Another stupid, pointless, untrue, unnecessary and idiotic headline!

"Housing Shortfall Locking Out Thousands!"

What it should have been titled is "I was talking to my idiotic mate who has no idea about property whatsoever, and he said people want to buy but there aren't enough houses around!"

Absolute rubbish....I can't believe articles like this actually make it onto a national news website...

The downsizing has begun...

This property of ours may soon be sold. I would love to keep it, it was a bargain, but for whatever the reason, it has stayed quite stagnant over the last year or so. Why are we selling? Well, cash flow has taken a bit of battering, so I have to pull back. Too many properties and because we bought our PPOR last year, it tightened the strings even further...will keep you posted...

To go forward, sometimes you have to go backward. (I'm sure it's not original, but feel free to quote me..)

A quick reminder, don't forget to vote in the polls to the right, I would love to see your opinion regarding the different questions.

Ciao!

Could this be the world's best mortgage calculator???

I think so...what do you think?

http://www.drcalculator.com/mortgage/

Uncle Glen...do you have to???

I was holding out for Glen Stevens to at least hold off for one more month before continuing to increase rates, but it seems he has finally decided enough is enough when it comes to property price rises, so he upped it. Hmmm...I wonder if he realises that raising interest rates is kind of a green light to raise rents, and, from an investors point of view, this is great. However, this does not negate the fact that rates are up and my holding costs mean even less chance for me to have KFC (which by the way, I have given up on until I drop to 80kg; 4 more to go). So, in summary, it's good and it's bad. Investors should see CG in the near future, as the economy is strong (so it seems), hence there is no need to panic. Will this rise impact on the current mini boom, especially noticeable in Melbourne at the moment, and to some degree, Sydney? Will this signal a change in sentiment, are investors going to shy away from the market? Time will tell, but for now, as we are constantly being reminded, we are still below "average rates"...

Ciao...

Why I like Tasmania...and so should you!

Tasmania is a great little piece of paradise at the bottom of Australia, albeit a very cool and miserable paradise for most of the year. It is filled with old growth forests, mountains of green, boundless plains of rolling hills and areas of drought. Amongst all this are a mix of quaint, little villages, deserted mini towns, a few sprawling urbanised towns and the jewel in the crown, Hobart. Perhaps more pertinently for us investors, Tassie represents the cheapest real estate entry costs found anywhere in Australia.

Why is Tassie soooo cheap? I mean seriously, you can buy a decent 3 bedroom house with minimal work required in Queenstown for $40,000! Queenstown has shops. It has minimal infrastructure, but it does have a new hospital, it has awesome windy roads, it has chilling Roaring 40's winds, it has barren environmentally catastrophic hills surrounding it and the creek is yellow, but why wouldn't you want to live there? When you consider all the facts, I wonder if the weather is just THAT BAD, that people hate it THAT much. If that is true, perhaps with a bit of climate change, it would scrub up nicely in about 50 years or so, but that's a separate story.

Other parts of Tasmania offer unbelievable real estate bargains for investors too. Launceston, Burnie, Devonport and Cygnet. All low entry, excellent properties, some almost CF+ with great potential.

Hobart is thriving, just think Brisbane 30 years ago, the catch up is imminent. I hear great stories of developments and "refreshing" and "updating" and "modernising", verbs that have me thinking there is hope for MASSIVE capital gain in the not too distant future.

I currently have two tiny chunks of this wonderful State. My block of land not too far from Hobart is virtually my dream come true. It will one day make me a millionaire, if not a multi-millionaire. My other one is a renter, almost CF+ hidden in an area that could boom massively. If only the AFL would allow a Tasmanian team into the league. I have seen growth and I am sure I will continue to see growth as long as the rest of Australia keeps heading to the 1million plus club, Tassie will continue to be the little engine that could.

It's enough to make me vomit!

It's been a hectic few months for property journalists and the inevitable has once again happened. When house prices go up as they have in the last quarter, we get the typical "The Aussie Dream is Over!" and "First Home Buyers priced out of the Market!" and "Affordability Worse Then Ever!" and "I Have to Come Up With a Controversial Title!". Example here.

This sickens me to my core (unlike KFC, which now is sickening me in my stomach). As you are probably aware, Melbourne is going through the roof, house prices climbing everywhere, but most noticeable in the inner city. Yes, of course your typical buyer or investor will not touch these properties. Wealthy businessmen, overseas investors (Chinese, American and English from what I hear) and cashed up investors are snapping these up like my grandma snaps up plastic containers at Crazy Clarks. But who reads the papers??? Yep, typical blue and white collar workers, wanting to purchase their own special little piece of Austrelya (pun), perhaps first home owners. Unfortunately, people who write these stupid articles are using this segment of the population to inadvertently boost the prices and create an emotional landscape that ultimately drives people to buy as close to the MCG as they can. Hmmm....counter-productive anyone?

In many of my posts I have already discussed why first home owners need to get their feet wet in the burbs. I still can not fathom how a first home owner, perhaps earning the average wage of 60K-ish, is looking at 400k+ homes. I still can not understand why people are so against driving an extra 20 minutes, or 4 or 5 train stops further from work, but are renting. When will common sence prevail. When will youngens realise that they can still buy a house, sub 200K even, just by moving an extra 200km away. Wow, two hours of driving to see mates etc (who rent by the way), to set you up with the "Australian Dream". Plus, has anyone heard of up-sizing? It's not rocket science... beggars can't be choosers.

Topsy turvy scenario this is.