| Episode: | E152 |
| Show Title: | Gaming the System with Zero Dollar Rentals |
| Cast: | Aaron Horne, Patrick Berry, & John McGregor |
| Show Length: | 24 minutes 46 seconds |
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Aaron
Basically this Aussie company, I think they called like Fuzzy Games or something, they’re probably hiding that. We’re in the real estate industry, we’re talking about them on our podcast, but it’s a video game where they ask people to post in like their horror rental stories. Because it’s basically a big F-you to landlords and like all the things like they won’t fix my fridge, there’s mould here, there, and everywhere.
Aaron
So they’ve made this horror video game. Let me just–
[intro]
Aaron
All right, guys, welcome back to The Property Pod, your weekly engagement into real estate here in the Hobart marketplace. I’m your host, Aaron Horne. Back in action at the desk. That looks pretty excited to be back here. How are you, my man?
Patrick
I’m very good. I was just thinking, just before we started with the mikes, you said let’s talk property and John was like, “yeah, maybe”.
Aaron
Just let’s just talk.
John
We just talk.
Patrick
Maybe it should be just changing the name. Say, welcome to the Pod. Sometimes we talk property.
Aaron
I’m okay with that. I just thought we just kind of in here we said property so that we could, like, get out of work for a little bit. Exactly. And get straight into things. Speaking of work, the funny bit is we had a new employee this week, someone wearing the uniform hoping to get paid. Do you want to talk us through kind of the newest employee joining the team?
Patrick
Yeah, my ten year old son got up yesterday morning, John, and he went and then he’s fallen for t-shirt and hat and he’s like, “if I wear my uniform to work today, can I get paid, dad?” And then I was like, “Well, we actually have to do stuff at work.” Then I thought, What do I actually say?
Patrick
This is where it’s to get paid. So maybe, yeah.
John
He’s had the best role model.
Aaron
So yeah, we’re family in school holidays. So not only are we running a property company here, but you guys amazingly allow everybody to bring their their kids to work. It’s bring your kids to work every other day. So we’ve had a lot of extra staff and the funny bit was tight was in there sitting at one of the.
Patrick
Is full for and focussed on full kit.
Aaron
On and I’m like peeking through music. Is there someone like officially new here because like the hair was coming out of the beanie and I was just like.
Patrick
He’s told us that he used to work.
Aaron
For us. Exactly.
Patrick
And that’s.
Aaron
So. Yeah. So there’s been been a plethora of people around. It’s actually it’s fun to see kind of just kids running in and out of the office. I always remember being a kid, never being able to go to your mom and dad’s work, but always thinking like, Man, I wish I was one of those kids that could just show up at the work and just like rule the roost.
Aaron
Yeah, there’s heaps of roof drooling going on. Well.
John
When we had a when we were growing up in that mom and dad’s, well, they still own the building in Main Road. Mona, with the two stories, of course, you just run up the stairs, so it would just be a matter of time. Well, I mean, everybody be trying to work, but all they could hear is.
Patrick
Oh, I can imagine your dad loved that job.
John
Oh, that was a dad. Oh, the staff had full rights to just chastise if we had to. So we kept it from all stuff.
Aaron
I’d love to see you doing that now. Right in the coffee shop, playing hide and seek because of mischief.
John
Oh, it was so sweet. We’re just playing one of the games because when the kids have got the headphones out, they’ve got no concept of the noise. Oh, and so she’s played it herself. Next to they’re just shouting into the pit is like just had to just lift up these sweaty would you mind go to the kitchen.
Patrick
But okay.
Aaron
Autoclave games I like I see a good jumping off point for one of the things I brought to that I show have you come across this Janet Dimona is a slumlord and a witch non. Have you seen this? I thought you’d be all over this, but I think I’ve showed up at.
Patrick
The I have seen it.
Aaron
And so this is a video game that’s been developed. It’s kind of come out of cove and let me like pull up my notes. But basically this Aussie company, I think they called like fuzzy games or something, they’re probably hiding that. We’re in the real estate industry, we’re talking about them on our podcast, but it’s a video game where they asked people to post in like their horror rental stories.
