Hey AndyM,
Nice to see how you’ve been supported through this – I’ve only been around on this forum for a short time, seems there’s many a decent person here indeed! [exhappy]
One other option for some additional cash flow, see if your wife likes the idea of running her own tupperware business. I have close freinds who run them and could hook them together for you so they can chat about the idea. My freind always has spare cash and it’s been wonderful for their family as a supplemental income stream.
Another idea – I have another freind who works as a mortgage broker and has struck a unique deal to enable him to get a lifelong trail commission on all his deals even if he gives up the job. Could be a good supplemental for you.
Keep your chin up, I’ve also been through some tough times, done my share of pizza deliveries and commission only sales work to pay the bills. Your situatuion will change for the better I am sure.
God Bless, [thumbsupanim]
QL
Brilliant idea!!
I have a friend whom has a full time job now she is so successful selling Tupperware, with about 250 people working for her, she’s doin awroit!
My sister had 3 kids below 6 and ran a Home Shopping business (walking around the mountainous streets of the Dandenong Ranges with pram and 3 kids dropping off and picking up the booklets!) an Tupperware business and Amway business, sold eggs and eldest daughter (at 5 yrs) sold lemons! (All runs in our family really) She wad about a dozen people working for her in the end…Her dreams come true now; http://www.weekaway.com.au (Keep an eye out for my gorgeous nieces! Don’t know about that fairway though?)
“ask and you shall recieve”
Sincerely, Jarrah
++CASH FLOW PROPERTY HUNTER
(your not hunting if your not hungry)[email protected]
Climbing & Consulting
Arboricultural Services
0431433288“be ye angels?”,
“nay we are but MEN!”Hi AndyM.
Good luck with the new baby and your situation. Many good pieces of advice have been given, I’m sure you’ll get through OK.
Slightly off topic, people considering purchasing in booming markets at the moment should pay particular attention to this post and how you can PAY WAY TOO MUCH for property under frenzy conditions.Hi – well, I feel a little overwhelmed! Thanks for all the feedback, I will get back to each and everyone who has requested details from me, it may take time but I’ll get there (this week is the week from hell at work, and my home PC has gone caput..typical..).
One note: We did get an independent valuation prior to signing the dotted line (although we were already commited)..as we were thinking then it may be better off walking away from the deal and losing the deposit. The valuation came in at 500K (6 months ago)…so we thought we’d go ahead, and not face any legal battles etc. I’m suprised the house has dropped so much in value in just 6 months. The estate agent who valued the property has good knowledge on the value as they have sold about 15 of the units recently, though I really believe its worth more.
One thing I will do (and please let me know if this is a no-no) is to ask our neighbours what they paid (the units to the left and right of us)..they have slightly larger units but it should give us a good indicator?
Sure, wouldn’t hurt to ask them. Of course they may not tell you – sometimes people feel a bit funny about that sort of thing. It’s not hard to get sales data, though. Somebody with access to it may PM you and offer to find out. Do you know the agents who sold the properties? They’ll often tell you what they got for them.
Preumably, you’re looking at selling as a last resort.
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http://www.depreciator.com.auDepreciator – yes, selling would be last resort, as this would wipe us out completely. I’m going to call the agent who sold the properties to find out what they went for, but I need a stiff drink first.
Is it something I have imagined, or will the big lenders cut people some slack if a partner gets pregnant? Simon or Rolf may be able to tell us whether I’ve been dreaming.
I do remember in the late 80s I lost my job and could could see a potential medium term problem with my PPOR. I went to the bank, alerted them to the impending issue, and they cut me some slack. And that was back when banks weren’t nearly as approachable as now. I can’t for the life of me remember what they said they would do. I think they said if I needed to I could skip a couple of payments and then make part payments for a while.
I was alright in the end – got another job – but talking to them before things got out of hand was a good move.
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http://www.depreciator.com.auAndymitchell,
Firstly, congratulations to you and your wife. You are about to embark on the most wonderful, frightening, rewarding, frustrating, important role of your lives. It’s easy to say I know, but try not to let your financial situation take the joy out of it – everything will work out.
