[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

April 8, 2005 - 10:37 pm

Originally posted by mkc:

How are you guys.
This may seem like a rediculous question but l actually bought another property like this once posting it on a board like this.
We have found a house on 75 ac at Deans Marsh Vic, in The Great Ocean road hinterland 15 min’s in from Fairhaven and Anglesea . Problem . lt’s 570 grand,around 370 out of my reach but subdevidable.Beautifull mountain views and we are in love with the house . ls there some offer or way anyone could suggest say a partenership deal whereby we could swing buying the house and say a 5 ac section or would anyone cashed up be interested in taking a look at it .
The house is finished to lockup only which suits me and keeps ‘it’s price lower , the acerage has endless mountain and valley views [ no ocean] and should be devidable .
Give it some thought and feel free to PM me if needed . [email protected].
Thanks for that.
Mark.

Sounds doable….I would be interested if it only was closer to home.

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
……….– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc…http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

April 8, 2005 - 10:33 pm

How do you make an offer to a motivated seller?

Hum…I’m not a smart guy because I don’t understand the question.[blink]
How to….hum…Say Mr Smith is selling and asking $300,000 for his property. Do you need to know how to offer $300k to Mr Smith?
Hum [cigar]

OK this is my 2 cents advice…. You say…Dear Mr Smith, I would be delighted to pay you $300,000 for your lovely home.
Yours sincerely
Mr Who

Now if you want my 2 dollar advise here it goes:

You put on one your gardening cloths, possibly the one that are not very clean, (don’t forget a hat) jump in your son’s car if it is a bomb otherwise borrow a bomb of a car and go to Mr Smith in person. Offer an offer that is so low that you are embarrassed to utter the number and are thinking in some euphemism for it. In this case try $200,000 (you can say “I give you two…you know?”)and remember to mention that the rest of the money you had to spend on your aunties funeral, to help out your uncle who’s farm was repossessed by the bank and you are sending money to 14 different children in Africa.[biggrin]

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
……….– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc…http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

April 7, 2005 - 9:31 pm

isn’t it much easier to take you name off the phone directory?
I have yet to recieve one single marketing phone call.

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
……….– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc…http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

April 7, 2005 - 11:54 am

Foundation, not defending resiwealth, he does not need me, but I must say your post of late do hurt to read. You have some unresolved issues there.

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
……….– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc…http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

April 7, 2005 - 10:47 am

Mobile home…don’t know.

Coober Pedy…love to own an underground home and go night golfing…. as far as investment…don’t know.

Mt Isa, I have two block of flats there and they are a cash cow for me. Capital gain 40% in one year, put the rent up from 120 to 155 with no problems on all flats and there is hardly anything left to rent around.
Houses are doing better than flats. It is hard to find good quality houses and they have good returns.
There are several very bad areas to be avoided like the pest, and some borderline areas that will become bad very soon to be avoided like the pest.
Do not buy sight unseen, do not buy from real estate agents from out of town, go and spend a day or two with Lorraine from Jays Real Estate, she will tell you what is good and what is bad.
Tell her Marc from Sydney sent you, she will treat you even better. Ask her to tell you which solicitor I used, and DO NOT use that one, use the other one.

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
……….– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc…http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

April 5, 2005 - 12:02 pm

Originally posted by enduser:

I have a letter from Centrelink which states that Council Rates Notices are the documents of proof of ownership and value of a property. They will step out of that method only if they suspect dodgy goings-on.

Centrelink decisions are subject to appeal.

The only means Centrelink uses to value a property is the office of the Australian Valuation Office, yet a person can provide a private valuation by a RE agent and it may or may be not accepted.
The land value stated on a council rate notice is useless for the purpose of valuation, yet may be useful to show who is on the title.
Income and assets are reviewed at regular intervals ideally every year. However properties have gone without a review for 5 years or more in some cases and when time comes a valuation may reveal increases of 2 or 300 %. I have seen a property in Vincentia valued at $80,000 and reviewed for a new value of 1,200,000. Far from being a product of “dodgy going on’s”, updating income and assets is a necessity to keep a welfare system healthy. Once more, remember our pension system is welfare, a safety net… and not a contribution based retirement system.

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
……….– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc…http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

April 5, 2005 - 11:45 am

Originally posted by oshen:

Hi Marc
If the property is considered to be hers, wouldn’t it be her own home and therefore exempt from the assets test? Or doesn’t it work like that.

