When will all this bad news stop!!!

Still waiting for the D&G to hit me, just nothing but good news at the moment.

Finally decided to revalue the land holding on my books. Had it at $450pm2, have reviewed all land sales for the last year and although infrequent (little available) the settled sites just keep going higher and higher.

Have changed my book value to $496pm2.

Just talked to an agent who's in the process of selling an almost identical land holding (mine is 8% larger) to feel him out. He's got it listed for $590-650pm2 (which I consider way too high). 2 out of the 5 blocks are already under contract, and he wasn't interested in talking about $530pm2. Don't think he'll get what he's asking - but even his rejected price is another 6% above what I've reset mine at!

Now obviously the land is going to drop 50% in value this year so I guess I'll just have to enjoy this feeling while it lasts!

Hi there Steve, touch wood, touch wood!

I don't believe it either. My manager insisted on putting up the rents on the commercial tenants, said if we didn't do it now, next year we might not have the inflation numbers. And none of the tenants said anything, they just paid the new rent and I suppose, put the price up on pizzas, Chinese takeaway & haircuts.

And I have a post re the yields on student accom. in NZ.

However I do have a couple of properties vacant at the moment & the house for sale doesn't seem to be selling, both in Adelaide.

I hesitate to state the difference that I'm paying in interest now compared to this time last year, suffice to say it's more than a grown man's annual wage.

Topsy turvy but I'm beginning to feel confident.
KY

Yeah sale activity certainly seems to have slowed down, but prices seem to be steady (markets I follow). There's definitely a lot of activity amongst the FHB's. My mate at the bank says they're finding it hard to keep up with demand. His loans consultant has been getting there early and leaving late every day, plus she's also needing help from two other people at the branch to take appointments due to the number of people wanting new loans (note: though not all home loans, lot of people putting cash into shares as well by the sounds of it).

We've got one up for rent at the moment as well. Spoke to agent today and he said demand has been healthy for ours although he has seen a bit of a slow down the last few weeks in tenant enquiries. Doesn't sem phased though, he says it slows down for a bit then all of a sudden goes nuts again for a few weeks etc.

So..overall swimming along nicely...?
Good to see guys!

The doom and gloom will stop when the media gets more market share with good news. Still some time off i think.

good work stevey boy! can't give any more kudos to you

very cool to find out.

it's amazing that with all this D&G "out there", i was up at my block yesterday and passing the display village revealed the parking lot FULL of brand new upmarket 4WDs and softroaders and the display area bustling with oldies and families and young couples alike. they were parking on the verge, all had brochures - i can see the display village from the little fella's room at the back, so i just watched.

i just don't understand it. i thought we were meant to be in BAD times....?! this is not a cheap estate by any stretch of the imagination - average price for a block of land is $389k - from $299k up to $799k.

clearly there is different sentiment out there, people are smartening up to whats (not) happening around them and realising that prices are getting to good to be true.

Sounds about right same here, I sold another couple of homes from this development last weekend and I know the land release across the way have been selling some of their more expensive blocks over the last few weeks around $350,000 - $450,000 and some of the 'cheapies' which are around $250,000.

For me though a lack of FHB and more of the older people 40's - 65's.

Hi, more good news. Manager thinks new tenant is good - he interviewed & carefully selected this small mature family. Suggested few days rent free for them to get power connected etc & I said give them one week.

And we're going after the previous tenant - at least I'm not letting them get away with not paying rent and damaging the door. Manager thinks there's a good chance we'll get the money by issuing a summons.

It's the principle of the whole thing. He's not poor by any means and the hole in the door was caused by a fist. Heaven knows whether he hit his partner.

KY
Btw, there was a small rent increase too.

Good luck getting the old guy KY. I assume you still have his bond?

My manager called about an hour ago as well to tell me he's decided on a newly migrated family.

Hi, it wasn't even a contest. Tribunal decided in our favour on Tues & the cheque was in the mail on Fri. A lot of people specially Housing Trust administrators are very tired of people who trash houses and then go whining to the people who have to house them.

