Recent content by Paul Do

Kristine, what are you basing this statement on?

A lot of people don't time their buying so it's possible that they don't have to worry about capital gains tax over a 6 year period, especially after taking into the additional transaction costs. The main problem with this strategy is that property markets move in cycles and if you manage to...

Don't restrict himself to real estate. The fact that you're advising to go into real estate means you should exclude yourself. Go see a few financial advisers, without doing anything, to get some perspective. Consider getting some exposure to shares, and with limited knowledge, consider...

The BBC's 13 part documentaries starting with Civilisation in 1969 (the history of art), America and The Ascent of Man (the history of science) are absolutely brilliant - I can't emphasise this enough. Also the Connections series and The Day the Universe Changed. The Attenborough classics such...

Don't just restrict yourself to real estate. There is also the stockmarket. They don't always move to the same cycle, so when one market seems overpriced, investigate opportunities in the other one rather than trying to find a need in a haystack in the overpriced one.

Yes, to understand the changes in valuation multiples, you have to look at decades to get the big picture view. http://www.ibhb.com.au/resources/valuations.htm

Real estate is a long term investment. You shouldn't get carried away by or try to rationalise (obviously it makes for intersting discussion, but not sure what value it adds) the short term fluctuations - weakness in the market or strength. Invest on the basis of the long term drivers of value.

For me, negotiation 101 is negotiate with reference to your valuation, not the asking price. That ensures that I don't get carried away with phantom discounts.

It's hard to say because we're not assessing it over a long enough period. Say you roll a die and you start to get a couple of 6s. You might start to suspect that it's not a fair die but it could just be a string of 6s as part of a random process. You'll only be able to tell with more...

12 months is too short because there are significant transaction costs with real estate.

How about my line, "I make money in the property market by spending time in the market and augment my returns by timing the market"?

Joel, sorry to hear about your situation, but take a step back and evaluate the $350k land value vs the $390k you're after. Believe it or not, they are nearly the same thing. The $390k going down the investor partnership route is not $390k now but $390k in a year's time (cost to find...

Why do you think that is the case? And presumably it's a better option than shares?

Make sure you do most of your eating at breakfast (I don't mean a hot breakfast every day, but cereals, yohurt, fruits etc. and maybe occassionally a hot breakfast) and lunch. Eating mostly proteins will help you lose weight, but I'd recommend a balanced diet. Obviously, if you enjoy it...

I'm not a chef and can only recommend knives I've used or tried. For a great conversation piece, but still good knives, try these http://www.amazon.com/5-Piece-Unique-Designed-Raffaele-Iannello/dp/B000IXINLC - they also nearly match your usename. Global are very good quality, sharp and...