G'day
Happy New Year
I have been gently reminded that I have missed a beat and not posted my bi-annual update
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48330&highlight=year
So put on the kettle, break open the Tim Tams, and here I am with the Late News for 2010:
Well, I thought about starting this thread back about 8th December but didn’t really have the time then to write, and it crossed my mind a few times since then, so here it is although we are now into 2011
Time passes, and we can often forget to reflect on what we have done and what we have experienced. We all achieve something every day, even if that achievement may not be measured on a scale it is still the achievement of our lives.
The Age today (1st January) had an interesting collection of articles about the Baby Boomers, and although I am not quite a Baby Boomer I am not far behind.
Our experience of life certainly changes as we move through the various stages, and by the end of 2010 the nest was empty and that has taken some emotional and practical adjustments.
So here are my experiences since I last wrote on this subject 24/12/2008.
During 2009 I gradually recovered my balance from the events of 2008 and particularly being away from home for so long. Like Dorothy, we do not realise the importance of ‘home’ until we are not there.
No: 1 Son came ‘home’ in April, 2009 for a series of Engagement celebrations and again in May, 2010 to be Married, but it is obvious he and his Wife now regard London as home and are in no hurry to return to Melbourne. I envy them their brave hearts and their courage to have these adventures, and to not then have regrets that they could have, should have, gone, or to have gone but returned too soon.
After two years ‘on the beat’, Daughter has become quite a competent Court Reporter (including running in streets, keeping up with the photographer) and is now looking for greener pastures – hopefully, a daily paper which is quite a different beast to a bi-weekly paper. More nitty gritty and fewer cats up trees stories!
We treated her to attend the Wedding of No: 1 Son’s Best Man in June, firstly in London for a ‘traditional’ ceremony and then on to Edinburgh for an Anglican High Church Wedding (with the Castle in the background). Mike and I were not able to go but wanted to show our respect for a young man who has been part of our family since kindergarten. Daughter enjoyed her trip but was more than ready to come home at the end of four weeks living in youth hostels. She was seriously covered in bed bug bites from one of the hostels, so the trip was not all beer and skittles.
No: 2 Son’s apartment was finished and he triumphantly left home to go and live in his eyrie in the sky. He continues to really enjoy his career with the supermarket and in 2010 enrolled to study for the Bachelor of Viticulture – a big step for someone who, due to illness, had not gone to school since he was 14. He took up one subject, and this involved study, assignments, practical work in the vineyards and at the University. To his great delight he attained an overall mark of 74, so he is much encouraged to press ahead with two subjects for each semester during 2011.
So the family home is empty now except for Mike and me and the last of the cats.
During 2009 we bought ‘the house next door’ on Golden Pond and settled in 2010. For the past year we have tried to find an architect who is actually interested in designing a house which we can afford to build, and which has enough flair and pizzazz to be interesting in it’s own right.
We now have almost completed the plans with an architect we have complete faith in but Mike is in anguish about the likely cost of the construction
However, we have invested in property since 1994 – well, all properties are investments and when we built our first home together in 1981 we had half the carpets on the credit card. That was the extent of our debt. Now, we have enough debt to bring tears to our eyes but if we still had and sold that first house now, it would probably buy the house we currently live in. It would not even buy the land under the house we are about to build.
Over the years we have invested consistently although not necessarily methodically. If we had actually developed a plan our current situation could have been much different.
However, we invested for ‘later on’. It has taken us a while to realise that now is ‘later on’ and so for the first time we are getting ready to sell off some of the portfolio in order to be able to move forward.
No, not the Mission Brown Wonder – that is still for Ron – but the deck chairs need a decent reshuffle and so this must be done.
