The Brisbane Property Market...July Comments.

Well, after months and months of continued searching, I am finally seeing a bit of movement in the Brisbane property market. It's not a huge wave, in fact it's probably more of a ripple, but at least it's there. This will have wide ramifications for the property market, especially the outlying first home owner suburbs. Bargains are still to be had.....500-600K will buy you a nice place near the city, and virtually a castle on the outskirts.

It appears a lot of people are saying Sydney is due to begin the new boom, but I see no reason why Brisbane can't be the city that drives the next boom, or mini boom at least. The indicators are clear, outer suburbs are being bought, inner suburbs are still relatively flat (my feeling based on my research) and this is going to result in an outer ring push which will increase inner ring prices. Usually, as I am led to believe, it's the inner ring that goes first, followed by the ripple outwards, but Mr Rudd's FHB boost has changed the scenery.

Melbourne seems to be on everyone's lips, a lot of chat on SS about it's suburbs. While Melbourne is indeed an attractive market, it is still way over priced compared to Brisbane or Adelaide. All of these markets need to cool first, in the next three months, and then KAPPPOOW, it should all take off again...I think starting with Brisbane.

Google Real Estate = GOLD = mini review

Google Real Estate is an awesome new product from Google that I have had a little time to play with and I can safely say that you will like it a lot.... It has been done before, but this website brings together the less obscure RE sites and should challenge RE.com.au for usability. It was a little slow for me, but overall, there is added functionality that I have not seen on other sites before. For example, if you scroll to a new location on the map, it will re-calibrate and give you properties in that area, which, in my books, is awesome. There are bargains that you don't see on the major two, which is also handy. For example, I just found beach side land for $200,000ish!!!! Gold! Shame I can't afford it right now.

As with most of Google's products, this one can still be improved, so let's hope there is a little team of monkeys somewhere working on improving this even further (PS. I love all Google monkeys, ops I mean employees, you're doing a great job). I would like to see the properties being able to be sorted by price etc. on the left hand side. The map could differentiate between houses, units, land with different colours, etc. etc. etc. Are you listening google?I have heaps more ideas too. I'll come and work for you for under $100,000 AUD. :)

Have fun with it everyone, I did...

New look....

Hello all,

Well, I was getting a little bored of the old "thin" style, so I did a bit of research and have now widened the part that you are reading now AND changes the template colours. What do you think? I quite like this design, I am working on a new header graphic. Any ideas/feedback welcomed...

In other news, I am getting excited about moving into our new PPOR, but by golly, there is a lot of work to do first. Luckily, KFC is not too far away for those well earned procrastination times. The garden is looking inviting too, with those weeds looking scared at the thought of being yanked out of their homes, and the plants I can tell, are just oozing with anticipation at having their feet covered in newspaper and mulch. Can't wait....

Just a reminder...

For those of you who have not seen my website, www.ozmadeshop.com.au is "packed full of information" about property investing. In reality, it's just a crappy new site that you may find useful. Let's call it a "mini portal". The one part that I did want everyone to know about it the "properties to consider" section, where i have personally picked a few properties which I believe, yes, I, just an everyday joe, that may be suitable for investing. I personally would buy these, but my current LVR does not let me. Real estate such as the ones on this page are what people often refer to as "bread and butter", typical easy maintenance or easy reno and are sitting within the market, not outrageously cheap, not too expensive.

Have fun everyone....let's ride the waves together....

Hurrah! IP6/PPOR is now ours...MMMWWHHAAA!

Yeay, it's finally settled....

Will post more pics soon.....

Wish us luck!!!!

The Great Aussie Dream....or is it?

My mind often wonders off at little tangents and this morning, I contemplated home ownership, which, as most of us know, is often referred to as the "Great Aussie Dream." Home ownership is great. It's your little world, yours to mould into whatever you desire, a reflection of how you want to live and the things you like. On the other hand, I really do wonder about the modern version of what this so called "dream" really is.

While Australia has suddenly, since 2000ish, been at the receiving end of economic prosperity, a lot of people now call Australia home, but I contemplate what sort of home.

