Forum Replies Created
JetDollars,
Originally posted by JetDollars:I am planning to get a line of credit for share trading in the near future.
You’re going to start trading on margin? You must be confident [
].Cheers,
GPPleong,
Personally I have both on my PPoR in Sydney. As the others have mentioned, bars can be a personal safety hazard in the event of a fire, as can deadlocks if they’re locked while at home (there was a news item about this recently where some deaths during a fire were blamed on deadlocks being locked).
When we had the bars installed, we had small “doors” made in them outside each opening bedroom window. These doors are locked with dead bolts, with each person having a key on their keyring (they’re all keyed-alike). This was to allow an escape path if fire prevented anyone reaching a normal door at night. As a further safety precaution, we have a smoke detector in the hallway just outside the bedroom doors and another in the lounge room.
We also have deadbolts on all the windows, a requirement for contents insurance.
The alarm system I installed myself, as I work for a company that manufactures them (although they’re not normally for residential premises). If you don’t have back-to-base monitoring, you need to consider not only the placement of sensors, but also what it’s going to do if it detects an intruder. The standard things are turn on an outside siren and flashing strobe and internal piezo-screamers.
In my opinion, sirens are of minimal use, as most people ignore them anyway (but it depends on your neighbours) and you can only operate them for about 10 minutes. The internal screamers are much better, as they prevent an intruder being able to hear anything – specifically if anyone is coming.
In my house, I do have a siren and strobe (if nothing else it shows that the house does have an alarm system – although you can also buy fake ones – so it should be clearly visible from the road), and a couple of internal screamers and PIRs (sensors). You don’t really need sensors in every room. Many cheap home alarm systems only come with one or two, and in fact I only have two in my house (although a third in the back porch covering the back door). You just want to place them in positions that give the best coverage – like the loungeroom where your TV, etc. is and a hallway covering the bedroom doors. While every room might be better, it’s only going to cost you more in sensors.
One thing to look at is the quality of the sensors. Cheap ones will tend to give a lot of false alarms, making your siren even more useless (boy who cried wolf thing). The better (but more expensive) ones have multiple sensors in them. I have what are known as dual-tech ones, with an infra-red and a microwave sensor, but there are also some that have multiple infra-red sensors.
If I had to choose just one or the other, I’d probably go the alarm system too, especially since it’s cheaper. As well as bars being unsightly and potentially dangerous, they won’t stop determined burglers. Some time ago a house in Sydney got burgled and they broke in after bending the window bars to make enough space.
The main things with the alarm system though are:
– Get reasonable sensors to avoid too many false alarms. There is nothing worse with an alarm system. I think fewer good sensors is far better than cheap ones in every room.
– Position the sensors to give the best coverage of the most important areas. Their height and angle are also important, as they don’t work well in certain situations (eg. facing towards large windows or where motion is directly towards or away from the sensor). The installer should know that though. If you allow pets, you can get sensors that have pet guards which prevent cats and dogs triggering them.
– Get an internal screamer or two (depending on the size of the house).
– Make sure the external siren, if you get one, is clearly visible from the road. It’s as much a visual deterrent as anything.
But if you want the best deterrent of the lot, get a tenant with a big dog! [
]Hope this helps.
Cheers,
GPMuppet,
I wonder if this means there might be some renovator’s delights on the market soon? [
]GP
Jo,
I have recently purchased 2 new IPsSo you bought them outright too (ie. no finance)?
I have 5 degrees in total (2 undergrads), an Honours, Masters and the PhDIf bachelors, honours, and masters count separately, then I have three [
].Couldn’t handle a PhD though. One friend I was at university with started a PhD then dropped out and joined the Salvation Army. Another did his PhD but then went on to become perhaps NZ’s most well-known property guru. I took the middle line and ended up working within my field of study (electrical engineering).
GP
Originally posted by kay henry:I am pretty disorganised
I think of disorganised as being like one of the senior guys at work. He’d travel overseas for a few months on business and when he returned and the company accountant asked for an expense report, he’d just dump a shopping bag full of receipts on his desk.
The accountant was not amused of course, but then it took very little to not amuse him. He was so strict in requiring receipts that you could always tell employees from our company at any business function: we were the ones scrounging through the rubbish bins looking for discarded receipts [
]GP
].
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