Shouldn’t be that’s expensive unless you have a lot of things to maintain like a large garden, pool, gym and lifts.

We have a simple setup of 20 apartments/townhouses and switched strata managers. It got the rates down to around 550 a quarter. I would recommend talking to a number of other owners to see what their thoughts are too.

No lifts, just a 30 year old townhouse

I think they did some biggish repairs last year and are doing more this year from what I read about the GM

Kinda depends from what i've heard from friends etc.
If the property has a passenger lift then that may explain it.
They are expensive to run and maintain.

If there isn't any lifts then it's OTT, you'd expect to pay maybe between 2-3k per annum.
Depends on the property though.

My unit my wife and I bought earlier this year is about $2000 a quarter in strata rates. Not sure if this is OTT or not, being first timers and all.

yer, some of these Body Corps need investigating imo - well the the ones that show holes in their reports etc.
Lots of grey areas.
My office/building/warehouse's are Strata titled, lucky mostly are genuine paying owners but I've heard bad stories people never paying their dues, Body Corp Reps shifting dollars.
Business wise I can deal with this but on a personal property I avoid them to date.

Sorry late reply mate, yea got an update, the report we had was from the end of September, apparently the Bodycorp, Insurance fund and Sinking fund is paid at the start of every quarter so they gave us an up to date one from October which shows it was a$180000 in the positive now.

Was kind of new to all this bodycorp crap when it comes to units etc so was a bit overwhelming at first but I understand it better now. 

Thats IF the report is legit as well.
Got any update ?

Looking at buying a unit in the city, found a place and I'm looking to put in a offer.

But after looking at the disclosure statement it reveals the administration fund is in debt of $88,000, the sinking fund looks good with 600k.

Obviously this set off a red alert, the administration fund is used for the day to day things so it begs the question why are they in debt, could be a number of things of course so I guess I need to get a strata report to reveal it more in detail to pin point what happened.

Speaking to a lawyer so hopefully he can help and give me some info. 

Actually in NSW the last drop was till 2011 in some parts of Sydney but we are back on the upward curve.

That means, that it can pop again. 2008-9 is in the last cycle

Already popped quite a while ago, think back to when people were trying to sell their second houses because they couldn't afford to pay off that second rental property they purchased during the boom. 2008 or 09 or something

Basically Real Estate is a money making asset for all these schmucks in government, used for majority of Superannuation Co's as well. It's the rich fucks / free market cunts only way to get rich. Think about it , Government have exclusive super industry funds at a higher rate than normal me & you, about 1.5% above for their cushy govt. jobs. It's the secret market the Government doesn't elaborate on, because they want all the poor cunts to pay off all their rental investments. 5 year waiting time for social housing to support my theory there. This area is complete sickening in Oz. Then again they're closing down 150 aboriginal communities in WA, that means no welfare if they live there. Where will they move ? into rental properties ? you bet ya ! into private and public rental properties ! I understand building wealth in a country but when you can't provide basic social services there's something gone horribly , greedily , wrong.

Labour spent and put the country in debt just to keep people paying these enormous rents (LOANS). Now Libs are 'currenty', after all there 'other' cost cutting methods, trying to raid the tax system and inevitably make us pay higher rents.. AGAIN, so that they can keep sustaining there rental property mortgage payments at the full weekly loan rate !! Fucking hate this Country, worst greedy fucks in the world running this place, we have no fuckin' manufacturing, SME's are all folding, Iron Ore price has recently just tanked to fuck, unemployment might hit 7% in the next few months. Only people happy are these smug cunts in power giving people enough money to keep paying off their rental property's, that's all they're interested in providing for the bottom feeders, NO JOBS, and they'll laugh right at your fucking face about it (queue Joe Hockey ).

Why do you think every one of them in Parliament Question Time looks like a smug fucking 2 year old. They're all bending us over and pumping us hard. Nothing more nothing less, they couldn't care less about the future of the country, they've already fucked it over beyond belief.

Only thing that will remain constant, and has remained constant over the last 10-15 years of the economy is your weekly rent repayment :D (oh, if you ay rent) good luck getting a house as well ! Oh even when you alrewady ay $320 a week on someone elses mortgage --

FUCKED UP 320 x 52 = $16640 , 16640 x 20 = $332800 I've paid a house off !

can't get a loan tho cos my expenses are to much including my rent. :roll: THANKS AUSTRALIA !! THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY !!

Edited by highkick05: 1/4/2015 01:36:59 AM

Just like to clarify, in NSW it is not 6 weeks cooling off.

If no sec. 66w is signed (which waives the cooling off), there is a 5 business day cooling off where the contract is conditional, pulling out at this point forfeits your 0.25% of the selling price. At 5PM of the 5th business day of the cooling off period, the contract is automatically 'unconditional', which at that point forfeiting is the full 10% of the sale price (your deposit).

The 6 weeks is the standard settlement period, which begins at the point of exchange. This period can be negotiable, but is a tug of war between the buyer and the vendor unless the contract has another party involved (i.e. mortgagee sale or trustee sale) and it is usually an agreed period that can only be changed if taken to court.

haha good ol little SA - 2days cooling off eh, here in Syd normally 6wks, can be more if agreed I think.

Going back to Sydney prices why do people pay so high ? the ROI has kept going up despite downturns etcetc.....
Last I heard our real estate had gone up x 16% on average whereas Melb being next was around 6-8% if I recall correctly.
Fact is bricks and mortar are still the best long term investment imo even short term if in Sydney :)
For the young trouble is getting your foot in the door but nothing is impossible.

