Today's Highlights

Californication Eleven, 10.05pm Facing a statutory rape charge, the verdict is finally in for troubled writer Hank Moody. In response to the verdict, Hank (David Duchovny) heads to Charlie��s (Evan Handler) house, where he meets his best friend��s sexually ravenous real estate agent and an old acquaintance who keeps him company.

BRIGHTON

26A Burrows Street Sold undisclosed AGENT KAY & BURTON ASKING PRICE $1.4 MILLION

Agent's fee open to negotiation

IS THERE a standard agent's commission? Most real-estate agents charge a success-based commission for their services,which means they must sell your house in accordance with the contract ��� or sales authority ��� or you don't pay.

Close to the action and heading up

AS A suburb, Ashburton is small but beautifully positioned.

RIVER AND FOREST

$1,250,000 ALBERTON 258 Brewery Road Private sale Agent Garth Lisle Property Consultants, 5678 5878

Smart Buys

Darlinghurst

Love-hate romance ended in bloodshed

THE Chippendale unit was on the market when a real estate agent, about to hold an open inspection, arrived to find "heaps of red liquid on the floor and kitchen bench".

Hunter vote gatherers

Depending on your point of view, there may be only one thing better, or worse, than one Hanson. Two of them. Well, two Seccombes anyway. Pauline Hanson's little brother David Seccombe, 53, is attempting to ride into politics on his sister's coat tails. The siblings are among nine from the Hunter region who have nominated for the Legislative Council under the one banner. Must be something in the water. Many, like Hanson, pictured below, hail from an enclave north of Newcastle based around Nelson Bay. Her brother lives at Salt Ash. Hanson's neighbour at Corlette, the real estate agent Stephen Mulcahy, has joined her on the ticket. The rest, including Hanson's former One Nation national director Brian Burston, Rosalyn Wright and the retired accountant John Cantwell, live around the shores of Lake Macquarie. Hanson has had blanket coverage, spending much of her time telling eager breakfast talk show hosts she is not a racist. Joining her on the ticket is Kate McCulloch, pictured above, a mother of four from Mount Hunter who attracted national attention as the poster girl for Camden's Muslim-shy residents in May 2008 when councillors voted unanimously to reject a proposal for an Islamic school.

The most serious allegations only hinted at

OMBUDSMAN George Brouwer concludes that The Brotherhood luncheon group is underlined by a culture of "exclusivity and secrecy" that can breed illegal information trading. But how fair is this characterisation?

REA abusing its power, say small online agents

THE country's leading online property listings company, Real Estate Group, has been accused of abusing its position after two independent agents face being ejected from its website for failing to comply with what they say are unreasonable terms and conditions.

PAY TV

KISSINGER KNOWLEDGE IS THE BEGINNING DANNII MINOGUE: STYLE QUEEN A PLACE IN THE SUN: DOWN UNDER

A single-minded lesson in love, lust and reality

Cut loose for a week of extramarital sex, Owen Wilson finds being free is not so easy, writes Donna Walker-Mitchell.

Take a swing at the '60s

Glimpses of the ocean off Bondi and Manly were an unexpected bonus at this nanna-neat house on 556 sq m in Beacon Hill. The interior is in a 1960s time warp but with the help of a colour consultant and a couple of tweaks with the layout, this could be the grooviest house in the hood. The three bedrooms have built-in wardrobes and the sunroom faces north, looking over a leafy backyard. There is an artist's studio and a garage under the house and a big, covered deck off the living room. Skyline Real Estate agent Nell Daines (0450 010 075) will open 14 Mills Place today from 1-1.45pm.

There's been a clash on the levy, tempers overflow

JULIA Gillard could hardly have had a worse day if she were a real estate agent trying to flog a block of land beneath Brisbane's flood level.

REBORN

$1,175,000 QUEENSCLIFF 37 King Street Private sale Agent Kerleys Coastal Real Estate, 5258 4100

COLUMN 8

"Following on from the series of stories of medical abbreviations, as doctors we also often use with our patients euphemisms for banal words and functions that we are too embarrassed to say," writes Dr John Frith, of Paddington. "I used to use the phrase 'How's your plumbing?' for 'Are you having any difficulties passing urine?', until one day an elderly female patient looked at me very strangely and said, 'Thanks doctor, it's fine, I just had my plumber in yesterday, but I have come to see you about some discomfort I've got passing my urine'."

pay tv

Australia Day marathons Come Dine with Me Australia Too Fat for 15: Fighting Back

FIRST AND WORST

ANDREW WINTER This television host and property expert once worked for a not-so-real real-estate agent

Real estate rebel gets axe

A WHISTLEBLOWING real estate agent who has campaigned against deliberate underquoting of prices and bait advertising has been dismissed from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria's ethics committee.

Boom or gloom?

The RBA has us back in the resources boom, others suspect that without the stimulus the economy might stall. Who is right?