Ascot real estate doyen Alma Clark closes office in blue-ribbon suburb

A real estate agent who’s sold homes in upmarket Ascot and Hamilton for the past 30 years has shut down her well-known shop front.

The doyen of Ascot/Hamilton real estate Alma Clark says news of her retirement has been greatly exaggerated.

Alma tells City Beat that while she has closed her Lancaster Rd office after 30 years she is still helping a select group of clients with their properties.

Alma, who has sold more homes in the salubrious suburbs than most people have had hot dinners, has been plying her trade for close to 40 years with an encyclopaedic knowledge of every street, home and unit across the area.

In fact, when your diarist mentioned his own humble unit in the area, Alma knew exactly where it was and how many flats she had sold in the block.

Ray White Ascot principal Dwight Ferguson says Alma is one of the best in the business.

Alma says her new arrangement means fewer office overheads and more time to spend at her Gold Coast holiday home.

She also has sizable investments around Ascot including the block of shops adjacent to her old office in Lanacaster Rd housing Victor Scot Gifts & Homewares where the well-heeled ladies of the suburb like to splash their cash.

Alma Clark is the doyen of real estate in Ascot and Hamilton.

KUDOS GEOFF

St Vinnies has given a big shoutout to Brisbane PR king Geoff Rodgers who has just finished 11 years as an ambassador for the annual Vinnies CEO Sleepout.

The charity says Rodgers has been instrumental in helping the corporate world experience homelessness in the community as well as helping raise vital funds of over half a million dollars to provide accommodation, essentials and hope for those without a home. Rodgers may be stepping down as ambassador but City Beat hears he will still be donning his pyjamas as a participant in the event.

GOOD COIN

Brisbane bitcoin wunderkind Jeff Yew says that despite the growth of cryptocurrencies few financial advisers know how they work.

The 27-year-old founder of Monochrome Asset Management says a survey commissioned by his firm found that while 77 per cent of advisers had been asked by clients about bitcoin and other digital currencies only 18 per cent felt adequately equipped to deal with the inquiry.

“The space has grown rapidly however the educational resources available to advisers have struggled to keep up,” Yew says. Monochrome has launched a new research platform to educate advisers on the growth of the sector.

Jeff Yew is the founder and CEO of Monochrome.

Monochrome in June opened a fund allowing people to benefit from the rise of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The fund tracks the price of Bitcoin, which uses blockchain as a trading platform, via an investment vehicle.

Yew says he plans to expand the fund to $10bn over the next three years as mainstream investors, including big pension funds and high net worth individuals, sought greater exposure to emerging currencies such as Bitcoin.

LIQUIDATOR’S CURSE

It may be tough for businesses at the moment, but spare a thought for the people who have to clean up when a company collapses. With many businesses teetering on the edge of collapse but being propped up with various government assistance measures, the number of liquidations has fallen off a cliff. City Beat hears that some medium sized firms with five or six partners have struggled with little work in the past couple of months.

Revive Financial director Jarvis Archer conceded it has been tough for liquidators with September insolvency appointments about 60 per cent below 2019. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) was continuing to take a softer approach to struggling businesses and had not filed any winding up applications during September.