Forum Replies Created
Bernard Salt writes very interesting articles in The Australian’s Prime Space section that comes with the Thursday edition.
regards,
CarlinHi Breej,
A good conveyancer in SA is Susan Davies – ph: 041) 331-0070. I’ve used her for all my transactions, including when I’ve sold properties myself (no, I’m not an agent – just like to cut out the middleman) and she’s always been very helpful and professional.
Also, in negotiations, always remember that other properties do come along and that at this point in the market cycle, your position as a buyer is only getting stronger.
Stay calm and – when you’ve reached what you think is a fair price that you can easily afford, hold your ground. I’ve had an agent come back to accept an offer 4 days after rejecting it, and I’m sure other contributers to this forum have had similar experiences.
Also – perhaps there are some ways to make the deal sweeter for the vendor? A short settlement perhaps? The more you know about the vendor, the stronger your negotiating power. Turn detective!good luck,
CarlinHi Colbert1982
Sorry, but I don’t understand your explanation for making this student house cash flow positive.
I am in negotiations now for it and I’m trying to work out how high I can go, while leaving sufficient margin to cover costs + have a little over (ie: cash-flow positive).
What is “a loan that offers an offset set to your students financial income that then can be returned by taxation department as tax deductable, this ensuring that your allotment secures a capital regrowth and in return will avoid capitable gains taxes”?
Can you please explain this another way so I (hopefully) get it??
Also – I’m not eligible for first home buyers grant as already have bought own home.
thanks,
CarlinRe-“Bargains Galore as House Prices Slump” article.
Does the Sun Herald do well out of real estate advertising?
Were these properties obscenely overpriced in the first place?
Are they really bargains – what kind of yield would you get? How long would you be waiting for capital gain?
Though I haven’t crunched the numbers and I don’t know the Sydney market, this article smells like real estate advertising to me. The Adelaide Advertiser does the same thing – big articles with pointers to the real estate pages.
Neither paper (with their massive incomes from real estate advertising) is a messenger I would trust when it comes to assessing the real estate market.
The likes of Henry Thornton is a better bet for me.
cheers,
CarlinDid I blink and miss the slump?
Who does API think it’s kidding??!! In my neck of the woods (SA) the market’s only just coming off the boil, and judging by writers on this website, other areas are in a similar state.
It’s no surprise that API went from a quarterly mag to a monthly mag in the not so distant past – we’ve been in a boom and subscriptions went through the roof. Now it wants to ensure it keeps its readership, not to mention the many advertisers who are dependent on a booming property market.
Articles like this one only discredit the many good and honest writers who contribute to this mag and who – if they have a vested interest in taking a certain slant – at least make it less blatant.
cheers,
CarlinMany thanks Mark for your very clear explanation.
Best Wishes,
Carlinthanks Terry – I’ll give him a call. Good to have someone local.
Carlin
What a great post!
I join the long list with disinterested partners. It’s been a great comfort and inspiration to communicate with likeminded people on this site.
I think I have an advantage over some couples dealing with this problem as we don’t have kids. I do fear that if they enter the equation, there might be pressure to conform to some kind of “more sensible” (read inactive) approach to finances.
It still irks me to read about couples in API magazine, who work as a team and achieve so much.
But, as someone else wrote, you can’t expect someone to become like you, have the same priorities as you and think like you.Anyway, I’m just going to continue to take charge of making sure we’re not standing in line for a pension. So long as there’s no active obstruction I can cope with doing it alone.
Cheers,
CarlinHi Nick,
You gave your charge for a company, but what’s your charge for an individual?
thanks,
CarlinHi All,
A great thread, and I agree with the general line – most people have NO idea about delayed gratification. I was in a whitegoods store yesterday, buying a microwave for my rental unit. Got the best price, then phoned around to better it. Saved myself $35.
Anyway, the store was FILLED with people, and yes, many seemed focussed on the wide-screen plasma TVs.The just reported slowdown in consumer sentiment musnt’ have hit my neck of the woods yet!
cheers,
CarlinHi Learningtoinvest,
will let you know when I find an SA acct to help with this, tho’ will also suss out accts interstate.
Just back from an auction. Quoted 300+, sold for 405. Six active bidders.
I don’t care what anyone says, SA is still too hot for this little duck.
cheers,
CarlinYou definitely need to think about the motive of the messenger when reading media reports on the effects of rate rises.
For example, is a newspaper that’s highly dependent on advertising dollars from the real estate industry going to print articles that discourage people from buying real estate?
I don’t think so.
As for commentary from the various real estate institutes and individual agents, they’re trying to have a bob each way.
On the one hand they’re saying that the .25% rise was not warranted and is affecting sales (presumably in a futile bid to influence the RBA at its next meeting), and on the other hand they’re repeatedly reminding us that interest rates remain historically low so, as always, it’s a great time to buy.
Isn’t it interesting how spokespeople for the real estate industry don’t also remind us that the income to debt ratio of many households has never been higher?
cheers,
CarlinTorachan – I hope you’re right. Patience isn’t my strong suit, but I’ve been living by the motto “good things come to those that wait” for sometime now, all the while building up cash reserves.
There are some signs that things are on the turn, but they’re pretty subtle in my neck of the woods. Bring on that second .25% rise, I say!!
cheers,
CarlinHi again,
I understand that it will cost me about $3000 to get a trust set up by one of Ed Burton’s consultants. The kit that was sent to me is filled with newspaper clippings about incidents in which people have been sued. All clearly aiming to make us think about how easy it is to lose the lot in these increasingly litigious times.
For a “limited time” I can get a free Risk Analysis (“valued at $220”), which will not doubt prove that I need to fork out 3 grand to protect my assets.
Why does it so often seem that the ones making the killing at the gold rush are the ones selling the spades???
Does $3000 sound like a lot to set up a trust?
cheers,
Carlinthanks for all the ideas.
re-talking directly to vendors when agents are involved, in my experience it’s been tricky, but I have been known to return to places after opens, knock on the door and just have a chat….best to hear it from the horse’s mouth, I say!
cheers,
CarlinHi all – if anyone’s still reading this amazingly long thread, I’m from Adelaide. Greetings fellow Adelaideans! Would be fun to catch up sometime.
cheers,
Carlinthanks Shelley. I’m in SA, but I will still give Edward a call because he may do business here.
regards,
CarlinIf I were you I would grab that beachside property with both hands!!
Does anyone believe what agents tell them?
I had one agent assure me Adelaide’s market was still incredibly strong (and from the prices I’ve seen properties fetching, I have to agree).
Another agent, from a huge company, told me people were “hanging on to their homes by their fingertips” and that attendances at opens had “fallen through the floor”. He also said that you’d have to have “rocks in your head” to buy an investment property now because when the second .25% rate rise hits, there’ll be mortgagee sales “left right and centre”.
I find it very hard to believe that so many people are so close to not being able to keep up repayments, and when I suggested to him that surely a .5% increase wouldn’t make much difference to most people’s circumstances he assured me that a .5% increase would have the same impact as a 2-3% impact would have had 10 years ago, such is the household income to household debt ratio.
Interesting times indeed….
Prices may be coming down or flattening in your cities, but here in Adelaide the market still seems strong. Clearance rates at auctions are dropping, but people still seem to be prepared to pay huge sums for properties with rental yields of 3-4%.
So as far as I can determine, this first .25% rate rise hasn’t made a jot of difference to buyer confidence here. Sure, prices have gone off the boil since the crazy months of 2003, but they’re still high and attendances at opens are strong.
Anyone else have any views on Adelaide’s market?
