Property spruiker Jamie McIntyre's Airbnb play under scrutiny
The ad promises you earnings of up to $80,000 for the December-January period just by using Airbnb.
There’s also a testimonial from Arnold Schwarzenegger and mention of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s sister Randy sharing with Jamie McIntyre tips about “"luxury living without luxury prices" on the website of 21st Century Education.
All these tips from McIntyre, only for $67 events in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.
Once there, according to a recent report in the Weekend Australian, McIntyre would reveal his secret: “How to make $5000-$10,000 per month in semi-passive income from anywhere in the world.”
McIntyre’s current play is with Airbnb.
“Airbnb is paying out billions to clients and you can be getting this money for your clients and taking,” the email quoted McIntyre as saying, according to the report in the Weekend Australian.
“Imagine a business that requires no capital to get started. No ongoing overhead. Thanks to technology this is now possible.”
McIntyre was recently banned from corporate life for a decade by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission following a lengthy Federal Court fight.
The property spruiker was grilled by Senators Sam Dastyari and Nick Xenophon at a Senate hearing in 2015 over a stalled Shepparton land-banking scheme where many investors were duped of their money on the false promises of strong returns.
McIntyre listed more than a dozen properties for short-term stays from Queensland’s tropical north to the mansionettes of Melbourne’s Toorak.
Many of these, the report said, had first been leased by McIntyre and advertised without the knowledge or consent of the owners.
Airbnb’s global head of policy Chris Lehane has said in a previous report it expects limits to be introduced on the number of listings a person is allowed to have.
McIntyre’s use of the website to build this property empire also raises questions that he is back in business despite the ASIC ban. 21st Century Education denies it.
The Australian report said Blair Harding, a business coach and now the chief executive of 21st Century, dismissed claims McIntyre was back in business.
“Mr McIntyre is no longer involved in the management of Australian companies,” Harding is said to have told The Australian in an email.
“Like many people he uses an Airbnb management company to manage his Airbnb properties. He is also an educator who has educated his clients on the potential to profit from Airbnb and new emerging trends."
McIntyre’s so-called “education programs” first came to the corporate regulator’s attention in 2002, the report said.
The email advertising the seminars with McIntyre offers a number of ways to make a fortune. You can pay for McIntyre’s advice — one client who did this apparently “made over $4000 in his first month”. Or you can allow 21st Century to manage the service for you — where “we can generate you income almost instantly from accepting your home onto our system”.
An ASIC spokeswoman is cited by the report as saying the regulator is “aware of Mr McIntyre’s latest venture”, and will continue to monitor his conduct while another investigation into his previous ventures remains under way.
“The (Airbnb) service involved doesn’t involve financial advice in relation to a financial product or involve the operation of a financial services business,” the spokeswoman says.
The report lists properties in Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise being advertised through Airbnb for rents such as $595 a night on weekends though they were advertised for weekly rent for much less earlier. The letting agents say they were unaware of McIntyre leasing those places.
An Airbnb spokeswoman was cited in the report as not being able to explain how the website ensures landlords are made aware their property is being leased through the online platform, although she says “frankly, there’s no place for this sort of behaviour on Airbnb”.
The Gold Coast Bulletin has reported its is the neighbours who are annoyed at noisy guests.
The mansion, owned by McIntyre family company Isle of Capri 2, was purchased for $4.75 million in 2009.
It is advertised at $791 a night if you want the master bedroom unlocked.
The rate for wedding events is not advertised but believed to be upwards of $1200 a night. The listing says the home can sleep up to 18 people in its five bedrooms and cinema room.
His 27m, four-bedroom yacht Livin II is also advertised on the site — at a minimum $1490 a night.
“The Isle of Capri is an exclusive area — we pay a lot of rates and taxes to live here and we don’t expect this,” one neighbour said.
“The council should be acting to close it down.”