Hi Mkc. Thanks for that information. The sheets are well painted on the outside and in good condition. I can’t remember about the inside but I don’t think it is painted on the inside.

We have removed asbestos ourselves before (being extremely careful and with the children gone) but it scares me silly that someone could die because of our…[Read more]

We have just used a Westpac loan which is a low doc type setup for one year until we prove our servicing ability, when the interest rate reverts to the rate we are paying for the other half a million they lent us two years ago (and which has been serviced properly). One would have thought our servicing record over the years would speak for itself.…[Read more]

Hi ecatt.

I started work at 16 on about $3,500 per annum. I don’t remember what I was being paid when I bought my first house (aged 23) but it was possibly around $14K pa. That would put my first very modest house at 3.5 times my salary. (My memory on all this is a bit hazy – I wish I had better records.)

Eventual ownership seemed a long, long…[Read more]

Hi ecatt. If you send me a private message with your email address I would be happy to send some photos.

Thanks, Wylie.

To be truthful, we don’t know how it will stand up to water. We have sealed the wall edges and sink edges with waterproof filler but water sitting on the actual bench will possibly mean it will lift.

However, if we need to we could replace the whole benchtop section for very little cost. We will watch and see how it goes. This kitchen will…[Read more]

What on earth is a digital skeleton?

Don’t know where you are, but don’t ring a builder. Look in the phone book for a restumper.

One thing to be careful of is that ALL costs are discussed. We priced a lift job in Brisbane and found two stumpers quoted around $10K to $15K (from memory) to lift a house (this is 8 years ago). It was only when we got a third quote that this fellow told…[Read more]

I am with the “get a professional” camp as well. I have done it myself (in Queensland) many years ago using a kit and I think the grey hairs it added to my hair were just not worth it.

I found the stress levels similar to those involved in planning our wedding, ugghhhh!!!

The other thing I learnt doing my own conveyancing is that (in my…[Read more]

Just a comment about US prices. We have just been to San Francisco and LA. Didn’t look at any real estate but took a guided tour of the sites of San Fran and the bus driver said the average price of houses there was $1.3m (that’s US dollars). I don’t know how accurate he was but it was food for thought.

Interestingly, we stopped at a beach and I…[Read more]

Why couldn’t it happen again.

I bought my first house for about $18K about 25 years ago. That house would be worth probably $450K now. I have been around for at least three price “booms”. (or property cycles). Each time, people are amazed at the price houses had reached.

I worked with a 20 year old who bought three IPs, each about $20K (25…[Read more]

I care as well, and I also am having trouble reading this font size. Is there anything I can do to change it. I have tried one of the suggestions, but my son tells me it didn’t work because I run Mozilla Firefox.

If someone could help I’d really appreciate it, because I am having to squint to read this, or move so close to the screen that I risk…[Read more]

Hi Sandy,

Sounds like a great idea and I am looking forward to reading your ongoing diary.

Regards, Wylie

Amanda’s idea is exactly what I do. I file anything spent on our IPs straight into the folder and give our accountant a summary of what we have done with that property over the year. I list the income received, interest paid and a breakdown of what we spent, ie. replace plumbing $xx, dumped old fans, new fans cost $xx, electrician fee $xx. This…[Read more]

I think you’re all taking this too seriously. I assume you are all thinking that anything could be written above your signature, but this post is just to tease anyway.

In REAL LIFE of course no-one is going to offer $10,000 for a signature without any strings attached, and if they did, surely EVERYONE would smell a rat!!

I get similar…[Read more]

With eight months left on the tenancy, I would guess that council approvals would take that long and you could sign up the next tenancy with conditions that suit you both. If they want to stay, perhaps you reduce the rent slightly whilst the building is going on to entice them to stay. Check with the RTA about it if approvals come through…[Read more]

Dr X. Like the others, I am impressed with your post. We have three boys 17, 14 and 10 and I am always amazed when the newspapers do their usual stories about how much children cost. They cost as little or as much as you allow them to. They don’t need expensive toys or gadgets, just lots of love with enough discipline thrown in to make them good…[Read more]

We have just done the same type of job in Brisbane. We pulled everything out prior to painting and floor polishing. Plumbing and electrics were roughed in and I painted the whole interior while hubby did the building work. Our sons helped at times, but sometimes it was better to leave them at home to save having to organise them and sort out the…[Read more]

We also calculate what we think the house should be insured for, taking into account block clearing, etc. We then increase the figure we get so that we are over-insured.

Being under-insured is really scary and for the extra few dollars in premium, we go the other way, just in case.

My thoughts, Wylie.

We currently have an ad in the paper for the house we have just bought and renovated. We have never used an agent to manage our IPs but have many times given local agents the opportunity to find us a tenant as a “casual let”. They take the first week’s rent.

In over 25 years of having had IPs, I have never been very impressed with this…[Read more]

We got back from Los Angeles to hear that there had been riots. Nothing on the news in the US that we saw. I wonder if they have even heard of us sometimes.