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I'm with you dwv, it's all very confusing for non-native speakers... Just found this on http://www.abc.net.au/wordmap/rel_stories/aitch.htm - nice try to put some logic back into language use ;). kaf

Yes I got some quotes too and thought it was so expensive that retiling started to sound like an option. In the end I repainted myself using White Knight - much cheaper and held up well over the last 2 and a bit years (IP). Not great if you have a lot of horizontal surfaces (around baths etc.)...

What I don't understand about the average income vs. house price relationship (and it's effect on capping growth) is that a large proportion (ca.70%) of the population already owns a house. So if they want to uprade they don't start from scratch, they usually already have equity in their...

Duce - you've just hit real-estate gold (or have been hit by it) and you start your thread with a frowny?? Sounds to me you have to work out first what your land is worth (undeveloped and developed) and then if you have the interest / skills / drive / money to develop yourself or walk away...

Julie - sorry, but the foreign passport doesn't give your child 2 languages and access to different cultures. Either your parents give you that or you learn it on your own. All the passport does is makes it a tad easier for the child later on to move to the country of birth and learn the...

Can't remember who said it (I think it was during a reno kings workshop) "Chose any colour your like for the bathroom, as long as it's white" :D kaf

I've not tested it but would find it very hard to believe unless you are in a suburb where everyone is called Jones... First impression is important (street appeal) but I cannot believe someone will consider a nice front yard equal to an extra bathroom or bedroom, no way! For frontyard stuff...

I do remember about 3k worth of topsoil in our landscaping quote. I asked why we needed topsoil as our existing soil is great and was told that they just put that into every quote... So yes, LOTS of fat in these quotes. kaf

Hi Tizzy I've used a landscape designer for the back yard of our PPOR but the design itself was about $800 (with quite a specific brief from our side). They came up with a few good ideas and did the hardscaping so for my first project I thought it was worthwhile. Having seen what they do...

Mmh this whole idea of greed and taking from other people who don't invest is an interesting one. I guess you could / should make the same argument about salaries. How come a nurse is paid so much less than a lawyer, even though nursing also requires tertiary education, has huge responsibilities...

Mmh - timber straight on the ground, I'd be paranoid about attracting termites, especially with it so close to the house. Any thoughts on that? kaf

Loved your story CD! I get attacked every morning cycling to work at the moment. Stupid thing starts and stop exactly at the same spots every time, repeatedly whacking me on the helmet in between. Well it does help me to wake up... kaf

Actually I think it's the other way round? Your heart wants something you would want to live in too, it's close to where you are and it wants to own quality which is a very fuzzy term (quality of life, fixtures, tenants etc.?). Your head is the rational one about accumulating multiple IPs with a...

This is interesting - I must be completely insensitive to being treated in a gender-specific way as I never notice. Tradies, investment-related stuff, work, nup, I really don't notice being treated any differently. There are a lot of females in the IP related business (especially RAs) and they...

I don't think there is much doubt that interest rates will go up from their current record low in the next 4 years, question is where to. Marg is spot on - do your calculations based on a number of future interest rate scenarios and make your decision based on this. kaf

Phew - sounds as if you got away. After seeing what Katrina did to New Orleans I'm not going anywhere near flood-prone properties. Also, there seem to be good evidence that Australia goes through 30 year storm cycles with us just having had 30 years of relatively storm-free weather. I think...

It's not that hard once you get going. The majority of tenants look after properties, especially if it was in good shape when they moved in (e.g freshly renovated). Make sure your PM does regular inspections and report back to you and if you are still worried ask to come along for...

Tizzy you can get business plan kits from your state government (at least here in QLD you can) and I'm sure other sources have them too. I think doing one yourself is an excellent idea to see if your ideas are commercially viable and to project for things like cashflow etc. Good luck with it...

I think it comes down to how close to the edge you like to sail and what your SANF is. For me capitalizing interest is a fallback position when things get tight but not part of our general strategy. We also haven't done 95% loans, margin loans on shares, no-doc loans etc. which could have got us...

Little people who don't eat a lot so we can export more? Using fewer resources because the houses can be smaller - gosh that's an aspect of our economy I hadn't considered before :D ;). kaf