sup noobs

Thinking of buying a crappy shoebox unit for like 210-245k first homebuyer with like 15k in savings

Advice plzzzzz

What i know so far
Needs to be over 50m2
Units blow
2bedroom reaally means bedroom and study

10km on the south side and I haven't seen a 2 bedroom go for less than 270K. What side of the city are you looking at?

pine rivers lol

Strathpine ish

Also saw one at kedron

get yourself a mortgage broker.

you dont pay anything and they make the ride a lot smoother.

We've been with Suncorp for years, I recommend.

Back to basics loan.

Not saying it's the best ever but a mate of mine is a mortgage broker and he said no reason to change as it's one of the best. so there.

Go Westpac ask for a free banana smoothy.

Use Aussie or one of them to give you the breakdown then go straight to the best provider they find and cut out their costs

get yourself a mortgage broker.

you dont pay anything and they make the ride a lot smoother.

This.

Personally I'd never look at an apartment that far out unless it has the ocean in walking distance.
*edit*

get yourself a mortgage broker.

you dont pay anything and they make the ride a lot smoother.

Of course it costs you something... They pay the broker therefore you pay for it.

You can negotiate with a bank if you are a customer they'd like. And you will get a better deal then a broker. Go in "hi here's my savings, here the property I'd like, here is my employment history and details ... here is an offer from a broker... can you beat it!"

However ... money is tighter then say 18months ago. 1. international money is harder to get and 2. the large banks have bought out most of the small loan providers. So they might just laugh at you.

And my very limited experience of buying a house would suggest adding another person to the mix does not make it "easier". And from what I have seen of brokers with guys here at work. They complicated it, getting paper work done late, pissing banks and solicitors off.

Where as my experience with the Commonwealth Bank was easy. In fact the bank manager was the most helpful person in the whole process. When my conveyancer was late on some dates, my bank manager rang the principle of the firm and flexed his "don't piss my customers" off muscle.

oh and here's my 1 tip for buying.
Get the settlement day off work.

It seems of late banks will not take you part of the money to settlement (probably because someone sued a bank or some crap). With the house I bought I did not get the final settlement figure until 9.30am and the balance cheque had to be in town in the solicitors hands by 10.30. This was the same for my sister in law (except theirs was worse they got notified at 11am and it had to be there by 11.30). And for a co-worker that bought recently a similar scenario.

As the buyer you have to provide a cheque or cheques (they can ask for more then 1) made out to to whatever random names they like. Despite asking everyday in the week prior to settlement, the vendors waited until the last day they were waiting to find out the final mortgage payment figure from the bank... wankers

last edited by Obes at 09:26:37 11/Dec/09

The company I work for do home loan comparisons and put you in contact with a mortgage broker, PM me if you want the details.

We went for a broker when we were first looking at buying. Learned a lot from him, but didn't end up buying until 2 years later by which time we went it alone.

My tip is to make sure you have 'Subject to finance' as a 'special condition' on the property sale contract. We didn't, which leaves you in a hairy position if something f***s up, which it seems to quite routinely.

My tip is to make sure you have 'Subject to finance' as a 'special condition' on the property sale contract.

Definitely. Even if you know finance is not an issue, make sure you have this on. If for any reason your circumstances change suddenly when entering into a contract, this is an easy way to get out of it by getting the bank to reject you on finance. My sister and her husband signed a contract on a house at the beginning of the year and then two weeks later she got made redundant. They would have been stuck with it otherwise

^if you neeeeed two incomes to service home loan payments, you're doing it wrong.

not really, it may be a kickass house.

uh, what about if her partner was paying the mortgage and her wage was feeding the family/paying the bills?
you know, how a lot of Australians are currently living ..

uh, what about if her partner was paying the mortgage and her wage was feeding the family/paying the bills?
you know, how a lot of Australians are currently living ..

They're doing it wrong.

I never said they needed it.

I never said they needed it.

haha it's funny because that little argument is redundant with this one sentence :)

I never said they needed it.

Snap. Minxy wins, flawless victory, fatality. mr hardware too keen to troll on this occasion ;-)

I do agree with the principal though, hardware, and we applied the same - we can survive on one wage, but we might be eating rice and drinking water for sustenance while the house is on the market, hahaha.

Also, teq I think you mis-interpreted hardware's comment. He just said 'servicing home loan payments' - i.e., both wages shouldn't be required to go into home loan payments. Although, some lenders would tell you differently.

Also, teq I think you mis-interpreted hardware's comment. He just said 'servicing home loan payments' - i.e., both wages shouldn't be required to go into home loan payments. Although, some lenders would tell you differently.

I thought teq was saying that one person worked to pay the mortgage, the other for living expenses? To me that seems like a recipe for disaster - or at least massive pain!

