Hey, 10 years and that’s a cup of coffee!

I agree, you can rent out a property you have previously lived in and ‘gear’ it. Perhaps she was referring to the fact that you can’t claim deductions for interest if you’ve drawn on the mortgage for the place you’ve just moved out of (i.e. in order to buy new property)?

I reckon we definately need more money spent on essential services, especially when it comes to healthcare and education (sometimes I’m suspicious the government deliberately keeps these services poor just to get people on private cover/education!).

However, I don’t believe intrinsically that the higher income earners should be taxed disproportionately higher than lower income earners… to further explain, I certainly don’t believe in a ‘flat tax’ system, where everyone pays the same rate of tax no matter how much you earn, I believe that the wealthier among us do get to take more advantage of the priviledges that this country has to offer and should contribute an *appropriate* amount back to society.

However, we do live in a market capitalist economy (certainly less socialist than the heavily subsidised U.S. economy) and the market is willing to pay the wage the higher income earners earn. Should these people be *penalized* for their success? At what point do these penalties start to destroy natural innovation and the strive to excel by removing incentives to work harder?

I believe in a fair balance of the system… certainly everything should be done to help the low income earners out who haven’t been able to take advantage of a lot of opportunities, but we should weigh that evenly with the need to make sure we don’t discourage motivation to work harder.

Sincerely,
Mal

They are already in place, as of June 2003 those are the official tax rates. If you’ve been paying last financial years taxes, well, you can look forward to a nicer tax return

Sincerely,
Mal

I agree with Bill, if you had bought 12 months ago, heck even 6 months ago, you would be doing alright. But right now, with talk of interest rates going up one must think that any price increase here at the moment (say, land in the new Gungahlin areas going up from $210k to $240k which is ridiculous for 500sq metres) must be temporary.

Sincerely,
Mal

Thanks luckyone, much appreciated! The Independant PG does seem to be a behemoth when it comes to these sorts of things, I was talking to three different RE agents at the same time once, from the same branch!

I’ll try and negotiate down some of these fees… I’ll hopefully be buying many more in future! Still, crikeys, seeing other places charge between 5 and 8% seems almost unfair

With regard to LJ Hooker, have they at least been very fastidious when it comes to making sure your property has been well maintained? That might justify the price.

Secondly, can you believe how much house prices in Gungahlin have shot up in the last 6 months alone?? My house increased in value by $80k! I’d hate to see how much land in the new Wells Station development would be going for.

Does anyone else have experience with property managers in Canberra?

Sincerely,
Mal

I’d have to reccommend the St. George one (or perhaps even another banks one) because with transferring cash from your St. George DragonSaver account to your everyday transaction account, it’s instant, i.e. you don’t have to wait overnight. I’ve found that very convienient when needing access to savings immediately.

Howdy,

As someone who has just purchased land and has entered into a comprehensive building contract, I think I have some valuable advice to give you! I’ve been very lucky with the property that I am building… before the slab is even laid (they’ve just started) the property is already worth $50-80k higher than what I am paying for it.

The number one rule is, watch out for the banks! A lot of these institutions, facing a massive boom in housing loans, have put on a lot of new staff, a lot of whom are inexperienced. Thus, it can be very difficult to get the correct information out of them.

What information is the most important? First of all, the loan to value ratios that they will lend! You have no idea the amount of trouble I faced trying to get a straight answer about what percentage of the land component they will lend, what percentage of the house component they will lend, how progress payments are made, who administers them and how first home owners grants are applied and so on.

Remember, building a house will usually require a little more than the standard 5% deposit required for an established house. That’s because you need to first buy the land, and the banks will only lend upto 90% of the value. Then for the house component, you’ll usually be allowed to borrow 95% of the value of the builders contract price, but some builders may want 10%… be weary of those who want 10%, because standard HIA indemnity insurance (incase the builder flies off) only overs upto $10,000 for a deposit.

Also, ask the bank how the progress payments will be paid… will the builder contact you when he needs a progress payment, or will he contact your solicitor, and who will have to ask the bank for the money, and who at the bank will be administering your account.

Make sure the terms of the agreement with your solicitor as well… most will usually require payment of their fee once settlement on the land is complete, not on the entire house.

Make sure the builder understands explicitly (and its even better if it’s laid out in the contract) that you are to be contacted about decisions for ANY finishes to be made to the house, paint, colour, kitchens, door knobs, shower rails, anything. The final look and feel of your house, should be what YOU want, not the builder.

Good luck, building can be very rewarding but also extremely frustrating, hope you have a great time!

Sincerely,
Mal