Aaron
Yeah, because it’s basically a big F-you to landlords and like all the things like they won’t fix my fridge, there’s mould here, there and everywhere. So they’ve made this horror video game. Let me just pull up what I’ve got on there.
Patrick
So do you get to play? So you get to play as the landlord or no?
Aaron
So the landlord is a witch. There’s like a portal in under the sink or something like that where. So she’s actually a real witch. And the landlord’s first person saw.
John
Horror Escape Game.
Aaron
Yeah, it’s like a horror escape game, basically. So yeah. Sydney by 40 ghosts I was pretty close as and that’s a new game called Janet de Mornay is a slumlord and a witch and it turns the rental experience into a horror comedy game. So I was like solving puzzles. Like, you all got a Monkey Island style games, but it a little bit different and it was formed.
Aaron
Yet during lockdowns rental. And so they asked people for rental horror stories that they’ll include in the game. And if you gave a horror story, you got a free copy of the game to play. So that’s awesome. Yeah, it’s like really awesome. It’s super weird. It looks over funny. They probably we’re not their target demographic. They probably don’t want to be pumped up by us.
Aaron
But yes, the funny guys, the new cable.
Patrick
Pub, but it’s an.
Aaron
Interesting one in that there obviously would be horror stories that would come from the bunch, the property management girls.
John
Yeah.
Aaron
They just work in a set of rules as well. And it’s this really tricky thing. Like there’s so many horror stories out there at the moment of what’s happening with rental conditions and kind of being able to get rentals, especially on the mainland, actual.
Patrick
Rentals because there’s too many people applying for.
Aaron
Them. Yeah. So it’s, it’s funny that that leads from there into the next kind of horror story that has coming out of the news in this week and this is that $0 rent rental in Sydney great.
John
Segway van that’s because that’s exactly what these games are for.
Aaron
So that’s.
Patrick
A level two that is.
Aaron
Talk us talk a 30 $0 rental someone give us some info on.
John
I saw it on the news article. I think I caught it on a reddit thread.
Aaron
And I found it through Tik Tok. So it’s out there all across the.
Patrick
Country riding around.
John
What? What obviously this.
Patrick
Genius.
John
Owner is thought. Well they’re going to you’ve got the potential phenomenal opportunity as far as as far as I remember it being sold for someone with tradie or handy skills to be able to lease a property for free for the first year. All you need to do is completely renovate the property because technically it’s uninhabitable at the moment at your own expense.
John
So I mean.
Patrick
What do you have? I love some of the Reddit comments on this. There was someone that wrote something along the lines of, so you’re telling me if I do a great job, I have to pay more rent? I might as well do I should just keep my rents at a reasonable just like just do it up like a minimum.
John
I was like, you’d probably just slip up a crappy poster and put a heater in or something. That was that was what was I mean, I don’t know if in the the news article with from what I’ve read, if I remember correctly, was that once you’ve renovated the house after the first year, then you then have the privilege to lease back off the landlord at $650 a week.
Aaron
Yeah. Yeah. So, like.
John
Aaron
Like I was trying to do the maths of the, the repairs. Like basically we look at that calculator.
Patrick
And I’m thinking first year with the repairs, $650 is quite cheap because you spend more in the first year, right. Well, let’s.
John
Think not only do you have to take time off work if you’re a professional tradesperson and then you’ve got to pay for that stuff out of your own pocket. So they said none of the costing on your time, plus the plus the cost of materials because you pay more than 30 grand expenses. But what I love to think, though, is to get in the brain of the person who like brought up this idea.
Aaron
Yeah.
Patrick
It’s actually listed by a real estate agency, I believe. So the question then lies, was it the agency that came up with this amazing idea and saw, Oh, we’ve got Mr. Vento, you can’t fix the property. We understand. We have a great idea. If you let’s do this, I would.