It also means (assuming average net wages) that our fictional family is paying about 38k per annum on the mortgage, which is a bit ridiculous for people reliant on average incomes - at today's rates that is what, a 400 or 500k debt?

so hogfather, what are you saying?
the average Australian family should be able to live and pay all the bills on one wage?

are you dreaming or.. high?

the average Australian family should be able to live and pay all the bills on one wage?

are you dreaming or.. high?

Of course the average Australian family can do this if they live within their means. You'd be surprised how far 55k + Government allowances can stretch for a family.

When I started my business we survived and reported only 50(something)k in income for our first year. That's a family with 2 kids, one in private school with a 280k mortgage during the 5-7% rate period we had a few years ago.

Its 100% f***ing doable.

last edited by Hogfather at 14:33:25 11/Dec/09

I know a mortgage broker if your interested just um pm me or something. Will check pms for next 3 days.

you're as high as a kite, aren't you?
try and buy anything for 280k that will fit a family with 2 kids inside

my 2 bedroom unit was 370k 2 years ago ..
a 3 bedroom dog box in the outer suburbs of Brisbane is 350-400k

so $2500~/month roughly, on mortgage alone
chuck in a $500 power bill every quarter, plus rates/gas/food you're looking at another few hundred per week

my last power bill was $700, last gas bill was $400 and last council rates was $440
so you might be able to pay the mortgage and bills, but then you need to eat
send your kids to school and buy clothes etc
even if by some miracle you do happen to pull this off on an average income, where does actual life come in to it?

I know I'm arguing with no one here, it's not any one persons fault, but I feel the need to highlight the ever increasing cost of living vs. the static pay rates we're all still stuck on
with $700 power bills, I don't know how the average family survives

your 280k figure is at least 100k below what is realistic for anyone who's starting a family and buying their first house, which equats to a great deal of money every month

teq, you detailed your reasons why you can't afford your lifestyle on an average income, not why an Australian family can't be raised on a single average income.

your 280k figure is at least 100k below what is realistic for anyoneanyone who's starting a family and buying their first house, which equats to a great deal of money every month

You can still buy houses (with your own dirt!) in Cairns and other regional areas for under 300k. You can get units to suit a family for 2-250.

Or does 'Australian' == 'city dweller' now? Oh and yes I am on drugs, I shoot up every single day!

last edited by Hogfather at 14:50:16 11/Dec/09

is it realistic to expect people to move to another city so they can afford to live?
What about finding a job in that city, will they earn the same or more/less?
What about relocation costs? this can run into the tens of thousands

is it realistic to expect people to move to another city so they can afford to live?

A mortgage is a lifestyle choice. Owning property is much more expensive in city areas.

Rent is quite a lot cheaper. Many countries don't have the obsession we have with home ownership and renting is the norm.

What about finding a job in that city, will they earn the same or more/less?

Generally wages in regional centres are less than in cities. The cost of living benefits vastly outweigh this, as seen in my example above.

What about relocation costs? this can run into the tens of thousands

Once again, this is a choice.

But this is actually irrelevant to the point. You said its not possible to raise a family on one income in Australia. Its very possible if you constrain your lifestyle choices to suit the income.

We want nice cars and houses, big TVs and nights on the town. I think you recently said that $200 for you is a movie and dinner? $200 for us that year was food for the family for two weeks.

Perspective. Understand that you are never forced into your situation, personal circumstances are always driven by choices :)

last edited by Hogfather at 15:00:42 11/Dec/09

break it down, 38k wage = $730/wk (let's say its 38k after tax)

- All Weekly Figures -

$300 rent
$100 bills (say $400/month for water/elec/gas/phone)
$100 food
$100 for rego/fuel/tyres/insurance on the car
----
$600 roughly

leaves you with $130 to pay for daycare, clothes, shoes, books, medical expenses etc
what if your car breaks down?
what if your kid needs an operation or braces?

it might be unreasonable to expect that everyone should be able to own a home, but it's not unreasonable to expect that your kids can have straight teeth

jacking rates by a few hundred percent isn't really helping the average Aussie battler either
I understand this isn't your fault, but;

I thought teq was saying that one person worked to pay the mortgage, the other for living expenses? To me that seems like a recipe for disaster - or at least massive pain!

you said it's ridiculous to expect that one persons wage covers the mortgage and the other persons pays for you to live
should the second persons (be it wife or husband) wage be there for "just incase" reasons?
should you not learn to rely off having both incomes?

that's a pretty sure fire way to fail if you ask me
you don't get ahead in life by planning to live a mediocre life

I'm pretty lucky, I thank my stars every time I think about the situation I'm in
that said, even as an above-average wage earner I still find it hard to swallow rate increases and electricity increases when wages just aren't catching up anywhere near as fast
not to mention the fact that in the last 10 years the average mortgage has gone up some 400%?