Building requires a quite different approach to buying, and putting the money on the table and into the deal means having the money, not just eg having a contract of sale or an intention to sell. It is almost as if the order of settlement is reversed. This isn’t about showing the Funds to Complete, it is about actually having the Funds to Complete. We expect that if we see the Architect next week and give the instruction to proceed, we may be in the new house by June, 2012. So our money has to be there, and all our money has to go into the deposits and fees and progress payments before the lender starts the drawdown payments
Although we knew the day would eventually come, this will mean selling the Family Home within the next few months. We will probably move into Myrtle Cottage while the new house is under construction - dropping from 300m2 to 90m2 will require ruthless culling of the debris and detritus of 30 years of married and family life.
When I bought Myrtle Cottage, back in 2002, and then spent a year on the renovations, it was one of the happiest times for me. The house was in a dreadful state – it could be smelled from the street and I learned to pull out rat’s nests and to climb ladders and to use a short iron with some efficiency and to master the art of oil painting doors and woodwork, but when it was finished it was an absolute delight. So living there will be some compensation for selling what has been a happy family home for the past eleven years.
During 2009 and 2010 we have been blessed with excellent and unobtrusive property management.
There have been some thrills and spills but overall, changes of tenancy have come and gone and rent has been paid on time. Rents have increased overall but not by any significant amount for any individual property. Tenancies have generally lasted the long term national average of 23 months and nothing has required any significant maintenance. Well, just the usual items – an appliance call out here or a bit of a paint up there. Steady as she goes.
Property values have been uneven. In order to settle the house next door I undertook a mammoth refinancing early in 2010 and valuations were interesting. Three properties, which had shown no growth at all from valuation in 2003 to valuation in 2006, showed significant increases in valuation by 2010.
It’s all about being in it for the long term
So I have been putting together the next Five Year Plan.
If it is eighteen months until we move in to the new house we will be able to plan and stage some rolling sales (after the first batch) keeping an eye on the market at the time. The Concrete Bunker is still not finished but the consolation there is that is will be fresh when it goes on the market in about two months time. The Possum Palace (aka The Bomb Site) would probably fetch more if it was sold with development plans, but that’s a could have should have project from two years ago, there is not enough time (or will or energy) to get involved with that now.
And the Family Home needs a complete overhaul before anyone would be interested in it. Time to renew my acquaintance with my trusty crew of tradies and ‘all rounders’.
So did we ‘do enough’ in 2010?
Yes, plenty. It has been a very productive and happy time for us as a Family as a whole. I continue to work from my state-of-the-art laundry, and my office in the new house will be no bigger, prompting Daughter to express the opinion that I am definitely suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. I have since told the Architect to rename the room from ‘Study’ to ‘Utility’ to alleviate her concerns!
I would once again like to thank Somersoft and all who make this Forum possible. It is certainly one of the best run forums on the web and this is due not only to the diligence of the volunteer moderators but also to the calibre of the people who participate and contribute.
Mike and I enjoy the monthly dinner meetings and look forward to these events each month. I also appreciate that from time to time people think I may be able to help them with finance and I always consider this to be a great compliment and privilege to be asked.
And getting back to the Baby Boomers: Life, like property, continues to increase in value with every year and to pay handsome rewards. The ‘rent’ paid on the capital of our experience is immeasurable. As ye sow, so shall ye reap. For those of us who actively participate in the property market and particularly, take on the noble and time honoured role of landlord, we see the value of what we do not just in monetary terms but also within the philanthropic framework of providing housing for those who need it.
Even a cat can look at a Queen. For Mike and I to be able to build this special new house is amazing to me, and we certainly could not be doing this from the base point of only a ‘day job’.
So will we be ‘doing enough’ in 2011? For sure, and in 2012 and ongoing. And when we move in, we will take a deep breath and get back into it. Selling some of the holdings now is part of the strategy and what goes now can be replaced later.
Best wishes to you all for a happy New Year, and a year of significant productivity. May your values increase, your tenants be happy, and you be very pleased with yourselves come Christmas.
And this year, I shall tag my calendar for the ‘It’s the 8th December and Did You Do Enough In 2011’ thread! Watch this space!
Cheers
Kristine
And now, please all join in! Let us know what you did, how you are travelling and what you plan and intend to achieve in this wonderful and never to be repeated year!
