Forum Replies Created
Yes I agree totally – it really is a lot of extra money to find.
What I really meant to say was that a 1% rise above the current rate isn’t a lot compared to the level that interest rates have historically been in the past.
I just read that 46% of homeowners questioned in a survey said they would be in severe financial hardship if interest rates increased by just 1%!!! Also, just under 20% said they would be forced to sell there home if such an interest rate increase occurred.
I know statistics can be made to say anything, but I thought those statistics pretty scary. After all, a 1% raise isn’t much.
I’ll have a look at Robert’s latest book tomorrow lunchtime and give you my thoughts from a women’s perspective – watch this space – but I’m not sure if women investors do things very differently to men – although I hat to admit it but I do tend to use my “charm” on the male real estate agents more than my husband would – and it usually pays off!!! Awful to admit but I think sometimes that being a young, polite, friendly female can have its advantages ha ha!![inlove]
Yes that’s a good point – they’ll always be people lining up to get into Australia as it’s such a great country (I was one of them!)
Wonder if one day they’ll again start letting people in for 10 bucks like they did years ago??!!
Hi Wake
Goodness, no wonder you’re frustrated. I’m sure I don’t need to state that lawyers and conveyancer’s should always act according to their client’s instructions and it look from the facts you’ve given that they failed to do this in both cases. Did you sign written contracts containing the terms? If so, then there is absolutely no excuse for the cock ups.
Many solicitors do however advise their clients not to allow access prior to settlement, even under a licence, as there is potential for some difficult situations to occur if the sale doesn’t proceed. However, I agree with you that 9 times out of 10 early access works very well. Also, they often advise not to accept a small deposit for similar reasons – the issues here depend on the State that you buy in.
It’s unfortunate that you’ve had two bad experiences. Property lawyers and conveyancers traditionally operate many, many files at any given time so there’s argubly more scope for errors in that area of law – and statistics show that in general to be true. However, there is still no excuse.
If you have any more problems I’d consider writing to the head of the firm stating your complaint and that you’ll report the compaint to your State’s Law Institute if it is not resolved efficiently. You have a right to decent service in the same way as you do from any other professional.
Oh and Dazzling I know you have had some bad experience of lawyers but please everyone accept the manjority of us are extremely competent and professional – and proud – of what we do – just like other professions.
Wake, let us know how it goes from here – and please send me a PM if you want to discuss further. Good luck!
Hi Bonnie
What an awful situation. Under contract law, once there is a commercial contract with certain terms, consideration such as a deposit paid, signed by both parties who intend it to be binding then, subject to any small print (check the small print – although if deemed unreasonable it may not be binding) the contract will be binding.
That means you only need pay what you have agreed. If they want more then they have to YOU for the balance – but if all the above applied then it would be hard for them to do that.
If I was you I would state your position clearly in a letter and keep a copy of it. Take the letter to them and be as polite, but assertive and expain that you hope such a small matter will not affect your ongoing working relationship – especially as you will be using them for many more jobs – and referring them to many other people[biggrin] Hopefully that will be the end of it. If not then report them to Fair Trading and the professional builders association or whatever it’s called. Hopefully no lawyer would be necessary but if in the worst scenario that becomes the case then get one of those free 1/2 hour advice sessions and then negotiate a reasonable set fee – phone your State’s Law Institute to get names of firms who do free half hour.
Good Luck!!
Hi Cata
I think just focus on your goal, see that big picture and imagine it in detail – picture every part of it in your mind, then just keep working towards it, one small step at a time.
After a set time, stop and look back at all you’ve achieved so far and that should give you a real sense of satisfaction. Give yourself a big pat on the back and tell yourself how great you are(!) Sometimes its easy to forget just how far you have come when you are so preocupied with reaching those future goals.
And if you start to feel down, then just look at those who are far, far less fortunate, such as those who are ill or dying – that soon puts things in perspective.