You forgot Government allowances in your back-of-envelope figures. As we discovered, a family netting about 40k gets lots of support from the Government. It wasn't doable without the money we got in family tax benefits etc.

As for unexpected financial events? they sure do happen. If you don't have the cash on hand you bust out the credit card and pay it back over a couple months.

Also, I didn't say that the choice to pursue an above-average lifestyle was the wrong one. I just said it was a choice!

Edit: 400% is a lot. Was the avergae mortgage at the turn of the century really $62,000 teq, or are you inventing numbers? :)

last edited by Hogfather at 15:49:08 11/Dec/09

10 years ago you could buy a house for $100k, so yes ..
the neighbours paid $120k for their house 8 years ago and sold it 2 months ago for $420k
try buying a house for less than $200k now, it's un-possible

it's all a choice, but what is the point in going to work for 50 hours a week if you never get anywhere?
shouldn't the govt be making it easier for us to achieve the "great AmericanAustralian dream" ?
not taxing us every single chance they get

with your $38k you've paid roughly 30% income tax
then you pay 10% on almost everything you buy
it just s***s me

Could you really buy a house for 100k in Brissy in 2000?

I was living in Sydney so my experience was different - 250-300k suburban houses were common then, and the same was true in Melbourne. I recall in 1997 a 2 bedroom older unit we were renting at Brighton-Le-Sands was sold for 180k.

Sounds like back in 2000 Brisbane was (in terms of property values) more of a regional centre than a capital, so this has been a local property fluctuation, not a national one, or the average house price in Sydney would be over 1M! What you are lamenting isn't the national cost of living changes, its the maturation of Brisbane into a class-one national capital city.

10 years of Mexican migration sure changed a lot eh?

you gotta love middle class welfare.

re house prices, as an indication in 2001 i paid 208k for my house in norman park, typical first home. so 100k is probably a little optimistic back then but definitely in the satelite suburbs it would have been possible.

2000 is right before the boom began so prices had been stagnant for several years by that time.

you gotta love middle class welfare

I don't know if welfare to a family living on a 50k income really counts as 'middle class' welfare, but that's your own definition.

We worked f***ing hard that year! The 'welfare' really just amounted to our tax back, so its more like we got free services from the Government while we built the business.

Given how much f***ing tax I'm paying now it seems like a fair trade to me :)

middle class welfare in my view is where the amount you receive is comparable to the amount you pay in tax.

it would be better if the government had never taxed you in the first place, but noooo that's too hard.

I think I read somewhere (for some reason I'm thinking Peter Costello as Treasurer?) that the average family doesn't actually pay tax net as the services they receive outweigh or equal the tax paid? c/d?

That seems like it should probably make sense given the way our system is made up?

last edited by Hogfather at 16:33:44 11/Dec/09

i can't comprehend a family income of just 50k :S

It was an interesting year :) Its amazing how much money you waste.

i can't comprehend a family income of just 50k :S

it sure wouldnt buy much of an audi!

i agree though, ud be scraping like no ones business to survive, not how i wanna live.

im not quite from the teq school of living large, but i can understand where hes coming from

theres living, and then theres LIVING, i much prefer to LIVE

it would be better if the government had never taxed you in the first place, but noooo that's too hard.

So you want the ATO to control welfare ? or Welfare Agencies to control the ATO ?

or is more right wing looney ranting ?

Wow im gonna have a f***ing field day here.

Okay.

To my original statement of needing dual incomes to service home loan repayments being a s*** idea still stands. Sounds like they did neeeed two incomes minxy, as because they didn't have dual incomes anymore they didn't go through with it on that basis seems to me they needed dual incomes to keep them afloat with that house.

And yes it could be a kickass house but it's still a risky idea.

also

s*** example teq - if example person is on $38k after tax (whats that, $50k pre tax?) they fail at getting a proper job. Most cabbies are on that much, that's a s*** wage.

the average Australian family should be able to live and pay all the bills on one wage?

That's what i'm saying. You complete this task by not being overindulgant on consumer items like new cars and TVs etc. If you choose to do this, then be it on your own head if one wage drops out for whatever reason. Most people would regard this as rather foolish and short-sighted.

Oh and if you've got two school age kids and you're only just obtaining a mortgage now you suck at life and preparing for the future. You're the squirrel who didn't store his nuts for winter and you're gonna guilt people into helping you just because you didn't make hay whilst the sun shone. I detest that type of person.

If you've got $500 power bills per quarter SLOW THE f*** DOWN on whatever you're using electricity on. I've got no gas or solar for anything, every single thing in my house is electric and my power bills are ~$250 a quarter.

