v8ghia wrote:
thought I'd test it out buying some 2001 coastal property, hit the loud pedal………….and……… it cost me $350 and 3 points! Maybe it should be a Delorian….

<foundations smacks own forehead>Sorry v8ghia. I missed a word. It has to be built over the chassis of a flying De Lorean. See the cosmic vacuum system and jets in…[Read more]

Save your money. There is no secret. Everything that can be known about property investing is public knowledge, most of which can be found on this forum for free.

crashy wrote:
People think you can just throw $50k at a property and it will automaticly go up by $100k.

Hi Crashy, with this in mind, I wonder if your experience might provide insight to some questions I have about this particular project:What about the array of improvements Jase & Flic have detailed above – would you expect these $25k of…[Read more]

An updated look at 'good' debt.

foundation wrote:
Case Study – Max and Penelope (not their real names) Age: Mid 50s Income: 60k + 15k Investments: PPOR – valued at 350k in 2003, based on uniqueness. Unfortunately it is so unique, they would be very lucky to now find a buyer at 220-240k. IPS – 120k (70k 2001), 110k (70k 2002), 100k (98k 2004),…[Read more]

Oh SNAP!Thanks V8Ghia, you posted my punchline before I'd finished typing!

Tim Turner wrote:
Is there any particularly creative ideas people have out there to source these ellusive properties?

Yep. It's a four step process:1) Build Time Machine (preferably based over a Delorian chassis)2) Travel to the year 1999 or thereabouts3) Drive Time Machine (See, the Delorian is useful as well as stylish! > 50 kms from any…[Read more]

Hi Devo.This question doesn't have a simple answer. Business cycles are pretty much inescapable, but the causes (and therefore the remedies) are debatable. Some economists believe that the boom/bust cycle can be managed through reserve bank intervention and governments running budget surpluses during the boom then deficits during the downturn.…[Read more]

Phew! No offence intended. It was just the combination of…* Californian* Articulate* Recent arrival* Living (visiting?) in Sydney* Familiarity with credit scoring, trust deeds, “going stated”, ARMS, foreclosure, US RE in general* Interested in “no doc”* Mis-spelling “liens” as “leans”… that made my Casey-rader misfire I’m afraid. Apologies, an…[Read more]

sjordan wrote:
I'm trying to grasp AU property.

  Holy Crap!Please, please, please tell me it's not you…

Quote:
Serin handed the haterz even more ammunition this week by disclosing that he had left his wife, Galina, behind in West Sacramento, Calif., with only about $300 in the bank and had set up operations in an undisclosed location in…[Read more]

Quote:
In recent years there have been a few media reports of massive drops in house prices in isolated incidents, but the argument could be raised that there were a lot of idiots with a lot of expendable cash, equity or finance who paid too much for their properties during the boom, who got caught financially, had to sell and took a big loss.…[Read more]

Solon's warning to Croesus: Croesus, a very wealthy man indeed was perturbed that upon visiting and touring his palace, Solon appeared completely unimpressed by his wealth. "Who is the happiest man alive?" he asked Solon, clearly expecting Solon to pronounce him the wealthiest and happiest. "For thyself, O Croesus," replied Solon, " I see that…[Read more]

Jase and Flic wrote:
"what are brand new similar houses selling for in the immediate area?" – I have not actually seen any new ones

It still pays to assess your projected sale price against others in that price range. Ultimately, your house will be competing for buyers against properties such as…[Read more]

Quote:
So the worst scenario is that the money you are putting towards an investment only makes a small profit. Does that explain it?

Not really… I'd have thought that a scenario where you make a small loss would be worse than that, and that a scenario where you make a large loss would be the worst scenario?

Thanks for the article Jefftheunit. I found the full thing here:http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21848653-643,00.html

"I am beginning to be swayed by your arguments."Don't be! Follow your own mind. Anybody who'd listened to my argument 2 or 3 years ago would have missed out on a massive windfall if they'd planned to buy in Perth or various mining towns. If they'd planned to buy in W Sydney or regional Victoria they might have saved themselves a lot of pain…[Read more]

Incidentally, my hypothetical 1000 year mortgage is functionally identical to an interest-only loan. I think from now on I will try to refer to IOs as "1000 year mortgages".

Quote:
You are making some key assumptions:1. People won't be able to continue along the debt path of the past – it has to come to a point where they can no longer afford the increasing debt.2. Because of point 1. house prices will eventually have to tumble.

Not assumptions, propositions. Propositions based on (in the case of the first)…[Read more]

blogs wrote:
Always enjoy your posts foundation and for most parts have always agreed, however Im starting to swing the other way.

As long as the other way is towards disagreement, not hating my posts. Healthy debate needs people who hold strong opposing beliefs.On the matter of comparing Australia and the US, I think we're starting to set…[Read more]

Quote:
So you're saying that if you buy a property in an area that has achieved 10%+ average growth over the last 20 years you don't expect that trend to continue?

Correct! I wouldn't be at all inclined to extrapolate the last 20 years of price change along an exponential trend-line for the next 20 years.In a nutshell (or nutcase, if you're…[Read more]

Cheers Marc, I agree. In life I'm actually a very upbeat person who looks forward to embracing the future with all its challenges. I also suspect that natural and economic forces (energy/resource scarcity and the consequences of overindebtedness among others) might in the future actually bring societal trends and focus back to things that are…[Read more]