I have just this week been told that I can deposit funds into my Westpac mastercard (making it a credit balance) so that when we go overseas I can draw on the mastercard which is in credit.

I will double check with another branch before I do so.

Wylie.

We tried to get this St George professional package a few years ago. Our annual income was short by $1,000. They wouldn’t budge on this, so we went with another lender, who was more flexible.

The other thing I didn’t like was that they told us “you are a one income family with three dependants, therefore you spend $_____ per year on living…[Read more]

I am in Brisbane and wonder if this is the type of set up where a house on a block is now one sixth of a complex consisting original timber house with five new units in the back yard? If so, I wonder if the body corporate fees are equally split between the six.

I ask this because one of my first IPs was one unit in a new brick six pack but the…[Read more]

I agree. I’d rather eat my own kidney than attend a happy clappy night. My hubby would probably take along a book to read.

Wylie.

Just having told that story, I recall something else I have lost sleep over in the past. After moving to the house we live in now, we decided to sell an IP in order to pay off some private debt to my parents, complete renovating our PPOR and enable us to borrow for another IP.

We put the IP on the market, and first serious buyer spend a day in…[Read more]

Looks like everyone is too embarrassed to own up to their mistakes. I must admit, when I read this post, I thought, no way am I going to bare my soul, but here goes.

Probably our biggest mistake was to sell our PPOR which we loved, and move suburbs because we were worried about the proposed parallel runway planned for Brisbane. We would have had…[Read more]

Interesting to hear others’ thoughts. Dr X, your point is valid about whether we would want to live in our own IP.

Our answer is, yes, we have good locks on our IP doors, but not the windows. Same with our PPOR. We have a back to base alarm system on our PPOR and we may well look at putting one into the IPs if asked. So far, we haven’t been…[Read more]

Hey Oshen, nice try, but a bit cheeky. What I am trying to explain is that my gut instinct would kick in pretty quickily if someone gave me the old “I haven’t rented in a while and have been staying with friends”. Red flag right there. I also realise that people who like to deal with owners and not agents sometimes want to avoid the agent because…[Read more]

I agree that some people, for whatever reason, don’t have a recent reference. I know many will think us mad, but for over 25 years of privately managing our IPs, we have never asked for a reference. We go on gut instinct. It has only gone really pear shaped once (this year). My parents have had IPs for 30 years and they also manage privately and…[Read more]

Definitely get them sanded. It adds quite considerably more than the cost. My real estate contact says don’t do them yourself as he has seen many DIY sanding jobs that look pretty crook. To be honest, floor sanding is very cheap and I wouldn’t tackle it myself.

Regards, Wylie

Thanks for the thanks. I might just add that a relative who used to sell real estate also said that many, many buyers cannot seem to imagine something being used other than how it is presented. For example, people who have a four bedroom home may use the fourth bedroom as a study. She says to always, always put a bed into the bedroom to sell…[Read more]

I think your idea is a goer, however (don’t take this the wrong way) I screwed my nose up at your description of a bar with tacky posters. I know it is only personal choice, but if I bought a house with a bar it is the first thing I would pull out.

Why not go down the “possible home theatre / rumpus room” path. If you make that rats trap into a…[Read more]

We wouldn’t be keen on letting everyone know what we have and what our debts are. While within our family and selected friends, we are quite open, we know some obnoxious people who are extremely keen on keeping up with the Joneses and think they have much more than us (who cares!!) and we would hate to have these types know everything about our…[Read more]

My parents bought their first house for about $2000 in the early 1960s. Friend bought two houses in East Brisbane about 1978 for around $18K and $20K. I bought and sold two IPs (don’t remember prices, but didn’t make a big profit – just forced savings really) then my first PPOR in 1983 for $46K. Married in 1986 – sold PPOR for $56K and upgraded to…[Read more]

Hi, Don’t know much about FHOG but read this week in a Brisbane paper (I think) that people ARE being caught, having to repay the grant and I think fines are on the agenda as well. I didn’t take too much notice but the numbers of those caught have increased each year for three years. They are getting serious about cheats.

He has a good friend in…[Read more]

Regarding whether or not you can have a copy of the report… when we were selling our PPOR (nine years ago) our buyers had a building inspection done which showed white ant damage to three stumps which would need replacing (NOT active, but prior damage). They wanted a reduced price. Our solicitor advised that because the sale contract did not…[Read more]

I also have paid over asking price for one IP. Phoned REA wanting to look at a house I found while driving around our suburb. He said he had 4 contracts being presented that evening, one inspection that afternoon and I could have a look as well. I thought it was a cracker. I faxed a contract for hubby to sign (he hadn’t seen it, didn’t know I was…[Read more]

I have had bad tenants and great tenants. But mostly great tenants. We once had an ex-army guy who used to call me on mobile (I am a woman, he is a man) to ask me to arrange to change the washer on the tap. Goodness knows why his lovely fiancee was going down the aisle with him.

Generally though in the 27 or so years I have had one or more IPs…[Read more]

Forgot to mention in my post – make sure the pool builder is a member of SPASA. If something goes wrong you have someone looking out for you. Our pool builder was not a member and he had (told to us by one of his subcontractors) 30 shells to finish in the weeks prior to Christmas. We had many grey hair moments getting our pool done before he went…[Read more]

Celivia,

You took the words right out of my mouth. As long as my kids respect our house and rules, they will be welcome. I rather hope they stay a while because I would miss them.

With respect, Wylie.