Good point Scott, although in this instance I am debating that the tenants actually have paid and it was the agent's office at fault for not ensuring the funds were disbursed to my account. Other than the missing rent these two weeks, I've been paid consistently every fortnight. Regardless, this is a grave concern.

As I type this, I'm chasing up two weeks of missing rent. Not long before, I went for a holiday for 2 weeks or so, round about the same time my PM went on leave. Recently I got down to checking my bank statements and found 2 weeks of rent were missing from the statements, corresponding to the period we were both on vacation.I was under the…[Read more]

Fully committed already, that's why.

Telling you to sell now because prices will be lower next year is like your own property agent using scare tactics to convince you to accept the first [low] offer that comes along. I could just as easily say, why not hang on to the property until conditions improve? Key question to ask yourself is, is it going to hurt more to wait? Do you 'want…[Read more]

Okay, I'm far from a 'seasoned investor' but the more opinions you get, the better informed you're likely to be. Besides, I'm sitting at home recovering from a bad ferret bite wound on my thumb, so I might as well write. Here's my personal opinion based on two properties.Property 1 is based in an outer Eastern suburb of Melbourne, purchased in Aug…[Read more]

It's just funny to see how this thread (and ones like these) seem to gasp from time to time before going under the water again. Keeps the forum interesting.

dellas wrote:
im wanting to buy with my gf, she lives out dandenong way and wants to buy a house and land package around lynbrook/lyndhurst area, is this a a good area? i have 120k saved.

A friend once recommended that I look in those areas, back when I was looking for a first home. I don't know much about the area, but if you see that there's…[Read more]

hbbehrendorff wrote:
We currently have a historic low number of people per dwelling in Australia, Remember we don't actually need a 250sqm house for every 0.5 populationThat means as people figure out that housing in a rip off right now, They will move in with other people and supply's will continue to increase

So, a reduced household size…[Read more]

realestateedu wrote:
4 me I would always trust a one bedroom unit within 7km than in a mining town … IMHO

A 1-bedroom UNIT, yes. A 1-bedroom APARTMENT, probably not. This is not a comparison with mining town properties because personally, I know nothing about those. However there is a very real threat of oversupply of 1-bedroom apartments in…[Read more]

hbbehrendorff wrote:
Can't then things stay as they are ? if you want pet insurance, then you buy it from a private company…But if you don't want it then that's just your choice to make and therefore you won't receive any benefits of that cover..Should the government now control house insurance since we had floods and penalize people who don't…[Read more]

hbbehrendorff wrote:
Im not having a personal go at you, But you have to realize that anything government gets its hands on, it wrecks, and state wide health care for animals would be no different More government and more control just means more administration, less efficiency and more cost to everyone.  big government is not the solution to…[Read more]

emptyvessel wrote:
BTW – thanks for posting your idea in here fWord.

No probs. Just thought it was getting a little quiet in here with just you posting ideas!

Just to add on, in comparison to our current Medicare (for people that is) system, the 'Medicare for Pets' system is more fair. With Medicare at the moment, regardless of how often we use the public medical system, we are forced to pay a percentage of our salary as Medicare Levy. Worse still are those who leech the system by not working, hence…[Read more]

hbbehrendorff wrote:
The whole part where you talk about a compulsory "animal ownership" tax where all animals are "microchip ed" and a database of all animals are stored by the empire for the greater benevolence. All hail chairwoman gillard (may her footprints reduce carbon for all eternity)

And so I presume you are an armchair expert and an…[Read more]

Jamie M wrote:
Pet insurance is a must IMO. I had friends/family laughing at the idea that I ensured my pugs. Only six months ago one of them had an emergency operation to remove something from his stomach – the bill was $3k….the excess I paid was only $100.

Indeed, in our current situation where 'medicare for pets' doesn't exist, insurance…[Read more]

hbbehrendorff wrote:
Is there anything the government wouldn't control in your utopia world ?That is socialist/communism propagana talk at its worst

Man, you sound angry. What statements exactly are you referring to?

As a veterinarian, I'd like to see the equivalent of Medicare for animals. There IS pet insurance, however few seem to know about it, and even fewer seem to understand that there is an 'excess' payable in each instance. In effect, this 'excess' causes owners to still have to fork out for procedures and/ or medications if the costs add up to less…[Read more]

simple wrote:
This is probably a result of been frustrated with  people out there keep throwing 'property double in value every 7 years' staff

That statement is indeed a sweeping generalization. Looking at historical house prices, the median value of some suburbs has more than doubled in that period, while others have yet to double.

ummester wrote:
Oh come on… it never get's old:) It's been the best (though most avoided) point of debate in Australia for the last 10 years.It's not quite as simple as your equation though. Correction – probably less than 10% (perhaps 15%) but the country will pick up the pieces fairly quickly afterward. Bubble – 15% or more drop in value in…[Read more]

emptyvessel wrote:
Anyone else have a strategic target for their LVR based on an actual number? Or is everyone going by "feel"?(I wager that most investors don't know their LVR and of the ones that do, most don't have a target. And of those that have a target, they can't explain why they have that target. Except to say that "it sounds good and…[Read more]