Gotta agree with you there Marisa.

I’m another happy Perth bunny who won’t be pulling out of any real estate holdings here any time soon. I’ve always felt Perth and WA in general were under appreciated and never treated seriously. I’ts a pleasure to see the place being “discovered”.

I think any who is waiting for WA to slip into the background again is going to be waiting for a very long time. [exhappy]

Thanks for the addendum idea to help pay for the damage caused by smoking.

I can’t understand why people would think that its okay to smoke in the home these days. I’m an ex smoker too and I’ve come to realise that some people simply aren’t sufficiently nauseated enough by the stale smell in homes to worry about it but I know I loathe it. If I book a hotel room where someone has smoked we demand to be moved. It is a revolting smell to be compared to the smell of durian IMHO. It seems to permeate everything in the room.

Its also an unpleasant job to have to scrub walls and ceilings effected by the waxy yellow residue. You can’t really paint over it without washing down first.

I think I’d be tempted to choose my own tenants before handing the property to a PM. At least I’d be more likely to know if the prospective tenant was a smoker. They’d have to pass the sniff test

[biggrin]

Well I’m not sure if I’ve understood you correctly but I’ll try to answer. When land is advertised in the REA window, its already been sold at least once and is owned privately so you only have the choice of that one block.

If you put your name down because you are interested in a block in a new development, then you get the opportunity to choose which block you want to buy. (Unless you live in WA where there is high demand for land and its often sold by a ballot draw).

You can “put your name down” with various developers and the best way to find where the developments are is to drive around the areas you like and take note of the advertising signs you see. Then, you call the office to register interest. They then put you on their mailing list so you know when the blocks will be offered for sale. Or you can use the net to register your interest if you know the developer names. Also you can check the saturday papers and see who the developers are and contact them that way. It helps if you can can narrow down the areas you like. You will soon start to get notifications of when the land is released, you can attend the sale rooms or auctions and start to get a feel for values and asking prices. Good luck!!

Queengucci are you able to say what type & where the 5 ips are? You might be able to get some brain storming going here about their known potential at the moment and some possible scenarios. Thing is, even if you think there is going to be a general crash of property prices, there are always going to be markets within markets that survive. It will all come back to quality and location and desirability imho. Personally I’m not adverse to getting some cash out of the non performers either though [biggrin]

Well perhaps you don’t need to tell her the overall picture any more. You’ve done it now. Now just quietly get on with it and it will just happen. Its the actions that will convince her in the end, not what you say necessarily . I’m not advocating dishonesty, its just easier for some people to accept new ideas sometimes if they see the idea rather than hear the idea. Lots of reinforcement doesn’t hurt either. Like leaving books around, emailing her links to articles. Setting up google alerts for her in relation to property investing etc.

The part about buying an investment property before a PPOR is a really tough one. That could be read as “He doesn’t love me enough to buy a home with me to live in” . And as a woman I find that a very logical conclusion [biggrin]

You might try softening that one with a multi use ppor. Not sure, maybe a subdividable block? Or a PPOR with a rentable holiday unit attached? If you love this GF then you’ll find a way. If you are still really young then buying an IP first & renting renting together is valid too. The very best of luck.

Well we did exactly what you are contemplating and enclosed our carport. It was not necessary to get council approval and we are in Perth. We had the sectional remote door installed first by the experts. We then used fast brick to fill in between the pillars and rendered that. The rear wall, we cheated slightly, pushing it out further on the eve. That added crucial length to the garage. We couldn’t have built an enclosed “rumpus” room because it wouldn’t have met the covenants and the ceiling on the carport was slightly lower than in the main house. The most difficult part was putting in a door frame and door onto the front porch. It definately added value way more than the cost. Don’t forget, 4 wheel drives are usually hard to fit into a lot of garages but it may be fine for the average sized cars.

One way to look at it is to think about how long it takes to train an accountant and then add on the time accumulated for their exposure to direct experience while working. If you can match that, then go for it, but for my money I’d rather minimise my risk and do some reno work myself. The accountant can keep his/her job!!

I was very tempted by some Balga triplex property myself but it was a bit of a stretch at the time so didn’t unfortunately and its just got more and more expensive over the past year. You need to know the prospective rents you can get, proximity to the schools, shops, buses etc. Check out the other new builds in the area too and see what kinds of houses are going in and what property improvements home owners are making. Don’t put an expensive build in. If you do something similar to other builds then you will be fine. Families, single parents and Tafe students are often the tenants there.
I love to hear about family investing together. Thats what we have done too. Its fun and we’ve found it gives us a common interest and a new aspect to our relationship. The best of luck and well done.
Tizzy

Just a point about painting the boards. You could find that the varnish is a total pain to remove and I’m not sure you can just paint over the top of it. In the 80’s, houses with panelling were treasured and boards preserved as “natural/stained” wood. Then fashions changed and it was suddenly acceptable to paint them. Its a fashion thing and bound to change again. Good lighting sounds like great advice to avoid making the decision altogether. Sounds like a great little house.