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Real Estate - August 2006

How to fix a leaking toilet cistern

August 31st 2006 00:09
Ok, so this post may seem a little bizarre and random. Nevertheless, I found myself having to deal with a leaking cistern a couple days ago so I figured I’d share my newfound domestic fixing skillz and since I’m living in America, I’ve decided to put a decidedly American slant on my instructions.

How to fix a leaking cistern yo!
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Purchasing a Property – Insurance

August 30th 2006 00:15
When you purchase a property there are several forms of insurance which may be necessary or suitable for you to pursuit. The two forms of insurance which are important for a home purchaser to consider are title insurance and mortgage insurance.

Title Insurance:
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Property Zoning – Practicalities

August 29th 2006 00:13
As I mentioned yesterday, zoning regulations are controlled by the local governing body. Generally, zoning regulations are fairly universal. However, different Councils may have different views and regulations regarding certain types of zoning. This means that just because one local Council has no qualms with mixed residential and commercial property usage, another council may not follow a similar policy. Before you purchase a property with the intent to dramatically modify it usage or even just renovate, it is important to check that your plans will meet local Council approval.

This of course leads to the question of whether zoning is permanent. In short, no. You can apply to the local Council to change the zoning of your property. There is not reason why a residential property cannot be modified into a commercial property. The only restriction on re-zoning a property is the proviso of meeting Council approval. As a property investor it is important to realize that zoning laws can change and relaxations and exemptions can also be made.
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Property Zoning – An Introduction

August 28th 2006 00:12
When you want to renovate your property or change its primary purpose from say a residential property to a commercial property there are council regulations which will dictate how you can change you property. This is covered by the zoning of you property.

Zoning is the way the governments control the physical development of land and the kinds of uses to which each individual property may be put. Zoning laws typically specify the areas in which residential, industrial, recreational or commercial activities may take place. For example, an R-1 residential zone might allow only single-family detached homes as opposed to duplexes or apartment complexes. On the other hand, a C-1 commercial zone might be zoned to permit only certain commercial or industrial uses in one jurisdiction, but permit a mix of housing and businesses in another jurisdiction.
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Decorating Your Rented Home

August 25th 2006 00:34
Yesterday we looked at some ideas to help personalize your rented accommodation. One thing that really bugs me about renting is that you are limited with what you can do with your property. However, with non permanent fixtures your hands are not entirely tied. Sure knocking out some walls or renovating the backyard to add an entertainment area are totally out of the question. The key is to improvise and work with the features that you’ve got in your rental home. I’ve covered some wall and flooring solutions in the previous post.

When it comes to the garden using pot plants is a fantastic way of creating the garden you want without ripping your landlord’s garden to shreds. Use planters or buy some pots from a local nursery or garden centre. That way you can take your plants with you should you decide to change places or move the pots around depending on the seasons and your plants needs. The potted plants don’t need to be confined to the outdoors, bring some indoor plants into your living areas to bring a bit of greenery to your internal surrounds. Be sure to have a solid base to collect grit and water rather than damaging the internal floor surfaces.
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Decorating Your Rented Home

August 24th 2006 00:01
One thing that really annoys me about renting is that it is difficult to personalize the property I’m living in. Making permanent changes is impossible without making arrangements with the landlord. If your proposed changes are too expensive or not going to significantly add to the value of the property… forget it. Any personalisations are restricted to non-permanent fixtures. This can be frustrating if the colour of the walls clash with your furniture or worse make you skin crawl. Nevertheless, there are several touches that you can add to dramatically modify the mood of a room and make things fit relatively well. A good place to start is with some wall coverings.

If you want to stay on the cheap side get a few posters which you can generally pick up for around $10 or less each and fix them to the walls. BlueTac generally won’t leave a mark on the wall although you should check a conspicuous spot for staining and marking before you start plastering your walls. The generic adhesives tend to have a greater chance of leaving a mark. 3M also sells a range of non-permanent and marking wall adhesives including picture hooks. These hooks are particularly handy for adding small mirrors and framed photos or pictures to the wall.
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Boost the Selling Price of Your House

August 23rd 2006 00:04
This is a follow up to yesterday’s post with some more information for people wanting to boost the selling price of their newly listed real estate.