When my husband and I were expecting our 1st child, we had savings in the bank, downsided to a cheaper car and and had commitments that we could manage quite well on one income. But even with all our careful planning things went wrong. Firstly the company I worked for went into receivership 2 months into my maternity leave. Then my husband injured his back and spent months in agony with his work declining steadily until he was no longer able to work at all. As a contractor he had no sickness benefits or holiday pay to fall back on. No work meant no income. Suddenly we’d gone from 2 good incomes to none and had an extra mouth to feed. We had no income protection (as we were geared to one income we figured we’d didn’t need it as it was unlikely both of us would ever be out of work at the one time – how wrong we were!). We had no private health insurance and eventually had to pay for my husbands surgery on credit card. It was either this or have him on the public waiting list for up to a year. Our son had a few medical problems (he’s 5 and 6 operations to date, probably another soon. Nothing too serious luckily) and besides I was nursing a bed-bound husband so I couldn’t go back to work. We live away from our families so we had no family support at all and none in a position to help financially either. Looking back I wonder how we managed but we did because you don’t have a choice. By the time my husband recovered we had used all our available credit. Hubby was guilt-struck at the thought of having failed to support his family even though of course, he had no reason to feel this way. I went back to work as soon as I could when our son was 9 months old but the stress of the whole thing caught up with me and I suffered a very nasty bought of shingles so even when we thought we were over the worst of it, our troubles seemed to keep rolling on…
Now 5 years on we have 2 beautiful children, a lovely home, 2 IP’s, a couple of toys. We like to travel when we can and last year we spent 8 weeks touring around the Kimberley. Our financial comeback has been steady but remarkable when I think back to what it was. So I say to you Andy, take heart and think of your current woes as a blip rather than a bust. You will get through this.
Good luck and best wishes,
Flatout.
Hi Andy,
I have to have a bit of a laugh at the suggestions of you and your wife going out to do extra jobs[biggrin]. Unless I am seriously mistaken you are having a baby [ohno2].
This wonderful event happened unexpectedly to my wife and I right in the middle of starting property investment portfolio a couple of years ago and I know, like us, that your focus will need to be on your child at this time and obviously your wife will need heaps of support too.
One of the things that we did was look at our budget closely. We picked it to bits and found creative ways of saving money and making money that ended up being quite easy to implement. One of the websites that we subscribed to was http://www.simplesavings.com.au (at the moment they’re offering 3 months free if you refer some friends). I was blown away how much money could be saved when we focused on the task.
I customised a spreadsheet which had every expense I could think of and worked my way through the list and assessed what I could delete or reduce in some way. We pulled money out of thin air without making a big change in our lifestyle. I can send you a copy of the spreadsheet if you would like. Just email me through the forum or my website and I’ll attach and return. About 18 months later my wife went back to work and we could relax a bit financially. By this time our properties had risen in value and we could redraw on some equity if we needed to.
It may be worthwhile exploring the option that these people are offering. It is a shared equity loan that is supposed to massively reduce your payments. You just have to commit to giving them a % of capital growth when you sell. I am not sure if it would work in your situation or whether they would lend to your area but I think it would be worth an ask. Here’s the link http://www.affiance.com.au/
By the way, did you say that you were relying on a
real estate agent for an accuarate valuation of your property? Before you make any big decisions please get an independant professional property valuer do give you a valuation on your property. Many RE agents are not qualified valuers and do not have the degree of accountablility that a Pro valuer does. At least ask to see the RE agents Property Valuation qualifications.I know there is a good solution out there for you and there are some smart people on this forum so suck their brains dry. I am sure they are all willing to help.
Best Wishes
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auAndy –
My feelings are with you –
I can’t help thinking of a load of my mates in the UK about 15 years ago who found themselves in a similar situation and sold at about 40 % less than they owed – the result is that they have regretted it ever since.
Is there anything that you can do short term while still owning the place ? Maybe you move to somewhere tiny and rent your place out ? Just can’t help thinking that selling at a loss is not good.
Which area do you live in ?
Cheers,
Craig
Quote: “I have to have a bit of a laugh at the suggestions of you and your wife going out to do extra jobs[biggrin]. Unless I am seriously mistaken you are having a baby” [ohno2].
AndyM, I’m afraid I was one who gave you one of those suggestions [tongue] I probably should have qualified that I didn’t mean for your wife to consider Tupperware NOW. More of a longer term suggestion….
My freind who does Tupperware also has kids and finds it works really well with the family thing.
Cheers
QL
Hi Andy, just reading your situation for the first time today.
I want to ask you why your wife is taking ten months off, perhaps 4 months and then go back to work for a few days a week. I think you may be overwhelmed with the news at the moment and missed this strategy. Baby needs a good start and 4 months is a good one. By that time your wife may be ready for a few days at work for some mental stimulation while a “grandma” takes care of your treasure. We were in a similar situation but no family so we bought a small business so I could work from home. The business bought in $25k per year.
Accounting, typing resumes, Ironing whatever it takes and remember its temporaryHi Andy,
Pending the outcome of your various investigations there is another thing you may want to try Andy.