I noticed 3 years back that HT was the one selling off the most properties old houses on large blocks. Saw quite a few like those in Dover Gdns in 04-05 and 6 months later at an auction, the subdivided blocks were selling for $160-170K

Manager's daughter works for HT & she says they have to sell x number of properties every year just to remain solvent.

I have another cuckoo tenant who contested the bond. She wrote new demands on the lease document AFTER it was already prepared by the solicitor & she had already accepted the terms after paying one month's bond & one month's rent. At the hearing, I was told to sit in the DEFENDANT's chair. I asked 'Your Honour' what I was supposed to be defending.

Said cuckoo tenant had sent a letter to the judge saying that she was in hospital for 3 weeks due a heart condition. Judge adjourned the hearing & outside the room, the cuckoo was sitting on a bench, larger than life.

This was a commercial tenant, btw.

Boy, it feels good to rant a bit. Thanks to this board for letting me vent.

KY

steveadl said:

Still waiting for the D&G to hit me, just nothing but good news at the moment.

Finally decided to revalue the land holding on my books. Had it at $450pm2, have reviewed all land sales for the last year and although infrequent (little available) the settled sites just keep going higher and higher.

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You are a star mate..good going Steve. All the positives are much appreciated.

Cheers

Probably not going to burst your bubble, but I think it is the industry you people are dealing with. And in Adelaide, because we didnt really have the price spike in Housing, I think we can weather it better here too.
But I can give you plenty of doom and gloom stories of large scale redundancies and business opportunities vanishing in a nano-second, none of which would ever make the media. Obviously I work in the wrong business.

I'm with Pushka here. I think IP investors and some industries haven't felt the pinch at all, infact they may be ticking along nicely and will continue to do so.

I am however hearing many awfully stories among some people around me atm, mainly sharemarket losses with some being huge 1M+ losses.

One of these now has her PPOR on the market and may lose everything another a good friend relieved that she held onto her numerous IP's over the 20 years giving her continued good cashflow and tangable assets that she confidently believes she has total control of even if their values suffer somewhat in the future.

One business I know has closed (admittedly it was not always going great guns in the past) and another a well known Adelaide business who's owners are friends who had expanded about 18mths ago have now closed one of their shops and business is down on the others.

These are just the people who I not only know but who have actually discussed their financial position with me. It makes me think there is more than just a bit of pain out there at the moment and I don't think the extent of it has really been picked up by the media yet.

Pushka said:

Probably not going to burst your bubble, but I think it is the industry you people are dealing with. And in Adelaide, because we didnt really have the price spike in Housing, I think we can weather it better here too.
But I can give you plenty of doom and gloom stories of large scale redundancies and business opportunities vanishing in a nano-second, none of which would ever make the media. Obviously I work in the wrong business.

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Not necessarily Pushka. My industry isn't going great guns (please don't mention specifically which industry on SS) - many people are saying sales are slowing down somewhat, plus many of my suppliers are pumping out good specials/discounts, and resorting to calling me at the end of the month to try and boost their budget figures.

As I say constantly with property on this site - there are always going to be pockets that perform well in a bad market. I believe the same can be said for well run businesses.

That's not to say a downturn couldn't effect my business at some point in the coming months, at which time I'll adjust accordingly. The reports I'm reading lately said we're about to move onto the next part of the downturn where it hits Joe and Jane Average now that it's having it's fun with the financials and large businesses. I do however think people sometimes panic unnecessarily. I had one supplier in here this week encouraging me to put 'Clearance' signs on the window for his brand ahead of their new launch and flog as much as I can as quickly as I can. Discounting and sacrificing margins is where a lot of businesses get into trouble - just look at Kmart.

weg said:

These are just the people who I not only know but who have actually discussed their financial position with me. It makes me think there is more than just a bit of pain out there at the moment and I don't think the extent of it has really been picked up by the media yet.

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Think you're right about that Weg.