State of Affairs, October 2014

They say variety is the spice of life and so it has come to be for my family over the last few months. Throughout the last 4 years or so I've often blogged about the tiny little insignificant thing called 'life' that often gets in the way of my ambitious investing strategy and again, it has proven so.

A few thing then. We have sold our PPOR in Toowoomba. Sentiment in the Garden City boomed after the airport announcement and, when news of the bypass started spreading, the proporty market went into a sort of weird piranha-like eating frenzy where everything, and I mean, EVERYTHING, was getting snapped up quick smart. We jumped on the bandwagon and surprise, surprise, we ended up about $20,000 ahead of my best-case-scenario amount when it came time to order the removal truck. It took a grand total of 3 days to sell our comfortable home and I have to thank Ray White Toowoomba for the wonderful job they did for us. 

Just prior to this, we also bought a modest, tiny little three bedder in Caboolture. Remember that little thing called 'life' I was talking about? Well, when the planets aligned nicely for me to leave my job, this little Caboolture residence was (somewhat) ideal to shift into. And, it came to be, that after a short stint in a govy provided residence, we moved again. 

Kicking out the tenant was a whole new world of pain. I won't go too much into detail, but let's just say that SOME property managers have no idea what they are doing (shock horror) and in reality, since we began our investment journey back in 2004, this was the first time we were left with a very sour taste in our mouths. Luckily it all worked out satisfactorily in the end, but it was a close call. 

Caboolture is an acquired taste. The house itself is tiny and we are surrounded by EVERY neighbour having a dog, which of course is not a real confidence booster. On the plus side, we won't need a dog. The clientèle is very much mixed, low and medium socio-economic families, single mums and a lot of renters. Our street seems leafy enough, quiet so far and, the best part of it all, it's a hell of a convenient location. Besides, we've lived in Kingston in the Logan area south of Brisbane and we survived that experience. 

So where does this leave our portfolio? 

We are still in the process of consolidating. We have:

PPOR: Caboolture (QLD), 3 bedroom brick and tile, small suburban block.   

IP 1: Launceston/Invermay (TAS), 3 bedroom plus sleepout, tiny historical block of 405sqm, weatherboard, competitively rented with some renos completed mid last year. On the market, but no bites. 

IP 2: Ingham (QLD), 5 bedroom typical fibro, undesirable street, on the market, DEFINITELY no bites, but we can hang onto it as it's also strongly rented. Both of these IPs are just negatively geared. 

IP 3: Glen Aplin (QLD), small block near Stanthorpe, on the market but again, no bites. There has been some movement in the area where our block is and if the street is finally developed from dirt to asphalt, we may be in luck to make a tidy little profit. A lot of little houses popping up around our block. 

All of these are becoming very hard to move. Ingham is floody, Tasmania has a job crisis and the Glen Aplin block has it's challenges to develop. Hopefully we have a win on one of these soon. 

Contract on PPOR

After a quick calculation of funds, and having frequent visits from mouses and rats at our current govy rental, we have put a contract on a suburban home in Toowoomba. OK, it will mean a 40 minute drive each way to work every day, but it's still a lot better than many, and it also opens others doors for my little family (which by the way, is expanding to 4 members).

It's a nice house, an ex rental with a bit of work to do, but as I posted earlier, the smaller block will mean less maintenance and allow smaller internal and external projects to materialise. I have recently acquired a nail gun which means I will be having a go at a deck and external feature screens and other Better Home and Gardens pieces.

We played what I like to call 'halfsy-halfsy' with the agent. Negotiations went:

On market for $268,000, which was already a drop from the initial $274,000.

We offered $250,000 (which we thought was a reasonable low offer)

He/they countered with $260,000 - (first halfsy)

We countered with $255,000 - (second halfsy)

They countered with $257,500 (third halfsy)

At this point we stayed resilient, as every thousand saved here, was money that could be spent on renos. So we said $255,000 we believe is a good price. (A firm halfsy resistant counter, based on the other halfsies.)

He/they countered with $256,000, which we accepted.

I believe successful negotiations, and the right price for this property, in this street, in this suburb.

I'll write more when the contract finalises.

Shaky start to the year

The start of 2011 has been an interesting time, with floods and cyclones, the housing market is looking a bit worse for wear. What will this mean for property prices for this year, after all, 2011 is supposed to be the "recovery" year many were predicting, finally getting out of the shadow of the 2008 GFC.

Melinda and I are in the process of finally selling our biggest cost investment property, a 3 bedroom brick home in Ferny Hills in Brisbane. For the first time, we have tried an open listing and currently have three agents on the case, two of them very actively trying to sell it. Strangely enough, of all the properties we have on the market, this one has attracted the most interest and it looks like an open listing is going to sell it. Yes there has been some communication issues and I'm sure the tenant is feeling hassled by all the open homes they keep requesting, but it's working, we should have a sale soon. It helps that it's priced right.

I also wanted to let you know I have taken the big step of setting up a trust, a family discretionary trust to be exact. Why it has taken so long is a bit of a puzzle, but for a couple of hundred bucks, we are finally learning to "set up structures" that should benefit us come tax time. Trusts such as this allow flexibility and really, I should have done this sooner.

That is all for now, I keep saying I will try to post more frequently, it's just that life is getting busier and busier as the days go on. Oh I almost forgot to ad, I have a new job and we have moved back down to the south-east; opportunities await.

Well who would have thought...

