There are plenty of suburbs in Sydney where the median price exceeds $1m but there are also more where it is less than $400k. You get what you pay for.

was any action pursued in a civil court & how much were the damages?

divorce or death – usually a transfer between related parties

It’s a long way from becoming law – there’s an election in march & govt has been in no-caretaker mode for months.

It’ll be good if it ever gets up.

An automated valuation service like that provided by various suppliers (and available for purchase by punters) is not a valuation and would not even be loosely called an appraisal as it is based on a series of algorithms based on certain criteria it does not rely on valuation principles of direct comparison or summation or capitalisation of net…[Read more]

It depends upon what you requested to go into the contract of sale. If you had asked your solicitor to include such a clause in the special conditions, then you would get access (with the downside risk that if the contract failed to proceed to completion, you would be liable to repay it).

$1m median house price – so what? If you want a $500k median change your expectations. As Xdrew points out, if people did not have the capacity to pay, then they wouldn't – they would make their decision to buy elsewhere, ie freedom of choice.There are houses on the market in the US in LA for ridiculous sums of money ie hundreds of millions, yet…[Read more]

What BS BL!Valuers protect the interests of banks by not exposing them to adverse risk which their shareholders would not like to carry. Valuers work for those who commission the report ie the bank not the purchaser, why should the purchaser benefit from the valuation or the rationale?A valuer is not a soothsayer – they are reliant upon factual…[Read more]

The new forms are now available online from NSW office of fair trading:Tenancy AgreementCondition ReportTenant Checklist

Take the money – it mitigates the risk. Older tenants don't like change so they won't be moving out too quickly, a year up front is one massive bond. Park the money in the offset account. You may need to put a special condition into the lease to show you are bonafide – if the lease is terminated for XYZ reasons then the balance of the money paid…[Read more]

a) Crystal ball – it depends on the property, what else is in the pipeline, what has happened in the past, do you think you are locking the property in at a good price (will it be worth more in x years time at settlement), what do you plan to do (hold as PPOR, hold as IP, onsell prior to settlement)b) Depends on the property and what you are…[Read more]

Two ways:Call the office, leave a message for the PM to call you back and see how long it takes (this will give you a good idea of their level of customer service that you will experience and judge it by what you would expect from a PM) – the pretence is to make a meeting to discuss property management.Visit the office and speak to the PM (see how…[Read more]

This is bound to become another '911' issue – heaps of volunteers rushing in to help with the rescue/rebuilding but with little regard to their own safety or likelihood of contracting the silent killer 'meso' from unwittingly exposing themselves to poor site planning and incorrect methods for the handling of asbestos products.Class action – here…[Read more]

Scott No Mates wrote:
henry kate?

my apologies, should have been "Henry Kaye" damn spell checker.

Unless you can get one of the govt scholarships for the property course, it is a very expensive way to try to save yourself a few dollars on management fees. Do you intend using the course to get yourself employment in the field or just to manage your own property?TAFE also offers the course either face to face or distance learning options which…[Read more]

A few factors to consider:the house/units that you buy are not necessarily the ones that you would like to live in (don't go for one with all the whistles and bells because you would like to have them, they are maintenance issues)the property should have all the locational factors that are considered important – ie position position position etc…[Read more]

Paperboy, there are several issues at play here and alot is in the reading.In NSW the rental laws are changing on 31/1/11 which will bring the rental laws in line with what you are stating above (which state are you in?).The mere fact that the landlord cannot ask for more than 2 weeks rent in advance does not mean that the tenant can not offer to…[Read more]

mdf is still used. You would replace asbestos sheets with fibre cement, just as hard wearing. Get a licensed contractor to remove the asbestos.

possibly need to hold a real estate licence.

There is nothing stopping you from building on the block other than you will need to build to meet the requirements of the environment and find a builder who is more interested in meeting the standards than building sausage factory products.