Hi NEWGEN! Sorry to hear about your loss… it is a terrible thing to have happen… Thanks for starting this great thread though – hopefully you will help someone else avoid the same thing…

Hi Manofaction – the advantage of cash is that most of us would be able to detect counterfeit notes (if we stopped and looked at it) as we deal with cash…[Read more]

In Victoria once every two years the Office of the Valuer Generals asigns registered valuers an area in which to value the properties on its behalf.

I can not imagine that they go out and look at every single property in their assigned area… So like brahms says it is probably just some arbitary formula that they use which gives a result that…[Read more]

Hi Kay!

I am not a fan of the government regulating everything… We might just get regulated out of making some decisions that benefit us or out of making decisions altogether.

People should demand information and inform themselves before forking out thousands of dollars… That way if some dubious marketers came along and tried to sign you up…[Read more]

I’ll be there and I do recomend that anyone else who can make it should do there best to get there as well…

I can not speak highly enough of Lewis and if my opinion is not worth anything than maybe Steve Mcknight reommendation is worth something – whoever he is… By the way can anybody tell me who the hell this Steve McKnight guy is…[Read more]

Hi Steve!

Be careful… Between you and me – some of the moderators have been jumping on people for advertising lately and it can get a bit emotive and personal too. So it’s best to be careful, as I wouldn’t like to see you get in a tangle with them… It might not work out to well for them…[biggrin]

Thanks for letting us know – Cheers,
Greg

Hi Colio!

Sorry to hear that story and thanks for sharing it… I learnt something… But it pays to remember that all the money in the fat bans does not acutually belong to them – it is owned by people like you and I who have deposited it in there

What I am saying – not that it helps you now – is could you not have found people with cash to…[Read more]

Hi NEWGEN!

CASH is KING!

If someone does not have the cash then they need time.. and TIME is MONEY so if they want time they need to pay more.

I do NOT consider bank cheques as good as cash. They are not legal tender and you are at the mercy of the banks discretion if there should be any dramas. And remember the GOLDEN rule…

“Whoever has the…[Read more]

Hi Gatsby!

I have not been myself but I have a friend who has been and from what he tels me it is an interesting experience and one that I would rather not expose myself to. It is pretty full on and you have to relise that they are going to mess with your mind – apparently for your benefit. But like Kay said there are powerful tools around which…[Read more]

Hi Terry!

I will give that a try and let you know if I have any luck… What I did not mention in the previous post was that I applied for three loans to be settled on the same day – for three properties… So instead of one inquiry for each property I have two for each PLUS another one from the LMI for each property so that is a total of 9…[Read more]

Hi Miracle!

Your comments are surprising and disturbing – but unfortunately I find myself believing them… Can anybody else shed light on these revelations…

I suppose that if you applied under the privacy act to see all the information held on you then you may get different results to what you might find on the ‘Public Access’ report issued…[Read more]

Thanks again!

Looks like there is plenty for us to look into here… Should keep us busy for a little while… Once we know some more about the direction we choose we’ll let you know…

Anybody else have any suggestions!? Are we barking up the wrong tree here altogether? Is this time and money we don’t need to spend? I am sure there is someone…[Read more]

Hi Monoply!

I have seen those REIV contract notes – but thought I would inculde the info for people from other states as well… Not all agents use the contract notes here either… I think I prefer a full contract myself – but that is just a personal choice…

Sometimes it can happen that you make an offer on a property and fully want it – but…[Read more]

Hi Depricator!

That has gone completley over my head [blink] I have never heard of an Estimator

Could you give me a nutshell explanation of the difference between a Quantity Surveyor and an Estimator – and when you might use the services of each?

Hopefully others out there are learning from this too… I get the felling like I am about to learn…[Read more]

Hi LifeX!

What a speedy reply and it has left me totally confused… I hate legal mumbo jumbo…

I can only suggest that a chat with a half decent solicitor and you would find some way around all this… I personally have no ideas – but you can clearly let out properties that you own – so there must be some latitude in there somewhere… maybe…[Read more]

Thanks for your thoughts guys…

What if we get itemised quotes as such – splitting labour and material costs… A QS may not be able to accurately predict the local labour costs but he should get it pretty close with material expenses…

This would put us in a better position to compare apples with apples…

Anyone else have some thoughts?

Hi LifeX!

Do you know where the REIV gets that piece of info? Is it in the Residential Tenancies Act? I am asking as I am guessing that it can be side stepped if you’ve read the exact wording of it…

Cheers,
Greg

I remember a story from NZ – and surely their laws are based on similar principles to ours…

Anyway a purchaser changed his mind about the property and used the finance clause to get out of the contract. Somehow the vendor found out that it was not due to unsuccessful finance applications and took the matter to court. The judge ruled that as the…[Read more]

Hi Gatsby!

If you get any other interest and get something organised – then count me in… I am a shift worker but I am keen and I’ll get to as many meetings as possible…

I am in Carlton so I am pretty flexible for locations…

What about everyone else – Are you keen too?

Greg

There are some very tricky and sophisticated scams being run on ebay…All I can say if you are prepared to use direct debit to pay funds into the account of someone you have never met for goods you have not yet received you either have to be prepared to loose that money or you are a fool…

My brother nearly got taken for over $2000 – and get…[Read more]

Hi Vicgirl…welcome to the forum…keep an eye out because we will hopefully be having another lunch down the track sometime and it is always good to meet up with like minded people…[biggrin]

Greg