It's kind of weird, but my sister has crossed over to the dark side and has become a REAL ESTATE AGENT!!! AAAGGGHHHH!!!!! It's like I've crossed over into some unjust parallel universe, where the world has gone topsy turvy and things just do not seem the same. Anyway, Andrea Appelman is her name and she has a few listings around Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, a VERY competitive market for agents at the moment. It's cut throat getting listings, but she is battling on and starting to get places. Thought I may help her out a bit so here is a link of her listings...

She is trying to carve out a nieche for herself and if you're a successful agent, please send her an email or give her a call, she could use a few more tips to really get things moving (not coming from me of course)...

A quick shout out....

I have recently had a really positive experience with Andrea Bonner, at LJ Hooker Launceston. She is selling my little house in Invermay, an inner up and coming suburb of Launceston. Andrea has been very professional, even seeking feedback on the re.com.au ad and is an excellent communicator via emails and on the phone. She has never pressured me to do anything and was very patient waiting for us to list after a few months of to and fro-ing on our behalf.

Well done Andrea, it's people like you that give re agents a good name, instead of the usual crappy service and constant pressuring.

I have to be honest, I can not say this about other agencies I have worked with in the past. Rude, arrogant, even going as far as giving me a "put down" about how much I bought the property for...the kind of idiot we can all do without. Anyway, well done Andrea....

I hate lazy REAL ESTATE AGENTS!

This in-depth, thoughtful and utterly true title is brought to you by the letter AGENTS, and the number SUCK!!!

Because, seriously, it's hard to make a phone call for a few thousand dollars, or heaven forbid, a happy client, isn't it???

RANT OVER!!!

Hang on a sec, no it isn't...property managers are worse....FIX THE MAINTENANCE PROBLEMS YOU BLOODY LAZY OFFICE CHICKS!!!!

I love real estate agents with a sense of humor...

This wonderful ad recently hit re.com...I love it!!! Original, funny and best of all, probably true!!!

Hmm, come to think of it, here are a few more they could use, surely it will result in a sale:

"Motivated vendor is going bankrupt!!!"

"I've deliberately inflated the price, so you can put in a realistic offer!"

"Make sure you put a building inspection clause on this one!"

"Contract fell through after buyer realised this house is a pile of shit!"

You try....it's easy!!! :P

Property news a bit quiet....

Don't know about you, but news regarding property has become repetitive nonsensical (is that a word? Spellcheck says yes) rubbish, that, in real terms, tells us nothing about the state of the market.

I was having a chat with my mum and the topic of becoming a real estate agent came up again. Why should I become a real estate agent??? Well, the money is certainly good if you can talk the talk and don't mind wearing a suit in 40 degree temperature, but if you're like me and prefer to sweat in only boardies and a singlet then I suppose it may not be the job for you. However, there are a lot of these gentlemen and ladies trying to flog off overvalued property, sometimes I feel sorry for them, sometimes I want to play with their minds...you know, just because I can, making serious doe.

The money is certainly very good. Successful agents do well, 150K plus easy, but I bet for every one of these successful BMW drivers, there is a poor struggling agent out there as well, making ends meet to pay the bills and working his/her arse off.

I say good luck to these agents, I hope you don't get too many people playing with your minds...


In other news, I am going to sell a house in Toowoomba. I feel I need an "insurance buffer" for when the rates start to climb, which, like lotto numbers, are near impossible to predict. I will say that I believe it will happen early 2010, possibly February or March, after the Christmas and New Year rush has further restored our economic growth.

Till next time....have fun with your investments...do something nice for your tenants, send them a thank you card for not growing marijuana in your spare third bedroom.

Real Estate, Hot Chick, Crap Music...

Selling property is akin to selling chicken. Just dress it up, make it tasty and BAM, it will be sold (KFC has been doing it for years and I believe, so has Ray White).

SO it comes as no surprise that a new apartment block in Melbourne, very originally called "Melburnian", has created a short video to sell these nice new units. Here is the video:

Nice place, hot chick, absolutely atrocious, rip out my eardrums, crappy background music.

But yeah, nice chick....

A quality agent...

Back a while ago, in 2007 to be exact, I met the epitome of awesomeness that is a real estate agent. His name was Ian Knight and the agency was RE/MAX Toowoomba. Since my interaction with Ian and the team, I have never even come close to experiencing professionalism like I did back all those years ago (well, in fact it was only in 2007, but, hey, it's a lifetime ago). The funny thing was you see, is that the sale didn't even go through, but that brief afternoon has stayed with me for a while. No bullshit, no mucking around, working for the buyer and the seller, true real estateism. Unfortunately, there are very very ugly agents out there, and I don't mean the colour of their lippy, or the shitty power dress or 100 dollar suit. I'm talking about the stupid unnecessary mind games, the "I'll just ring the seller" shit, that is totally pointless and utterly fake. The crappy sales pitches, the bullshitting queens and kings that unfortunately make up the majority of the real estate world.

Just in case you are wondering, I am certain Ian and his team would have no idea I am writing this, as, like I said, it was just a brief afternoon where business was done. So I say congratulations, let's hope there are more Ians out there, giving RE a good name, instead of the shit kicking, bullcrap we so often have to put up with.

Have you had a quality experience with an agent? Let us know...

Is this Australia's fanciest Real Estate???

The Charters Towers Century 21 building is a beautiful piece of colonial styled architecture.

Online treasure hunt the way to property.

When I am not hunting KFC, I am usually on my computer either playing chess or searching for property. Therefore, I am not surprised that most investors do the same. This poll, while sadly not including "Over-hearing a bargain deal discussed at KFC" shows that investors, on the whole are lazy SOBs who sit in front of a computer (like me) and search and search and search.

I was always under the impression that the really successful investors have real estate agent friends who "alert" them to properties, even before they hit the market. While this may still hold, it appears most search online for bargains.