Steve Mc has a series of videos explaining his pitch to raise $20m – $75m using trusts and REITs to invest in the US commercial market.

I don't agree with his FX or economic assumptions but this will give you a fairly good starting point on how to go about it.

Intro

Pt 1 The…[Read more]

The last person I would advise a first time investor to talk to would be a property developer/builder. I have a fair idea how that conversation will go.

OK you've done some superficial stuff.You have to keep building this out into something a lot more comprehensive. Keep track of what your doing and how you're doing it. Also what types of information and the source that provides strong indicators. Later you can develop this into your personal DD template. 

When you see strong indicators, for…[Read more]

Jac and Catalyst make good points. If a trady or tenant for that matter do any sort of work on your property you are liable by law for their safety. So the well meaning tenant who cleaning leaves out of the guttering, slips falls and breaks his back, the sparky rewiring a switch but fails to isolate it properly and electrocutes himself, the roofer…[Read more]

When people search out other peoples opinions it generally means they lack sufficient knowledge and or confidence. In depth knowledge supports confidence.

Go get the knowledge you need. Analyse past data to understand what makes an area tick, in the past, now and what will make it grow in the future (if at all).

Talk to local authorities (what…[Read more]

OK after some further playing it seems I half solved that problem. If my laptop goes into screen saver mode or sleeps the page stops although before I had a blank page now I have a page but it's stalled (needs to wakeup after the laptop). Still it's much better.

Try this. 

Go to Tools / Settings / Advanced Settings / and tick the box 'Background Apps' (Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed)

Seems to have solved that issue with me anyway

I would probably go with an architect first and look at the financial feasibility of a project while also discussing local authority requirements. Architects will probably be able to cover that aspect as well but I would still do the in person thing with council. Someone on this board wrote a not too bad article on this process I believe. Think…[Read more]

Murphy's Law.When you have it and never use it you moan about the cost because you see no tangible value to it. The day you don't have it and need it you wish you'd had it and not been such a miserable sod.

I think what gng is talking about is when you run multiple tabs. If you go to another tab and then come back to a tab with PI.com the tab has stalled. It takes around 20 -30sec to become active again. I noticed it started this behavior when you installed message updates in the right (now left) column. My guess is that Chrome stops elements in a…[Read more]

You're effectively talking about turning a 4 bedder into 6 studios. Sounds alright in theory although it may be an expensive reno to put in 6 bathrooms and kitchenettes and bring the common areas upto exec standard. Will they be serviced?? Your night rate seems a bit cheap. I was thinking $150/ 1 -3 nights for casuals.

Planning…[Read more]

I think the exec thing has been done to death in Syd (and other cities) over the last decade or so. I wouldn't describe $1k/wk  for 4 bedders in inner Syd as particularly good. A friends partner was a PM in this market mainly Nth Shore stuff. Returns were triple that 10 years ago with lower entry costs than today.

I don't think the corporate…[Read more]

moxi10 wrote:

Here's an article about land releases in some of the High yielding, high price Queensland towns. More cause for caution by anyone considering investing there.

http://www.cqnews.com.au/story/2012/08/08/land-releases-for-our-crippled-towns/

I ordered the book today. It's supposed to be a pretty depressing read and likened to…[Read more]

People make money out of other people because every  one works on the principle they have to find a bigger mug than them to sell successfully.

Reality check. If your assumptions are correct re pricing then $450k may be too high if one expects value for money. The whole successful investor mantra is based around buying BELOW market value not above…[Read more]

Chooky88 wrote:
Hi Freckle. I needed to post the contract front Page with two initials today. Holding off to Monday. Got a 1×1 in Lovell Pl Sth Hedland on hold. 630k to settle. Do you think it will drop in value in 2 years? The loan is approved and if I cancel the deal. What do you suggest I do with the money. I can't afford to negative gear…[Read more]

Talk about 6 degrees of separation. My youngest son moves into Lovell in the next few weeks (company house). Four years ago an elderly friend had a 2×1 for sale there. At the time things were much slower than they are now but by all accounts still booming. He had difficulty selling it and it took around 6 -8 months I believe. In the following 4…[Read more]

Chooky88 wrote:
Projects are on hold due to lack of staff and executive accommodation. It's a growing city.

If you believe that you believe in fairies Chooky. 

I lived there for the last 4 years. Like I said wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.  1×1's are the most expensive RE there is up there.

You're buying at full retail at the top of the cycle. If you think accommodation pressure will be sustained past the next 2 years you're in for a shock I think. 7/8 major projects in WA complete by the end of…[Read more]

A mate owned a servo back in NZ some years back. Graffiti was a problem and the odd bit of vandalism. He hired some of the local kids to do minor work, gardens, windows etc and to keep an eye on the place. Vandalism and graffiti stopped overnight.

You might want to try the same strategy. 

So what is on the "To-Do-List"

I imagine it's longer than a piece of string.

Now here's an idea. Why don't you guys establish a new forum, Site Upgrade or something. Throw in a couple of threads like, Notifications Plans and Progress, Beta testing (if you guys do any that is), PC issues, Mac issues, Mobile issues with sub threads for Android,…[Read more]