In other words, by inflation and then deflation, the whole world is going to be owned by the banks and creditor nations.

I see one problem with this manifesting ultimately – the internet.

tens of millions of people losing their homes, who know who scammed them, are unlikely to go quietly

I didn't want to comment because I thought that somebody else might answer your questions more specifically, and also, I dont know about changes in demand for the jobs you just mentioned.

From my own perspective (property developer with real estate agents in the family and about 50% of the people I associate with being either builders, contractors, investors, developers, or real estate agents) I have noticed a huge exodus from the real estate industry as the boom ended and all of a sudden, all of these wannabe real estate agents who sold a few houses that were going to sell anyway realised that they didnt have the ability to compete with real estate agents who were actually good at it.

I have been waiting for this to happen for quite a long time, actually. I got sick and tired of being talked to by a bunch of kids who had more business working at mcdonalds than they did selling people's property as if they somehow knew something more than I did because they had done a 6 week RE course for $3000.

Sorry I couldn't help more, but what I think, I said. I will say, though, that if I were to choose any of the above, I would choose being a valuer. When people are uncertain (and we are in uncertain times), and stressed, they tend to do their homework and use valuers. In my experience, of course.

If you use a shovel or something and try to pry them off, and your glue is very strong (or wood weak. or both) you're risking tearing bits of the wood off along the grain. ive never done it myself, but i would keep that in mind and do a test patch before going in commando style.

My first thought was jackhammer with one of those (newish) chisels on them designed not to dig into concrete – theyre kinked at the head, so that the part of the chisel touching the concrete/wood/whatever is flat, and doesnt bite into the material, while the sharp bit of the chisel pries under the tile. Think of a crowbar/prybar, but as a jackhammer bit

the planning office requires public display. it wouldnt be a bad way to prospect

Hello builder over here

It all depends on:
what the floor is made of ,
what the walls are made of,
where the pipes are,
what the pipes are made of,
how far away youre putting in your new waste (because plumbing pipes need to have a certain fall, so that water moves in the right direction,
is the slab suspended or ground floor
if youre going to have to break tiles/retile

bathrooms and kitchens are the most expensive rooms in a property to renovate. sometimes the prices can blow out hugely.

the best thing to do is to get a copy of detailed plans (especially the plumbers drawings etc) and have a chat to a builder, because any indication of price I could give you would be meaningless. How long is a piece of string sort of thing.

The cheapest way to do it might involve not smashing into the concrete much at all – you can just raise the level of the new shower floor a few inches and get your fall that way – so be aware of options like that.

The advice in this thread is spot on. Something that I would also do is find out some details about the developers business, so that you can negotiate more effectively. A strict developer who employs a builder will be all about margin. A developer who is also the builder is about margin, plus keeping himself/his crew employed, and because hes doing more work/will make more money, he might pay more per land parcel than would a strict developer.

To be honest, I would develop it myself. It isnt as hard as you might think, and because the property is generating an income, you arent bleeding money in interest during your planning/presale stage as you would on a naked block.

I am a builder yes everything is negotiable, as the person above said. Large building companies with display villages have a lot of employees to keep happy, so it also pays to keep an eye on how busy they are – the busier they are, the less they care about you (because theres always someone else that will buy) but if you can find them in a position where they are less busy than usual you can sometimes get some very good deals because they want to keep their boys working.

You sound inexperienced, and so if I may, I would suggest getting in touch with a lawyer or other person very familiar with building contracts to look them over. Remember, building contracts are not standard – almost every one is different because its written by a different person – and you will have clauses that favour the builder more, or less. With large companies, they have done their homework, paid their lawyers, and will have a contract that favours them. personally, if i take on a contract, i prefer to use my own contract, because it favours me (well to be honest, i prefer working for cash and getting my money up front, but thats another story)

Also keep an eye out for variation fees – large companies charge you up to $500 everytime you have a variation of the contract – so lets say you wanted to change the position of a window – $500. A couple more power points? $500. Different color benchtop? $500. just to put in the form. Then they slug you with the cost of work on top. So, if youre going to alter anything in the contract like that, do it before you sign, and the builder doesnt have you over a barrel – because once you sign and put down your deposit, you arent going anywhere, and they can start chipping away at you.

Places like the HIA (housing industry association) have lawyers who specialise in property. Give them a call (theyre australia wide) and get a referral. Usually they support the builder (because they train builders) but theres no reason that making the public savvy isnt a good thing – itll just make dodgy builders pull their socks up

bear in mind that nothing is standard. building defects periods (the time in which the builder must come back and fix defective work or materials) does not legally even have to be in the contract. nor do penalty times, witholding periods etc – so the couple hundred dollars you spend on a lawyer may save you far more. Im presently picking a huge fight with another builder on behalf of a lady because he managed to convince her of such absurdities as her keeping the power on in her name for a new house construction, getting her to pay for some of his heavy machinery etc – terrible stuff. So beware.

cheerios

What Rob said.

In addition, there are occasionally various initiatives brought out by government that allow further tax concessions eg about a year ago, if you purchased any capital equipment new with value in excess of $1000 you could write it off immediately. Simultaneous, at the moment there is a capital gains incentive for small business with a 50% reduction in CGT, although I am unsure of the details. One of my notoriously sneaky buddies was telling me about it a couple of days ago. Chat to a decent accountant or call the ATO