John
Almost be tempted, you know, like it got all the people that make parodies. I would be tempted to create a parody real estate company and just come up with all these ideas just to get traction out of it. Well, it’s just this discredited. It’s like a comedy skit.
Aaron
I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, but apparently the new Aunty Donna show, they only done a cafe. So this came out on iView. There is a full real estate episode. I’m not going to say the words that have you seen the auntie on a real estate skit that the skit that they’ve got on YouTube. I haven’t.
John
Yet now.
Patrick
But there were just giggling thinking.
Aaron
I can’t say the word on here, but.
John
I’m going. I mean, if I could just.
Aaron
Go, yeah, I can’t say the word. I won’t say the word. My mum would decide me. Oh yeah. They might say like.
Patrick
Oh.
John
That was classic is the skit. That is for it.
Aaron
Hi I’m Paul that I’m a real estate agent and I’m a Yeah. Insert word here and that’s the whole video.
Patrick
Yeah.
Aaron
It’s apparently there’s a whole 30 minute episode about real estate agents. I’d be very interesting to sit there and watch that and maybe we can come back and talk about that next way.
John
The attest to it that I like, if you go to conferences and you meet some of the look, most of most of us are.
Patrick
Okay, I’m glad you clarified that because when you started that conversation, I’m like, what you’re owning up to the stuff you just did. Yep. I thought right into that cookie cutter mode.
John
Well, it’s just the there’s just certain businesses that were just like go encapsulate exactly what that Andy done, a character that they’re portraying. I mean, this obviously all comedy has an element of truth in it, but like I’d like some people you made along the way, it’s just that’s exactly as they say, as I do. And I’m sad to say that.
Patrick
But what is it is.
Aaron
I forgot where we went. I forgot how we got onto there.
John
I’m just sitting there, just crap it on him.
Aaron
I didn’t know you were talking about creating the falls Agency. I’m wondering about the agency kind of. Is it, you know, when you get pretty forceful owner or landlord or vendor who I kind of like, these are my needs. This was I can’t understand how an agency popped up an ad like that, like it would be bad press if you were the then to follow through on domain and find out that it’s agency X that like tried to pull this swindle this this guy.
Patrick
Look, the way I read it because I was reading the act, someone had a screenshot at the actual.
Aaron
The domain listing of. Yeah.
Patrick
And like they made it very clear do not enquire about this unless you understand this, this and this. Yeah, I honestly think that the agency that put it up in their own head, they thought it was a genuine offer like this is a great opportunity. This helps the vendor fix the property you can’t afford, fix this, help someone have a I think they genuinely thought what a great idea we’ve we’ve helped bridge the gap between.
Aaron
Solving homelessness and.
Patrick
It wasn’t until it went live like all great online ideas they’d be like shit that did not work. We need to we, we, we’ve made a business. I mean, I.
John
Could, I could, I could just you could justify that if said, look, all we want is your labour.
Patrick
Oh, awesome.
John
But then it was at your own expense. Like, that’s just.
Patrick
Oh, maybe it’s three or four years free range in exchange for fixing the house up, knowing that you’ve got a capital home that you can then make money out of later. But a year’s free rent, which isn’t really free.
John
Oh, Jesus, it, it’s just it’s awesome. It. Look, I know friends of mine have had, you know, private relationships where the house isn’t in great condition, but the person living there just, you know, pays them next to.
Aaron
Nothing and tinkers away.
John
Just when it’s good, then that’s fine because it’s a but that one’s just that’s probably in their head how they thought that and looked until and.
Patrick
That’s it. We’ve had tenants ring up and say, look, can I paint the home for my own benefit? You pay the paint, I’ll, I’ll do the work. Yeah. And like the house is me painting but the tenant would like to do it because I just have a different want it to be fresher and cleaner and whatever it might be.
Patrick
Yeah. And so they offer their time to paint it in exchange for the window of buying the the materials. Yeah. Which sure. But this is just amusing.