Benjamin, too true agree with your tact, tell it like it is.
I'm not selling property but varying commodities in another industry but it wouldn't matter what I'd be selling the same line of tact would be applied, say it how it is gains great re-pore, a small % may find it too blunt but overall my experience has shown people far prefer not beating around the bush and gains trust at the same time - win win to success.

What's the cooling off period in other states? In SA it's 2 days which was very dodgy for me as we wanted to sign on a Saturday but that meant we could only get a building inspection on the Monday. By the time we would have got the report it would have already been over. Agent didn't really want us to hold off (for obvious reasons) but we did so that we'd have adequate time.

Oh and we put "subject to inspection" as a condition of the offer and the agent didn't put it in saying "oh we never do that" but only after I pointed it out. We were planning to do the inspection during cooling off anyway as it's easier to walk away but I thought it was also dodgy.

Edited by mcjules: 31/3/2015 03:45:41 PM

I find brutal honesty is my best 'weapon' when selling a home - it really disarms a buyer when you tell them what's going on up front.

As for the dodgy agent selling you a home with different curtains/light fittings, ALWAYS check the inclusions, try to get it to read "all window furnishings, fixed floor coverings, electric light fittings" - that way if it isn't as it was when you inspected it, it's clearly the vendor's fault.

As notatroll says though - we represent the vendor, so we're never going to back you against them.

100%. You want social proof so find someone who has had good experiences with people you know and make your own decisions on that

100% right. I got a ridiculous home loan rate, 1% discount on the fixed variable for the life of the loan. I got onto this guy through my mum who works for Hillsea up here on the GC. It's good to talk to your mates who've got good and bad experiences.

Edited by benelsmore: 30/3/2015 09:04:50 PM

Thanks.

I've gone through Aussie for my first property. I agree, they've been great. I would never use a bank for a loan for anything. A family friend of mine once said that if you want to make money from banks, don't put your money in there, instead you have to OWN the bank, and you should buy shares rather than sticking your money in there. Banks are dodgy as fuck.

I'd reply longer but I'm on my phone.

Same advice from me. Contact your local broker, find one you can trust, I.e. Someone you or someone you know has dealt with.

They will get you the best option and have contacts to Get sweeter deals banks won't usually give away.

They'll usually have a few options for you.

With regards to the rest, honestly depends what kind of investment strategy you are looking for, your financial situation etc.

Get a good financial planner, similar to what you'd do looking for a broker. Get someone referred or find someone you can trust.

In reply to u4486662

I would trust that person more. The ones that pretend they're working for you are generally the worst.

I got my loan through Aussie Home Loans in December and couldn't rate them highly enough. The guy I dealt with was amazingly helpful. He ran me through everything I had to pay for, organised my documents into a file that was easy to read and was so very approachable.

He also didn't just pick one loan for me. He looked at 3 or 4 and told me why he was recommending the loan I am now repaying.

These guys get paid to find the best deal for you. It's worth speaking to them. A friend of mine went through a bank and they didn't even tell him they'd submitted his mortgage documents.

Thanks Benelsmore. Real estate agents I know are pretty notorious but its hard working for effectively two opposing parties, the buyer and the seller. The real estate agent for this property I'm looking at is not giving much away. Originally the property was on the market for 1.2m but has since come down to 1m. They were gonna go for auction, then cancelled it cos apparently someone made an offer.

Rang him today due to the dropped price to say we're back in and now we've got another appointment this week so could be on the cards. My wife is super keen for this property and hasn't shown any interest in any other properties so we'll probably make an offer this week.

Got any advice in regards to loans, mortgage repayments, neg gearing etc?

It's painful. How can an agent expect people not to be infuriated by this sort of thing? It totally wiped his chances of selling me that house.

Instead of considering the offer I walked away because I couldn't stand the agent.

I see you are in Canberra. PM me I have a contact just depends where you are looking

I always say watch out for agent tactics. Lots of snake oil salesman tactics out there.

Remember the agent works for the vendor not the buyer. Doesn't excuse dodgy tactics but still be mindful.

Also don't get sucked in to agents telling you that the owner really needs to sell and will seriously consider a low ball. They won't, it's a tactic to get your signature on the paper and then work towards what the owner actually wants. Most dishonest tactic ever.

Watch out for real estate agents. I did my pre-settlement inspection and no curtains were in and they had taken out a chandelier. So they replaced the chandelier but the lazy fuckers didn't put a light bulb back in. Like what the actual fuck? The previous tennant (I bought a property from an investor) even took all the light bulbs in the house bar 2. They also put the blinds back in and did an atrocious job.

My recommendation when buying a house, look at everything in detail. Real estate agents are the scum of the earth and will say nothing.

Currently in the search of a 3-7 acre rural estate with a mortgage around 1m.

Anyone got any advice in terms of savings, home loans, negative gearing, tricks to watch out for, tips etc?

I work on devs now. No prospecting needed for me.

Didn't know you were in the industry also!

notatroll - why aren't you out prospecting?

Anyone wants a second (more seasoned) opinion on anything notatroll says, call on an older sales consultant... At your service.

What ML says is quite correct.

You'll find that overseas investment hasn't been the biggest player, greedy vendors and banks overlending much earlier on has caused it a lot.

The developers who overprice and drive up median values, as well as Major works in various difference sectors also is a contributing factor.

There are a lot of factors that are in play. It is dependant on the area itself, the local trends etc. But everything is relative. Most of Sydney seems to move with the rest. In this bubble and upward trend at least.

Also the above article is based on Median House Prices in those suburbs as well as the average lending schedule and capabilities. It is not iron clad by any stretch. You could receive different eligibility to borrow as well as different median house prices.

The trends seem to indicate little over a year before most areas start showing the slump. But everyone has a different opinion.

What I've said is the opinion of the local offices in my RE Group along with mine. Area can be a major factor too.