Sometimes when dealing with overseas vendors communication can be difficult, and therefore the ability to get a response from them regarding offers can take a bit longer than usual. The agent has a duty to present all offers to his vendors, and if this previous offer is now ready to go, naturally the agent is going to present both to his vendors…. afterall he is working FOR the vendor.

I wouldn't go posting your offer to the vendor as they have employed the agent for a reason – to list,market, negotiate and sell their home.

I would keep in regular contact with the agent and be a little bit patient – not all agents are bad guys!

Good luck with your offer! Purchasing your first home is a great feeling.

Cheers,

Ben

I'd say that this is a pretty reasonable marketing budget Darren. Has your agent outlined what this will include? Internet subscription? An ad in the land section of your local paper? Brochures etc?

Agents do generally pay an annual subscription fee to list properties on realestate.com.au. So a good portion of that $350.00 is probably allocated to listing your block on the internet!

If you are serious about getting your block of land sold, $350.00 is a small amount to pay in the grand scheme of things…. Having said that it all depends what you are getting for your money!

Good luck with the sale!

Cheers

Hi EvaCD,

I've managed a couple of apartments in this complex, however I do believe this one is leased to the hotel for a few more years. You will need to look into the costs associated with having it managed by Quest as sometimes it can be quite expensive… obviously you want to be making as much cash for YOU!

The Mansions building is very old and very tired, the facilities are not great and traffic noise (reported by all of our tenants) is quite high, especially on the weekends with people lining up out the front to head down to the pub/club below…

Personally I wouldn't purchase in this building, however if the figures stack up as an investment then go for it, but definitely check with Quest what the outgoing costs for you are going to be!

Good luck!

Cheers… Ben

I was always warned about buying a 1 bedder, but as a 20 year old desperate to get into the property market I had 2 options…
a) Buy a 2 or 3 bedroom property about 30 – 40mins from the CBD in a very average suburb OR
b) buy a 1 bedroom property withing 5km of the CBD in a booming suburb

I chose to ignore what people were saying and purchased the 1 bedder…. lived in it for 6 months to claim my FHOG and did some minor renovations…. decided to try my luck at securing another eager first home buyer to purchase it at an inflated price and invest my money in something bigger…. The result = 4 offers in 6 days, all from first home buyers, and a $60,000 profit!

1 bedders in a top location will continue to do well because there will always be young property investors who want to break into the market but can't afford something with the 2nd bedroom…..

63sqm is a great size too – and if it's only 7 years old….. GO FOR IT!

Good luck!

If you really cannot afford to have it vacant for much longer then I'd most definitely drop the price. Your agent has 2 advertised openings this week, with one in the morning and one in the evening, and these times are clearly advertised on the internet.

Having been on both sides of the fence (an investor and a property manager for a real estate office) it is a bit of give and take from both parties. Everyone is so quick to slag off the property manager for not having the property leased, but in reality sometimes it is the landlord who chooses not to listen to constructive feedback from the P.M.

Markets change unexpectedly and sometimes a $10pw price reduction can be the difference between getting the home leased and having it sit there for 4 weeks hoping for that little bit extra.

As long as you include a clause in the lease allowing you the opportunity to conduct a rental review/ increase in 6 months, you can bump it back up to the $390 or maybe 395pw then. In the meantime you have $$$ coming into your bank account

Best of luck – I hope you secure a tenant ASAP.

Hi Phlang,

I work in a real estate office in Adelaide and we have a good list of reliable tradies…

I suggest Andy from AH Consulting – 0409 678 246, he is a handy man and does a great job.

Hope he can help!

Cheers, Ben

Mike,

I was in a similar position to you in December last year, as a 20 year old wanting to break into the market. I am a real estate agent in Adelaide and had the option of a 1 bedroom unit 4km from the CBD or a 3 bedroom house about 30km out of the city in a not so sought after suburb….. Everyone around me warned me off buying a 1 bedroom, but I weighed up my options and did my research…. and was confident it was going to get me further in a shorter space of time than the 3 bedder…..

I paid $162,500 in January 2009 for the 1 bedder….. lived in it for 6 months and did some minor upgrading and general home presentation…. tried my luck selling it in July to see if I could get a crazy figure and free up some cash, pay my car loan off and all in all be in a better financial position to really get my portfolio up and running……..

The end result – I sold it in 6 days for over $220,000…….. now I know you don't plan on selling for 4 years…… but what i'm getting at is the reason I did so well was based on my close to CBD location, good transport, close to Uni etc etc….

I've now purchased a 2 bedroom townhouse which I don't plan on selling and plan on adding to the portfolio from here on with already a fair bit of equity on my side…… GO THE 1 BEDDER!!!!

Cheers, Ben

Hi Paul,

The clips that lock the timber panels into place are not fixed to the concrete…. once you have got the whole deck locked into place it is unlikely the whole decking will move… obviously it isn't as ideal as having an actual timber deck built and fixed to the ground, but providing you purchase enough of the interlocking clips – it holds together pretty well.

I guess it really depends on what outcome you are hoping to achieve… for me, being my first home – my budget was limited and i found this to be a trendy yet affordable alternative to paving or having a deck built for me.

Good luck!

Cheers, Ben