I'm passionate about fish'n'chips but only as a consumer.  It's hard to find a good one that does everything right so I hardly ever indulge. That could explain a good part of their decline – not just changes in health values.

Generally though it seems that they don't make batter like they used to.  A lot of places have either virtually nothing or a thick gluggy covering that soaks full of oil.  The fish is often too thin so that it is overcooked and way under proportioned to the batter.  Where have those thick succulent flake fillets gone coated with a light crisp golden cooked batter?  Potato cakes (scallops) are hit and miss and the chips are often overcooked.

I can see a quality fish'n'chip shop doing a good trade and it's great to know there are people out there who are passionate about it.

I found a good one in Lorne earlier this year and the queue to get served substantial, but it's half a day's drive away. There's a couple of average one's around home and plenty of poor ones.  Where's your stores stevedebba, I'd love to check it out?  Anyone else got recommendations in melbourne?

Andrew

Hi Grant,

I would recommend you have a look through the 'overseas deals' sub forum https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/property-investing/overseas-deals   This subject comes up periodically over there.  Alternatively you could do an advanced search on US finance.

From what I've read much of the available finance is through hard money lenders on shorter terms eg. 5 years, and on higher interest rates eg. 7% and low lvr's, but some are claiming bank lends are available.

Also you may have seen the AUD drop under parity this week http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=AUD&to=USD&view=1M it got as low as 97c

Andrew

It's one thing to look at buying OS property with foreign currency (assuming you're servicing it with the same foreign currency) but an entirely different situation buying Australian property with it (or more specifically servicing USD debt with Australian Dollars).  Like SNM says, with the AUD at historically high levels the main risk is that the currency drops significant value in relation to the USD like it did after it was floated in the 80's.

I find it interesting that you don't like the idea of removing a tax.  I think you're probably right that they'll just increase tax somewhere else but perhaps they'll defer some spending till the tax take catches up in a couple of years.

In any case whether it lowers house prices or not I think is a secondary issue.  For me the less the tentacles of government intrude into the different areas of life the better things are for the life and liberty of it's citizens.  If government wants to reduce it's presence in the housing sector then that's a good thing.  Getting government to cut its ties with other areas of private life would be better still.

Hi Guys,

Melbourne is a big place.  If you narrow it down it might help to get recommendations.

Andrew

I completed a renovation three years ago and was fortunate enough to fit all 4 even though the layout made it quite tight.  If I had to ditch something it would definitely have been the (spa) bath. For me, showers and toilets are far more practical and would get daily use.  I think it would be seen more favourably by a potential buyer than an ensuite without a toilet.

All good now.

Is there any reason you are set on building rather than finding and buying an existing dwelling?  Sounds like it would be difficult to manage a build if you are FIFO for four weeks of every five.

Hi luke (or anyone who knows),

What's the time lag between actual sales and the time the data turns up in paid suburb reports like my rpdata?

Andrew