Oh, and socialise with motivated, forward-thinking and insperational people who are out to give and not to take (hopefuly the same as you).
Also, just take time out – go for a walk in the park, beach or wherever or watch the sunset, children at play or something else – this is great for an instant energy boost. Me, I take the dogs down to the beach and laugh at them tearing around – gives me an instant “shot” of motivation and happiness.
I say, as corney as it sounds – LOVE LIFE[thumbsupanim]
Of course these things may not work for everyone, so if they don’t then find out what does exactly work for you.
I can’t see anything illegal about just looking at the address on the front so long as you put it back in the box.
Technically under criminal law it’s only theft if you take them with the intention of keeping them – a bit like how you can’t be charged with shoplifting until you’ve actually left the shop premises.
So keep looking away!![biggrin]
Yep I agree there are some really good points in the other books – and also some of the new book. I think there are many aspects of property investing that don’t have a wrong or a right way. I’ve just read Michael Yardney’s book which was really good, but contained some differing views to those set out in Steve’s book. I think the best way is to read as many books as possible, take all the different info on board and then decide what’s the best stragegy for your individual situation.[biggrin]
Hi Kiwi- Fulla
Yes I totally agree that most of the properties advertised are retail prices and that is not the way to go.
Yes I couldn’t agree more that profits are made when buying and not selling.
My point was to find a load of properties with good returns to start with, then do all the due diligence and weed out the bad ones and poor growth areas etc and then get down to viewing, making offers – and lots of hard negotiating tactics to get a good wholesale price.
My mum just bought a property off the net which she loved but we thought overpriced at $290K. We did our research of past sales etc and our suspicions proved right – we valued it at $260-5K. She eventually got it for $242K! Some people in such a sitatuion fining a property on the net may have offered slightly less than the asking price and been happy to have got say a 10K discount.
– but what about the fact that if you buy properties from the sales side of the business then the lettings side will bend over backwards to give you great service so that you go back and buy more properties (they hope) – which in turn, you rent out through the lettings side.
That’s the theory anyway. I suppose ultimately it depends on how the two sides of the business work together and how much importance they put on the lettings part – I agree that often the lettings side is not given the same priority that the more profitable sales side gets.
Yes I was surprised by her latest book – I read the first two and they had some good stuff in them, but the most recent book was very different and contained a lot of rather strong opinions of hers. It was interesting though!!!
We pay 5.5% inc GST for our country Vic properties and no charge for a new lease with same tenant or for any advertising. In Richmond (Vic) they wanted something like 8 or 9% so we did it ourselves.
With the letting managers I think if helps if you call into their offices every now and then – this also helps keep in touch with the market generally and also any good properties coming up for sale.
As with tenants, I think small incentives help such as a christmas present or small thank-you gift if they sort out a problem or get a new tenant in.
Talking of returns in various States – whe searching for properties with good returns on websites – both the domain and realestateview websites have the facility to do a “keyword” word search. If you type in the word “return” you get all the property adverts containing that word. I figure most properties with a good return would be promoting the fact and would therefore contain the word “return” in the property description.
I’ve found a few great properties in most States over the past few weeks – but I’m not buying though!!
Hi
In Victoria you can do an “Index Map Search” which will give you the volume and folio number. With that information you can do a title search and hey presto!![biggrin]
To do the Index Map Search you can contact a conveyaner or a solicitor with access to one of the on-line conveyancing packages. The one I did gave the result within 2 minutes. Should cost around $15. Otherwise, try your State’s Land Titles Office directly.
Hi Grant7
I have a friend who has been trying to buy an over 55’s unit for his dad – who is over 55 – to live it. But he can’t buy it as he himself is not old enough. He also buys through trusts and that wasn’t allowed either.
Dunno about an under 55 renting though….
Hi Impatient
Do you mean a business partnership – or a JV or similar?
If it’s something fairly straighforward you may be able to adapt a standard document yourself .
