Hi Mick,

Congrats!

You're probably better off just interviewing 3 agents in the area, and finding one who is quick to return your calls, and that you feel you can work with. By interviewing a few you can get a feel for the kind of fees you are up for, and negotiate on those with the agent of your choice, if they happen to be more expensive.

Cheers

D

Wow, dgirl,

Sorry to say but it doesn't sound that lovely as an investment. I don't know who Nikki Lane is.

If you said that u wanted to live there for purely personal reasons, you always wanted to live there, now you are paying cash coz you are loaded, I'd say go for it.

It's pretty likely you will never be able to develop it. How much money does eco-tourism bring in? How will you get the tourists there with no road? Will you even be able to put a road in or are there 200 year old trees around it all?

Good luck finding a loan (I do mean that in the nice way), but I'd suggest personal is for personal and business is for business, don't try to rationalize a personal choice as business.

Cheers

D

LOL!

I chose to overlook that Catalyst and hope that others (especially newbies) may just take on board some advice. I was quite taken with the 12 properties part. As if you would even contemplate managing it yourself with 12! lol.

Whether he's a fake or not, the advice remains the same, DIY = More work!

Cheers

D

Hi all,

Just one thing about tiles and Vic – they are FREEZING! so in a living area, I would consider lino. You can get great lino now that looks like floorboards, sorry I have no idea how to get the picture in or I would put one of our rental up that we did, using the lino.

Bunnings is great for cheap vanities, and kitchens. You can cheap on stuff like tiles (white tiles are white tiles) for the bathrooms, mulch makes a front garden look sooo much better. Give the outside a pressure wash and it will start to look heaps better. Theres heaps of ways to keep it cheap!

Good luck, keep us posted on how this goes for you.

D

Miaow Freckle,

Why don't you bit the hand that funds this website……..

People write books because they think they have something to say that is of value to others, and I think many people got started because of some of the "books and seminars" that are available.

Personally I'm getting a bit tired of hearing the same (unsubtle) Steve bashing out of you Freckle. Steve McKnight is running market updates in every state, why don't you put your money where you mouth is and head along. Then you can Freckle Heckle all you like, you might even learn something and understand why people on this site respect him and the knowledge he shares.

I like to do people puzzles, and I like to look at motivation. Why would someone do something, why would they go to a foreign country and spend all their money there? Why would they encourage others to do this, what do they have to gain.

I've been looking at Steve's actions (and many other investment 'gurus') for awhile now, and looking at motivation. And I'm speculating here, I think Steve went to America and found that some of it was a dump. I think he got there and found people living in squalor that you wouldn't find in clean and shiny Oz. Steve is a Christian. So I speculate that he has seen an opportunity to not only made a bundle of cash, but to improve peoples lives at the same time. And really if he is investing for other people he should profit off that, it's a reasonable expectation.

Go to the market update (pay up, it's stupidly cheap) then tell me all about Steve and how he's doing it wrong.

You'd do all the research in the world on other stuff, do it on Steve too.

D

Hey only 2 days to go!!!!!

This is going to be huge

D

No worries Intrigue, I only have my opinions however, as I don't own any metal.

Personally, I think if you are not using cash to buy silver/gold, shares etc that you may be put behind the 8 ball as these investments turn on a dime. At least with a cash investment you can get out at the drop of a hat, without any 'margin calls' from a lender etc if it goes south. You've got to make sure at that point that there is nothing better that you could do with that money, like investing in other metal, shares, property etc, because you need to hold the investment long term to see a good return. You'll also have to hold a fair amount to make a good return. With any holding costs (eg holding silver at the mint), the cost of interest.. you may find any gains being chewed up.

While gold has stayed high due to hedging (and probably on the wish of a few people to return to the gold standard) silver seems to have stayed to some degree the spinster sister. Yes it has still had good growth. I'd like a few more opinions on this also.

The Australia dollar will begin to drift down as the US begins to recover, that's the way these things work.

The speculator could play the rise and fall, but they would have to play the game all day every day. One of the reason I lost interest in share trading.

I've really only hit the tip of the iceberg in terms of learning about hedging, metals, plnty more to know.

Cheers

D

Great points here crew.

My 2 cents? I'd pay for the power point, $300 is high for a power point but maybe approach a sparky directly and get a better price. As JacM said power and plumbing, just go with it.

As for the heat pump, will it add value via rent, better value for sale, and depreciation? Sure. I do pay for things, I have added a new antenna (happy family tenants are watching tv and not bugging the pm), a security screen door (tenant is a well paying single woman who wants to live for ever there) so sure, I weigh up cost, annoyance factor, pm annoyance factor before I start getting out the pennies.

Happy tenants don't leave, they pay rent on time and sometimes before. They take care of the property and it is their home. Happy property managers call you like you are their best friend, fix tiny problems for you at no cost and will go out of their way to help you, and your tenants. I'd consider putting the heat pump in.

I'd pay, then I'd make them pay me more!

Cheers

D

Hi Alexia,

I'm sure one of the legal eagles here can give you their thoughts.

My suggestion would be to get everything in writing, including copies of the invoices for the actual fan and the installation. It must be installed by a licensed electrician so get the invoice so you are covered. IF you get a copy of the docket for the fan as well if there warranty issues you can get it repaired/replaced etc.

Get the tenant/s to agree in writing to payment for the fan, installation of the fan, and the fact that the fan will from that point (after installation) become your property. You could always offer to pay for the fan, in exchange for a rent increase………

Let us know how you go.

Cheers

D