Everybody's fallible. And in fairness, they didn't "lose" your money; they just didn't clear your cheque as quickly as you wanted. I've had experiences as bad or worse (in terms of the bank's performance) at just about every bank and branch I've ever dealt with. It's not good, but life's full of disappointments.  Perhaps an anger management c…[Read more]

Milly wrote:
Now this saga is going to continue but I'm no longer stressed about it. It will run its  course and after court  I will probably get $2/wk for the next 100 years, but it doesnt matter. This was a learning experience for me and eventually these people will be out. And frankly in the scheme of things, it is a minute hiccup. If this w…[Read more]

Our first property purchase – we paid top dollar in late 1993, just before prices crumbled. We bought for $111K in East Ipswich, and after spending $20K in renovations, ended up selling for $85K 5 years later… at that time, it was a huge loss to us. Still not a regret though – we learnt a lot from that experience, ie that you can't just buy…[Read more]

There certainly can be different valuations, and I have a property on which the "valuation for mortgage security" purposes is significantly below "market value", therefore I've had to keep much more equity in it than I'd like This link is somewhat helpful to we novices in understanding valuation a little better: http://www.independentvaluers.com.au…[Read more]

You may want vacant possession, but with a fixed term agreement (which it sounds like they're on, as it has an expiry date) you're stuck for that duration. The vendors may want to give you vacant possession but they're unable to, unless they have grounds to evict. The only option would be to ask the tenants if they're happy to leave, but that'll…[Read more]

Way up at the top right of your screen, in the dark blue band…

I'm with David, I thought it sounded on the cheap side!

Sorry that I misunderstood you, James. You hadn't mentioned that there were questionable items in the building and pest inspection. I think that you can't push the line that you had a binding contract with an unspecified timeframe for building and pest – because presumably the copy that you have with no date wasn't signed by the vendors, right? So…[Read more]

Jon Chown wrote:
The contract is dated by the Agent only after all parties (that is Seller and Buyer) have agreed to all negotiable issues and conditions and have initialled all alterations.

Thanks, Jon!

James, I also feel that you're trying to take advantage of this situation. As Jon has pointed out, it's unethical to try and enter a contract with absolutely no time limit on getting your building and pest, and you seemed to "gloat" a bit about thinking you have gotten away with this elsewhere on the forum.What's your problem with the date the a…[Read more]

Phil_McRakin wrote:
I presume they would be renting somewhere else for the sam erent they would be recieving from thier PPOR and the advantage is that you mortgage now becomes tax deductable?

Precisely! But you then lose the CGT exemption, so you have to weigh up which tax benefit is more significant.

I'm not Linar but I'm pretty sure that "notice not in the form specified in the contract" (ie in writing by 4pm to the agent or whatever it was) is legally the same as "no notice", and therefore the condition is taken as being fulfilled, and the contract becomes binding. Sorry!

Oh, that hurts! I would think that because "time is of the essence" that your friend is out of luck… Did your friend have a conveyancing solicitor involved? If so, it is the solicitor's duty to ensure all timeframes are adhered to, and I'd be putting pressure on the solicitor.

Council rates are paid by the owner, and vary but are usually billed quarterly (ie every 3 months), and a quarterly bill varies from about $400-800, depending on the property's value (amongst other things). You may have a few more fees, such as building and pest inspection, and loan establishment fees, but these only run to a few hundred dollars -…[Read more]

1) Use experts that have contacts – eg town planners, architects etc – and get them to do it. They know who is going to be signing off on your plans and they make sure that they talk to the right person.2) If you're doing it yourself, make sure that you take good notes. I put them in my computer eg "15 Aug 2007 – 3:15pm – rang and spoke to James…[Read more]

Andrew, it's probably OK as an investment, but I'd be very concerned about the way this is set up. You should buy the best property for your circumstances, NOT what their "property consultant" is able to get a commission on selling!For a start, having vacant land on which you can claim no tax deductions is not a great idea; I think your plan to do…[Read more]

Any place with covenants restricting the age or occupation of occupants (eg over 55s, students) is going to be difficult to get a high LVR lend. Generally under 55s can't live in over 55s accommodation, and they're exempted from age discrimination laws so you can't get around it that way. And non-students generally can't live in student…[Read more]

Google SketchUp is free, and is so good that I understand some professional surveyors and building designers are beginning to use it for at least some tasks. You can import items from the virtual warehouse – eg palm trees, or piece of furniture, sinks, toilets, kitchen cabinets, etc. http://www.sketchup.com/index.php?title=2

The primary concern is LVRs; I'm not sure whether you can borrow to buy them. Talk to your mortgage broker.Regards, Tracey in Brisbane

Welcome, Joseph, to Australia. I hope this is a joyful and successful move for your family.I don't know areas of Melbourne very well, but regarding the "rent vs buy" decision, you're certainly better off from a purely financial perspective, week-by-week, to rent. Rents run at about 4% yields, ie a $520,000 property would rent for about $4…[Read more]