woops, i noticed your %income is gross, and not net as stated…

perhaps they r costing u toooo much to maintain? if the net was over 9-10% i would still hold…

Jason

U want a story Jessica!

I recently bought a villa in Bathurst, very nice inside, new paint and carpets, paved rear yard. so i thought it was a matter of just moving a tenant straight in!. nup lol

If i buy a place vacant i always try and “live” in it for a few days to make sure everything is ok… so i did.. i got to the property at 11 pm after driving for over 2 hours only to find that the power was disconnected and there was a huge lock on the power box, so no heater, no lights. i was freezing lol.

Next day i woke up, called power company to get it re connected., then heard a dripping noise from the cupboard where the HWS was kept… the release valve had busted. so again on the fone to get a plunber to fix it. after about 8 ppl i finally got 1 that was free THAT day all these calls were on my mobile as well mind you.

ok power is now on, HWS is fixed and warming up.. time for shower.. walk into bath room, notice some taps r leaking pretty bad.. no matter ill get to those later i thought.. take shower, watch as the grout washes away in front of my eyes.. the person must have used flour and water to get it to pass the final inspection!… i was stepping in a pile of white mush!.. ok so now i got to scrape out all the crap and re grout with the proper stuff.

Time to change washers..pull of tap head, get to plastic hex looking thinggo that connects to the tap shaft.no worries ill just use my trusty multi grips to yank it off as it stuck on there tight.. break the plastic thinggo, and another on washing machine taps…drive to bunnings get new taps..get home, wrong type,, by now bunnings is closed.

start to grout shower reccess..decide to try and repair the rest of the taps.. remove wash tub tap, the tap is deep in the wall cavity, and im all out of washers.. no matter mains water is off rite? and that little drip that drops every 10 seconds into the cavity behind the tiles could not possibly do any damage right?

wrong lol… eventually fell asleep, left taps “as is” wake up to find bedroom carpet saturated, i now learn that the mains tap washer is worn as well.. the hard way…call carpet drying guy, comes out and dries carpet, drive to bunnings, get correct taps, washers and everthing else.

time to inspect external areas..good the security bars were installed as agreed to prior to sale.. hang on! no dyna bolts!!! the security bars were just belted into place..bloody hell! drive to bunnings, buy dyna bolts and masonary drill bit, try with all my strength to remove the bars. they were belted in real hard..managed to get 1 corner sticking out while the opposite corner went inwards.. well i guess 2 bolts were better then none.. so drilled the holes, re aligned (with a huge hammer) the security bars and put just the 2 bolts in…

ok time to grind off the exposed bolt thread… out comes the grinder… start griding till there was just a bit of bolt steel holding it on… go to remove it with my fingers… got a lovely sizzle noise and a burn mark of bolt thread on my 2 fingers… thats gonna hurt im thinking lol..

well anyway… i ended up making about 5 trips to bunnings in 3 days, but finally got the place up to scratch…

I drove home abit peeved off, cut, burnt, light of cash and tired, but i guess it was worth it! tenant hasn’t complained (yet)

all the best!

Jason

Personally i couldnt manage without my PM’s

I work 3 part time / casual jobs, and 3 of the places i own r in parts of regional NSW.

Im not a local, and if something needed repairing or attention then it would be hard to arrange that from sydney.

And the mainstream agents usually give booklet upon booklet of all the “services” they provide..

To Fullout, i once tried to terminate a PM, the tenant paid always on time and never gave trouble, so when i was changing a tap washer (local property) i suggested it to them, along with a small reduction in rent… which she (the wife) agreed to…

So i put it in writing and passed it on to the agent… by the time the agent was through with the tenant, she had talked the tenant into requesting that the agent remains the PM ( the tenant was newly married and hubby was a ship captain away months at a time) im sure the agent gave the tenants all the “horror” stories of what i could do to them without a PM.. like kik them out or not follow up repairs…

After all, it is tax deductable lol !

Jason

It seems spam is a common problem these days

I once got an email from some poor chap in Nigeria that has 12 million dollars to put into my account to hold for a few days as well. I always wondered what would happen if i opened a bank account with 5 cents and passed on the details?? lol just for the fun of it lol

Cheers!

Jason

Im thinking along the same lines myself,

Newish (less then 5 yrs old) 2 br units in Bankstown are now VERY easy to get under $300 K some even under $250 K. in a recent real estate mag there was a 2 yr old 2 br unit goin for around $230 K i think!!! this must be below what it sold for originally?

Just my thoughts

Jason []

Hey there Retire

Im no accountant, or professional property guru, but i do think there is a change on the way… its fueled by many things, media hype, even whats happening on the news… I personally believe that the property boom was triggered by several things:

1) The almost common knowledge that in 20 or 30 years time the pension as we know it will no longer exist (time to invest!)
2) The olympics (sydney is now “on the map” so to speak)
3) Sep 11 and the drop in interest rates
4) First home owners grant
5) The plethora of TV shows relating to auctions and renovating houses in a week end…

Sooo… i went for a stroll down the street just a few days ago, after seeing an “auction today” sign on the corner… the house is familier to me, was bought 2 years ago by the family for $340K. has been very nicely renovated, an extra level added up top, and nicely done in general
i also bumped into a friend from school, who just happened to be one of the agents doing the open house.. i asked him what it would go for, he said between 6 and 7 hundred thousand.. which was about right for the area….. (lower 6’s perhaps)…

Auction time… 4 bidders, and no 1 would start it off… then a dummy bid for $700,000… it was soooo bloody obvious… and this agent was meant to be the best auctioneer in NSW for the company he represents… It was such a joke that the 1 or 2 serious bidders threw the paddles on the ground, mumbled under their breaths some nasty words and drove off at high speed… the whole event was a joke and the property was passed in after 3 minutes….

why the story??? because 6-12 months ago there would hav been 20 serious bidders, all fighting for the place, as has happened in the past for other auctions in the street…

Whats on the news now? bubble bursting, interest rates on the rise, property seminars being exposed as scams, high vacancy rates etc etc etc

many ppl i know hav loans they can hardly support.. just wait till rates go up…

Loan of $300K, 25 years P&I @ 6.1%= $487.43 PW
Loan of $300K, 25 years P&I @ 6.6%= $510.69 PW
Loan of $300K, 25 years P&I @ 7.1%= $534.45 PW
Loan of $300K, 25 years P&I @ 8.1%= $583.38 PW

when this happens, time to sell! and there will be 1000’s of households that will be doing it if they were not careful with their finances…

Thats my opinion i guess, the last place i bought in sydney was 2 years ago for this same reason….

Jason

“When it feels like u have lost everything, fight like you hav nothing to lose”

“winners never quit, quitters never win”

[]

Mr Young…

Anywhere around Campbelltown, near Sydney. There is almost a new suburb or 2 getting built there every year! and there is still TONS of farming land in the area.. actually heard on the radio just this morning that re-zoning has taken place on some rural land there, and plans are underway for new dwellings (whole suburb perhaps?!?) for 50,000 people.

PS Bought my first IP there 4 years ago for $144 K (3 br BV house)… boy how things hav changed…

Jason