Hi Jim, the guy from termimesh came out after we had the attack (gee you have to be dilligent – all it took was the 2 weeks we were away over xmas and they were in) and said there was nothing wrong with the barrier – it had performed exactly as it should have – to make them come up the outside of the house where you can see the trail and get it treated! If you read these barrier systems warranties they say you have to do a weekly check along with an annual check by a professional or its void! We put gravel or concrete paths all around the house – no garden beds or dirt up against the bricks and the buggers came from a tree on vacant land next door – under 10m of pavers and 20m of soil to come up just next to the laundry door – then they travelled under the termimesh barrier looking for a place to get in and found it about 12m away in a sliding door frame – the tree is gone now – building ip3 next door at frame stage – fixed their little free meal ticket! HG

crikey Jim, thats enough to make an investor quake in their shoes. We had termimesh installed in our house and 6 years on had termites found in the house, little buggers got in over 2 weeks at xmas and we caught them straight away – only got into one door frame but just 2 weeks was enough to give me heart failure! HG

We managed to get a good deal with St George using their Portfolio Loan. We have some of the accounts p&i and some interest only – you can split into sub accounts for each property so its a breeze at tax time and we were given a professional rate as well. Also they waived all loan costs on the latest sub account and did 2 of the 4 valuations for free. We did have to change branches to find a good working relationship – the person who set up the loan stuffed it completely but the subsequent loans have been easy and we now have a great relationship. HG

gardening, looking at property (and thisforum) and I want to get into mosaics but am going to be in plaster for 6 weeks from next Wed so that will have to wait! HG

Nite Sach – or should I say good morning – nice to chat to you. HG

born and bred in Laburnum, nr Blackburn and then a South Vermont girl until I joined the RAAF in 79 – then everywhere!! Now in NSW in the Hunter area – I used to drive from Toowoomba to Williamtown(nsw) to see my boyfriend regularly and only remembered Armidale as the place you drove through on the New Endland Hwy and had to do a dog leg turn in the township – all changed now – that was in the early 80’s – married him now I don’t have to drive so far!! HG

Sach, looked at everything – and drooled at the superb places there – you are right the top end of town is in that vicinity, but I was looking for +ve properties and have missed the boat, plane, skateboard and pushie here. Was also looking at possability of subdividing large block but missed out on that one also, have a couple of agents looking for a bargin but they are not ringing me – and i’m still pestering them to no avail.HG

Hi, did a road trip to Armidale a few weeks ago for just that purpose. We seem to have missed the boat on this area – API magazine ran an article on the area when houses last year were well under 80,000 and renting for 180 – 200 pw – definately attractive. Now they are starting at 120,00 for something in very poor quality and without improvements still getting 180 pw nov averaging 150,000 for something decent. The re agents are taking everything to auction and people are paying well over the mark for the area just to secure property. There is almost zero rental vacancies there because of the uni but 6 months has seen the prices just shoot thru the roof. HG

Hi Nigel and Rebecca, a fellow local here – everyone else seems to be getting together in Syd and Melb – maybe we should start something here in Newcastle. I was chatting to my financial guru today and he’s local as well – sitting on the fence waiting for the market to drop so he can pick up some bargins. He mentioned someone buying off the plan at one of the better known unit developments who presumed he was going to be able to on sell before settlement and lost a packet – and it was not pretty – maybe 2 years ago buying investment units off the plan when they were under 250,000 was great but now they have already peaked I think. If you really want a unit I would wait – and there is no hope of one being pos cash flow either in this market. HG

Hi Shoosie, we all appreciated your efforts to “remove” the pest from the board. Hopefully he won’t be back or if he does he will contribute something meangingful. HG