Happy New Year
I have been gently reminded that I have missed a beat and not posted my bi-annual update
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48330&highlight=year
So put on the kettle, break open the Tim Tams, and here I am with the Late News for 2010:
Well, I thought about starting this thread back about 8th December but didn’t really have the time then to write, and it crossed my mind a few times since then, so here it is although we are now into 2011
Time passes, and we can often forget to reflect on what we have done and what we have experienced. We all achieve something every day, even if that achievement may not be measured on a scale it is still the achievement of our lives.
The Age today (1st January) had an interesting collection of articles about the Baby Boomers, and although I am not quite a Baby Boomer I am not far behind.
Our experience of life certainly changes as we move through the various stages, and by the end of 2010 the nest was empty and that has taken some emotional and practical adjustments.
So here are my experiences since I last wrote on this subject 24/12/2008.
During 2009 I gradually recovered my balance from the events of 2008 and particularly being away from home for so long. Like Dorothy, we do not realise the importance of ‘home’ until we are not there.
No: 1 Son came ‘home’ in April, 2009 for a series of Engagement celebrations and again in May, 2010 to be Married, but it is obvious he and his Wife now regard London as home and are in no hurry to return to Melbourne. I envy them their brave hearts and their courage to have these adventures, and to not then have regrets that they could have, should have, gone, or to have gone but returned too soon.
After two years ‘on the beat’, Daughter has become quite a competent Court Reporter (including running in streets, keeping up with the photographer) and is now looking for greener pastures – hopefully, a daily paper which is quite a different beast to a bi-weekly paper. More nitty gritty and fewer cats up trees stories!
We treated her to attend the Wedding of No: 1 Son’s Best Man in June, firstly in London for a ‘traditional’ ceremony and then on to Edinburgh for an Anglican High Church Wedding (with the Castle in the background). Mike and I were not able to go but wanted to show our respect for a young man who has been part of our family since kindergarten. Daughter enjoyed her trip but was more than ready to come home at the end of four weeks living in youth hostels. She was seriously covered in bed bug bites from one of the hostels, so the trip was not all beer and skittles.
No: 2 Son’s apartment was finished and he triumphantly left home to go and live in his eyrie in the sky. He continues to really enjoy his career with the supermarket and in 2010 enrolled to study for the Bachelor of Viticulture – a big step for someone who, due to illness, had not gone to school since he was 14. He took up one subject, and this involved study, assignments, practical work in the vineyards and at the University. To his great delight he attained an overall mark of 74, so he is much encouraged to press ahead with two subjects for each semester during 2011.
So the family home is empty now except for Mike and me and the last of the cats.
During 2009 we bought ‘the house next door’ on Golden Pond and settled in 2010. For the past year we have tried to find an architect who is actually interested in designing a house which we can afford to build, and which has enough flair and pizzazz to be interesting in it’s own right.
We now have almost completed the plans with an architect we have complete faith in but Mike is in anguish about the likely cost of the construction
However, we have invested in property since 1994 – well, all properties are investments and when we built our first home together in 1981 we had half the carpets on the credit card. That was the extent of our debt. Now, we have enough debt to bring tears to our eyes but if we still had and sold that first house now, it would probably buy the house we currently live in. It would not even buy the land under the house we are about to build.
Over the years we have invested consistently although not necessarily methodically. If we had actually developed a plan our current situation could have been much different.
However, we invested for ‘later on’. It has taken us a while to realise that now is ‘later on’ and so for the first time we are getting ready to sell off some of the portfolio in order to be able to move forward.
No, not the Mission Brown Wonder – that is still for Ron – but the deck chairs need a decent reshuffle and so this must be done.
