Saw a couple of local sales of late go at a reasonable discount either due to desperation or agent pressure: 2 knock-downs in the same street sold for $100-150k below market appraisal about 10%, another last week on $120k discount and yet another about $175k off. Sure, all these properties are worth $1m+ but even this end of the market is…[Read more]

Ah, the life of a pm.

A lot of PM’s I know in Oz, handle 150+ properties.

Their duties vary widely: marketing (uploading to web, press, inhouse brochure, email blasts etc).

Open house (why bother with ad-hoc opens only for pre-arranged meetings)? Now that’s about 4 x 30 minutes + travel.

You mentioned a vacancy rate of 15%!! A pm here would be…[Read more]

I like how the FPA will put its hand out as if property is just another ‘financial product’ from which to garnish fees. So were all those great mortgages they onsold to investors/smsf/councils etc prior to the gfc.

Property, unlike many financial products require intensive management, they require physical maintainence, repairs, payments of…[Read more]

You don’t need a company to claim gst, you only need to have an abn/acn and register for gst.

Also note the comments above.

Ok , so the vendor & purchaser are on notice that the will be an easement @ sometime in the future. Does the authority have to pay the owner of the land for the land affected by the proposed easement?

Does the existing easement sit on the land or on the adjoining land? If it is on your land it will affect where you can build. If used correctly…[Read more]

From my limited knowledge in this area, the sign out the front serves a number of purposes: advertises the place is available for rent, not just for drive-bys it is for the neighbours to ‘tell a friend’, advertises the letting/selling agency.

Sure, there may be some risk of vandalism but what’s insurance for afterall?

It will depend upon when you moved out & if you had any other primary residence in that time. search a few of the forums, the topic comes up frequently.

two-tiered market? Or local knowledge?

Now to check if it will fly!

What is the fsr for the site? Most sites around New Farm/Tenerieffe are relatively low-rise.

How does the zoning match your proposal?

Is there a current DA in place? Is that inn itself a benefit or a restriction?

What is the competition for such developments in the area? Eg hospitals/medical centres/large dental…[Read more]

If you have deep pockets, subscribe to BIS Shrapnel reports.

If you are after freebies then look at all of the research pages of the major CRE agencies eg: knight frank, jll, ray white etc, other places to look include valuer’s websites & quantity surveyors.

If you consider putting concrete topping on the floor, you'll need to prep the floor so that the concrete won't go drummy – it will need to be at least 50-75 mm thick, require expansion joints and possibly some reinforcement to prevent/control cracking. You might consider applying a coat of hydropoxy or an epoxy finish or possibly grinding the…[Read more]

A sack of rice? (sic)

It is called budgeting, create your financial plan, work hard & save.

If you have kids the settlement, even an amicable one, must go through the family court.

If there are no kids, the details of your property settlement (all assets etc) can be done thru solicitors unless the parties disagree & want to fight it out in court.

What you have to understand is that the interest on the LOC & the cc must be met by repayments otherwise you are accumulating interest on the interest & increasing your borrowings.

It is not rocket science, you keep borrowing you either pay more interest or you erode your asset base.

It’s great to read the insight/speculation of some of the above posts. Good to see it is being revisited in light of the current global situation.

The US is not out of the woods by a long shot as unemployment is still rampant, jobs growth virtually non-existent, they can barely agree to extend their support to their own economy, Afghanistan war…[Read more]

Assuming that the builder was totally incompetent, put an offer in at land value less demolition cost. If any of the work to date is reusable, it is a bonus.

Forest Lodge = Glebe

Close to Sydney Uni (& UTS), restaurant strip, city, city-west link.

Those things won’t change.

Wentworth Park – to be redeveloped.

Timber flooring may be considered unsuitable for a wet area like a kitchen. If it is foreseeable that the floor would get wet then vcat would probably find that this is fair wear & tear.

I know of a few bods who use little power @ home, shower @ the pool/beach/gym/work, they ride to work, use the car sparingly, are out most nights but need somewhere to dump their belongings.

They have low usage as well.

You should really think this strategy through – income in your super is in a low-tax environment, when you retire this becomes a tax free environment. If you pay off the loans with the super, your income will have fewer offsets so will be paying tax on the income rather than nil from your super.If able (think about tax consequences etc) set up a…[Read more]