Sooky-la-la

[MTR]

It is easier to 'get into the market' these days due to the abundance of 95% loans available and a FHOG.

Back then you had to have 20% deposit, even if you could prove that you had the ability to make the payments on a higher lend, and you had to show it had come from savings, not as a 'gift'. There was no FHOG either.

I think it is easier for people to overextend themselves now, than it was back then. Many seem to buy at the top of their affordability, which can make finances tight, especially in the environment we have now, with low interest rates. It will be a world of hurt for some when the rates eventually rise, as we all know they must do at some time.

I hear you Skater

Its interesting I know some young guns in Sydney who started buying units/2 bedders in Syd West, cheap as chips 2-3 years ago now as they noticed that the prices were starting to move.

What was attractive at the time was the rent for these 2 bedders were actually pretty much covering the mortgage, 'you beauty'. These guys were borrowing at 95%, what they had in common was secure well paid jobs.

Some even used credit cards to help with deposits, some will say a little risky, but it is totally dependent on your particular scenario and what the market is doing.

These guys are now sitting on a sh/t load of properties, with a sh/t load of equity. Yes, they did stick their neck out and yes they did take some risks, but hey as investors we all know that people think in the main what we do is high risk, perhaps it is, I don't see it this way.

I see the "glass half full, others may see it half empty", those who see it half empty seem to always just drag their feet in life.

Cheers
MTR

 

[MTR]

There is a much more powerful force affecting property prices than supply and demand, and that is the availability of credit.

Easy credit, and its sudden removal, is what caused the booms and busts in all countries that had property crashes in the GFC. Similarly the current boom in Australia is caused by the cheapest credit seen in many peoples lifetimes.

Yes, you are correct this did effect property prices, just as negative media reports also effects markets, and that is my point. What happened here with the financial crunch was that fear set in, people stopped buying, finance was difficult to source/dried up, "supply vs demand", no finance, no spending, oversupply of property:

Bottom line is - supply vs demand

 

[lizzie]

I was chatting to a friend the other day, whose daughter was moaning about not being able to afford a first home ... however ... the daughter gets married in 3 weeks and the wedding (so far) is costing around $60,000



The friend and I just gawped at each other - and I mentioned that was easily a house deposit in this area - but apparently the daughter wants to buy a $600,000+ house, of which they can't afford, so instead buys nothing.

My stepdaughter had the opportunity to buy a unit, in a great location, prior to the 2010 prices starting to rise - but against advice decided to buy a sports car instead ... in now in a share rental house ... what can you do?

A friend's son has been working in Sydney for 15 years. She advised him early on to buy a unit in Parramatta (I think they were less than $120,000 then) ... he ummed and ahhed and finally bought one last year for $400,000+

I don't think it's harder nowadays - believe me it was hard back in the 1980's too - I just think "some" have been bought up with the mentality of having it all rather than choosing and sacrificing.

Another issue is to many choices - travel, property, fast cars ... waaaaaay back in the 1980's is was rare to head overseas (to expensive), or have flash cars (to expensive) so one bought a house instead. It was just what was expected and what was done.

 

[Aaron_C]

lol $60k wedding how many guests are there?

 

[lizzie]

lol $60k wedding how many guests are there?

I gather around 300 ... I don't even "know" 300 people!

 

[Aaron_C]

Got one of those 300 people weddings coming up. Childhood friend but that's a lot of people. Guess it would make good wedding photos.

 

[TMNT]

I gather around 300 ... I don't even "know" 300 people!

even if I paid people to become to my wedding, I couldnt get 300 of them.....maybe 30 if I really tried!!!

plus, why would I want people see me put a noose around my neck haha

 

[neK]

I gather around 300 ... I don't even "know" 300 people!

Such silly people. I had 300+ people at my wedding. Only about 70 were friends, the rest were relatives, parents friends etc. Total cost (excluding honeymoon) was $35k or so.
Being asian and people giving money and all, I walked away with a profit* of $5k.

* I've been paying this profit back over the years to those who attended the wedding. I've also had to give my in laws money so they could give back this money to their friends.

That said, I needed the money more then. So its all worked out well

I've also reminded siblings that it doesn't matter who attends, as long as they pay up. LOL
(Its my weird sense of humour to remind them not to spend buckets loads when they should be focusing on paying down a mortgage and having less arguments about money down the track).

 

[skater]

Being asian and people giving money and all, I walked away with a profit* of $5k.

* I've been paying this profit back over the years to those who attended the wedding. I've also had to give my in laws money so they could give back this money to their friends.

I'm not having a dig here, just curious. Why do you need to pay it back. It was a gift wasn't it? In lieu of a present. Or am I missing something?

 

[cimbom]

I don't get big expensive weddings either. We had 130 people at ours but that was at my parents insistance as they wanted to have the big wog wedding (that's actually a small wedding among my relatives but my husband's family is all overseas). They paid for most of it as a gift though. If I was paying for it, I would have just had a simple ceremony in Vegas or something

 

[Aaron_C]

I'm not having a dig here, just curious. Why do you need to pay it back. It was a gift wasn't it? In lieu of a present. Or am I missing something?

Because at that age all your friends get married around the same time. They give you say $200, so when you attend their wedding, you give the same gift. Hence 'giving it back'.

 

[neK]

I'm not having a dig here, just curious. Why do you need to pay it back. It was a gift wasn't it? In lieu of a present. Or am I missing something?

I guess its an Asian wedding thing.... not really sure.
For example, when my mates got married I would give them $500, when i got married they would repay the favour.