3. Spring Clean. If you are moving from your property there has never been a better excuse for de-cluttering and removing any unwanted keepsake items that you’ve stored. If it’s broken and has been lying around un-used you can assume its junk. This goes for old bicycles and assorted items that finds a home in the outdoor shed. Cupboards and draws tend to be a haven for old magazines, malfunctioning Discmans, old cameras and superseded mobile phone chargers. You’ve got two options. Take the old junk to the tip or have a garage sale.
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Boost the Price of Your House

August 22nd 2006 00:42
When it comes time to sell, these are a few tips to help increase the sales potential and return on your house.

1. Clean! It sounds pretty obvious but it is surprising how much of a pigsty people will leave their houses in when it comes time for an open inspection. Property developers and savvy investors may be able to see past the clutter. They’ll look for the potential in a property rather than getting hung up on some grimy bathroom tiles. However, the whole ethos behind boosting the selling price of your property is to generate a bidding market. The more people that are interested in your property, the more competition come selling day.
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Before you Buy a Property

August 21st 2006 00:10
These are a couple tips and ideas you should consider before you purchase a property.


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First Home Owners Grant

August 18th 2006 00:03
As a part of the intergovernmental Agreement, the First Home Owners Scheme was established in each State and Territory in Australia, effective July 1st 2000. The purpose of the First Home Owners Grant was to counter the impact of the GST on first home buyers. It provides a financial incentive for new home owners to invest the local real estate market and provides assistance for the initial establishment costs of buying a residential property.

The scheme comprises a one time grant to first time Australian home buyers of $7,000. This is a completely no strings attached grant. No fees are repayments are invoked. Basically if you’re a new home buyer the First Home Owners Grant is a spare $7,000 in the back pocket to either increase your lending leverage, reinvest into the property or blow on the pokies.
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Cliff Side Housing

August 17th 2006 00:52
I found this amzing article which I thought I'd share from Gizmag. It is about a new concept housing development which is built adjacent to a cliff face. This enables unhindered and amazing views of the waterfront usually only observed during trips to oceanfront scenic lookouts. The design revolves around the spectacular views and living quartered as arranged to maximise exposure to the unsual location. This is a link to the article.


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Top Ten Tips for New Property Investors 2/2

August 16th 2006 00:42
This is the second half of the property investment tips for new investors. Yesterday we covered five great tips for those wanting to get started in the property investment market. Today we’ll be looking at five more hot tips to follow for successful investing.

6) When it comes to the financial and tax management side of owning investment property it is always a good idea to seek professional advice from an independent financial advisor. They will be able to direct you in ways of using your investment to maximize returns and minimize personal taxes. The benefits of investment properties and the variety of ways to structure their ownership varies depending on age, income levels and personal situation.
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Top Ten Tips for New Property Investors 1/2

August 15th 2006 00:40
Getting into the real estate and property investment game can be daunting at the best of times. These are the ten top tips for those that are new to property investing. We’ll cover five today and five tomorrow.

1) Educate yourself. Keep up to date with any real estate trends and take note of any significant changes in the market. Read up on the market from a variety of sources. The real estate section of your paper is a good starting point. Regularly check up on sale and auction values posted in state based newspapers. Several papers will usually post auction and sales results in the Sunday paper. Check to see what the prices are doing in your area that way you’ll have a broad term idea of what is going on in your investment area.
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Sale by Private Bid

August 14th 2006 00:35
A sale by private bid is similar to all the methods of sale considered thus far. The process starts like a sale by negotiation. The property is advertised on the market with a guiding price range. Buyers inspect the property and consider the price range the seller is advertising for. If they buyer is interested in purchasing the property they are required to submit a private bid registration form and lodge it with the real estate agent. The buyer lists an offer for the property with their registration. There is a posted cut off date and time when the private bid registrations of interests must be lodged by. After the private bid cut off time has been passed, interested buyers are contacted by the estate agent to be informed that their offer is being considered by the seller.

The real estate agent will confirm the bid posted by the buyer and will be invited to increase their offer. The real estate agent compiles all the relevant bids and best offers are confirmed and presented to the seller for consideration.
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Sale by Private Negotiation

August 11th 2006 00:11
This method of sale is similar to selling by Private Treaty in that the property is offered to the market and buyers with an interest in your property are encouraged to make an offer and negotiate. The difference between a sale by Private Treaty and a sale by Private Negotiation is that rather than offering a fixed selling price a range or price guide is advertised for the property. The sales advertisement will normally be listed as a ‘sale by negotiation – offers around $X’ or ‘to suit $X buyers.’


