Jaffasoft,

In the middle of a double mastesr degree and I have found for myself that the best way to get work done is to head out to the uni library. Give yourself an afternoon (3-4 hours or more) with definite goals you want to achieve by the end. Whether that being getting additional refernces, note taking off a reference, borrow books or whatever.

I am lucky (or unlucky, not sure which?), that I live by myself, so I don’t have the distraction of family or other people, but I tend to get side-tracked easily at home. (Law & Order junkee and with Foxtel, playing them everyday, I need to get out of the place, so I can function).

Being physically active, good diet and a balanced social life is what I have found to be also imperative.

All of that takes time to develop the
1. prioritisation between, work, study, exercise and friends/family
2.discipline to execute it repeatedly

You can put something in a diary but it doesn’t make you do it.

Chunking things down into smaller intervals worked for me as well. I initially, looked at a one week block of time and put down everything I needed to do. At the end of the week, I went back to confirm what I had and hadn’t done.

Number of items complete/number of items needed to complete. A simple KPI. I then was in competition with myself to better each week and then ultimately maintain.
(see, you are right, you do go a little stir crazy).

Good luck with it.

James

10 months ago, I would never have contemplated buying property interstate. One month ago I settled on a property in SE Qld. Now investing interstate doesn’t hold the same fears.

2 years, being geared and taking on debt to the extent that I have was unthinkable. Today, my $1m debt doesn’t concern me.

What I have done, I would have previously thought of close to 10 than to 5. Now, I think I am somewhere in the middle. I suspect that in 2 years, I will probably undergo another paradigm shift. I am sure others with heavy experience in property would see me as a 3-4.

James

Thanks for clarifying Scott.

James

Do they do discretionary trusts? I have had a look and it seems they do standard family trusts..

James

Just some comments/contributions

1. From a macro economy viewpoint, let’s not hope for a crash, becasue if people perceive the value of their investments falling, households/businesses will become far more cautious and reduce spending/investing. The effect of rising unemployment is obvious for all in the property sector.

2. Family member is in real estate (Melb) and makes the point, that it is very quiet, both from a buyer and seller point of view. Makes it difficult if you are looking to buy as well!!

3. Tax cuts are likely in the Federal budget, big spending package (which is both parties policy), so there is going to be an injection of government spending into the economy. Not withstanding the slow but emerging trend of a strengthening world economy.

Crash is an overly emotive term. There is empirical evidence of slowing or even price reductions, but those who have a long-term investing time horizon…Water of a ducks back.

Will there be opportunities to purchase? Maybe. But unless there is a dramatic negative shift or impact in the economy, external or domestic, we are not looking at a early 90’s style recession or price stagnation.

James

At http://www.incorporator.com.au you are able to set up a company, which based on what acountants charge for doing this, might save you around $200.

Might be easier to do this and then get your accountant to establish the trust only.

James

Misty1,
At the end of last year, I re-financed my apartment in Melb inner city. I submitted my estimation of the value of my property based on real estate valuations and other comps. I then stretched this and placed another $20k on that price.

At this bank (one of the majors), they did an internet valuation and accepted the price, 24 hours after the applicaton was submitted.

The LVR on the main loan was about 67%, with the remaining 13% being on the LOC. Maybe refinancing could be an option??

James

I suspect there may have been sarcasm and tongue in cheek response from Acey. Of course there may also be in yours as well!![biggrin]

james

The discussion about headline rates of inflation and interest rates are somewhat dettached from the investors decision matrix.

Can I point out that ultimately, it is firstly real interest rates and the expectation of real rates into the future(interest rates minus inflation) that will guide an investor (whether it is property, stocks or bonds). So if interest rates go up another 1% and inflation 1%, then theoretically at least, you are no worse off.

Admittedly, there are multiple factors which re-inforce and counteract each other and it is almost impossible to know how they will play out. However, there are two key factors which will mitigate inflation increasing

1. Centralised wage fixing, has broken wage increases & wage inflation nexus, as a result of productivity related trade-offs.
2. The economy is much more senitive to rate rises today that it was fifteen years ago. The degree of borrowings across households (predominantly) increases the dampening effect on expenditure of any interest rate increases.

It was also mentioned that with the depreciation of the $A, there will be imported inflation as a result. We had a $A value at $US49 cents approximately 2-3 years ago, and inflation was not affected. Ultimately, it is market forces which will dictate ability to increase prices.

Massive interest rates increases are more unlikely than most people think.

James

Paul_S,

Freshwater Place & Eureka prices are in the vicinity of $6-7k per square metre. CE are around $4.5-5k psm

That makes a significant difference. Sure, the internal fit-outs and facilities might be a little better in quality but these are two different markets.

The back of Victoria Tower is a vacant block which has plans for a commercial development for 5 levels. Behind that is City Link and Sturt Street.

The views for properties facing the Yarra might not be built out but there will be many apartments who don’t have a northerly apsect in these buildings.

The hype in property bull markets is overexaggerated, so to when the expected slow/downturn comes/is here.

James