Only in a few cases is an asset exempt from the asset test, one of this cases is, if the person lives in the property. However according to the original post this is not the case.

My guess is that since the inheritance was never declared, as a consequence of a dob in the person may have been wrongly assumed to have inherited the whole of the property. Centrelink is probably not aware of the existence of 5 people in the will, since for 1/5 of the asset to “almost wipe out the pension” the asset should be at least 153,000 + 100,000* = 253,000 x 5 = $1,265,000 , and more than double that amount if the pensioner in question is married and not a home owner. But this is speculation of course.

* to lose $300 off the pension.

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
……….– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc…http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

April 5, 2005 - 1:25 am

Originally posted by skippygirl:

Hello,

This might be a little off-topic, but have been reading thru the Centrelink website to check the definition of an assessable asset for age pensions, it says “real estate that you own”.
One of my relations has had Centrelink almost wipe out her age pension because they believe she has an RE asset and they even sent a valuer to do a drive-by.

But she does not own it, it was her Mum’s house, and when her Mum died the will stated that the house could be used by her brothers for as long as they wanted and when they died or married or no longer wanted it then the house was to be sold and the cash proceeds divided up among all 5 children.

One brother is still living in it and looks like doing so for a long time yet – so she has no title and has no realisable interest, can receive no rents and profits etc and will actually never own it as it must be sold when no longer needed.

Has anybody ever come across this situation? Is there any written definition of an assessable asset that includes this supposed ownership of property when you don’t own it?

Nice of Centrelink to simply chop her pension, no letter of warning, nothing. She got one phone call asking if she owned the property, she siad no, did she earn rent from it, she said no, did she pay the rates on it she said no.

Thanks anyone..skippygirl

The government pension is a payment subject to asset and income test. It is Centrelink’s legal obligation to verify that the person is receiving the correct entitlements from the money entrusted to them by the taxpayers.
The asset test is not limited to real estate in the name of a person, it can be any assets of a company or trust where the pensioner has control over the assets for example, and other situations that are assessed different from the ATO.
The situation you present however is a rather simple one.
Mum passed away and willed the property to her estate.
Full stop, end of story.
The estate is her 5 children who now have control over the asset. 1/5 each. The arrangement that one has the right to live in it is irrelevant to the ownership/control over the asset.

If the 1/5th of the property in question is over $153k for a single person or over 217k for a couple of homeowners, or $263k single and $328k couple for a non-home owners, the asset over these amounts reduce pension by $3 for every $1000.

I’m afraid Centrelink does not do this out of spite and does not need to ask for permission to do it. it is it’s legal obligation as a trustee of the taxpayer.

Also, it is the obligation of the peson recieving the payment to inform Centrelink whithin 14 days of any changes in income and assets. If this events took place some time before 14 days, your relative may also be overpayed and in need to return the moneys overpaid.
You must understand the nature of the age pension. It is a safety net for the person whitout any means, it is not a retirement fund.

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
……….– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc…http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

April 4, 2005 - 10:15 am

Terry is right, unless…it is normal in your area to have furnished properties.

I am not sure how much more you could ask for rent if furnished as opposed to not. I have a few furnished properties but they are all furnished over there, so it is expected.
Also, some of the best and most expensive real estate are rented furnished, to corporate executives.

Replacement needs for furniture….I can only tell you that in one year I replaced one lounge one fridge and one mattress cover out of 6 flats that have all 10 year old stuff in them, replacement due to old age.

Unless the furniture needs replacing because of normal wear and tear, you can claim damage by tenants on your landlord insurance.

Make sure you make a detailed list for depreciation.

New or old? I suppose it depends on the quality of your property. An old holiday place, or mining town worker’s cottage may be ok with second hand stuff, a nice new home in a nice suburb may pay to have new stuff and charge a bit more rent.

Terry has a point regarding tenant that has his own furniture. To move house content and store it is expensive unless you do it yourself and have a big shed for it.

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
……….– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc…http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

April 4, 2005 - 8:01 am

It’s interesting how when we talk about rental issues, the discussion becomes emotional.
I remember one comment by Dazzling saying: “That is why we got out of the residential rental market”. Smart move.

Back to your question, how to terminate the contract, this is a question for your PM and for the magistrate in your local Residential Tenancy Tribunal (Not sure how they call it in Queensland)
Ask the experts that deal with this every day.

