emu1208 wrote:

Am I allowed to advertise my property for sale here?

Put forward a very detailed presentation of the numbers etc that will show the forumites what sort of deal it is, and what makes it so good.

And, if it's so good; why are you selling?

No-one is interested in a plain old property ad here; we can see them everyday on r/e.com,domain.com or in the papers.

Real Estate agents try to flog properties as investments everyday, and they are mostly crap investments.

I don't agree that it's not their fault. No one forces anybody to create a dangerous financial position for themselves.

I think the timing is irrelevant if you have used sense and some caution with your purchase of a house.

Buying within your means, keeping the LVR lower, reducing debt are all good hedges against unforseen life events.

I think everyone is agreeance that the market is about to/already slowing down.

But it's not everywhere – there are some areas that will boom or simply keep on growing regardless of the rest of the market and what the media say. Go find those areas.

We don't need more discussion about the gloom and doom. If you want to discuss it more, go over to Global House Price Crash and you'll have a great time.

What we need more of is what to do when the market moves in the direction it is seemingly headed.

Me; I'm cashing up as always, keeping the LVR low, and making sure the servicability is good so I can take advantage of the buyers' market that is developing.

There will be many opportunities in the near future.

Heavily neg geared investors, and owner occupiers – both with very high LVR's and low servicability will be the providers of these opportunities.

Jackie,

no-one begrudges a r/e their commission.

I begrudge the LEVEL of commission though.

I have been an agent too, and been involved in a number of transactions of my own, and I can say confidently that the work required to sell a $1mill house is the same as a $200k house.

Why should the agent get 5 times more for the same work? It is a blatant gouge, and all the participants in the transaction know this.

Also, as house prices soar, the commissions increase. It's the same house. I know this happens with every commodity sold on a commission basis, but how many commodities double in cost every 10 years, and i know that when prices go flat they don't get much of a pay rise, but overall, house prices always go up, and go up above inflation.

That's a nice pay rise structure, considering the minimal level of extra study to acquire a Representative's Certificate.

If you are dealing with an ethical agent, then there should be no cause for concern that they are lying about "another buyer".

However,  we all hear the stories of tricks and shonky games, and you see it every week with auction results – over-quoting and dummy bidders (the practice is alive and well; despite Govt legislation to outlaw it), conditioning of Vendors etc.

It is automatic that we are not going to listen to any comments from a r/e without having at least a healthy dose of sceptisism. Only the totally inexperienced in r/e transactions would be blissfully unaware of these factors.

It is unfortunate that all the good r/e's are tarred with the same brush as the bad ones, but the REIA consistently does little to reign in the cowboys in their industry – it is set up by Agents for Agents, and they look after their own.

If doctors behaved like many agents, they would be ejected from the Medical Association, fined, and probably sued by their  patients.

R/E's get, at  worst, a fine.  And these examples are very few and far between.

Depending on the limit your lender allows you to use, your LOC will be funds available, minus any existing debt.

So, if your lender allows you to use 80% of the value of the property, and it's worth $280k, then the LOC will be $224k.

You still owe $204k, so you can use $20k.

There is usually no LMI on LOC's.

Steve,

You don't have to be greedy to get burned or wiped out.

All you have to be is financially uneducated, and a poor money manager.

There are PLENTY of very high income earners who go broke. Why?

Because they spend more than they earn on depreciable items such as $20k holidays to Tuscany, or a fully loaded 850 series BMW, or a $3 mill house on Beach rd, Brighton and so on. If you buy a house that is WELL within your means, then you can't go too far wrong.

Doctors are one of the worst offenders as a group for this. Academically smart, but not always financially smart; and lots of disposable income to murder, and a (perceived) image to project.

Here's an example; I know a doctor in LA who is a member at the Brentwood Country Club in Santa Monica. Nice golf course, but not the best in the world. He paid $200k to join this place, and it's another $600 per month on top for membership fees. He could join a Golf Club that is just as good a few miles away for about $5k, plus another $2k per year in yearly fees, and be able to afford a few IP's.

But no.

It's not often you see a person earning $250k per year living in a $350k house out in somewhere like Roweville in Melb, driving a 4 year old Honda Accord. No; they're hocked up to the eyebrows with a $950k house in Kew, and there are two brand new BMW 4WD's in the garage. Actually; they're not in the garage; the boat is in there; there's no room for the cars.

I'm not saying they shouldn't buy these items if they truly can afford them, but from my experience, people spend all their income and more to keep up with the Jones, don't do any investing in much other than "stupor-annuation" and don't allow for "rainy days" and "life".

Something happens like a car accident, loss of work – or both, or a downturn in real estate and a jump in interest rates while carrying very high LVR's, and so on.

Or, you'll get the average soccer Mum and Dad on a combined income of say $60k.

But there out there buying brand-new Pumpkin Patch clothes for the kids, they both smoke, they both have a new car on HP, they have cable tv, a video library membership, Mum spends $100 on her hair every month, they buy lattes every other day when they're out and about, they have 3 credit cards; all being hammered on a regular basis and only paying the minimum repayments per month, and they have a 35 square house with a double garage, and so on.

Just out of interest DJac,

what made you decide to leave a high-paid job in your own Country and want to emigrate to Aus without some work already lined up?

As for the investing scenario, you can do No Doc and Lo Doc loans that will require very minimal financial history to help with the investing process, but you really should speak to one of our MB's on this forum about some possible scenarios.

Failing that, you have a good cash deposit sitting there; it may be wise to stick that into a high-interest online Bank account such as BankWest or ING, until such time as you get some employment and get a work and finance history of at least 6 months.

Sadly, no.

Unless you want to go to a complimentary one evening seminar, then get signed up for the you beaut $5k course and get steered towards some over-priced apartments they happen to have for sale at the end of it.

The best course you can do is the one where you get out the check book, and buy that cute little 3 x 2 with a garage for around $250k.

You'll learn REALLY fast.

Aside from that; hang around here, or over at the Somersoft forum; you'll learn a heap and it's all free.

Why not get on board in an area that is about to boom, as there always is one somewhere – just gotta locate it, then when it has started and your equity is building, you'll have some extra funds to use in Sydney when the slow-down occurs there.