🤗”
– Troy, Tenant // Old Noarlunga
“Very responsive, understanding and helpful. I feel that we are in experienced and compassionate hands.”
– Samuel, Tenant// Athelstone
“I’ve literally never had any of the standard complaints – repairs have always been organised quickly and efficiently, any concerns have been addressed within a timely manner!”
– Lucy, Tenant// Angle Park
“The usual great service from Simone, and Trisha was good filling in for Simone whilst she was on leave.”
– Craig, Landlord// Mount Barker
“Quick response and professional follow up on query and request.”
– Lesley, Landlord// Broadview
“Courtney was very easy to talk to, it made everything a lot easier.”
– Jodie, Tenant// Saint Agnes
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ GOOGLE
“I had a really good experience with the new rental and lease process with Ouwens Casserly. On the inspection day, Georgia was really friendly and approachable. Then, with the leasing side of things, we dealt with Rebecca and Erin. They were very attentive and kind. Great Real Estate. Thank you.”
– Carolina, Tenant// Kurralta Park
“We are SO impressed by how amazingly friendly and professional the team are. We have had OC manage our property for many years. Special thanks to Merridy and Merina, who go above and beyond at all times. It’s reassuring to know we are looked after. Thank you. ”
– Shelley, Landlord// South Brighton
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ GOOGLE
“Excellent service, great communication. Michael is so easy to work with and always helpful. He is great at customer service and responses my questions promptly. Thank you so much for being my real estate agent these years.”
– Ivy, Tenant// Adelaide
“Belinda is amazing at responding to any issues through email correspondence, phone calls or face to face. Ouwens Casserly have been very supportive.”
– Amanda, Tenant// Hazelwood Park
Fresh Home Loans
Update | Oct 2023
Market Update:
Standard Variable rates from 5.79%
Fixed rates from 5.70%
Turnaround Times 1 business day (fastest) to 24 business days (slowest)
News
400 Branches across Australia have closed during the year to 30 June 2023 making access to home loan advice through a branch harder to receive and reflecting the upward trend now with 67.2% of home loans in Australia being written by mortgage brokers.
The assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones MP revealed that he believes Australia has a strong mortgage advice offering through mortgage brokers.
“There’s no shortage of mortgage brokers. [W]hen we’re talking about advice, [people] seem to forget there is a group of credit advisers out there called mortgage brokers and there’s a lot of them and they’re competing with each other and the banks to provide a decent service to their customers.”
“I think we’ve got credit advice, at least in the mortgage space … pretty much sorted there.”
All Eyes on RBA
RBA governor Michele Bullock has stated “a low tolerance for a slower return of inflation to target than currently expected” and that future interest rate increases would depend on incoming data, particularly the third quarter Consumer Price Index (CPI) data set … and how this data would “alter the economic outlook and the evolving assessment of risks”.
While many economists are predicting another rate hold in November, there is an emphasis on the Q3 CPI data to be released on Wednesday 25th of October particularly as today’s unemployment rate was noted to be lower than predicted.
For geeks like me, you can find more CPI info here: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/consumer-price-index-australia/latest-release
Fresh Out Of…Office.
Mikael and Sally will be attending the Australian Finance Group annual conference in Melbourne next week and will not be available on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We’ll be back in the office Monday 30th of October 2023.