And yes a second income is good, perhaps even great. Don't get me wrong. But keep that separate! Don't let your expenses lard all over it. Keep it for the indulgent consumer items, holidays etc, the 'LIVING' people like to point out.

Basically that way if your mrs pops out a few kiddies and the child care costs exceed that of a second income so she stays home and becomes a proper mother (hoo hoo another topic for another day) then you can still actually live as you know exactly what you're working with and know it works!

What you daft f***ers don't realise is that real estate prices are f***ed because people drove prices up due to dual incomes becoming the norm, so the dual income people paid whatever the f*** they wanted to for all the good houses as they had the income and prices just went skyward. Blame yourselves indulgent consumers!

last edited by hardware at 19:30:23 11/Dec/09

I dont know your situation, but it sounds like you dont actualy have kids, a mortgate or a wife?

Im gonna disregards hogfathers situation, yes we know you did it for a year, your a champion, but your basing it on people buying a house for $250k which unless everyone moves out to a regional centre, which would then just put the prices up anyway, isnt going to happen.

Im not talking luxury big house or anything, you cant even buy s*** houses for under 300k these days, i'd say a normal house in a normal suburb in brisbane or even out to logan and ipswich is closer to 400k, that puts your repayments for a new family just buying a house around 600 a week, you sure as f*** cant afford that on 50k a year.

we moved from the gold coast (renting) to toowoomba and are very happy. it suits our lifestyle/needs (settling down to have kids) - its big enough that it has all the shops/cinemas etc. Its very leafy, and the people are very friendly. Generally there are okay jobs around, probably not the big ticket dollars like brisbane, but then the cost of living is cheaper too.

its only 1.5 hours to brisbane/gold coast if we need to getaway to stay with relatives or go to the beach. We actually enjoy brisbane/gold coast more now - than when we actually lived there.

we bought our 4 bedroom, split level brick house in a very nice well respected suburb, for $260,000 2 years ago, if you have around $300,000 at the moment theres alot of solid choices.

sure we might not have much water right now - but we are in the process of siphoning from brisbane! poor buggers, finally get water and we steal it.

Im gonna disregards hogfathers situation, yes we know you did it for a year, your a champion, but your basing it on people buying a house for $250k which unless everyone moves out to a regional centre, which would then just put the prices up anyway, isnt going to happen.

Well, its always your choice to disregard my rantings but its a bit harsh innit? :) I was relating my personal situation as we built the business, to demonstrate that the its possible in Australia to raise a family on a very average single income. That was the original assertion I was responding to about 20 posts back.

I can't very well explain how I achieved a similar result in Brisbane, can I?

I do believe its possible anywhere in the country. This may mean - depending on circumstances - that you don't buy a home if you want to stay in th esuburb you're in. Big f***ing deal?

The fact is though that you don't NEED double incomes to raise a family. What you NEED double (or single superior) incomes for is to raise a family in a decent suburb in the city and to have nice things all at the same time.

last edited by Hogfather at 21:25:54 11/Dec/09

I dont know your situation, but it sounds like you dont actualy have kids, a mortgate or a wife?

Yeah i got a mortgage (over a quarter of a mil) and a wife

and yes 300k does only get you a s***box but you don't need to go to quite $400k for a first house, $360-$370k is good first house stuff at present. If you've got a bit of a deposit and the FHOG you can have a mortgage of under $500/week.

first home owners these days are delusional, your first home is supposedly a 3bed 2bath mcmansion that you can show off to everyone you know to show how successful you are...

most (rational) people enter the property ladder on the bottom rung, some s***box you buy and do what you can with then move on when you have the wages/equity to do so.

my generation's consumerism ftl.

/drunken rant

last edited by taggs at 01:11:54 12/Dec/09

ballsaqs to this

If you've got $500 power bills per quarter SLOW THE f*** DOWN on whatever you're using electricity on

If I didn't want to live large then I guess I could have just stopped once I got to 50k?
I guess my problem is that I "want" to much and I am "greedy"
It's not like this is the only chance we all get at this life or anything

Seriously though, a 500 dollar power kill is pretty f***ing epic. Do you have a pool or an electric car or hydro setup?

I have a heat-sensitive medical condition and consequently cain the f*** out of our aircon basically whenever I'm home over summer, have NAS and computers and s*** on 24/7 and we don't approach 400 let alone 5!

but seriously, we don't have anywhere near a $500 power bill and we've got a pool (man these suck some energy), electric oven, AC, 50" plasma, elec water heater, etc.

last edited by orbitor at 09:46:23 12/Dec/09

I saved over 25% of purchase price and bought a late 60s wood house in the outer northern suburbs. I pretend its not a s*** box, but I know the reality and it was 400k. You don't get anything for 300 in the city of Brisbane.

and yes 300k does only get you a s***box but you don't need to go to quite $400k for a first house, $360-$370k is good first house stuff at present. If you've got a bit of a deposit and the FHOG you can have a mortgage of under $500/week.