John
I want to just buy a crappy property and then to someone who approached me and said, look, this is what I want to do. I want to read it off it for free. But I’m going to fully renovate the house for you when I’m done, I want to lease it back. What he.
Aaron
Recalled. I’m wondering, is there like a legitimate way that this could work? Because like, as you’re saying about the tinkering around and having someone that’s, you know, a handyman that’s living in your granny flat, I’m like, oh, that kind of does make sense in a way. Obviously, this is like you’re just.
Patrick
Thinking, How can I get my.
Aaron
Back now? Yes, but yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. I’m going to rent it out for $0.
Patrick
And for all our long term listeners now would know that our renovating a granny flat at the moment now is thinking, Can I rent this app for free if you have legal obligation, yeah.
John
If you’re looking for free rent and renovate the renovations. Well we’ve got a property for sale at the moment. Well, I had to ask Joe, our investment specialist, to say, look, is this is this a possibility? What what’s happened is we’ve got this house where the family done it forever. But this is significant structural movement in there, which is making it almost impossible to sell.
John
Yeah, because the sunken cost of actually bringing it up to a standard where it just is not going to fall off the hill is enormous. Yeah. So we would have sold it a dozen times over, but people walk in and just walk out and say, Look, I can’t deal with it. So what we’re trying to do each time we chat to the families, it just gets grimmer and grim and grimmer as builders, plumbers, civil engineers come through this house and everyone says no.
John
So what we’ve have to strongly consider is we go back to the buyers and say, look, if you’ve got interest, just just bring it to us. You know, that’s fine. Yeah, but no one’s been interested, unfortunately. So every time we go back to the families, like unfortunately that’s they’re using that sell to purchase a, you know, one of those independent care living units for her.
John
So it just keeps getting worse. When I went to the she said, look, we need to come up. What are some alternatives here? You know, okay, so maybe maybe sells an option. Could it be leased? But when I chat with Joe about it, she said, well, I thought, is there the idea we look they know that there’s water problems underneath.
John
Is that okay? Yeah. If someone’s getting into it fully, fully where, you know, is that a problem? I just could. Could that work? In her opinion, it’s just like just now. Yeah. You know, it’s eight.
Patrick
People out into a swimming.
John
Grotto now. Exactly. And look, it’s it’s fine. Look, but the what you the first of it absolutely have to fix a mould that’s happened in the on the ceiling because of it being closed off and accumulating moisture. But the thing is, if you go into the act like you have to provide a habitable space for. Yeah. And so even though the like if you’re doing it all above board, all of it correct.
John
The reality is the act would still probably contravene that, you know, that, that relationship. So it’s really difficult from an agency point of view to create that.
Aaron
Which seems so interesting with this like uninhabitable space. It obviously doesn’t comply with the act, but for it to then like land on you real estate tokens and domains, it’s like that’s.
Patrick
Where the $0 comes in. That’s if no money’s been exchanged. Are you renting it?
John
Well, I guess.
Aaron
Oh, okay. Is this like where you.
Patrick
Could build an inhabitable house in the ad? Yeah. It made it clear that you can’t move into this home until you do work to it. So are you renting it if you’re not actually exchanging funds? Well.
Aaron
He’s okay. Yeah, well.
John
He’s another interesting one. Where in the event of a delayed settlement where you’ll the person will move into the house early though, to find that it’s a possession fee and not rent. And that’s a very important word because if it’s you paying a position fee, you’re not renting from the owner. Yeah. So it’s not officially under the normal tenancy act.
John
It’s a possession because they’re just, you know, residing in the home for as early possession. So I’d like those words really matter in terms of that.
Aaron
Relationship changes everything majorly. I guess it’s like the idea of paying a $1 deposit or when you say in the movies the lawyers are like, Give me $1. And then it’s like, Now I represent you sort of thing. It’s like, have we’ve made a official fee for this relationship? So now you can do any crime you want, like go crazy with the crime.
John
And I suppose all, all these, all these relationships are fine provided both parties feel like it’s fair. Yeah, I suppose once it moves into the point of professional management, we’ve got a hot dog.
