Mumof3 – I’d pay off the loan and credit cards as quick as you can and then keep those payments up as your savings towards as deposit.

Anita Bell has some good books on this – eg ‘Starting Out and Starting Over’ or ‘Your Investment Property’ or ‘Your Mortgage’.

Peter

hey I went to school in Moora 1978 – 1982!

Big controversy is they’ve reneged on the promise to build a new hospital there, and putting the money to pay for cost overruns at Geraldton Hospital.

And tell me more about the Moora duplex – don’t see many Moora properties advertised on the web.

Peter

Ghoti wrote:

‘Wrenching this thread back towards property, do you see any way that your residential properties might promote, or at least enable, better nutrition and/or lifestyle?’

Though it’s conbtrolled by developers rather than property buyers, the street layout of subdivisions has a lot to answer for in encouraging sedentary…[Read more]

I think the main point of the 11 second solution is that it requires no calculator – just a bit of simple mental arithmetic and you have an answer.

I can’t divide by 769 in my head, so I reach for the calculator. Once it’s in my hand, I might as well do a precise calculation.

Also to get a rough indication of what return you need for positive…[Read more]

Risky – I did my ringing around July/August and was there in early September.

When I was there a buyer had bought about 20 cheap houses <$70k, and I bumped into property investors in the tourist bureau and library.

So it seems the bottom end of the market started moving first, and the interest is now moving towards middle-priced properties.

Peter

Hi Blowie – that calculator is fun to play with, but I don’t think it accounts for inflation.

Though ‘millionaire’ has that magic ring about it, it does not imply financial independence. Neither (in 20 years time) will it imply much more wealth than average.

Let’s say we saved $20/day, which is a pretty good effort for someone on a low-middle…[Read more]

Peter M: For Geraldton I got a list of recent sales for $22 from http://www.dola.wa.gov.au/corporate.nsf

It’s called ‘Data evidence’. You can get it faxed for $14 or emailed for $22. The fax has 70 properties, the email version 110 sales.

Definitely money well spent!

Risky: Very interesting on sales moving quickly.

While I was phoning things…[Read more]

A good summary Scott. Though some locals simplified this to west of highway = OK, east of highway = not OK.

Beresford has a lot of flats (and I suspect) a low % ownership ratio. I’ve heard of problem flats there as well as Augustus St. But the location is superb relative to town, beach and the marina.

On cashflow, unless you got a good deal,…[Read more]

Kay Henry – A 15% discount sounds a lot, but I’d be wary about paying HECS off quickly if you have little money and are keen to get into investing ASAP.

Yes HECS is a debt, but the interest rate is CPI only and (assuming you have an investment program) will soon rapidly fall as a proportion of net wealth, even with no voluntary repayments from…[Read more]

Scott: Point Moore has a lot of leasehold places with some leases expiring soon. I have seen some places there advertised cheaply in the past, but this morning saw a park home there on sale for $80k – way overpriced IMHO.

Redwing: Your point re the best deals not being on the web has become more important in the last 6-12 months.

About 3-4…[Read more]

Here’s some risky URLs:

http://www.projectperfect.com.au/info_risk_mgmt.php

http://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/03_publications/02_aust_cpa_magazine/2001/34_nov/3_2_34_managerisk.asp

http://www.safesci.unsw.edu.au/gens8003/ module11/assessment.htm

http://www.lplc.com.au/info/risk_looking_mar2000.asp

Peter

Hi Scott – Rangeway & Spalding are cheap, but I steered away from them due to bad reputation and lettability concerns.

But if you still want to get something near the 10 sec solution, either these areas or a cheap flat in town would be the place to look. But I’ve been advised to avoid the flats opposite the Grammar school.

Mahomets is nice but…[Read more]

Hi Scott – can’t help re the seminars in Perth, but I’d buy half a dozen books on property and read them to get a good understanding of the basics.

Have you thought of investing in your old home town? A lot of people think it has a lot going for it. There’s been considerable interest from eastern states investors, but your local knowledge could…[Read more]

Redwing: Though I like Anita Bell’s books, the assumptions she makes (real house prices about half of today) are unrealistic for capital city residents.

Though many people would be able to use her methods to reduce loans down to 10 years, cutting it down to 3 or 4 is pretty well impossible. (my saving is typically 25-40% of income so it’s not…[Read more]

Hi Mini

‘just ask the RE agent who they use for builder’s reports locally?’

The suspicious side of me wonders about whether the guy they suggest is really independent or a ‘yes man’ getting undisclosed kickbacks!!!

I have contacted the local council building inspector to ask some ideas (when I’ve been asking about floods or bad soils) or rung…[Read more]

sis: would you be able to post a quick summary your risk management course?

Risk management was big when I was in the bureaucracy about 7-8 years ago.

The gist of it was to assess risk on the basis of:

1. Likelihood of it happening
2. Consequences of it happening

If something was likely to happen and the consequences were dire, this was…[Read more]

According to FinSoft 4.2:

$150k @ 7% over 30 yrs = $998 per month

Increasing repayment 10% ($1100) drops term to 22.75 years and saves $59k interest

Increasing repayment 20% ($1200) drops term to 18.75 years and saves $90k interest

Increasing repayment 50% ($1500) drops term to 12.58 years and saves $133k interest

Doubling your repayment to…[Read more]

Karan, I make it a habit of getting spreadsheet reports on past sales in a city before I go there and buy.

I then delete all the columns I don’t need and arrange the data in several ways (by sale price, suburb, type of property, etc). I then go to an internet cafe and print what I want on their laser printer.

Then it’s time to spread the sheets…[Read more]

I’d encourage everyone with an interest in this to look at the ALGA media release (URL given previously) as well as the newspaper articles (which only tell half the story).

This release has two lists, (1) places where employment growth outstrips population growth and (2) cities that though their performance may have been lacklustre have growth…[Read more]

Hi Anubis – a couple of points:

1. I don’t think ‘oldies moving in and kids moving out’ was the main driver of growth in all cases. Otherwise WA Goldfields (40 degrees in summer, 300km from the beach and with a low aged population) wouldn’t be on the list.

2. Areas with oldies moving in and kids moving out would be heaps better than areas where…[Read more]