Hi Trophy,
Your question is a little to broad to answer. It all depends on where you live, how far you are moving, what you need to move, what day of the week, etc,etc.
I think you might just have to do a ring around and get the best individual prices you can find.
Good luck,
Sue [biggrin]

“Be careful not to step on the flowers when you’re reaching for the stars”

Hi WWJD,
That really is a personal question and hard for others to answer with just the basics. It all comes back to what you prefer to do. Do you have a deposit?, Are you planning/have a family? Is there a regular income, or is it casual?
You need to work out what you and your partners goals are, both short and long term, this would be a good start. Educate yourself on financial matters,(try investment books and this forum) and then you should be able to answer the question yourself.
Good luck,
Sue [biggrin]

“Be careful not to step on the flowers when you’re reaching for the stars”

Hi Penny,
It really depends where your subdivision is as it is the local council that sets the rules.
My subdivision application is still in process and we started in July ’05….
It is actually “conditionally approved”, which means we still have to submit landscaping plans and engineering drawings, and hope they like them.
Of course, I recently read in the paper that the local council I am dealing with were voted “worst” in metro Vic, by land surveyors on subdivision turnarounds/approvals! Just my luck!
Good luck,
Sue [biggrin]

“Be careful not to step on the flowers when you’re reaching for the stars”

Hi Phil,
I agree as I am in the middle of a subdivision at the moment, and am pretty confident of a positive outcome. I’ll be onselling the original house and keeping the new “to be built house”. The new house/unit will be positive cashflow, even to the point where interest rates rise to 10%.
I bought this house 8 months ago, which I suppose was the peak of the cycle.
As I was not looking for capital gains, the timing was really irrelevant.
Cheers,
Sue

“Be careful not to step on the flowers when you’re reaching for the stars”

Hi Guitarchick and welcome,
I would speak to a reputable mortgage broker, get a referal from friends or speak to one of the great brokers on this forum.
They will tell you what you can realistically borrow/afford. The fact that you don’t earn much but have saved some money will look good for you.
Well done for making the moves to go forward financially.
As far as investing goes read as much as you can, but try not to over load yourself. You can learn a lot from this forum by doing searches on previous posts.
Good luck,
Sue [biggrin]

“Be careful not to step on the flowers when you’re reaching for the stars”

Hi again John,
You don’t need to remove the unit if it is too big. If it is still holding water their should be discharge valve to empty it. Sometimes this can lead outside (it should), sometimes not…so be careful where it discharges to!
Before you do this, make sure the water into the tank is disconnected or switched off at a stop tap. Or else it will only refill.
You can leave the unit in the ceiling if it is not in your way.
There could also have been a problem with the pipes leading to the unit, other than the unit itself, that caused your problem.
Have roof leaks been ruled out?
Cheers,
Sue [biggrin]

“Be careful not to step on the flowers when you’re reaching for the stars”

Hi John,
Firstly I would want to know what is causing it. That’s a huge drop, is water entering the ceiling through the roof? Did the builders report say anything about the roof condition?
I’d speak to him first and see what he thinks the problem is caused by. He should be able to tell you what needs to be done to fix the problem and a rough idea what the cost would be.
It could simply be a roof leak (or several!) with some tiles needing replacement and then the plaster replaced…I can’t imagine you can fix plaster too easily that has sagged that far…
Good luck,
Sue [biggrin]
P.S. Another source of water damage in the ceiling is a storage hot water unit.

“Be careful not to step on the flowers when you’re reaching for the stars”

Hi Paul,
It is possible to borrow against your present property to buy a new property. You have plenty of equity but the question is , do you have the earning capacity to repay?
As Kiwi said, work out what rent you would get and speak to a mortgage broker to find out what you are able to borrow.
If you rent out your old place the interest on the 200K becomes tax deductable. I have a feeling that you might be asking to borrow more against the $500k housse to increase deductions. This is a tricky area and you need to speak with a good accountant about it.
Good luck with your endeavours,
Sue [biggrin]

“Be careful not to step on the flowers when you’re reaching for the stars”

Hi Redwing,
Horrible position to be in. Why has it only been on the market for two weeks? That’s not much time to sell a prop at the moment.
Could he afford to keep the prop if it was tenanted? Perhaps he could advertise for a tenant at the same time, and see which happens first. The prop may be in an area that would sell easier with a tenant.
Maybe talk to a broker and make sure he has the best finance option available to him. (Io loan for instance)
Good luck,
Sue[biggrin]
Sue [biggrin]

“Be careful not to step on the flowers when you’re reaching for the stars”

Hi LJ Henry, any relation to Kaye Henry?!
(Where is Kaye Henry?)
Anyway, welcome and the first place I’d go for info on NZ property is the website that muppet posted the link for earlier in this post.
(The link is actually for the forum but you can navigate from there)
There is a heap of info for you to read.
You could also try a search of this forum as there have been enough new zealand posts to have you reading for days!
Good luck,
Sue [biggrin]

“Be careful not to step on the flowers when you’re reaching for the stars”