Judging from the real estate statement I get from Queensland, with entries that state “$50 for eviction expenses” it seems that my PM has no trouble getting rid of problem tenants, I wish we could say the same in the RED state of New South Cuba.

If the tenant has breached the contract it is much easier to terminate their stay in your property then if they have no contract.

Hope you can reach a satisfactory outcome. Personaly I would try first a win-win situation before I get my big guns out._________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
……….– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc…http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

April 3, 2005 - 8:43 am

Originally posted by Dazzling:

Bonnie,

Excellent – thanks for clearing that up.

Given that set of circumstances that you describe, my suggestion is that you have to accept the conditions imposed upon the lease. The horse has bolted, so to speak.

The prudent thing would have been to step back in time and have dictated to the prospective purchaser the terms and conditions on which you were prepared to leaseback the property you were considering selling to them. More particularly made the entire Lease, and the exact wording, to be agreed and executed before and as a condition on the Sale contract.

Once you signed on the dotted line and accepted their offer to purchase, without first establishing the T&C’s of the leaseback, you put yourself in a very weak negotiating position.

Also, be wary of what blanket conditions are assumed for ‘property’ and “Landlords”, there are many types…and depending on what type you are refering to, the impost or burden upon each party to the Lease varies enormously.

You are really asking a very general question that has many different answers depending on the individual circumstances involved.

Agreed.

Also doesn’t it change according to state?
NSW is much more protective of the tenant than Queensland for example.

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
……….– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc…http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

April 2, 2005 - 1:37 am

Originally posted by Maria0911:

Hi

This is my first time on the forum. I’m interested to know if anyone has every purchased a property without physically seeing it. I’m interested in investing in Brisbane and have seen the property online. The agent has been very helpful with providing room measurements, possible rental return and specifics about the property. Photos of property look spick & span. Any thoughts on purchasing without seeing it? My purchase will be subject to a building inspection of course, but if the numbers add up should I go ahead and buy?
Thanks
Maria0911

Many people have bought “sight unseen” and it turned out OK. My daughter bought a townhouse in Cairns last year like that.
I almost did the same with two properties in Queensland but at my wife’s question, “what is stopping you from going?” I did go, and I am now glad I did. When I still went ahead and bought the two properties, I now have a better understanding of the town, the bad areas, the good one, have met the solicitor personally, (and know not to engage him again!) know my agent personally and their competitors, the land surveyor that will do the subdivision etc etc.

There are also some horror stories about buying sight unseen, so beware, houses look always good on photos, it is all the dodgy places that you don’t see that make the difference.

The expense of going there, will not be a tax deduction and is part of your purchase expenses.

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
……….– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc…http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

April 2, 2005 - 1:06 am

Bonnie, this is not a landlord versus tenant issue at all.

A landlord would not in normal circumstances have a clause that the tenant must take care of the aircon, that is obvious and does not merit discussion.

The issue is between a seller, you, and a buyer that happens to be now temporarily your landlord.

The buyer thinks that you sold him a house with a dodgy aircon and is trying to scam a service call off you, using the fact that you live there and obviously need the aircon as leverage.

Your choices are simple. You either call the serviceman and add it to your expenses incurred into making the house sellable, something no doubt you would have done without a second thought before the sale, or … accept the risk that the aircon may break down in the 6 month to a year it takes to build a house, (with some luck).

The question “can the landlord do this” should be translated in, “can I get away with not paying the service call, since I now sold the house and it is not mine anymore.”

If you are interested in what I would do, here it goes.
I would gladly pay $150 for a service to an aircon that probably needs it, judging from your account, on the principle that whatever good I do, I will get back ten fold. Such principle works and I suggest you give it a try. In this particular case it is a small risk you are taking.

I wish you success with your new building, $150 compared to building a new house, is a very small amount to pay for peace of mind. If I sold my house and lived in it as a tenant for some time, I know I would keep on fixing and maintaining it as if it was still mine.