Patrick
If I get the other guy switched so now I can go get it to go along with you guys. You can’t do anything to me.
Aaron
Look at him. Just with his Benjamins.
John
Just silly. This is what Australia and Canadians are saying. Like they don’t use paper.
Patrick
This one has ripped it out.
John
If you throw it, you leave it in your jeans. He goes the wash. It’s still in the same condition as well.
Aaron
Pat’s got other money that’s like it sounds like you’re laundering it, but you got to have the money out in the aether at the moment, some Filipino pesos that maybe is showing up in the mail.
Patrick
John, I’m going to the Philippines next week.
John
Fair enough.
Patrick
But I’ll go of the offshore team. I ordered some pesos that was supposed to arrive at the post up on Monday and they’re going, nobody knows.
Aaron
The pesos.
Patrick
Now. It’s like $4,000 are just somewhere in the mine.
Aaron
And the guys like it would just cancel. It’s fine. And then what happens if the pesos show up like that? I legit pesos.
Patrick
So I rang I rang Travelex and said, Hey, where’s my money? It’s like Star Trek. Don’t know where it is. I’ve just spoken to them on the phone. I was like, okay, no problem. What do we do now? He’s like, I have no faith. It’s going to turn up before you leave next week. So how about we just refund it to your credit card?
John
Okay.
Patrick
As I go in my head, I’m thinking that happens. If it does.
John
Go through the.
Patrick
Process, you know, very strange conversation.
Aaron
And because we’ve just had this dollar exchange between us, this is a fine conversation.
Patrick
And not liable for anything. Whoever else is listening, that has to.
Aaron
Be like Hamish and Andy. They give you a if you’re a listener and you go up and ask for a dollar, they’ll give you one. If they don’t have a dollar, they’ll give you a bell. So if someone comes up and asks for a dollar, you don’t have it the balance of a bail on them and they’re not not liable to.
Aaron
This conversation I’ve just had about Travelex and Pesos and your money laundering. I’ve run out of real estate stuff to talk about. You guys got anything else you.
John
Want, Sam? I’m expert money laundering, but.
Patrick
Well, the only thing I thought it’d be worthwhile touching on is the event that you and Aaron attended on the weekend. Oh, yeah. So obviously, for one four, we always try to give back to the community wherever we can. And you guys sponsored an event on Sunday? I think it was well.
John
Because it’s the Hindu calendar. It’s the New Year’s celebrations at the moment. Okay. So, yeah, we we we supported the, an Indian festival that was happening at the Polish Polish Club or to Polish whole, the new town, which I didn’t even know existed. I knew the club existed. It would be a bunch of birthdays there, but next door they’ve actually got a hole and.
Aaron
Oh, I thought you meant that part where we went to the parties.
John
Yeah. No.
Aaron
Oh, different.
John
Bit. Natasha was just. There’s a giant hole behind it. I didn’t even know it existed.
Aaron
But behind where the.
Patrick
Where the bombing of.
Aaron
The city used to be, it’s.
John
All connected. So it’s like a separate building. You can’t. Yeah, but there’s a massive hole. So if you’re going up Newton Road and you got the club on the corner. Yeah, like this one down next to it, there’s a door and it was in a huge hole.
Patrick
I don’t want to get off track or anything, but I don’t know if you guys remember. We went to an 18th there when.
Aaron
They bring up. MARTIN Yeah.
Patrick
I don’t know who I’m bringing. I know that I had a learner’s licence at the time and there was a bouncer at the door. I just handed that to him. I was 17. Yep. This is we’ve had a dollar exchange, so the bouncer was right on those years. He could work that out.
Aaron
Well, my story involves Martin. Martin Lynch being able to go in like he literally walked in, in, like a pimp outfit and just walks right up to the bar and ordered like 15 shots or something. And there was no one question that it was just like, yep, this guy clearly 30 when he was like 15, you.
John
Know, and dresses like this with a kid. Yeah, he’s obviously a pimp.
