OT. Real estate Market very dismal at the moment!.

LOL

It is a buyers market at the moment, although you wouldn't think so up here they are still bloody expensive.

Cheers Kev

Good on Ya Axle, hang in there.
The Govt has just increased the first home owners grant to $14,000 for established homes and $21,000 for new homes. This expected to boost the market. Even if your home is out of reach of first home buyers it will still flow through eventually as the people who may upgarde to yours may sell thir current home to a first home buyer etc. With interest rates coming down possible 2 more times (Nov and Dec) I would sit tight as I think the market will get a kick start pretty soon. We also have a house to sell but are going to wait about another month before listing it as I want to give the market time to gain a bit of momemtum.
Hope you get a sale...
Cheers,
Glen

Evening Axle

The housing market started to go pearshaped at the beginning of the year. In February we were selling MIL's house on the Gold Coast and the median price for that type of dwelling was around 430K. We decided to go for auction as there were only three or 4 listings week with the Real Estate company we were using. Within a month the listings went to 20 a week as the Sub-Prime debacle in the USofA was just coming to the fore. Two days before auction we had an offer of 395K and decided(very wisely in hindsight) to take it. We needed some of the money for something else and figured that we should be able to recoup what we would have lost in interest on the balance over two years. Now it may be three or four years but nevertheless, we are way out in front.

Maybe you should just put it all on hold unless you have made a committment elsewhere and need to sell.

Good Luck

Cheers

Going to get a lot worse for housing in this country we are only just scratching the surface of a very rocky road ahead.

Just finished a report by Dr Shane Oliver here is an extract of what he says FYI.


House prices – Falling interest rates and increased first home
buyer grants are great news for home owners and home buyers. However, over the next six months they are likely to be more than offset by the negative impact of rising unemployment. As such, with Australian house prices running about 20% overvalued, we remain of the view that house prices will fall by 10% or so over the year ahead.

Dr Shane Oliver
Head of Investment Strategy and Chief Economist
AMP Capital Investors

If you really want to sell you are probabally stuffed

heres my lifes experience
when I moved to kalgoorlie in 97 houses cost way more than in perth for iron fibro shacks. the great gold depression hit and everyone that paid wayyyy to much for a house couldnt accept the fact it had 1/2 ed in value so for a while no houses sold because overnight they were wayyyy overpriced. Eventually people accepted they had to sell for what people would pay.

At this stage i bought a house because they were so cheap.

For a few years it gained no value - maybe dropped some.
when i sold it had put on some and was worth more than it ever was. 2 years later the market had doubled in vlaue

moral of the story
---- You can spit chips at the agent but your house will only ever be worth what someone will pay acording to the market. if you dont like it- rent it out and hope it will increase to what you want .

Ive bought at the bottom of a market where an agent will openly hint at a base price they think will get accepted. And ive bought at the top of a market where an agent wont even show you a house - just tell you to put your best bid in or miss out

do not kid yourself it doesnt work like that

Had a yarn in the pub last night with a financial guru, public servant
from Toytown (Canberra) on this very subject. He wasnt very
cheerful, predicting a slump in housing values of 40%, before any
upturn happens, & not inside 3 years. He said many of his colleagues who own rental properties in Canberra & had 50% or
more equity were selling them now to clear their morgages. The
cry over there is "get out of debt". Not much help to those with a 3 year old morgage & a house that is dropping in value & wont
cover the debt. This bloke reckons we are no where near the worst of it yet.....bloody cheerful......Rudd didnt give me a cent.
no kids......no pension.....not buying a house.......but I think I maybe
among the luckier ones.......stay out of debt & tighten your belt
was the advice given........oldbaz.

Well hopefully we have beaten the odds.

We got a contract on our house on Black Friday for $30,000 less the the asking price ( mid to high 7,s).
Just waiting for good inspections.

We are quite happy as it has been on the market for a while so now its into the van and off we go.

After 25 years of buying and selling numerous houses (residential, we're not investors), they only fail to sell for one reason: they're overpriced.

The Vendor may have a fanciful idea of what their dwelling is worth, but the market will dictate its real value.

If you sell in an inflated market, you pay a similalrly inflated price for the next house and vice-versa.

No idea where you live Axle, and how the property market is there.

Good Luck, but putting the price up on something that hasn't sold won't usually induce interest.

Cheers,

Jim.

I did a rezone and subdivision - and it tok 7 years to do.

No way to know that far ahead what the market will be.

You just take your chances!

Having got out before the bust - then seen the stooppid oincreases to double the market inside 12 months we elected to stay out of the market.

Wouldn't consider getting back in till prices halve back to near reasonable.

The world markets (people like me who can choose to jump or not) have spoken - no confidence in banks real estate or the share market - hence the collpase.

I'll buy real estate again - at the bottom of the market, when it suits me and I'm getting value at the right interest rate.

People who didn';t sell at the top of the market - and think they can wait till prioces come back up to what they COULD have got but didn't 12 months ago, are kidding themselves.

Theres been a few twists and turns...

1920's to 1930's great depression
1987 stockmarket crash
2008 Crash.

For a lot of people, these events are once in a lifetime events..my mothers generation for eg - in the 30's she was born hence too young to buy in at the bottomof the market - her father however (now dead) bought a new 2 Bdrm Double brick and tile on half acre for 50 pounds (5 weeks wages or the equivalent today of say 5 grand).

Back to mum - in the late 80's she'd paid off her mortgage and the crash / return was too quick to take advantage of, this time in the 2008 she's in her late 70's and too old to take any advantage.

So,

If your thinking to wait for the NEXT boom time - it MIGHT come once in your lifetime of your lucky at a period when you have the ability to take advantage of it!

Thats a long time to wait to regain the equity thats been lost in the last 12 months.

Investorsin the market know these things - they (like me) will wait it out and pick off those who are in too deep, upside down in their loans etc.

First house I bought back in 87 the guy had a 1st and 2nd mortgage and 2 caveats over the property.

It was a nice double brick 4 x 2 only a few years old and got it for $50K.

I think a LOT of people got carried away with the rediculous equity they suddenly found themselves wth in their homes due to poor economic management and they are going to face some tough times if they budgetted to borrow against that equity.

Debt Free and liquid is the way to take advantage of the times ahead.

Cheers

In all honesty I believe that the scrapping or reduction of negative gearing for property investors needs to occur to bring the cost of housing down to a reasonable level for a greater percentage of people.

Now there's a thought that will polarise opinions. Those that believe that investing in property should provide the same incentives as investing in shares, and those that believe that property investors shouldnt be given an unfair tax advantage to compete with potential owner/occupiers.