Hi Tim,Your local library should have quite a few of these books available, mine does. Saves buying them!

Hello there, I have recently experinced a similar scenario with one of my units. I attended the meeting where everyone seemed fairly intimidated by the managing agent running the body corporate, however as soon as I started listing complaints other owners joined in and it was revealed how frustrated everyone was. We put our managing agent on…[Read more]

Hi all,Thanks for all your input! I started doing a bit of reserach and talked to another property manager who manages several units in the same building, and it turns out mine is renting out for $30 per week less than what some of the other units are (in same condition inside). He told me he has a waiting list for tenants for one bedders in…[Read more]

I would avoid this, do your own deals.

Hi,With the Central Coast just check the local area throughly, the council has run rampant on development and not planned very well (I am thinking of Gosford itself here mainly). Also I heard some of the newer developments are so badly build that they already need new front doors, 5 months after being built, due to the building being out of line…[Read more]

You need to spray paint it because that is the only way those vermiculite things don't break off. Another option you may like to consider is to install a fake dropped ceiling, then you can do downlights at the same time. Sometimes it works out cheaper, and it certainly looks better. You have to wonder what those people in the 70s were thinking…[Read more]

In my experience I have found children damage a property, pets don't. I have had tenants keep pets, have never had a problem with them at all as I generally find that good tenants will take good care of their pets and be grateful that they are allowed to keep them. It is children now that I dread, drawing on walls with crayons, kicking…[Read more]

I don't know about Moree, however I do know about these towns and about places getting thrashed.Some points to think about if you go ahead with purchase:1) Can you get the empty units boarded up until you get a tenant, so risk of vandalsim lower?2) Get top of the range property/landlord insurance, so if place gets thrashed you are covered. Get…[Read more]

Well I am only starting out in this demographic, so hard to advise you. My first property is in a very nice part of town in a very classy suburb (bought as own home but moved out) The irony of it is that this place was damaged by bad tenants (during a domestic fight) and the agent gave them the bond back and did not tell me about the damage. It is…[Read more]

Thanks guys,have to laugh at the electric fence (if only we could!). i think wood may be the way to go, i will get a quote done on that, it only has to be basic, not planning to hold it for very long. Someone suggested hedging to me, has anyone here tried that? I guess they could set it on fire, and rip it out if only small.

Actually my on big tip for buying off the Department of Housing would be use a top notch solicitor, that way when it goes belly up you at least have someone on side.

Hi guys,Broken Hill has been mentioned to me several times (well more than several times) in my pursuit for a solicitor who can deal with this. Sounds like a lot of trouble there, lots of stories about places thrashed prior settlement. At the moment purusing the one (and only) quote, supplied by the estate agant on behalf of the Housing Dept to do…[Read more]

Sorry! Doing this at work so have lots of screens up at once….

Hi World Hunter,Thanks for your thoughts. Unfortunately when I rang to get builder's quotes (to compare my quotes with agency quotes) 2 just laughed at me and said 'no way, we are way too busy' , a third was prepared to do a quote but said he was booked out until next year with jobs, so was happy to quote as long as he did not have to do the job…[Read more]

Dear Anny,This happened to me some years ago that may shed light on your situation. We bought a house with a separate garage. The purchase went smoothly. We enjoyed the garage and used it all the time. About 5 years after buying the house we decided to refinance. During the refinance process we were alerted by the new bank's solicitor to the the…[Read more]

Hi Simon,I did insure the day I bought, but insured it from settlement day onwards as according to my conveyancer the dept of Housing was responsible until it settled for the condition of the property. I guess in my ignorance I just assumed that if damage were done than I would have the option to get out of the contract. At the time of viewing the…[Read more]

Is this the council rates notice, or the land tax notice from the Office of State revenue? They can vary greatly, depending on how much revenue they want to collect per financial year. The land tax may be way overvalued, whereas the council land value may be under value. You really need to do some more research to establish the true value of how…[Read more]

Dear Jensta,How did your ex housing commissions work out?

There is no subject to finance clause, the housing dept uses their standard contract which I considered and even though I did not like it (especially the 28 day settlement) I decided to risk it. However there is a clause in it that says that prior to settlement the purchaser can inspect the property and it needs to be in the original condition…[Read more]