Investors Club: Legal mediation resumes as Gold Coast house sells at huge loss

The legal dispute between a WA couple and their former investment adviser The Investors Club over losses incurred on a Gold Coast investment property has returned to Federal Court of Western Australia court this week as the two parties attempt to seek a mediated solution.

It comes just a week after the couple crystallised their losses on the three-bedroom bushland house they purchased in Highland Park. The property was sold by Matthew Mariconte, principal of Champions Property Sales for $391,000 on October 24. 

The property reputedly cost $630,000 when the couple bought it in 2007, but official records show a public sale price of $905,000. 

The Investors Club also negotiated a $60,000 discount for the couple on the sale price.

A closed hearing is taking place in the Federal Court of Western Australia today (November 4), following a first court mediation taking place on September 12.

The court-ordered mediation follows Denmark, WA couple Hugh Wilson and Marilee Coombs launching a claim for financial losses, interest and costs associated with the purchase of a Gold Coast investment property in 2007 following advice from The Investors Club. Wilson and Coombs later claimed that the property was grossly overpriced. 

The couple allege the company and staff members engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in advising them to purchase the property in Kirribilli Heights, a Gold Coast development. 

The couple are represented by Slater and Gordon lawyer Carita Kazakoff, who says Wilson and Coombs were told by The Investors Club that the Kirribilli Heights house in Highland Park was worth up to $1 million, and they would make an instant profit of $300,000 on settlement.

However, after the couple purchased the property the couple say an independent valuation revealed the unit was worth as little as $450,000 at the time of the deal.

Coombs says she relied on the advice and assurances of The Investors Club and that this was a sound investment.

In a statement to Property Observer in August The Investors Club blamed the global financial crisis for the fall in property prices in the complex where Wilson and Coombs bought their investment property.