For example; a lot of people, especially new immigrants, rent. The Aussie dream is not alive for these people. Those fortunate enough to have bought and paying off a mortgage, the dream is coming to life, but what sort of dream? I mean, seriously, what is the average dream property for Australians? To me, it seems to be the 3,1,1 (3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 living area), or the 4,2,2 (4 bedroom, bath/ensuite and 2 living areas) which, on the face of it, seems great. The part I have trouble with is the size of the land. I mean seriously, does the Great Aussie Dream (GAD) involve a 600 square block of dirt, or even worse that I have seen recently, 420 or 330? What about terrace living? I mean, who really wants to live in a place where you can't go outside to have a fart or burp, without 8 of your neighbouring house dwellers hearing it? That is my definition of virtually no provacy. It's hell.

You see I have a problem with this. Australia is a vast, untapped country, with cazzillions of acres right across each State. So why do we end up in a house with a backyard where the dog has to strategically pick where it shits just so it doesn't step in it when walking around? And further, guess how much we are paying for these blocks, just for the convenience of urban living? Big money...

On the other hand, I have just completed, for fun, a little research in areas that are not in urban hell, but in a place where the GAD can become a true reality. For example, you can buy 100 acres in outback Queensland for about $150,000....with power and a bore. Why are these sitting there idle, no interest and no one buying, yet a 600 square hell block for 250K in urbania gets snapped up faster than I can say, STOP!??? I mean, I myself do the same thing, but why am I scared to buy in rural areas?

Have we became a fully urban nation? Is the convenience of having things at your fingertips that important? Obviously, or I wouldn't be having this rant. But I challenge the need for 99% of the population to live in suburbs rather than Aussies spreading their wings and looking for land. There is soooo much out there, un-used, left alone, forgotten.

The GAD, is living in hell. The GAD is dead. Long live land.

July Market Commentary

Well it's been a topsy turvy month if you look at all the conflicting online news websites, but overall, the market is much the same. Pretty shit....I mean overall, yes auction clearance rates are looking better, house sales are on the way up, a lot of new building activity and the nation as a whole, can now safely go back to KFC and put the rice cookers away for a little while. I wonder though if this is all just false economy. The stock market looks like recovering, then BAM!!!, it drops again and uncertainty returns. The market picks up not soon after and everyone is saying recovery this and recovery that, until it drops again. This is having detrimental effects on housing prices, through people's perception of my favourite asset class as a favourable vehicle for their hard earned KFC money.

So overall, commentary is mixed, houses look very cheap and housing stock are moving, but I wonder at what discount....as I mentioned before, October will be the indicator.

Real Estate Market Contradictions

Well, a certain news website has once again shown it's ability to not only continue sensationalising contradicting market data, but has managed to put it on the one page! I'll be the first to admit, these two articles are not directly related, but the first optimistic article is definitely negated by the doom and gloom "sales tumble" in the second. I mean seriously, which one should a property investor read? I read both and find both are littered with individualised pieces of information that in reality, tells us not much about what is happening with the market overall. I love the word "tumble" in this heading, referring to a 5% correction after the market had began moving upwards.....it seems the need to glorify one set of slightly negative data is still in fashion.

Property 6 is now approved!!!

What a glorious day! Our latest acquisition of KFC, no, I mean investment property, was approved by the bank today. I have to say the frustration I felt yesterday was quite warranted, the bank needed a second extension to the finance approval date! My poor broker was on the receiving end of my rant, so Chris, sorry, but I was severely pissed off.

So, my wife and I now have six properties. For the time being, this house will be our primary place of residence, for at least one year, so we get a tax benefit when it comes time to sell (i.e. no capital gains tax), which as I'm sure most of you are aware, can go on for 6 years, even with rental coming in after you leave. It's one of those lovely little loopholes I hope Mr KRudd doesn't close in the near future, as it saves us a few thousand when it comes time to sell, whenever that will be.

It's quite a good place, compared to where we have lived in the last few years. There is a problem with flood, but the 2009 Ingham floods were huge and it would only come up to my chest standing in the bottom level. Luckily, it's built in a way that if a flood does come, it would just require a hose down, no carpet and plaster, but tiles and visiboard are the option. Actually, it goes like this. In 1966, there was a very big flood, bigger than the one we had earlier this year. Then nothing until 1976, when a large body of water came and stuffed everything up again. Then in the early 90's there was a mini version of what Ingham just experienced, up until this year. So, odds are, that there may be a "flood event" within the next 10 years, but luckily Suncorp does that insurance.

There will be a bit of work to do...paint here and there, fix this, clean that, put in this and that...etc. etc. but nothing too drastic...