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
……………….– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc
http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

March 29, 2005 - 12:03 pm

Originally posted by cathnniv:

I thought there was a register kept with the local chamber magistrate or sheriffs office.
Sheriff would be private i imagine but i thought the chamber magistrate held a list which was public knowledge???
Not sure but that’s what i’d heard

Something like that… but it applies to the US

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc
http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

March 25, 2005 - 1:05 pm

Mini, you have what it takes, may I suggest to change you name to Maxi ? [biggrin]

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc
http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

March 25, 2005 - 9:02 am

…..house prices have a tendency to revert to historic means* (or below!) after boom periods, and there is no fundamental reason for this to now change. While waiting may be painful, you will be in a far better financial situation than those in your (our?) generation who have stretched their finances to buy overpriced houses once this correction has played out.
*in relation to wages, rental return, replacement cost etc.

I disagree.
In a changing environment the worst strategy is doing nothing.

Reminds me of the dot com boom-bust. At the time there were two camps, the one that talked for years about the imminent bust, and how all those nasty speculators that bought overpriced stock would go belly up….and the one that made money galore until the ride lasted. Yes many people lost money too at the end, but many more made a mint.

Meantime the onlookers that were chanting “bust, bust, bust” in chorus did not lose nor gain, because they where not in it.
Conceded they did have a consolation price. After a longish wait they could finaly say “I told you so” with some satisfaction.

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc
http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

March 25, 2005 - 8:44 am

Tinabell, congratulations on two accounts.
First for getting into the RE market so early in life.
Second for a very balanced response to an undeserved attack. If you are not familiar with the anti-value “rich is bad poor is good”, you had a taste of it, but you handled it well.

My advice is to pay as much as you can into your own home, (non deductible).
Scrutinise your properties for ways to better them with little expense in order to command a higher rent.
Find out if you are at the top of the rent market, many times your RE agent lets you down and you are behind without knowing it.
Hold on to them for as much as you can. When the market picks up it is better to be in it with 5 properties going up, than with 4 or 3.

_________________________________________
“What you want in your life occasionally shows up…
what you must have… always does.”
– Doug Firebaugh

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc
http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

March 25, 2005 - 6:35 am

I agree with Terry, go for some decent but cheaper courtains. In 3 years time you may want to do something different again (3 years is a long time) and your super nice blinds may not even fit in with the reno.
As for the renovation, make sure that reno=more rent, and if at all possible reno=extra bedroom or garage=more rent.[biggrin]

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc
http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

March 25, 2005 - 6:30 am

Originally posted by Sonja:

……….Guess this also supports Mini’s point about proffessional/decent PMs.

Agreed.

RE a block of 6 flats, all identical, old PM was always making excuses for having a smorgasboard of rent rates, from 120 to 150, depending on how long the tenenat had been there, and other rather irrelevant trivia like condition of the courtains.
Too far away for me to have a real feel of the market, I had been relying on PM too much.

New PM sends me an e-mail on this lines: After inspecting your flats, I seek your permission to change the blinds in one flat, and one lounge in another, after that I will proceed to put all rent up to 155 if you agree.

Yea… like I will say no to that [biggrin]

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc
http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace

[1WinnerParticipant@1winnerJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 477]

March 20, 2005 - 1:28 pm

Originally posted by nowork:

I would like to know if anybody has any really different property investing strategies? I have posted a new topic in the “help needed” site called “help me retire”, but as yet I haven’t been totally convinced by some of the replies. I want something that isn’t necessarily the be all end all, but something that I can start and hopefully earn equity or the like to buy further properties. Also has anybody got any ideas of Beachside properties. My grandfather has a cool holiday shack in South Australia and has to sell it due to losing the stupid pension. I want to know whether it would be a worthwhile investment[baaa]

Nowork, to gain equity, someone must add this equity to your property. Yourself with renovations or additions or timing by buying under market value, or the market through added demand.

All the strategies come down to this few scenarios. It depends on where do you want to invest, your budget and how flexible you are in changing strategies. In real estate it is all about being ahead of the rest. What works for you today, may stop working if a few hundred people do the same. Astute investors start a trend and get out of it when big numbers start doing the same, only to start yet another trend that will be copied by the majority of late arrivers.

I suggest that you do a lot of research, read books and learn to read the market. Don’t expect anyone to convince you about a good investment strategy.

Sorry to hear about your grandfathers losing the pension. The money from the sale will still prevent him from getting a pension only he will now be able to invest it and hopefully have a decent return.

Beachside properties are always in demand but unless they are in a major city, they are a real dog to rent for more than 10 or 15 weeks at best in the year.

May God Prosper you.[biggrin]
Marc
http://www.chosen4u.com/?ace