I manager our IPs and judge how the market is doing at the time the lease is up. I have a twelve month lease nearly up and I plan to up the rent $10 per week. This brings it up to market value although I am sure I could get a little more if they leave. However, I will not increase more than $10 because any vacant period will mean a loss to us and…[Read more]

Foundation’s post got me thinking about things.

As a very rough exercise, I picked just one IP.

Paid $155,000 nine years ago
Put $30,000 into it (re-roofed, a/c, new kitchen, huge back deck etc)
Worth $550,000 (perhaps a little more)

I did a very rough working by adding 10% to the $155K and adding it on. Did that to the total for ten years…[Read more]

I’d ask some estate agents. This is rather a rare thing and it would be a pity to paint the walls, but having lived with panelled living and dining room walls, I know how dark it is. I had to have the lights on during the day. Once we renovated we built a light, bright kitchen/living area and the panelled rooms were then used mainly at night. It…[Read more]

We could live very happily on the rent that five fully owned houses in Brisbane would give us.

Wylie

I’d check out buying a house now that would suit your new family arrangement, in a suburb you would be happy to settle into with a family, and throw as much two income funds into it as you can manage. By the time you have a baby, you will have some equity in it and can then make further decisions as to whether you want to stay there or keep it as…[Read more]

Why not give one of the current affairs people a call, see if public exposure will do the trick, or at least threaten to call them and see if that moves things along.

Wylie.

Hi Lyndon.

We are a loooooong way from needing a builder, but we are planning a building project for the next year or so, depending on how long approvals take.

My question is this. When we get plans and approvals, do we give a copy of the plans to, say, three builders to have them quote? If this is the normal procedure, how do we compare apples…[Read more]

Fairly sure I know the house, on a moderately busy road and has a pool? If this is the same house you live next to, I spoke to a real estate agent recently who told me it was coming up for sale and that she thought a great idea would be to move the existing house down the hill and build a new house with full city views. I notice the listing is not…[Read more]

Sorry I can’t help you with the grinding problem, but surely this would be a common scenario with units all being up stairs. Maybe call another grinder to get another slant on it.

I also don’t know anything about it, but a look I love is the polished concrete look, maybe with subtle swirls of pattern in it like you see in some coffee shops etc.…[Read more]

If there is money to be made in the deal you originally looked at, why not take a breather, forget about it for a couple of months and see if you can get enthusiastic again.

Wylie.

For what it is worth, I feel if you are using the agent just to find you someone, you might be better off doing it yourself. We have always managed our IPs ourselves but on numerous occasions over the years, we have given local agents the chance to earn an easy week’s rent for finding us someone. First “someone” put into our IP turned out to be a…[Read more]

Just another angle. We have sold a couple of houses using our own furniture. We have several leather lounges ourselves and for a house my parents sold last year, we put our leather suite in, my mother’s “spare” antique dining table and chairs – shabby chic – not too formal. My mother bought a cheap bed and we dressed it with linen from our own…[Read more]

I agree that tenants can pay off all the loan. I found an old budget from 1998 including the house my husband bought in 1984. After he moved in with me it was rented for considerably less than $100 per week so it was negatively geared. By 1998 the rent was $200 per week. The $35K loan repayments were about $100 per week or a little less.

The…[Read more]

Hi. Sorry about the delay but I just looked at this now. I can’t think off the top of my head of the names, but in the insert in Saturday’s Courier Mail in the Home and Living (or whatever it is called) section they advertise almost every week. I will have a look on Saturday and post the name but probably a google search would find them. I think…[Read more]

It all comes down (in my opinion) to why you buy, where you buy and if you can afford to buy. We are negatively geared, happily so. The tax cuts don’t make any difference to our long term strategy.

Our houses are all in good capital growth areas, rents are creeping up and we are “relaxed and comfortable”. I am sure there are overstretched people…[Read more]

Only things we have ever negotiated – prior to auction commencing of course – are deposit amount and settlement time. Everything else must be checked and you must be satisfied about pest and building inspections and have your finance in place before you put your hand up.

Wylie.

Yes. A hob wall is a low wall backing onto the bench just as you have described. It does mean you cannot use the bench for a breakfast bar, but I don’t like them anyway, and we have used a hob wall in each family home we have lived in. It means you can still be part of anything going on without your family or guests see you sticking your fingers…[Read more]

Surely the fact that the government scrapped it is enough evidence, though I also don’t have any statistics to back the story up.

Wylie

Why not have a bet each way. Open the wall between kitchen and living but leave a 12 inch “hob” wall to hide the kitchen mess. It still gives an great open feel without having to look at the mess (at least, MY kitchen is usually messy).

Wylie

Don’t know where you are, but why not look at a second hand kitchen. Here in Brisbane there are a couple of companies that put in kitchens which are only a few years old. I believe they alter them to fit. I would guess you could save half that cost, but have no experience with them.

Wylie