Of course, or I could wallow in self pity instead. The choice is pretty clear.

Sell them to me instead, I offer double the price, 40 cents!

Just got a letter from council yesterday about my BAD NEGATIVELY-GEARED property. They're considering to realign locality boundaries. I voted 'yes' immediately!

If that pushes through, it'd turn a property in a lovely location with a B-grade locality to an A-grade on both counts. I have been waiting for this letter for months.

Happy times ahead! There's still good news to be found amid doom and gloom.

Currently working in Meadow Heights, not far from Dallas. A lot of folk would consider this area out here to be the rougher side of Melbourne. Not discriminating here, but in general, the demographic here is low socioeconomic. That said, I have met exceptional clients in this neighbourhood (or from surrounding suburbs). You will get a mixture of good and bad people everywhere. Consider the yield and return on your investment before you purchase. The rental yield in Dallas looks reasonably good (as far as Melbourne metro goes), especially given the buy in price. Vacancy rates balanced at 3% (lower of course is better for an investor, but 3% is not shabby).

Very interesting to read about this. I remember Loch Sport vaguely when stopping there for a toilet break on the way down to Venus Bay. There was a well-drawn mural on the outside of those toilets, which I did photograph. It was a quiet and little town.

That's brilliant. If the banks pass on some, then property owners will get to save some more!

There's a lot of things I would like to do but can't do, because of the current habit of save and invest. However yes, I do have a limited life outside of that, and my job. Or should I say that investing is part of my life and one of my hobbies. I enjoy investing.

The other small thing I do is photography. This used to be landscapes and animals only but over the years has progressed into weddings as well, something I do for friends and family. I'm still very much obsessed with the art of it, and also the equipment side of things. It's a pretty costly hobby but it meshes very well with travel. When the two meet, it's real fun.

Another small quirk is collecting. Not bad to the point of hoarding, but I enjoy collecting old/ vintage things. Two of my most unusual finds of late are coastal/ tiki-themed memorabilia: a large 30-year-old turtle shell which I painstakingly repaired with wood putty, stained and varnished (3 coats either side), and a 25-year-old sawfish bill which was originally taken in Darwin (the original owner has sinced passed on).

Sometimes when I look at the old things, it is blatantly obvious to me that 'they don't make things like that anymore', and there's a quality to the old things that I find desirable. Ultimately I plan to have a home of my own that I will decorate in coastal shabby chic and art deco style. When I move out, half my parents' house will be emptied.

Also, I love jazz music and bossa nova, just sitting down on a couch with a glass of wine and listening to music, chilling out, maybe having a talk with my parents, or my brother when he's not on his PC. My mind is a few decades older than my body.

This might have been mentioned before, but consider drawing up a detailed budget to note down exactly where all your money is spent. Have a good ol' notepad in your pocket and jot down any expenses you make on the spot. Don't count on accumulating receipts and looking at those at the end of the day. Some purchases don't come with receipts, not unless you ask anyway.

Most people are results driven. So if you draw up a budget in this manner and start cutting back on 'non-essentials', you can easily see how much you've saved just because you decided not to buy a packet of cigarettes, or a slab of beer, or that expensive packet of potato crisps at the petrol station. When you see real savings, I assure you that saving and eventually even investing will become extremely addictive.

I understand what JacM has said about property versus shares. Things are volatile at this point. I'll be honest and say that I believe nobody is really qualified to advise you on what to invest in and each person has different views and past experiences. Current economic conditions will also play a major role. Personally, I started with a small amount of savings and jumped straight into shares, which got me some savings to put towards a deposit.

IMO the hardest part is getting started, and it already appears you have done that, so the rest will be easier, and I hope that's an encouragement. Also, hit all your local libraries with that insatiable desire to read everything on investing that you possibly can, and get a reasonable grip on tax either through reading, or better, through a suitable accountant. When you're more comfortable with one investing option over another, investigate further and start putting money in. There is also a wealth of info here, as you've probably discovered by now. Accumulate as much knowledge as you can, and the process doesn't need to be expensive. If you haven't read ANY books yet, start with these two commonly recommended ones: 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' by Robert Kiyosaki, and 'The Richest Man in Babylon' by George Clason. These were the books my dad gave to me to read when I was around 13 years old, and the very first books I read about the way money works.

Interesting. Thanks for that.

I've generally avoided 5 bedders for another reason, such as the trend of families becoming smaller, and an increasing proportion of DINKs. It depends however, on the area and the price. I won't necessarily turn up a chance to purchase a 5-bedder at the price of a 3-bedder.

Johann, good point, recalling that just two days ago there was an article in the newspaper about the Ford plants at Geelong and Broadmeadows being negatively affected when one of their suppliers goes into receivership. I don't have the figures showing how many of Geelong's residents are actually employed in the Ford factory, and there are still other industries in the area (eg. Incitec, a steel mill, Cheetham, CSIRO). Last year there was also an article about a new industrial area coming up to the north of Geelong, which I believe is the Geelong Ring Road Employment Precinct (GREP).

Geelong is still an industrial town as some have alluded to. By that, I think they mean it's a 'young' town. Personally I think there is much more to Geelong than just the Ford factory and the place is starting to look like a mini Melbourne, hence I've already parked money there and will just let time work on it. Closure of the Ford factory is a hump that Geelong will have to overcome and I have no doubt that they will.

For Geelong to turn into a ghost town just because of the loss of the factory is unthinkable, and some Melbournians are also wising up to the comparatively good value of property in Geelong. Not saying it is bad for people with a limited budget to be buying in the outer suburbs of Melbourne (I love the houses and the huge suburban backyards), but they should consider Geelong as an alternative.

Yes, and I might have read somewhere that when looking at an investment property, 60% (or above) of the value of the property should be land value, up to a point of course. No use having vacant land (ie. 100% value of the property is land value) that wouldn't rent for squat.

But at the end of the day it does depend. With a new property where the building (or improvements) is a greater proportion of the value of that property, there is also likely to be greater depreciation benefits.