Building requires a quite different approach to buying, and putting the money on the table and into the deal means having the money, not just eg having a contract of sale or an intention to sell. It is almost as if the order of settlement is reversed. This isn’t about showing the Funds to Complete, it is about actually having the Funds to Complete. We expect that if we see the Architect next week and give the instruction to proceed, we may be in the new house by June, 2012. So our money has to be there, and all our money has to go into the deposits and fees and progress payments before the lender starts the drawdown payments
Although we knew the day would eventually come, this will mean selling the Family Home within the next few months. We will probably move into Myrtle Cottage while the new house is under construction - dropping from 300m2 to 90m2 will require ruthless culling of the debris and detritus of 30 years of married and family life.
When I bought Myrtle Cottage, back in 2002, and then spent a year on the renovations, it was one of the happiest times for me. The house was in a dreadful state – it could be smelled from the street and I learned to pull out rat’s nests and to climb ladders and to use a short iron with some efficiency and to master the art of oil painting doors and woodwork, but when it was finished it was an absolute delight. So living there will be some compensation for selling what has been a happy family home for the past eleven years.
During 2009 and 2010 we have been blessed with excellent and unobtrusive property management.
There have been some thrills and spills but overall, changes of tenancy have come and gone and rent has been paid on time. Rents have increased overall but not by any significant amount for any individual property. Tenancies have generally lasted the long term national average of 23 months and nothing has required any significant maintenance. Well, just the usual items – an appliance call out here or a bit of a paint up there. Steady as she goes.
Property values have been uneven. In order to settle the house next door I undertook a mammoth refinancing early in 2010 and valuations were interesting. Three properties, which had shown no growth at all from valuation in 2003 to valuation in 2006, showed significant increases in valuation by 2010.
It’s all about being in it for the long term
So I have been putting together the next Five Year Plan.
If it is eighteen months until we move in to the new house we will be able to plan and stage some rolling sales (after the first batch) keeping an eye on the market at the time. The Concrete Bunker is still not finished but the consolation there is that is will be fresh when it goes on the market in about two months time. The Possum Palace (aka The Bomb Site) would probably fetch more if it was sold with development plans, but that’s a could have should have project from two years ago, there is not enough time (or will or energy) to get involved with that now.
And the Family Home needs a complete overhaul before anyone would be interested in it. Time to renew my acquaintance with my trusty crew of tradies and ‘all rounders’.
So did we ‘do enough’ in 2010?
Yes, plenty. It has been a very productive and happy time for us as a Family as a whole. I continue to work from my state-of-the-art laundry, and my office in the new house will be no bigger, prompting Daughter to express the opinion that I am definitely suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. I have since told the Architect to rename the room from ‘Study’ to ‘Utility’ to alleviate her concerns!
I would once again like to thank Somersoft and all who make this Forum possible. It is certainly one of the best run forums on the web and this is due not only to the diligence of the volunteer moderators but also to the calibre of the people who participate and contribute.
Mike and I enjoy the monthly dinner meetings and look forward to these events each month. I also appreciate that from time to time people think I may be able to help them with finance and I always consider this to be a great compliment and privilege to be asked.
And getting back to the Baby Boomers: Life, like property, continues to increase in value with every year and to pay handsome rewards. The ‘rent’ paid on the capital of our experience is immeasurable. As ye sow, so shall ye reap. For those of us who actively participate in the property market and particularly, take on the noble and time honoured role of landlord, we see the value of what we do not just in monetary terms but also within the philanthropic framework of providing housing for those who need it.
Even a cat can look at a Queen. For Mike and I to be able to build this special new house is amazing to me, and we certainly could not be doing this from the base point of only a ‘day job’.
So will we be ‘doing enough’ in 2011? For sure, and in 2012 and ongoing. And when we move in, we will take a deep breath and get back into it. Selling some of the holdings now is part of the strategy and what goes now can be replaced later.
Best wishes to you all for a happy New Year, and a year of significant productivity. May your values increase, your tenants be happy, and you be very pleased with yourselves come Christmas.
And this year, I shall tag my calendar for the ‘It’s the 8th December and Did You Do Enough In 2011’ thread! Watch this space!
Cheers
Kristine
And now, please all join in! Let us know what you did, how you are travelling and what you plan and intend to achieve in this wonderful and never to be repeated year!
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