Im not sure how you are figuring out 500/week, Asumming you get the mortgate down to 325k with FHOG and a deposit, thats still $550 a week @ 7.25%, yes I know you can get lower at the moment, but we are at all time low interest rates and they arent going to stay that low for long. If they went up to 9% then you'd be paying $650 a week.

Well, its always your choice to disregard my rantings but its a bit harsh innit? :)

Huh yeah maybe. I was just making the point that your situation is a bit different as you live in a regional centre, which is only cheap becuase not many people want to live there or cant live there due to work. If everyone suddenly decided that it would be great to live in say cairns and the population exploded, the house prices would go through the roof.

most (rational) people enter the property ladder on the bottom rung, some s***box you buy and do what you can with then move on when you have the wages/equity to do so.

Yeah but the bottom rung is still pretty f***en high, the crappiest place in the centre of woodridge is still around 275k.



last edited by `ViPER` at 10:35:07 12/Dec/09

If everyone suddenly decided that it would be great to live in say cairns and the population exploded, the house prices would go through the rood.

Its too f***en hot for that to happen. f*** this place.

This is why I have to buy land out in the middle of bumblef*** for $50k.

I have absolutely no hopes of owning a suburban or city house in my lifetime.

^ well since you're content to just sit on centrelink 4 lyfe, of course you have no chance

normal people who work up the ranks in their work, e.g. me as a teacher, starting on 50k ending up on 83k surely can service a little 350k place

or heck, someone will see past ur ugliness and help you out paying it off

You're a noob persay.

A $50k salary and a $350k loan, your life will be s***.

Since when is $350k "little"? People are getting too spoilt from government grants and low interest rates.

last edited by CHUB at 11:43:41 12/Dec/09

Since when is $350k "little"?

Its been like that for a while, like I said the cheapest s***test house in the middle of woodridge is $275.

starting on 50k ending up on 83k surely can service a little 350k place

Maybe when you do get to 83k, but single income guy on 50k is bringing home $781 each week, and your mortgate repayments would be $596 @ 7.25%

Does not compute !

our power bills are around $300 a quarter

im a nazi with the aircon though, i only let petal use it when its really really hot.

and because we are a lcd family we save on power when it comes to watching teev

im a nazi with the aircon though, i only let petal use it when its really really hot.

I thought you needed to LIVE Spookus?!

Maybe when you do get to 83k, but single income guy on 50k is bringing home $781 each week, and your mortgate repayments would be $596 @ 7.25%

Families also get Family Tax benefits and other payments, if there is a partner involved they will be earning $15Kish through government payments.

yea of course you cant service the 350k loan straight away... that's why you start with some 200k shoebox until get some more equity etc etc, capital growth on that property, sell/rent out (reduce tax), buy new place

people dont magically go from being centrelink scum with $5 in the bank to earning $50k and buying a 350k house

200k shoebox

U mean a unit in s***sville? U dont think u can get a house for 200k?

yes a unit, breaking down the australian dream of own home and large mowable yard

im a nazi with the aircon though, i only let petal use it when its really really hot.

haha, me too. and i only let it run for a couple of hours to cool the place down to a manageable level. for instance, i'm not running it now - inside temp is 29C which is fine.

and because we are a lcd family we save on power when it comes to watching teev

yeah, we don't use our tv that often either (would avg <2hrs per day), so end up saving that way.

last edited by orbitor at 13:35:21 12/Dec/09

Units are pretty good, got my 2 bedrooms and no yards to mow. And even then I paid $280K for something within 10Km of the city.

pool / tv / aircon is basically where all of ours goes
we're putting solar in at this place soon to try and cut the power bills

yeah i'd like to put a solar water heater in to begin with, but i'm not sure it makes financial or environmental sense to toss out a perfectly good electric unit.

With the state and federal rebates along with the REC's the solar units are essentially free.

My brothers fiance's parents installed one last week, the unit itself was only $60 (after the above mentioned rebates), my brother and his mate installed it for only the cost of parts so it was good for them.

Their existing unit was ~20 years old but didn't have problems with it, they just wanted to take advantage of solar and the deals going at the moment

fair enough heardy but qld doesn't do a state rebate.

If you've received the roof insulation rebate you can't get the water heater one? c/d?

c

confirm hoggy

inside temp is 29C which is fine.

kneegrow what!?@!@!@

24 degrees is bareable

22-23 is ideal

do you mean your aircon on 22-23-24 or an inside temp of that teq?

i keep my big aircon unit on 25 all day long on days like this and it keeps the whole house at 26.x at worst which is quite fine.

we have no aircon on today, we have windows and doors open

my aircon is sitting on 23 degrees and it's 23 degrees inside ..

