For me, just waiting and watching, ready to pounce if the market takes a dive, ready to jump of a cliff if the market rises, because I don’t own anything at the moment.

Basically I think the market’s got to come back a bit and would then be looking for bargains.

There’s more than one person who’s headed off overseas to rake in the big bucks, which I believe if you can is a great idea.

250-300k is a good starting point, but don’t hold your breath on CG’s like the last few years and yes Brisbane generally seems overdone, but so does a lot of other places. This is where research is paramount.

All I can…[Read more]

Here’s a tip that you could use;

This is my 11 millisecond solution. Take the first 3 digits of a house selling price and if the rent isn’t double this (per week), it’s generally negative cash flow.

House $120 000, double the 120=240, if the house rents for less per week than this it’s negative.

Eg. House $85 000, need $170 per week
House $160…[Read more]

You might be better off going and finding a few possible deals, thinking of strategies you can use for them and coming back to the forum for advice and opinions on these strategies.

One possible idea is to look for houses on good blocks of land, where the house is close to the front perimeter with a fair size back yard. You could renovate the…[Read more]

Hi John,
I’ve used the Insurance Brokers Aon before and they seemed quite good and comprehensive across a diverse range of insurance needs, you can check them out at;

http://www.aon.com.au/

Or you can simply look up insurance brokers in the yellow pages and go from there.

You could get onto a surveyor or conveyancer or something, I’m not too sure, to give you a preliminary guesstimate.

Also there are some very experienced people on this forum that do this kind of thing for a living, so I’m sure they’d be able to help with a heads up.

You obviously needed the valuation to come through in your favour. It didn’t, however as you’re only $10k out is it possible to find this, if you need to, by the time your finance is due?

I hope I’m on the right track with this but maybe a credit card or personal loan to make up the difference. Or you could chat to your bank and broker and…[Read more]

Banks can tend to be self-serving and illogical when it comes to valuations, you’re not the only one.

Have you considered another bank, or broker?

Firstly you must find out whether the block can be subdivided or not, and if yes, get it in writing.
To cut it into 3 and sell for a gain of say $50k is a perfect world scenario. Your contigency plans if something goes wrong are at least as important as your plans for your initial intention. Get it right, you’ve gained $50k, get it wrong and you…[Read more]

No, unless you’ve used a service they’re providing, then there’s nothing to pay for. If they send you a bill, turf it or pass it onto Consumer Affairs and find out what they think of investing seminars.

How ’bout the Hawks now?

If we can pump Brisbane by 8 goals, imagine what we’re gonna do to the Dockers…? 80 goals!?[biggrin]

A bribe is a good idea, but a Solicitor’s letter might be even more effective. At last resort there’s always the option of some bad publicity for the builder in question (whichever way you decide to swing that).[wink]

Greg,

The reason it wouldn’t be working is that you need adobe acrobat reader to view the *.pdf file.

You can download a free version at this address;

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/main.html

It’s a handy application to have and seems safe, besides HTW’s report is well worth the read.

Hope this helps…G7

1. Finds property for people for a fee.
2. There aren’t really, if they dont find property that their clients want, they’re responsible for not getting their fee.
3. Talk to other birddogs on this forum and search this forum for similar subjects. If you can find properties that are cash flow+, or ripe for development etc. and you’ve got people…[Read more]

Looks like you’ve got a pair of demanding, whingey tenants. Or they could have a locksmith as a mate, $750 sounds far too excessive for locks. Or they could have upset someone nasty and are preparing for when he comes looking.
If you keep dishing out, they’ll keep needing new things for the flat. You could always say ‘pay more rent’ or you’re not…[Read more]

I think properties will have to come back to statistical levels of affordability. Especially with the RBA trying to contain inflation, especially wages inflation. So I dont think wages are gonna catch up to the increases that have happened in property. Therefore property will meet wages, not the other way around.
I don’t think a lot will move…[Read more]

It sounds far too risky. If these properties are so good why do they have to come all the way over here to sell them?

There are much better ways of finding and buying good properties in the US than that. Try Westan on this forum, he’s a spotter for good deals in the US I think.

Hey Dom, I got in first last time and I’m doing it again. I’m still of the same opinion, the market I believe is going to take a turn that will considerably favour the investors who know what they’re doing.
Property will retreat back into the shadows until it winds up again ready for another boom, say about 2011!? [wink]

This guy probably just made up any nice sounding ideas to get the dummies in the audience excited enough to buy whatever he was flogging at the end of the seminar.
Free seminars and their information are usually intended to butter up the audience for the salesmans ‘close’ at the end.
In these situations use your own judgement, take anything said…[Read more]

I am definately NOT buying. My reasoning is this, I will enter the market when there’s an oversupply of desperate vendors and people will have to be open to negotiations (generous ones at that too, in my favour!)
I am so sure of this becoming a reality that I’m sticking to this strategy no matter what. If this doesn’t eventuate, then obviously…[Read more]