With these interest rates you will be finding them in almost every property you look at.

Thanks C2 – rates could go a long way down yet. I heard something about 4.5% cash rate in general media yesterday.

I am sure many of us are doing the sums at what point you can build a new dwelling and hold at a cash neutral position.

There is alot of stock siting on the market in some areas so you would imagine this would get taken up first.

Okay then – why do we believe the good news and not the bad out of the same speech from the imf. All/most of the media comes from these source documents.

Crashy – you are probably a bit ahead of the curve.

There is usually not much hoopla about property until it is too late or at least until most of the gains have been made. There will be a dozen reno shows on tv this time next year and we will all be back on these forums discussing how smart we are and how much money we have made. Or will we?

By the time people are interested again alot of buying and profit taking will have occurred and we will all be asked to line up and buy the seminar about how to do it. That's a bit cynical, perhaps too cynical really. Let's stay positive.

On the interest rate front: Well at the outset I will say this. There IS such as thing as good news. In order not to turn these forum posts into small novels then I will make some sweeping statements.

The IMF says in a report released yesterday that there will be no recession in Australia. In fact, growth will remain above 2% for all of 2009 – but someone forgot to tell the media.

Our banks were ranked 4th out of about 130 of the worlds banks for security.

Lower dollar higher exports.

Higher unemployment at around 5%.

So what does this all mean. Well I would gestimate the following based on my gut feelings and in the end as an investor that is all you can do. That is, take a position based on your view of what is going to happen.

I got invited to dinner which was nice and I wondered does the fact that the person who invited me now has about $250 extra per month in their pocket due to the mortgage rate reduction have anything to do with it. Probably not on this occassion but I am sure the restaurrant does not care why we eat their food and drink their wine and contribute to their overhead. They are pleased to see us.

The effect of interest rate cuts on the domestic economy will be positive. There is no doubt about that. It would not be to much of a stretch to think that rates will fall another 1% and it will be sooner rather than later. So in the above example my friend may invite me on a short holiday with their $500 a month extra in their pocket. Who know's.

What will we do with all our new cash. Most of us will spend it. Discretionary spending that is. We will not invest it.

We have been hammered over the past year or two with nothing but bad news. Fuel cost, mortgage repayments and the list goes on. The first thing that consumers will do is treat any new money as a windfall and spending it quickly without thinking about the future too much. Reward themselves with something nice or do something fun or go somewhere nice.

You would think that we would start to hide some cash under the matress but I can't see that happening. Let's face it most of us just spend everything we have and maybe a little more than that.

When will people start investing in property again. That is, when will everyone be doing it and when will it be the only thing people talk about at parties and the back yard bbq? Who know's. I don't think it will be this year and noone does anything over the holiday months. Maybe average investors will need enough time away from the constant barage of bad news and enough time for the smoke to clear before they can actually see what is going on and even think about investing in property.

On the flip side as investors we are constantly told to buy our straw hats in the winter, break away from the herd and look to the fundamentals when we invest. We don't though. We sit and wait until everyone is doing it.

Don't get me wrong. It's hard to take the plunge. It's hard to be first and even harder to do new things. It's hard to see positive outcomes when all you hear in negative sentiment. It's hard to have confidence when all people see is doom.

I do know one thing. There is no point in being right about the market, any market, if you are not investing in it and you do not stand to profit. There is merit in taking a position and if that position is to sit out a few round then so be it.

Actively monitoring the market and looking for the right opportunities is very different to sitting on the side line and doing nothing.

Let's face it. Some people don't know how to do anything except complain and be negative. When the market is high it is about to crash and when it has crashed they told us so. They are in your office or on your train on the way to work. They have that look on their face, a smug look at the moment but look a little closer and it is the look of someone who has the ability to read the market but does not have the kahunas to do anything. I can't think of anything worse.

So what does the drop in the cost of credit mean. Just my opinion it means that most of us will have a bit more to spend on consumer goods.

What should it mean – new opportunity!

18 months more pain before the gain

Perhaps but I predict/no guarantee that in 18months there will be a host of seminars and books about how you can make a killing in Real Estate.

The catch will be it will be all strories about what investors are doing right now in this market and how they profited.

Miners generally aren't buyers in the area that they work (they are itenerate). How long is the boom going to last (until China & India run out of money). Will the mines pack up and go? Yes, eventually. You will need to find out the life of the mine, its viability and whether there are any other industries which will survive without the money from the mines.

This is generally the case.

However, there are certain "lifestyle" locations available that allow miners to work and live in the region. Companies such as xstra are advertising for workers in these  locations – people buy in these places.

Is the town a pile of red dirt or a proper town with other things going for it????

It is a very interesting question indeed. Given the high levels of volatility it does make the mind tick over at the possibilities. If I lived there then it may be a different story. It would be hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel with the constant barage of negative media coming at you. A good time to have some cash in the bank and buy a bargain.

The task of buying in the US from here is simply too huge as a few have found (unless you consider yourself a sophisticated investor) . I will go out on lim and say that in my opinion that goes for any foreign market. There were posts on here years ago about steve (forum steve) buying a whole heap of USA property but I never did follow the progress on that deal.

Now more than ever you would have to personally be an expert in each regional market to have a prayer.

most banks in nz have fixed rates under 9%  at the moment. The catch is you would have to fix for 5 years to get those. If you have a good broker you would get at least .5% (probably more) off that as well as the bank paying for your legal fees, zero application fees, waive valuation fees, lends of 90% lvr to aussies (85% plus for self employed without income history)  without any restrictions and foreign income can be used  in servicablility calculations so it is pretty easy to get funds in NZ.  Some of  the nz brokers my help here but they do not charge LMI (have not heard of it there) either which is significant for self employed or full time investors. There are some excellent brokers on this forum servicing many countries but borrowing for usa is not that easy all the time.