RatedR,

Many of us will advise what reflects our own experience. I’ll do the same :o)

If you go to uni, you’ll end up with a better paid job (all the stats tell us that, so look ’em up people if ya don’t like it). Uni is also a great life and you’ll be around thousands of people your own age- you’ll love it!! :o)

There’s plenty of time to invest, and you’ll have to save up a deposit anyway, which takes a while. Education is super important, RatedR.

You asked what we would do if we wwere 17 again… well, I’d probably do the same things I did before, because I’m the same person. I was only ready to buy my first IP when I was 29. But je ne regrette rien!

How come you’re RatedR? You’re only 17- that’s illegal! [rolleyesanim]

kay henry

enlad,

Yes, I did feel nervous :o) And I had very little idea of what I was doing. I read Jan Somers, who was one of the very few aussie authors who was around at the time. My partner and I were visited by a Mortgage Broker to help us out in finding out what we could borrow, and there was no boom at the time, so there was no great rush to fix everything up. times have changed though, and buyer’s advocates now exist, so i can understand that you wish to get some help- I didn’t mean to be harsh before :o)

I actually won a prize a few years ago- a buyer’s advocate prize- and it’s so a woman – a RE agent who is a BA- can advoate on my behalf- kind of makes me feel weird giving someone else control over my money/bidding.

Best of luck with it all, enlad :o)

kay henry

sis- your solicitor should provide you with a feee will-writing service when you buy or sell a house- mine always do although I never take them up on it- I’m slack, and death isn’t fun to think about. Basically, if you don’t write a will, your stuff will just go to next of kin.

Writing pre-nups won’t override current civil law. You could say you don’t want some relative or a partner to get stuff, but if you see some of those ads in the paper: “missed out on inheriting in a will? Do you think you have an entitlement…?” you’d see that people still maintain a legal right to inherit.

kay henry

hehe Cel- that is VERY funny! I tend to forget how green I am :o)

Yeah, you’re right about the debt- it always gets to ya- particularly for small people, like us! (well, some of us).

Doesn’t seem to get to henry kaye or rene rivkin or alan bond though. Not fair [angry2] Although jail can’t be fun.

kay henry

Mini, I’m not into the term “quality investment properties” either- I think it’s bourgeois- not what I’m into at all. [thumbsdownanim

When I saw the pics of your properties all done up, I thought romantically of them- they looked cosy. Yeah, I know- I’m not supposed to have emotion about RE, but I do. I have also had the awareness, from since I was a child and mum and I used to drive around on weekends looking at houses, that each person’s home needs to be treated respectfully. Noone wants their home put down. I always cringe at the thought of people walking into some old person’s home and trashing it verbally- would make the old person feel terrible, I think :o((

One person’s trash is a homeowner’s treasure, often.

kay henry

Mini,

Thing is, many people bought cheap properties prior to the boom- which have now doubled or tripled in price, so we can’t afford those *particular* types of properties anymore. The post about people’s 1st properties demonstrated people bought their IP’s at dead cheap prices. For me, I wanted to pay about the same price for an IP as I bought my first IP for, and then realised I would have to buy in a much smaller place to get that kind of price.

I think people’s talk about “quality investments” is more about them wanting to repeat their previous purchases than wanting to pay double or triple. The boom has meant that I’ve had to rethink my expectations about what I can get for a price I wanna pay. And so, for me at least, when I learned more about property (knew NOTHINFG really when I first bought, but I had such big plans- hehe), then I’ve developed a set of criteria which means I am paying so much more than I wanna. I wish all the IP’s were cheaper!!

I think many people on here- including yack- are very pro-real estate. He just has a different strategy. Bill, on the other hand, is into shares and promotes them. I don’t think Bill is into RE at *all* actually- not from what I can recall of many of his past posts.

kay henry

sre,

62k and 80k deposit ain’t a bad start! I see you live in victoria- well, you’ll be able to buy yourself a pretty good home with that kind of deposit – I say go for it!!

And your age has not much to do with it- in 2004, 40 is the new 30!

I doubt you’ll be living in poverty with a mortgage. Start off smallish if you’re worried. Then upgrade if your home goes up in value :o)))

kay henry

Houses- I WANT the boom to be over- i’m buying, not selling :o) I am sure some first homeowners who were locked out due to the boom, would like it to be over too.

kay henry

Rachel,

Buy your first before you worry about buying 5! :o) Then chill out a few months and you’ll find it all slips into place. If your first stresses you, imagine what 5 could do!! Ya don’t have to do it all at once- takes a while to build an empire :o) even took God 7 days.

kay henry