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Sale by Private Treaty

August 10th 2006 00:48
Despite some of the advantages of selling your property by a public auction, for some a private sale arrangement is far less stressful. A private sale is also referred to as a private treaty sale. A private sale involves the seller setting a fixed price for the sale of their property. The property is advertised on the property market at that specific price and buyers interesting in the property can either offer a lower price or the expected price for the property. The seller can bargain with the buyers offer if it does not meet the expected advertised selling price.
There are several advantages with selling your property by private sale.

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Benefits of an Auction

August 9th 2006 00:53
Public auctions are becoming a popular method of sale with property sellers in Australia as it creates a situation where buyers have to compete with other buyers, rather than competing directly with the seller. For a seller, the public auction seems like a win-win situation. The property cannot be sold unless it reaches the reserve price, however it can be sold for well above the reserve price. There is no firm upper limit that is set in the seller and buyer’s valuation. The bidding process is beneficial to the seller as it,

1) Draws attention to the profile of your home with a targeted, intensive advertising campaign. A ending auction creates and aire of excitement and urgency for interested buyers. There’s a fixed time frame within which they have to make decisions about financial and whether they are 100% happy with the property. In a private sale that intensity is lost. Buyers tend to feel like they have more of the balance of power and there is more scope to bargain and hold off on closing a sale.
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Auctions and Fixed Price Sales

August 8th 2006 00:51
One of the key decisions any property seller has to make is how they are going to trade their property on the market. Will they follow a fixed price or opt for an auction method of sale. There are benefits and disadvantages to both forms of trade. The next few posts are going to look at some of the pros, cons and issues with selling your property either at auction or listing it at a fixed price.

Whether you are a buyer of a seller auctions can be a daunting experience for novices and may not be the best option for everyone. Despite this, they are fast becoming the most popular way of trading property. Before you decide to buy or sell a property at auction it is a good idea to get in a bit of experience and visit a few auctions. This will help you become familiar with the auctioning process and comfortable with the surrounds.
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2005 Australian Architecture Award Winner

August 7th 2006 00:49
The 2005 national architecture award winners have been announced. The RAIA National Architecture Awards have been held annually since 1981. These Awards are the most prestigious in the design and construction industry, and have had a significant influence on trends in architectural design.

In judging the projects, the overall quality of the work is considered. Issues include:
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Home Price Guides

August 4th 2006 00:36
The Home Price Guide is an online service that provides comprehensive residential property information for home buyers, sellers and investors. For more than 12 years, Home Price Guide® has been Australia's leading source of reports for property prices (house prices and unit prices) and auction results in Australia. Home Price Guide® provides the most up-to-the-minute and detailed property sales information on line for Australia's homebuyers, sellers, owners, investors and real estate professionals.

Home Price Guide® covers property prices in all states and territories in mainland Australia, New South Wales (NSW), Victoria (Vic), Queensland (Qld), South Australia (SA), Western Australia (WA), Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Northern Territory (NT) and Tasmania (TAS). The Home Price Guide® is a terrific resource for finding the latest house prices, unit prices and auction results all around Australia.
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Medical Check-Ups in your Bathroom

August 3rd 2006 00:25
Crazy stuff from Japan. Two companies from Japan, Yamato House and TOTO have recently released an innovative new bathroom design which is programmed to be an ongoing monitor of the health of family members. The bathroom of the future has been named the “intelligent rest room.” Go about your daily business in the bathroom and behind the scene your vital signs are being recorded. Urine sugar levels, blood pressure, body fat percentage and body weight are all recorded and collated for different family members. The theory is that the data is all collected at the same time every day. This way it becomes a routine and your overall health and any changes in vitals can be recorded over a long period of time.

The data is all collected and sent to a home network which the shows the history and trends of your ongoing results. Part of the package is a diagnostics program that will help detect health problems, keep track of changes and provide advice for healthier living such as exercise or dietary recommendations. It is like having a daily check up and the services of your doctor available 24/7.
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Digital Interiors

August 2nd 2006 00:06
Digital imaging has advanced to a stage where interior designers can utilize the technology to create some amazing feature spaces. At first, wall murals were introduced. These involved producing a digital image of a landscape and applying it to a feature wall as a wallpaper. These wallpapers were originally used for the commercial world to plaster company successes onto foyer walls. Interior designers jumped onto the idea and now a home owner can readily purchase pre-made digital images of tropical beaches, mountain ranges, lakes or busy cities. Alternatively, you can get a custom made wallpaper reproduced from a favourite photo or image.


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Radical Apartment Block for New York

August 1st 2006 00:55
I just realized that I haven’t used the word ‘radical’ since my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle days. How retro.

Anyway, this new apartment block to be built in New York is truly cool looking.
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