Recent content by House_Keeper

How can that be for Sydney? Sydney prices are not much more above the 2004 peak. In 10 years, income growth would have lifted wages by about 30% in nominal terms. Interest rates are lower than 10 years ago. How does that make today's the most expensive ever?

Well done Richard on your first IP purchase! A great find. You got a good rent for it too. Which Richardson & Wrench agency was it through? The one in Marrickville?

This is just my personal preferences, but could be worth considering. I don't buy from car dealers, as they are full of tricks that I don't like. I prefer to buy privately. It's usually cheaper. If happy with the car, I then ask a vehicle check company (like the NRMA is NSW) to check the...

Planning to live, at least part of the year, in south east Asia later on. Most attractive places so far: Indonesia, Phillipines, Thailand, Malaysia. For us it's likely to be more of a discovery / adventure process than a retirement. It will be cheaper, but the main motivation is to experience...

I agree with you there. The cops are doing a very difficult job, having to deal with dangerous and dodgy characters. I am glad they are there to protect us from such characters. WRONG. I take responsibility for my actions. We seem to have different expectations of the behavior of the cops...

I think with all the doom & gloom in the media, it's a bit too early too call. it depends on which market as well. It tend to focus on the Sydney inner-city market. In this market, a tight rental market is driving up rents, while lower interest rates are increasing affordability. This will...

That's trying really hard not to see what the real problem is. Many posters who have been to Bendigo mentioned that they didn't know either that it was a one way lane and would have done the same thing. So the core of the problem is a poorly positioned sign that most people don't notice. Are...

According to tvadera who reported the incident: It was a lane, not a street. The No Entry sign was not easy to see. The cops seem to be familiar with the pb. Probably not the first time they catch somebody in that situation. If the cops know there is a recurring problem there, why...

Ha! Nothing like a ridiculous joke from a police officer to divert the attention away from the dangers of giving too much discretionary powers to the police. Let's see if you laugh just as hard when you are the victim of the police abusing their broad powers...

I thought you were joking when I started reading this. Unfortunately you weren't. I'll give you a heads up. Every year, more and more useless and obscure legislation is quietly passed in parliament. Most people don't pay attention to it. Most of it is never enforced as it is impractical...

I feel sorry for you. something similar happened to me recently as well. They also insisted on a breath test that was completely irrelevant. An insulting presumption of guilt. There are too many cops with nothing useful to do, so they go out doing easy tasks like fining people for ignoring...

Thanks for the many suggestions. I found lots of useful info on previous threads, notably this one. http://somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19649 After reviewing all this and talking with my banker, I’ve come to the conclusion that LOE is not something we can rely on for retirement...

Thanks for that Dazz. Another great post that made a lot of sense. I did call my banker (from Commonwealth Bank) to find out what their policy is. Essentially, the bank does not lend only on equity, not matter how much equity you may have. The bank needs to be comfortable that you can...

Good point Sunfish. Using margin lending is another option to consider. It would have to be at low LVR (30%) to be protected from share volatility and margin calls, but it is an interesting option that can increase cash flow on shares.

Thanks for that link. I was using the search within somersoft . Didn't realise a google search would work better.