Forum visitors in decline

Yes Marc, I have noticed that also.

I haven’t seen Acey for days, and Simon (Mortgage Hunter) and Richmond are quite quiet too!

Hmmm [hmm] I wonder where they have disappeared to!

Yep, Wayne.

Marc, you’ll find it ebbs and flows around here. I asked the same question some months ago. On the good side, a lot of the old regulars have shifted back! [strum] People come, people go, on every forum. And new people sign up every day, so it balances

kay henry

I think they become moderators and stop posting.I used to enjoy Chan$ posts but never see them since he got promoted.

Russ, I think the fact that Chan is not posting as much as he used to, is not related to him becoming a moderator. I think he’s not able to access the site from work anymore.

Is that right, Chan?

I totally agree with the comments of Wayne L.
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The same thing happened in sharetrading forums at the start of the bear sharemarket.

First, people get narky and argumentitive, then visitors start dropping off.

Sign of a bear market folks.
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I reckon, even this web site may not be around in 2-3 yrs.

I recall during the IT boom, there was a web site called silicon investor. There were like 10-20 postings a day about some companies. The web site is there and now you are lucky to see 5 ostings a month.

Same will happen here as people have not been able to achieve what was achieved during the boom and many people will become disillusioned and fall off property investing.

Especially those stuck with crap rural properties sight unseen, needing renovations and sitting empty or needing some work to get to a rentable condition.

Even I dont feel as confident as I did 6 months ago.

Hello all,

I’ve been dropping in every day but I haven’t seen much I’ve felt the urge to reply to. I think this website will be around for a while yet, and the fair dinkum investors will stick with things. The “fly-by-nighters” might drop by the wayside though…

Cheers
r

I just have concerns for the future (next 2-5 yrs). We had a rate increase of 0.5% and my latest property purchase in 2002 probably has gone down 10%.

I only see interest rates going up again. I have fixed rates.

I cant see how we can keep property prices where they are now. How can a newly married couple afford a property worth $300k, when back in 1997 they were worth $130k. Back then I thought $130k was alot of money.

Salaries have not increased over that time to support those values. Its interest rates that allow those valuations. As interest rates will rise as the US economy improves, then it stands to reason property prices will fall.

In my investing time since 1997, I have not experienced a down turn.

Now I am looking at some decreases in value and not to mention the painting and repairs that are needed over the next 6 months. We still need to find the money for that.

So those who have purchased in the last 18 months will soon be looking at negative equity and VERY slow growth and the problems of owning properties – repairs, tenants, cleaning, painting etc, etc.

Anyway – maybe its just me.

I suppose it does. I am not comfortable at this point of time to look at places like that.

yack, I hear ya re a cooling market.

You said:

“So those who have purchased in the last 18 months will soon be looking at negative equity and VERY slow growth and the problems of owning properties – repairs, tenants, cleaning, painting etc, etc.”

depends… I bought a property, August 2003 – bank val says it’s increased by 30%. Property I bought at Xmas has increased by 20% (bank val done a week ago). It’s not all doom and gloom. And I intend to keep buying too. Hoping to conclude a purchase in sydney this week (fingers crossed!!) Because i’ve never *relied* on CG (always seen it as a bonus), then it doesn’t bother me much what prices do- if my IP’s happen to double over 15 years, i’ll be stoked. I did sell off an IP in March though, and still got boom prices for it, so sometimes it’s good to get out (for underperforming properties) when the going’s good.

If you think prices are declining, yack, it might be time for you to buy another IP?

kay henry

“many people will become disillusioned and fall off property investing”

yack, yeah – and don’t you see that we’re all being manipulated by the government and the media to think that?

the stories have changed on tellie from ‘reno millionaires’ et al, to ‘interest rates up, auction clearance rates down, govt. introduces new tax to make property investing less lucrative’….with the purpose of taking the heat out of the over-inflated Aussie property market.

The side-effect of that is that property prices will fall. I mean, that’s what the government wants them to do. Bad news for negative geared people who have to pay losses into their properties week after week, in the hope of making capital gains – and after all their hard earned cash going in to support their investments, make a capital loss too. And then, if they sell, the government stings them on the way out, too.

i think the government is trying to tell us something…or else, make something change.

but the good news is, that the moment that – en masse – everybody thinks like you do – “many people will become disillusioned and fall off property investing” – THAT will be the perfect time to buy again – you will be able to name your price. Reason being there will be always people who for one reason or another have to sell *now* and if there are less buyers around, it’ll be a buyers’ market.

CF+ve properties will start popping up again in Aus all over the place. That’s my prediction, anyway.

i think the ones who are acting counter-cyclically will make the most money. The ones that do what everyone does, what the average investor does, will get the average result. ooops. that’s a Steve-ism, so I’ll credit him for that one..

cheers-
Mini

joy to the world