yeah the house's yard got mildly flooded during last yr's feb flood but it wasnt too bad.  my dad ran the disaster relief centres so it was great having him on call for when we were looking to buy.   the house as it currently sits didnt get affected tho cos its quite high off the ground already.  with building in underneith we werent too worried because it does happen so little.  I grew up in Mackay (lived there 25 years) and that flood last year is the only one I can remember of significance.

but we arent going to be doing all the building in underneith now anyways.  just dont know whether to hold or sell.

basically we are unsure if we want to keep this house long enough now that our future plans are unexpectedly changing.

current situation:  one income and living in a company house in a mining town.  the original plan was for us to move back to mackay in 1 year and live in the house we bought in June.  because i would have been returning to the workforce we were planning to undergo renovations then, when we had more cashflow.  we bought it knowing it needed a restump but because it was going to be our "home" we were wanting to restump, raise the height, and build in underneith.  we got the house way under market value and its on a large slab of land in a great location.  it was going to be our PPOR for maybe 5 or 6 yrs after we move.

then we discovered we are expecting again.

now the plan is to live in said mining town for another 5 yrs (hubby's work permitting) and me not return to work for that time.  its a personal choice of my husband and mine, but we prefer the kids to be at home til school age.  so these are the problems now:

1.  now we are back to one income for 5 years.   we can still afford to do the restump while its an investment prop – but itd be putting alot of pressure on finances with me not returning for awhile.  it really needs to be done soon – the stumps are pretty bad.   we can afford the extra repayments for now, but if the rates get up above 8% it would affect our $ bigtime.  we were anticipating me working when we had planned out the renovations.

2.  the house no longer suits us as a PPOR because we have another child on the way.  we wouldnt fit.  so its lost some of its appeal to us.  it will never be a PPOR, just an IP.

3.  we have another IP (a unit) which we still owe $165k on, and its value is about $280k.  its very low maintenance and doesnt need any major renos to be done.  we could put the profit into an offset account linked to this mortgage and work on building up our savings in there, in anticipation for the next purchase … a PPOR that we will actually fit into!  so we would work on those savings over the next yr or so, then start to look for a bigger house to buy.

4.  when we relocate in 5 yrs time for me to start working again the houses will have gone up in price obviously.  we are thinking maybe its best we find a home we would fit into some time over the next 18 months and use it as an IP until ready to move, rather than waiting til later.  but we cant afford to purchase another prop while we already have 2 others.  i doubt the banks would touch us anyways if we tried to buy a 3rd IP on one income.

i hope ive worded above right and it makes sence.  but thanks for the heads up about CGT going off contract date not settlement, this gives us 6 months to think about it and consider our options.

terry – what is ur worst case scenario with rates?  am i ok just putting it at 8%.  If it goes to 10% that would be scarey.  but itd still only be $270 a week out of pocket expenses.

(also, my comments above dont include tax returns, just normal annual expenses)

Oh and let me clarify that I told him my concerns and his reply was that he doesnt advise people to try to get rich quick, but rather to get rich slowly by reducing risk and not playing with a "house of cards that can come tumbling down at any time".  But with CF+ homes in a market that really isnt going to go down (Mackay, Central QLD), I dont see the issue.

thanks Richard.  i had actually already passed on your details to her saying that we had intended to use your services for our next purchase …. that was of course until i found out we were expecting another baby so we put a hold on everything until the baby is out and we know our money doesnt need to be saved for medical expenses

she had spoken to one mortgage broker to see if their finances would allow a purchase of up to $350k, and he had advised them to take up a loan with the NAB.  and when she told him she needed to be out of her rental prop by March 20th he said its ok it only takes 4 weeks to buy a house.  i basically demanded then that she talk to you.  i told her she needs to allow 8 weeks to allow a week for negs/contract signing, 3 weeks finance and stuff (chrissy holidays and pub holidays!), 2 weeks settlement, then 2 weeks moving/cleaning.

So she said she will ring you tomorrow morning for advice with buying in Brisbane and also financing.  they really need some help because they are both young and havent done any research or anything on their own due to time restraints. 

Her name is Jen and she said she will call after 8am tomorrow    Thanks Richard, I feel so much better now that she will be talking to someone who knows what they are doing!!

i havent gotten building and pest reports done yet cos i only found out on friday at 4:30pm that the house may soon go back on the market. 

i thought i should wait until the vendor comes back to say yes or no to a backup contract before I organise those.  but i didnt even think about the REA giving them to me.  i have my normal guy that does my inspections – id probably prefer to get him as he only does inspections, no building work.  so his inspections arent bias towards getting him some more work.  but i can still organise those to be done while its under the other contract if need be.  im not sure at the moment when the next finance date is for them.

hopefully today ill know more