You have some months before bub is due and in this time your wife will continue to work. Pretend she has stopped work and milk her salary off into a ‘do not touch account’ and see what living on one wage is really like. You may find that you can actually do it anyway – sure it may take a little review of life’s pleasures but……..
Certainly everytime we had major changes in our life (first child, secoond child, periods on no pay, eldest off to Perth to go to school, large mortgage etc) we initially wondered how we were going to do it.
A comprehensive budget and a little pruning of our lifestyle here and there and things always worked out for us. I believe we (the collective we) sometimes tend to think ‘both’ salaries are needed and often live to that level whereas in reality we can live on less.
Derek
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http://www.pis.theinvestorsclub.com.au
0409 882 958
Skype – derekjones2113Hi Andy,
Congrats with baby. I have 2 children and I know having a baby is an exciting time.
It can be costly to buy a baby bed, stroller, pram etc. What I can suggest is few months before the baby arrives to start collecting them, they are many second hand beds, prams etc that are in VGC. If you have friends they might be kind enough to give them to you or at a small cost. Anyway, good luck and I sincerely hope you will look back one day and laugh about it.Hi Andy
Firstly congrats on the impending arrival. Secondly, talk to your bank/financial institution. Some offer what is termed a ‘Pregnant Pause’ or ‘Repayment Holiday’. The interest is capitalised over this period but sometimes it will simply see you through. As a manager with a financial institution, I can tell you that clients often don’t approach for fear of being turned down, Threatending to refinance elsewhere usually gets you somewhere also.Good Luck
Hey Andy,
Good suggestion about second hand cots and prams for the kids a few posts ago, we have children and when our first came we bought the best of everything thinking we were doing the best for our new bundle. Now the $1100 emalunga pram is sitting in the garage, go figure…[happy3]
Cheers
QL
Hi andymitchell.
This is my first post as I have been a casual observe since joining a week ago but I thought if I share my situation with you, and others it may be of benefit. I am a Husband and father of 3 who moved to Australia 6 years ago. I bought a property using the first home owners grant as a deposit and after being made redundant in 2003 decided to go into business with my old General Manager and good friend. This required me to sell our family home and put the proceeds into buying Plant about $50,000 in total. Things were difficult from the start and I was on less salary than I could earn as an employee but the desire to suceed prevailed. after 18 months of VERY hard work and long hours we decided that it would be better for us both if we closed the business, selling the machinery returning to the workforce. At this stage my partners interest in the business was $120,000 although he was financially in a much better position to myself. If we failed to find buyers for the machinery we stood to lose all we had offered up which to me was everything I owned. Obviously this was very upsetting to us both and our families, and ultimately too much for my partner to bear, who felt guilty for involving me in what was then his Company,and he took his own life in may last year. To say it has been difficult for me since would be an understatement. On top of the already huge strain, my wife gave birth to our third child and first daughter. What should have been a joyous time for me I saw as more burden and stress.I had resigned myself to losing everything as there is no local interest in the machines. I was driven to recover from the situation and replace our family home as that was what I said I would do in one of the last conversations with my Partner and I spent countless night awake caught up in the hopelessness of my situation.
Through the last 10 months I have worked as hard as I could and taken all Overtime that was on offer at my new employee which included working through xmas and all the public holidays we have had this year to date. I took a job on afternoon shift which gave me an extra 15% on my base rate. Initially I hated this as My eldest son has jsut started school and I see him now in weekends only. I decided I would take him to scool so I at least see him each day. This is hard as I don’t get home till late and need to trise early to take him to school.
I am glad to say that it has been worthwhile as this week we were approved finace for our new home and will hopefully move in in the new year. We are off to the Gold Coast for 2 weeks on Sunday for some much needed rest and relaxation.
My cash position back in May was negative, I had credit card debt and no cash in the bank, no property, only my possesions and a car.
I have had Investment properties in the past and always cashed out for one reason or another that seemed important at the time but I now intend to stick with it and will buy an investment property as soon as practcal. Whilst I cannot advise on your situation although I sympathise with you, Your position is a temporary setback only and you WILL recover in time, believe me. It wont be easy as it wasn’t for me but …. don’t let the bastards get you down…Feel free to email me if you want more support.
you will be fine.Look at Craig Turnbull he became a millionaire at 28 and a year later lost it all. He looked on the brightside and started it all again. I wonder how much he is worth?
Persoanlly although i’m the young apprentice property investor if i was in your situation i would sell for a loss and invest somewhere else. You might have a better chance of gettign your money back.
Sorry for being a dummy, PPOR stands for….?
“Its all beer and skittles really.”
Principal Place Of Residence.
IP = Investment Property
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