House is pretty cool with the breeze coming in, hard to justify turning on the air conditioner if I'm not even sweating.

my aircon is sitting on 23 degrees

That'll do it :) you can easily burn mucho dollars on every degree you take aircon down. 25 is fine for me, even though I'm crook!

it seems you're all doing it wrong

heh if you can't handle higher than 25C you oughta move somewhere cooler :)

no AC today, just ceiling fans going, doors and windows open to let in some breeze. It's fine, especially if you have a cool drink nearby.

I'm sitting in a room with an air conditioner though, why wouldn't I just use it?

^^ $800 a quarter electricity bills ^^

yeah we pump the air con as well, though I am at my parents place at the moment and it has lovely ducted air :D

I'd be using it just the same amount if I had my own place.

I can't deal with the heat (even 25) it'll take a summer or two to get back into the swing of the heat. If it got to 20 in Ireland it was a heatwave!!

and the heat here is a different heat

sif air-con during the day you pansies. I'm sitting in my studies upstairs and I reckon it's about 32 in here and I'm about to clean the house in this weather. At night is completely different though, because I currently crank my AC up in the bedroom so I can get some sleep. I reckon I turn on the AC about 10 times a year, this Dec being the hotter Dec than the last few years, we've got it on more often.

Also I thank my lucky star everyday that I bought my house (Jan-01) before all of this madness began....

you've all inspired me, I turned off the aircon + opened doors/windows/blinds and went for a swim

^^ Now I want a pool you bastid.

sif air-con during the day you pansies

Haha get f***ed c*** my legs don't work properly if I get overheated :p

^^ oh all right then I guess you got an excuse Hoggy :)

how expensive is it to a/c a 70m2 unit?

not very, we used to run our aircon 24x7 in summer (2 bedroom & lounge), it was 10 years old and way too small for the whole place
it probably added $50-100 to our bill quarterly, well worth it for the comfort considering without aircon you had to leave the balcony doors open and you don't really get much of a breeze through most units anyway

bigger + more efficient aircon would have helped too

30C is fantastic if it's dry heat. Such as NZ's, however it rarely hit's 30 :P
otherwise it's AC where availible :)
I hardley ever set them lower than 26c tho, don't really need to as it drys it out.

yeah it's the humidity that's the killer, and even if you set the AC to like 26 or so it's really quite comfortable as it just pulls that moisture out of the air.

well im prob gonna make an offer on this joint tomoz

then i shop around to a few brokers and banks and get a sweet deal?

basically i want:

- fee free banking
- offset account
- introductory rate of like 0.5% less (for first 1-3 years)
- variable rate (masochist)
- lmi

yeah good luck with your introductory rate for 3 years

i'd look into my finance before making an offer, but that's just me

i'd look into my finance before making an offer, but that's just me

We bought our house with an offer made conditional to finance approval, then went and found some moneys. We had spoken to a broker before but he said that we'd be sweet and to find something and come back.

That was before all the money asploded though..

yeah, don't necessarily mean you should have it 100% sorted and settled like before you buy a car if you need to finance it.. but i'd sure have a pretty good idea of what the banks are likely to lend me!

We bought our house with an offer made conditional to finance approval

Be careful, make it finance approved from "Commonwealth Bank" or whoever it is your getting your loan from. You can be forced into a loan if u don't specify the bank of choice.

Yeah, probably better to at least get a finance pre-approval before making an offer so there's no surprises if the offer you put in is too high for the bank to consider.

About 6 mths ago it was a mad house trying to get the full approval so glad we got the pre-approval out of the way early. Not sure what it's like now to go in now.

In my case I had bad credit at the time -- f*** YOU TELSTRA MAH FIVE YEARS IS UP AND YOU NEVER GET A DOLLAR FROM ME EVER AGAIN c***S -- err, yeah so I probably woulda have taken whatever credit was on offer.

As it turns out the St George loans approval duder understood that Telstra had been jerks by reporting such a tiny default and we got a 'good' loan anyway.