However my advice is that if you need a decent agreement that’s tailored to your situation then phone the Law Society for your State and get a couple of contacts for smaller firm corporate/property lawyers (depending on what you’re after) who do 1st half hour FREE. Then get a realistic costs estimate from them to draft the agrement – shouldn’t be much – and could end up saving you a fortune in the long run!
We did a small Ikea kitchen (no top cupboard though) – my husband and I built the cupboards and drawers in two evenings. I did the drawers in a couple of hours whilst watching TV! We were surprised how easy it all was. We would definitely do it again – although surprise surprise – there were some bits missing!! Also the wooden worktop (Ikea again) had a big dint in it, but luckily it was on the edge and we had to chop that bit off anyway.
The hardest part was getting the whole thing level on our wonky floor – oh and we had to take the benchtop to a carpenter to get the join cut properly – oh and its a major hassle wheeling that stacked full Ikea trolley with a mind of its own around to the loading bay while husband gets car – I think a few ankles got bashed!!![blink]
We’ve just bought 2 houses in Vic on a block with a flood innundation overlay – says land subject to flooding 1 in every 100 years. Last flood was 1950’s, but both houses are older than that (one over 100 years old!). Council told us they’ve taken extra measures since the 50’s eg constructing a new dam upstream and generally maintaining the river and keeping it clear and flowing well and that now risk is 1/200 yrs.
We had no problems with finance except the valuer took an extra week because he had to get a flood certificate from the Council and obtain other info from them re the risks. We borrowed 100% but we have equity in another property it’s financed against to bring it down to 80%. We also did a LOT of due diligence before buying it, including long conversations with the Council and spoke to people in the street to ask about drainage generally.
Only one obstacle so far – we can’t insure the properties against flooding. But the insurance covers everything else and bank is happy with this.
Fair point Foundation, I can see where you’re coming from.
My concern would be that we move into her house, which she wants to rent to us for 2 years. If, god forbid, anything happened to her during that time (but I’m sure it wouldn’t as she’s pretty healthy) then we would prefer to have everything in place as to what happens next – WITH the consent of her AND her relatives, rather than then have to deal with valuations, the house being put on the market etc at that difficult time.
This is NOT just what we want – it is what she wants too – ie she wants things sorted out in advance too – she has told us many, many times. Her concern is that, to use her words she “gets carted off to a home after having a fall or something” and it’s left to her family to sort things out.
Hang on hang on Dazzling. Please don’t tarr all solicitors with the same brush! Clearly you’ve had some bad dealings with solicitors in the past and I’m sorry that this is the case, but please be aware that we’re not all bad.
I do resent being referred to as a “wormy solicitor”. We have never met and you know very little about me. You have also jumped to conclusions. I’m a trade mark lawyer at a small local firm. I’m a good upstanding member of the community, always try to do the right thing by others and I AM a “concerned and caring citizen” – and my many friends (who are not lawyers) will vouch for this.
We absolutely definitely have no intention whatsoever of doing anything that is unfair in any way and have no intention of “swindling” or “screwing” her or anyone else.
This is why I have sought everyone’s advice as to fairest way to do things.
Actually she ony had one son and he is dead. She has a daughter with whom she doesn’t speak to. I have already spoken to her grandsons about the matter (she brought the subject up first) and they have said that we need to sort things out with her as she is a very intelligent, clued up lady.
We’ve done nothing “behind the scenes” as you claim. We have spoken regularly about everything. In fact, my husband and her were discussing the matter YESTERDAY regarding the suggestions made on this forum, as she is keen to sort things out so that she can make plans for the future. It was her who brought the subject up initially and it is almost always her who asks us what thoughts we have had and how we should go about doing things.
We just want to do things in the fairest way.
Dazzling, I’d be interested to hear offline about your bad experiences with lawyers – if they are that bad then maybe some of them should be reported to the Law Institute?