No different to Western style weddings where you give you a gift and when its your turn you get a gift back in return.

I'm still waiting for the day when there's an eftpos machine at the counter so you can swipe / paypass your financial gift. LOL.

For the parents / in law's friends, its also about "face". When me and my wife got married, our parent's friends would give us $200-$1000. We would record this down. When the parent's friends children got married, my parents/in laws would return the favour and give them the money back. To help my in laws out, we would give them the money to gift away.

Back when we got married, this extra money was a helpful boost. Even though we saved to pay for our own wedding, being able to walk away to have all the wedding costs covered plus an extra $5k helped immensely. Allowed us to knock down a fair chunk on the loan and put us in a much more stable position.

 

[Redom]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I saw a HD 50" tv in the Aldi catalogue yesterday for $199.

I will agree that the cost of things like Utilities has become expensive, but I cannot remember how much they used to cost as a percentage of my wage 30 years ago.

I only know that my memory of all Utility bills is BAD.

That means either I have always had too much week at the end of the money, or they have always been expensive.

Seriously! $199...thats amazing!

 

[skater]

I guess its an Asian wedding thing.... not really sure.
For example, when my mates got married I would give them $500, when i got married they would repay the favour.

No different to Western style weddings where you give you a gift and when its your turn you get a gift back in return.

I'm still waiting for the day when there's an eftpos machine at the counter so you can swipe / paypass your financial gift. LOL.

For the parents / in law's friends, its also about "face". When me and my wife got married, our parent's friends would give us $200-$1000. We would record this down. When the parent's friends children got married, my parents/in laws would return the favour and give them the money back. To help my in laws out, we would give them the money to gift away.

Back when we got married, this extra money was a helpful boost. Even though we saved to pay for our own wedding, being able to walk away to have all the wedding costs covered plus an extra $5k helped immensely. Allowed us to knock down a fair chunk on the loan and put us in a much more stable position.

Haha, OK then.

I was thinking that you had to pay it back.

I wasn't thinking about the part when others got married, because we all do that anyway, that's why I was confused.

 

[willair]

I'm not having a dig here, just curious. Why do you need to pay it back. It was a gift wasn't it? In lieu of a present. Or am I missing something?

Skater, I have been too a few Vietnamese Weddings lately mainly from the mates my daughters made in the school they all went too from grade one,
and they would sleep over in our house over the years,,the last one was over 150 people and they had a wishing well in the front entry my daughter was one of the bridesmades ,she told after they all went back home to party on,they counted all the parcels that everyone put into the wishing well,it was over 85k,and thses are the people that came to AUSTRALIA in boats in the mid 1970's,and worked like farm animals night and day..

 

[TMNT]

Such silly people. I had 300+ people at my wedding. Only about 70 were friends, the rest were relatives, parents friends etc. Total cost (excluding honeymoon) was $35k or so.
Being asian and people giving money and all, I walked away with a profit* of $5k.

* I've been paying this profit back over the years to those who attended the wedding. I've also had to give my in laws money so they could give back this money to their friends.

That said, I needed the money more then. So its all worked out well

I've also reminded siblings that it doesn't matter who attends, as long as they pay up. LOL
(Its my weird sense of humour to remind them not to spend buckets loads when they should be focusing on paying down a mortgage and having less arguments about money down the track).

man what a headache I got from reading that bit

you receive a gift but its yours but not,

plus you have to pay it back

plus you have to spread it back out to inlaws and to their friends

 

[neK]

It aint that bad. We don't have to give the money back to the parents to give back to their friends, we chose to because it helps them out.

Its always a pain when we try to remember what someone gave us. I just give them $500 as its easier than spending a few hours looking for that damn excel spreadsheet i wrote up years ago.

 

[TMNT]

It aint that bad. We don't have to give the money back to the parents to give back to their friends, we chose to because it helps them out.

Its always a pain when we try to remember what someone gave us. I just give them $500 as its easier than spending a few hours looking for that damn excel spreadsheet i wrote up years ago.

hmmm.. sounds like the best option is to get married and flee the country !!!

then you can be rich!

 

[BayView]

I was chatting to a friend the other day, whose daughter was moaning about not being able to afford a first home ... however ... the daughter gets married in 3 weeks and the wedding (so far) is costing around $60,000

What a friggin' fool.

Our wedding in 1994 was approx $11k for the wedding, the reception and 2 weeks honeymoon in Perth/W.A.

And I paid for the whole thing myself.

Partly because both of our parents were broke, but we also didn't want to have any of them try to use their "cash help" to take over the event - if you know what I mean - relatives can be....high manintenance .

The reason why we spent so little (and it could have been waaay more cheap-arsed than that - but we were planning our first PPoR build and wanted to spend more on that than one day in your life which - while important - is not worth a year's wage, for god's sake.

Maybe her parents are paying? If so; they should have said; here;'s $10k for the wedding, and $50k for your house.

 

[lizzie]

Maybe her parents are paying? If so; they should have said; here;'s $10k for the wedding, and $50k for your house.

No - the daughter and her partner are paying ... my wedding cost around $1,000 in 2001 including dress and rings ... but then we got married at home, bbq dinner, close friends and immediate family only, byo grog.

Best wedding I've ever been to.

But that's what I was getting at - there is an element of young'uns who want the best of everything without realising that you need to choose if you can't afford it all ... and sadly, with social media, instead of just whinging to their friends in similar circumstances, they can whinge to the world.

It's all about victim mentality - oh woe is me ...