Subject to finance of buyers choosing
Subject to building and pest inspection to the buyer satisfaction

Both have a 2 week time out on them

cooling off period I believe it's called

1. Find broker you like
2. Find out how much you can borrow and can afford to repay
3. Find house
4. Sign contract
5. Tell broker that same day that its on like donkey kong
6. Unprofit for a while until capital growth ensues.

cooling off period I believe it's called

Nah cooling off period is different, its built into any residential property not sold by auction and its 5 working days. To waive it is overly complicated and involes lawyers. And using the cooling off period clause has a cost. 1/4 of a percent or something (or about 1k on a 400k house).

the place is sub 220k and even tho im a poor teacher i should be able to pwn it with 1st home buyer and some 15k saved monies

Just trying to get an uber deal on a loan

ok, i fail at the negotiation process

basically it went like this:

price is 249
i offer 236
owner counters 245
i hum and har, say i didn't wanna go over 240, struggle to 242
owner stays fixed on 245, i can call tomorrow if i want

basically i wanna accept the 245, but with an uber long settlement period, like 90 days, is this possible?

also, make fun of my negotiation skills (or lack thereof)

how long has it been on the market? if it's been a while just let the owner sweat. FHOG is running out at the end of the month and that will make them sweat more.

FHOG has been extended till June next year infi

that's true i guess, but im sweating even more cos im hoping to use the fhog and boost? it was originally posted at 259k about a fortnight ago, the chick seems pretty stubborn on the 245k and my imaginary ideal price was about 244k anyway. another identical place literally 50 steps away in the same complex sold for 249k last week (a valuer looked this up for me)

suppose i'm wondering if i put 90 days settlement on this mofo, do i only start paying off the loan from the 90 days even if finance and building/pest gets sorted well before that? cos that's what im kinda planning for.

p.s. asif you shouldn't have made your first offer LOWER!!

boost ends at end of the year

until dec 31 can get grant + boost = 7 + 3.5k

after jan 1 it's just the grant 7k

if you're that desperate for 3.5k I don't think you should be buying property... any interest rate rise will have you eating bread and lard three times a day by the sounds :p

also if you made a lower offer you might have saved more then 3.5k

just sayin'

i was interested in another place

price was 220k
offered 190k
got laughed at, told that anything under 200k is ridiculous and when making an offer between 200 and 220k i should be careful not to insult the seller into fixing himself at 220k (massive internal lol)
didn't answer phone for a week
ho rang me back asking if i could possibly offer 200k
was like, maybe, will think about it

Yeah you start paying loan from settlement day. Not sure if FHOG is settlement or contract of sale signing day - best check that.

I would personally be an arse and say, "I've checked with my bank, $243k is all I've got, sorry." and then just leave it at that.

If you don't get it, there'll be something else. If you get it you'll feel like you've snapped up a good deal. Last thing you want is to feel for the next 10 years that you might have managed to get the house cheaper.

offered 190k, got laughed at

Typical games. Just suck it up and play hard-ball. You'll win. Say stuff like, "Interesting you find that so amusing! I just don't think the house is worth it." - such direct approach usually makes them think twice about trying to intimidate you.

yea, i dont need the 3.5k, i can service the full loan without deposit at like 10% if s*** hits the fan, it's just a nice bonus / not make me feel bad about failing at negotiating

spose im getting tricked (tricking myself) into thinking it's the perfect place, but it ticks all the boxes and im generally happy with the price, so might give it a crack

How long's it been on the market? That's key.

i first saw it probably two weeks ago, but googling sees she listed it with some other agency early november, and had an offer of 245k fall through on finance, so tbh she's fixed on that price

Our house sold at 25k more than our offer and finance collapsed. We didn't budge, we bought it for 25k less than the previous couple tried to.

Two weeks is a short time on the market though. I'd go for 245k if you like it. If it was a month or more then you would have some more confidence to play harder.

ur probably talking about a much more expensive house so the 25k as a percentage of the listing price isn't that insane?

im a pretty small fish in this thread tbh (and life)

how long has it been on the market? if it's been a while just let the owner sweat. FHOG is running out at the end of the month and that will make them sweat more.

owners aren't always in a hurry, some prick low balled me on my place and kept coming back asking if i'd take it
he even had the agent asking me, trying to get me to take it and that it was a good deal given how quiet the market was

i told the agent "yep ok i'll take it but you aren't going to get paid, how does that sound?"
he never rang me about that time waster ever again, he was only $10k below my absolute bottom dollar price too

hence, agent doesn't get paid = I got my final price cause the agent fees were $9k or $10k
I'm quite content just waiting around until next year to see if it will sell for more, what's 3 months if it makes me 10-20-30k ?

some buyers are ore desperate than others. they may have bought another place etc. you never know...

our place was advertised at 330 a few years ago

we offered 300, owners said no

we said 310, owners were thinking about it, wifey and realestate were begging me to go higher, so rolled over to 315 which they accepted straight away

found out prior couple had agreed to pay 330 earlier, but failed to get finance

was slightly dirty at wifey and realestate, they would have taken 310

Persay, FHOG is based upon "unconditional" date. So usually after finance, building pest etc (ie 14 days).
I kinda low balled my place, Owners wanted 480 for it, I said 440, they said 455 - final offer. I said take a walk 450 is my max - they accepted 450. That said, they were settling their new house in 3.5 weeks and had basically not chance of anyone else being able to get finance etc done in 3.5 weeks (I had already been through a contract which failed building and pest - got full approval for loan amounts etc).

