henry kate?

Generally mdf & plasterboard do absorb water and will be damaged. Products like fibro, timber panelling or aqua-panel will absorb water but will dry out without damage.

Electrics will need a sparky to check.

I think that you'd find it difficult to get a money back guarantee unless you had some very tight KPIs. After all, they will present you with various options which will suit your budget, tastes, size requirements etc but you may not 'like' them.

Generally the costs (from Rawlinsons) exclude things like preliminaries, underground parking, landscaping etc so the rates for units is generally lower than house costs. as the unit would be a one-off youd be looking at using the architecturally designed house solution not a project home (unless one would work on the site).

Personally, I'd rather more than less in the way of promo however it does depend on the area. In some areas one web portal is more effective than the other in other areas it is the flyers out the front of the agency/window display however this relies on people not being computer literate (very old school) but it is very dependent upon the…[Read more]

There will be alot written this year about the advantages of buying property within your smsf (sure you can now borrow for equities or property).Super allows you to quarantine profits and pay only 15% tax, sometimes less on the entire profits (fund income) and as an added bonus the income becomes tax free once you 'retire'.See a decent…[Read more]

Both articles are full of spin – the first highighting that affordability is no worse than 20-30 years ago because you need to measure affordability in a different way, the latter (a survey of 450 franchised real estate agents) saying some areas will increase, some won't, but wider market forces will have a greater impact on prices eg demand,…[Read more]

If you have a rental property, you are obliged to notify the Office of State Revenue in your state/territory, penalties may apply if you do not notify the OSR. A threshold does apply as pointed out by xdrew – it is available on their website and it is likely that you will fall below the threshold.Land Tax is assessed as at midnight 31/12 each year…[Read more]

yes & more

remember to use the correct table. Don’t look @ unit costs you’ll need house costs – totally different scenarios.

AFAIK there isn’t any requirements in the BCA other than having a 2.4m ceiling height.

generally the ba will have more access to sales information than a buyer. They are better able to negotiate terms for the sale if there are special requirements etc.

You’d be pretty hard pushed to find anything below $750 pw & @ the other end up to $3k+ pw

Median price around my way is around $1.5m, % of rentals vs owner occupied is only slightly lower than average. So there are investors (obviously not FHB or avg wage earners in the area).

Rooms with 2.1m ceiling height cannot be  classed as habitable rooms ie they must be bathrooms, kitchens, laundry, storage etc.You will need a DA/CC through councilWou will need to fire separate the two dwellings & comply with all other provisions of the BCA for the class of construction.

They are not 'posing' as valuers, the staff have met the requirements for admission to hold a valuation licence. It is a breach of their real estate licence to hold out that they are something that they are not. If you are that concerned, lodge a complaint with the NSW Office of Fair Trading on 13 32 20 and keep me posted with your…[Read more]

It shouldn't even need to go to mediation if it is reasonably clear (esp in this case as a retail premises). Most real estate agents can't read a retail lease let alone interpret one correctly (according to the RLA) as there are few retail specialists in the field.

Jon,rather than restate the other post, here's a few more items (it sounds like you've been burnt by buying into a 'hot' market and when it cooled expected to cash in).

jontapp wrote:
Now if a valuer conducted a property valuation on this case study e.g. 3 bed, 1 bath B & T on 728sqm lot, with no recent improvements. Median price in Jan 2006…[Read more]

jontapp wrote:
I have done some research.There is no national legislation, no national regulation or licensing requirements, no national code of ethics and no national accreditation standards for valuers?

The reason being is that valuers are registered/licensed by the Office of Fair Trading in the state in which they work. Land titles are…[Read more]

From 'The Australian':  Prestige Queensland property market 'to be hit hardest'