If you are not on the ground floor you may have to consider sound absorbing underlay. But check with body corporate first.

1) No – there is a shortage of valuers as it is not a 'sexy' profession2) Fee is dependent upon the type of work undertaken, it is generally not a % of the property being valued but more directly related to the time required and complexity of the task eg purchasing 20 leases from LTO, research of comparables to formulate an objective viewpoint and…[Read more]

I wouldn't worry too much over the issue, try finding the approvals for a californian bungalow, federation or victorian house. Of more concern is whether it is sited on the correct block, within the boundaries and sewer/water services are approved by water board etc. If the building is 40 years old, it will predate any Australian Standard, predate…[Read more]

I am a great believer in small steps and minimum risk in the current situation. With little income (pension only) you will be exposing yourself to a major risk should the project not produce the expected returns. The downside risk is that you may well lose the lot and become bankrupt (if you are able to find a financier willing to back you).Land…[Read more]

I am not a great believer in the perpetual boom on the gold/sunshine coasts. I still believe that this market will follow its path of the 70's-2000's ie it will suffer a very long period of depression with little or no growth for 10 – 15 years (as it did up to the late 1990's when it started to pick up dramatically, to play catch-up with…[Read more]

I was listening to an interview/discussion on 702 this afternoon/early evening. Bottom line (although they didn't say it) was forget about the capital growth and trends over the past 10 years it will take a very long time to get back to where we were just 2 years ago. It will pay to revisit growth figures around the great depression to review the…[Read more]

Annan,

getting a building licence frees you up to undertake as many projects as you want to as Terry points out. On the downside though, project builders are very cost effective so you will struggle to beat their prices on a standard design as compared to your own 'one off' project, you will still be quite competitive when it comes to doing…[Read more]

Annan,getting a building licence frees you up to undertake as many projects as you want to as Terry points out. On the downside though, project builders are very cost effective so you will struggle to beat their prices on a standard design as compared to your own 'one off' project, you will still be quite competitive when it comes to doing…[Read more]

Take a leaf out of the share traders book – use dollar cost averaging, buy continuously on the up as well as on the down, at some point you are going to get it right.

There was also a research paper prepared by PRD Nationwide on their website (middle of 2008).

It depends upon what you mean by save? (If it is $$ then it might be 15-25% of what the tradies charge but this is your investment in having someone else take the time to call prices, organise the subbies, sit down and have meetings with yourself, do the running around to suppliers, prepare colourboards, prepare budgets, organise the site, provide…[Read more]

Being new cement render it should have been sealed with an undercoat first. (Read the can before painting). It may not peel next week however there is a greater likelihood that it will not last the distance. Did you do any prep work at all (like getting a broom to remove all of the loose sand from the wall?).Why would you be using an enamel paint…[Read more]

There are a number of issues that you should familiarise yourself with before jumping into one of these investments:How is the income distributed? ie is it pooled and distributed to all owners equally or each fends for themselves?Returns are highly volatile depending upon the quality of the managementHow easy will it be to assign the ownership…[Read more]

Contrary to all of the doom and gloom – I'll postulate the following scenarios: If house prices (hence affordability) keep dropping then affordability will increase;If rents remain stable/increasing (during a period of house price stability/dropping market) yields are increasing;If house prices are dropping combined with drops in rental returns…[Read more]

Woopi, consider what is important to yourself for the next 10, 20, 30? years. As you have ceased working you will need to live off whatever you have accumulated in your working life. Your investment profile will need to remain conservative ie not highly leveraged/minimum risk investments (this may be cash at bank, term deposits etc), your house is…[Read more]

The location of the view is not relevant, it is how you make use of it. As you point out, a well designed house will take advantage of it – the view will add value regardless. As you are on a quiet street, why should all your living be out the back (unless you have a north facing rear yard). Consider the price difference between your block and o…[Read more]

Looks like a much better bet than any of the compressed 'education' provided by the spruikers or non-accredited parties. If you have ot the time, it is probably worth a look, discuss it with the head of the school and see where it takes you. Remember that a 20 week course will give you a lot of information at a rate that you can take it all in, no…[Read more]

If you qualify for the FHBG then you may also qualify for a stamp duty concession or exemption depending upon the cost of the unit. So using the unit as a rental may not be your best option in the first 6-12 months if you can carry the holding costs.As for the works 'needing' to be done to the place – are they necessary or 'would be nice'? Will…[Read more]

As others have pointed out, it is not up to the agent to disclose why the vendor is selling (reasons can be numerous and revealing some reasons can put the vendor in a poorer bargaining position).It is up to you to decide if there is a deal to be had on your terms.

rudo1ph wrote:
I am not quite at this stage yet but will be in a few weeks.  Why do you need to put down tile underlay and fibro on the walls?  I had assumed I could chip out the old tiles and make sure the floor was level, reseal the floor and then lay tiles………….Am I dreaming here?Rudi

Tile underlay if you have joists (ie you need to h…[Read more]