That said, there are other places in the area for cheaper....not as nice, but similar specs. I think I did ok, not a steal but not over paid either.

chillaxing today

they've got some other noob looking at it this morning, and an open house too

gonna hit the gym

also fireblood are you sure it's unconditional date? i dont see any details in the reams of paper the bird at cba gave me

Spook, you only have yourself to be dirty at. You couldn't get your balls out of her purse hah.

Our settlement:

List Price - 317
Our Offer - 290

Real Estate - Yeh that's pretty low, we'll ask them anyway.
Me - You're required to forward all offers to the owner.
RE - crankyface

.. couple days later ..

RE - They'll do 305.
Me - 290 is a firm offer.

.. couple days later ..

RE - OK they've agreed to come down to 295 which really is a great deal, you've done well for yourselves! Is this really your first purchase?! (bish was f***ing gushing at me you could hear her trying to close)
Me - 290 is a firm offer.
RE - ...

We settled a few weeks later on 290. The bank's valuer said that 290 was definitely the 'upper' price we should have taken and that we'd basically paid top dollar. Turns out that the market was about to turn and we've been lucky to hold that value since.

f*** Real Estates, always remember that the seller's agent is not your friend.

last edited by Hogfather at 11:17:05 19/Dec/09

price was 220k
offered 190k
got laughed at, told that anything under 200k is ridiculous and when making an offer between 200 and 220k i should be careful not to insult the seller into fixing himself at 220k (massive internal lol)
didn't answer phone for a week
ho rang me back asking if i could possibly offer 200k
was like, maybe, will think about it

Hahah good for you for sticking to your guns. I mean seriously.

also fireblood are you sure it's unconditional date? i dont see any details in the reams of paper the bird at cba gave me

Yeah dude....I signed my first contract that fell through on like the 14th September, and I had 14 days to get it all sorted out before the 30/09/09 so i could get the full 14k. That's what my real estate and broker said. So unless you can sign, house inspect, finance before 31st Dec (doubt it...) you're boned.

update: i slept in, dude rang me at midday and asked how far i could budge from 242 cos he couldnt move her from 245

I replied with 242.5 and 90 day settlement

All this s*** is verbal anyway, the dude suxors

Ty for advice, generally i think my strategy is gonna be to chill at mumsies till i can rip off someone desperate in a house i like

Ta

tell your mummsie i said hi and that ive got a weird rash since i saw her last

If you can that's a f***ing awesome way to buy a house.

Our settlement:
Original price was $750K (5000m2 brand new house on the brisbane river)
We offered $520k..

He swore and carried on. We stated we weren't budging on price.
4 months later we got the keys :)

ur probably talking about a much more expensive house so the 25k as a percentage of the listing price isn't that insane?

im a pretty small fish in this thread tbh (and life)

Nah man, not much more expensive house.

Why do you want a 90 day settlement? If you are in QLD, I can't see any seller agreeing to live in a house 3 months after it has been sold.

Bought my house a few months ago, listed at "offers over $500K". Offered $470K, ended up getting it for $480K a few days later.

Found out that the owners wanted to sell and move into a rental with limited time-frame. I offered a 14 day settlement because I'm a BDM for mortgage brokers at one of the top banks. The Seller loved this because I walked downstairs and got my loan approved next day and ready to settle within a week.

yeah we put an offer on a place for 260k (listed at 290k)

real estate laughed at us and made us feel like absolute crap when we were signing the offer paperwork

rang us back and say 'no way, you are way out of your depth'

two weeks later called us back saying they would take 265k. we hung up. found something better.

if you can stay at your parents, bleed the real estates for all they are worth. hardball bigtime. don't get rose coloured glasses over one place, guaranteed more will show up

i just got a call back saying the seller is ok with a 90 day settlement but would only budge down to 244k (lolz)

need 90 day settlement cos im going to spain in january and generally wanna chillax for a bit and buy some more furniture before moving out

told her to ggf

Original price was $750K (5000m2 brand new house on the brisbane river)

The house or the block was 5000m2?

do you really need to ask such a stupid question?
of course it was the land

Durr he bought parliament house!

All sorts of public property is going nice and cheap in QLD lately.

do you really need to ask such a stupid question?

It was bloody tongue-in-cheek ya tosser. It was a play at the way it was written ya f***-knuckle. Time for you to go back to play, I hear "Barbie" calling.

last edited by Some Fat Bastard at 13:59:23 20/Dec/09