yeh I had some Chinese students stay in a brand new townhouse for 6 months prior to be being sold. The damage bill was huge. I felt sorry for them, the new owner expected the house to be sparkling clean and these guys had no idea how to clean… and the more they tried the worse it got, they took a scourer to the stainless steel hob and scratched it to bits. the drains were clogged with hair, filth everywhere, ceramic basins chipped etc etc. Then the PM said it was fair wear and tear and released the bond. The buyer said it was abuse and sought damages. Boy I learnt from that one. Nothing like a good emotional outburst and tears and yelling on settlement day.

The next one that i rented to students was destroyed probably even more. Fortunately they were loaded and were very apologetic and their Dad sent a cheque over for several thousand dollars within weeks.

I would (a) charge a hefty premium (b) appoint a cleaner (c) keep up regular checks (c) make sure your finishes are durable and resilient as they will cop a beating.

That is from my limited experience in letting to students anyway. Personally I wouldn’t bother again.

Extensive list of ‘Off The Plan’ property available for sale in Perth.

John – 0419 198 856

quality CF+ is definitely not a myth. But if you walk into a Holden dealership don’t expect them to sell you a Ford!

Extensive list of ‘Off The Plan’ property available for sale in Perth.

John – 0419 198 856

I think subdivision and new estates will fill the gap. Otherwise peoples expectations adapt just as they do in other countries…. and we have seen that with the slow change from 1/4 acre blocks to smaller lots and now onto cottage lots. This will be accelerated by a natural preference for smaller lots – so many of our sales come from oldies aching to get rid of their sprawling suburban properties for a low maintenance villa or cottage home.In fact you don’t even need to be an oldie – after wasting 2 years trying to make a garden of eden on my 1/4 acre blcok I abondoned that and now struggle to keep 6 pot plants alive!

Extensive list of ‘Off The Plan’ property available for sale in Perth.

John – 0419 198 856

rents vs values – who knows, it should be a free market with the price just beimg whatever it is, but as the market has been distorted so much by an attempt to provide cheap housing to low income houeholds (via subsidisation thru the tax mechanism), I believe that rents are artificially low and prices artificially high. At the end of the day it’s all academic because I doubt it will ever change.

Helsinki – correct… without researching the median incomes of the Finnish etc etc it is a pretty good guide, if 51% of your income is being chewed up by servicing, that that is more expensive than Australia. In fact comparisons across countries are very difficult to make…. highlighted by that laughable statistic on London affordability. Stats!

Extensive list of ‘Off The Plan’ property available for sale in Perth.

John – 0419 198 856

I find the London one amusing – average wages of 47,000 GBP (must have included the Queens salary in that calculation) and a house for 220,000 GBP…. is that a house or the on street parking space at the front? At least the BMW that goes with it is cheap.

Extensive list of ‘Off The Plan’ property available for sale in Perth.

John – 0419 198 856

presents opportunity for others. One stratgey: with rents set to heat up it would be a good strategy to sell the family home, lock in a 4 years lease on a shiny new apartment before the rents rise too much, then construct a new home when the building market slows down in say 2.5 years time.

Extensive list of ‘Off The Plan’ property available for sale in Perth.

John – 0419 198 856

Jeff I looked at the website and it appears an interesting read. Making life altering decisions on these people’s opinions is another matter of course

Extensive list of ‘Off The Plan’ property available for sale in Perth.

John – 0419 198 856

” Re: median prices:
I didn’t say median prices were falling, I was simply making the observation that the gap between house prices and incomes is much larger in Australia than in other countries. Does anyone seriously dispute this?”

I can’t dispute it as I have never really researched it. The Japanese case seems an extreme example. I would say California is probably worth more than the enitre of Australia! If you took say the 15 top OECD countries (and the debate about whether Australia is a developed economy should be left for another day!) I should guess that the affordablity would be much worse in countries such as Germany and Norway… but it would be quite a bit of work compiling all that info and there isn’t enough time in the day as it is.

Extensive list of ‘Off The Plan’ property available for sale in Perth.

John – 0419 198 856

it’s quite simple – a property can be fairly priced and provide an excellent return to the seller, whilst also being able to be put to a higher use by the buyer. The seller would be aware of this but just have different priorities. An example: A developer releases 20 blocks… it is a political situation and they have to price the lots low otherwise they may miss out on future government work to do more land subdivisions… so they know they could get more but they just want fast sales and they are off the plan anyway so there should be some reward for the brave that venture in. Now if you were an agent that held a listing on a few of these blocks what would you do? try cold calling thru the white pages and explaining the benefits of property investing to anyone that would listen, or call your best clients and tell them you have a money making opportunity and get it sold that day?

Extensive list of ‘Off The Plan’ property available for sale in Perth.

John – 0419 198 856

are you just buying and reselling – or do you mean you want to buy the property, hold it long term and claim the GST back?

Extensive list of ‘Off The Plan’ property available for sale in Perth.

John – 0419 198 856