Thanks for your replies…I wasn’t trying to make it too complicated for him, I was actually trying to help him out and he was the one that came up with the $220K price, I just asked if it would be possible to do the deal with 150 now and the 70 later, as I don’t have the deposit in cash, only equity in another property which I didn’t want to…[Read more]

Hi Property Angel,
Good on you for having the enthusiasm to go out there and set upi your first business.
My two cents worth of advice would be this….Make sure you put everything down on paper – write a plan of how you are going to operate the business and visualise how you see your business after one year, 5 years, 10 years….can you see…[Read more]

The problem with taking anything a RE Agent says is that they have a vested interest in property, and whether they’re talking it up or down, they still make their money one way or another.
When it’s booming and a seller’s market, they make their money pretty easily without having to do too much cause the market is swept away in a frenzy of greed…[Read more]

Dazzling,
It will be a very bland place if you were to leave, and it’s good to hear that you couldn’t stay away.
If you can get 2 acres in Perth for block value, then you have a lot of experience and advice for everyone else that frequents this forum.
I for one have taken some of your comments and advice to other forumites and applied them to my…[Read more]

Originally posted by gmh454:
Originally posted by Derek:

Was a interesting piece in the Fin Review last weekend on Qld development market. Found it hard to absorb how the building costs had blown out.
Also the big drop in renos seems to indicate that part of the market is slowing.

It may (the drop in renos) have something to do with the fact…[Read more]

How good are you, your partner, your mum or anyone you know with a sewing machine??
Get down to your local Spotlight store and you’ll be amazed at what you may find. I made curtains for my IP out of Indian cotton at about $4 a metre, my curtains cost $10 a pair at most and look fantastic.
Or, you’ll probably find in places like Spotlight that they…[Read more]

Hi Jenny,
This is probably a stupid question, but have you had a look at what is under the wood panelling?? I have just bought a house which has wooden panelling (thin plywood with grooves cut into it) and underneath is wallpapered gyprock. So all we’re going to do is pull off the panelling and ascertain whether we strip the wallpaper or just…[Read more]

Replacing weatherboards is quite easy. All you have to do is lift the board above the rotten one up so you can get it out, and either replace the whole board or just cut out the rotten bit and replace it with a new section.
Go talk to the guys at Bunnings, they will tell you exactly how to do it.

Wayne,
Never, ever, ever give a counter offer during the same phone call as a counter offer from the vendor. I always make my offer, and then wait with my heart in my mouth until the agent gets back in contact with me. If they counter offer, I then go up in as little an amount as possible, but not in the same phone call. I’ll wait a couple of days…[Read more]

Wow….I am so amazed at the amount of people who have disinterested partners when it comes to property investing….thank god there are others out there! I have had resistance too…..
I started on the path to learning more about business and property investing in 2003, after going to a seminar and getting all fired up about the possibilities…[Read more]

Are you kidding???[blink]
I can’t for the life of me think why anyone would want to pay that sort of rent per week and live in a caravan park….but each to their own and I do hope for your sake the figures are right.
Why would a tenant want to pay that sort of rent to live in the relocatable home, when they could rent a equally as good standard 2…[Read more]

Well done Ronulas!!!
I too have just acquired my second property – a year ago I had nothing.
I’ve managed to buy under market value for this 2nd one (the first one I was a real newbie and didn’t really have a solid understanding of what I was doing, but luckily we still made a profit on it in a cooling market) and it is definitely good advice to…[Read more]

Hi Leila,
The best thing to do for exteriors is to take a walk around your local neighbourhood, even a neighbourhood which is a ‘step up’ from your own (ie – houses are more expensive there) and take note of all the houses that make you go ‘wow, I’d love to live there!!’ As long as you paint and landscape your house in colours that fit in with the…[Read more]

Do you have a deposit already saved?? If you do, then the best thing to do when you are starting out to raise cash fairly quickly is to do a renovation. Renos don’t have to be huge, it could just mean painting, tidying up an overgrown lawn, prettying up kitchens etc – and if you look hard enough, there are plenty of bargains when it comes to…[Read more]

I have a friend who is a real estate agent who has access to the data. Everytime I come across a property I’m interested in I ask them to print out the data on that street which will give me what price the original owner paid for it and when, and I can also see what houses in that same street have sold for recently, and I can also see what has…[Read more]

Whilst Ian from Brisbane may have thought it was a poor effort, Joe Bloggs down the road may have thought ‘Wow, this came at just the right time, I’m thinking of selling my house and I’ll give this person a call because they’ve made the effort to contact me first’. It does happen.

Sorry Ian, I didn’t mean to offend…what I meant to say…[Read more]

I agree Marc, I find marketing to be one of the most interesting and fascinating aspects to being in business – I love it.
Believe it or not, 95% of the marketing (small)businesses use is complete rubbish – most business owners wouldn’t even know where most of their business is coming from, or whether their ads are working or not.
I think the RE’s…[Read more]

Hi Dan,
The market isn’t the best for selling, but it’s not too bad for buying, and in August it may be even better – especially as it is end of winter which is always a slower time for properties to move and vendors are generally more open to offers. Inspect lots of properties and once you get a feel for what you think properties are worth, make…[Read more]

Hi Daniel,
It’s a bit hard to give specific advice with the post you have written, as you haven’t really outlined your circumstances too much.
How much is a good wage? How much is your girlfriend earning?? How much are you saving each week?? Where do you want to live?? A 2 bedroom unit in Rooty Hill is a lot different to a 2 bedroom unit in…[Read more]

That marketing message is directly out of a book I read called “Hot Marketing, Cool Profits” – don’t be surprised if you get another crumpled up note that looks exactly the same but has “Please don’t throw me away again” written on it!
It’s just another form of marketing and is designed to make you look at it rather than just throw it in the bin…[Read more]