Patrick
Really. Got to track back to the charity work that you’re doing at the Polish Club for the Indian Festival.
John
And it turns out there are no pimps to club. But the what it was was awesome. It they it was not what we expected because often when you go to these events, it’s sponsors that are we thought it was going to be like it where they’d have multiple tents, etc., where people would be serving their dishes at night.
John
It was, it was, it was like we went back to like a talent show at school where for 4 hours we just watched all the little community put on act after act after act. And, you know, some some are great. Some, you know, kids and others were amateurs. But it was surprising how enjoyable it was. Yeah. Yeah. And we so then.
Aaron
Did they do like stand up or anything like that or was.
John
It like, no, it was just.
Patrick
Dances. One of the.
John
Things that was really lovely that we had to get up just for a couple of minutes to say thanks. Because when you look at the volume of enquiry now and the new migrants have come to us to come to Tasmania, huge proportion of them are from, you know, that region. Yep.
Patrick
And the South East Asia area.
John
Absolutely. And once it finished they really appreciated our contribution to the fact that we actually care and want to give back. Yeah. But in the end, like so many of them, our clients now, which is awesome. There was a guy came up to me, he, he’d been here for about ten, 15 years he said, and he said, I know maybe 1% of the people in this room, he said I had no idea our community had.
Aaron
Grown and I was so strong. Yeah, that’s awesome.
John
So it’s so interesting I guess is that all those people that had been searching for their community didn’t even realise just how big it is. So the festival was actually really nice to bring all that together where they no one actually knew that it existed. And then after they finished, they had this huge big binary spread of all these different dishes from the different regions that were represented.
Aaron
Yeah. No.
John
And it was, it must have gone for about 4 hours, I guess, but it was phenomenal. Like, it wasn’t anything like Erin, I thought we’re going to have to do where we had to be testing. And so the service is done. Now we’re just and we’re a part of it.
Aaron
Yeah, that’s actually really fun to kind of be at something like that where you’ve got this expectation like, are you going to show up and I’m going to be on show and do all these sort of, yeah, come on and check out for folks like. No, no, you were just like.
Patrick
I would probably just excited that you turned up. Yeah, I reckon in the past when we’ve had sponsors for those type of events like, you know, finances exchange and that’s it. No one bothers to actually come and be part of the event. That’s a good sign, I think. I reckon you got a lot of value and a lot of like rapport and you know, the excitement that you and Arron took the time out of your day on Sunday to not only sponsor and pay for the event, but also turn up and be part of it as well.
John
Well, I suppose for me when it comes to sponsorships, you have to, you know, because that that actually shows your care. Otherwise it’s just.
Patrick
Throwing money.
John
Away. Yeah. Yeah. No, it was quite fun. That’s. And that got me thinking that I, I wouldn’t have known that it was on unless we were approached by them originally, but it made me really excited to just go experience those festivals more often, even if it isn’t related to sponsorship or anything like that. Yeah, yeah.
Aaron
Just get involved in the community that way. It’s funny, I’m just trying to trawl through it. Hey, I joined like a Tasmanian podcast community just in the last little period and there was a guy on there that is doing a podcast with I think it’s like 172 registered nationalities in Tasmania, like on the census and I want to find someone from every nationality and, and speak to them sort of thing.
Aaron
So I put like a call out, I’m trying to find it but yeah, yeah it’s.
Patrick
Going for episode 173.
Aaron
Well I guess the show.
Patrick
Ends kind of not very.
Aaron
Good. So it goes back to start. I can’t find it here, but yeah, a lot of.
Patrick
People think we should have finished about what I thought it was about. Guys, if you thought ideas, turn it up. Just turn it up.
John
That’s the difference.
Aaron
Well, I’ve got to finish this here. That’s enough of that. Thanks for joining us. It was a pretty loose episode. Check out Janet Demonet. Which shadow landlord and John there at our house. You can check it out, renovate it yourself.
Patrick
See you, guys!
Aaron
Bye!
[extro & disclaimer]
