Hi Anniethat was actually me not RQ.I just called up a local sheetmetal place & went in with measurements on a piece of paper. Its about $200 for a 1200 x 2400 sheet which gives you an idea. they usually have big cutting machines which does the cutting in seconds. Then its just a simple case of gluing the SS on to the tiles / gyprock /…[Read more]

everyone is looking for the 800+ blocks while ignoring the 799 blocks. if you are not subdividing, the 799 blocks are a hell of a lot cheaper. not sure about other councils but you also need 20m frontage, so might be worth looking at blocks with 900m & 19m front or 799 blocks with 21m+ frontI might start looking into this as Ive noticed 800 /…[Read more]

Michael, if you plan to keep the house, why bother subdividing? why not just get planning approval for 2nd house on the block?(thats a question not a statement)that would save about $20k? and 4-6 months?.you can always subdivide later. spend the $20k towards building the 2nd house instead?I realise there may be a valuation issue but I cant see why…[Read more]

they won it, first purchase at grand opening.I met them there & verified it was transferable & had $10k balance.heres another way to save on renos:use 600mm x 600mm gloss black tiles on kitchen benchtops instead of granite. costs $40/m which means about $250 if you also use them for splashbacks, but recently Ive started using stainless instead for…[Read more]

re Ikea…about 1 yr back on ebay someone was selling a $10,000 Ikea voucher for $8k, they lived far north QLD and came down for a week to sell the card (was only valid at Logan). I asked myself, if Ikea had a 20% off everything sale, would I go in & spend $8k? NO!!!!……….so I thought, how can I make this work? I offered $6k knowing they were…[Read more]

its not too late as its 5 business daysI think its not that big a deal, house has stood 30 yrs with the problem so why would it fall down the second you buy it?The building inspector is just covering his own ass by giving you worst case scenario. dont waste money on another inspection.by all means try a claim, but dont ask for $2k, try $500 and…[Read more]

Ive spent the last 2 weeks emailing property managers about rental properties available on Brisbanes north side.out of 60 requests for an inspection via realestate.com.au, Ive had a grand total of ONE phonecall or email response.if you have properties that arent getting tenants, this could be your problem?

we specialise in dual living houses, in fact its all we have done.its very difficult to get council approval, but a draftsman I used explained the loopholes. A 2nd kitchen downstairs is actually illegal, so he called it a 'wet bar' and it got approved.insurance is difficult, as are bonds for tenants. theres also issues with fire regs, noise,…[Read more]

going from 4 bed to 5 wont add value, in fact it may lose value with one less car space. why have 5 bedrooms if theres nowhere for all these people to park?if you had a 2 bed and changed it to 3 it may be different."There is also a large carport on the side of the house which could easily be enclosed."I very much doubt that it would be easy. yes…[Read more]

of course they would cut the fixed rate, as the market has priced in a rate cut already. why wouldnt they want people to lock in at the top?

johnstal wrote:
what a load of crap. I couldnt be bothered reading the whole post. Read enough though. We are a totally different market than the US and Europe.Heard of the Mining Boom? We arent dependant on the US anymore. When China crashes thats when we are effected. Even if China crashes they will be relying on our resources so we will be…[Read more]

the conversation was 10 yrs ago now, and at the time I had zero interest in property, so I probably didnt commit to memory everything important he said. He explained about interest rates going up & up to 18%, I think he had tenants in the properties. they were all Sydney properties. thats about all I remember.

harb……..THATS GOLD !

I agree that there are those who walk the walk and those who only talk the talk. you have to admire those who have built a large portfolio and dont mind sharing how they did it.making money is easy. keeping it is the hard part.I talked to a guy who had $3m worth of property leading into the early 90's recession.  he explained how things slowly…[Read more]

following on the off topic route……..Australia owns a big chunk of the worlds uranium, and our main energy source is likely to be nuclear in the near future as solar is way off. Will Australia in 100 yrs be like Saudi Arabia is now?

irrelevant, condescending, conceited, pessimism without a clue. "I went to Uni and all I got with this stupid t-shirt"If you want to impress people with big words at least spell them right and use them in their correct context.reminds me of the bar scene in GOOD WILL HUNTING. but you probably just copied & pasted the whole thing right?

with property prices falling, I find it odd that people think its better to have a large exposure!I just sold both of my properties and Im currently 100% cash.so I guess Im: D, nonedoes that mean my opinion is not worth as much as someone who may lose a few million over the next few years because they own a lot of property? hmmm

its likely the RBA will cut but banks will raise, so no effective change.inflations source is not interest rates being too low. huge demand for basic materials from BRIC countries forces producers to raise their prices, and high oil does it again. Retailers get charged more to buy products so they pass the cost on to consumers, then have to pay…[Read more]

are banks in NZ hiking rate independant of the RBNZ? ie, are mortgage rates really higher or do you just assume they are because the reserve bank rate is higher?stu, Im hoping to pay cash as a loan is too hard

depends on the extent of the peeling. you need to get ALL of the paint off. Put paint stripper on any cracked paint, but make sure you scrape it off fairly quick, or it loses its bubbles & kinda glues itself back on. Paint stripper only works when the chemical can get behind the paint, through cracks etc. otherwise it does nothing.Try an angle…[Read more]