Originally Posted by blue_hotel (Post 10526298)

The ONLY thing I think I have done well at in Aus in my twelve years here is property.

I came here with $12000 - my life savings - and since then haven't looked back even though I don't actually like Australia all that much, there are some great opportunities in my view. In the last 12 months, for example, Whyalla is up 11%, Emerald is up 14% and Ceduna is up 8%. I sold a house at Emerald this year and did well out of it. I sold because the price I could get was high and the economy wasn't mixed enough to allow me not to worry. Last year, I bought three blocks of land in Ceduna (about $42K each) and put a big deposit (20%) down on a house in Whyalla, where currently, the rent more than covers the mortgage. I currently own nine houses and 5 blocks of land all over the place. I'd like to buy two more houses but my wife won't let me:eek:

If you look around, do some research (actually, a lot of research) and take a look at regional towns with mixed economies, there are some great opportunities out there. Then, you have to pay what you think a place is worth and not a cent more and hold for at least 5 years, preferably longer and try to pay down the principle loan amount as much as you can during that time - that is also an important part of my strategy - I try to leverage down rather than up (might not be the most tax efficient thing to do, but debt worries me).

Ultimately, it's always a gamble and everyone has their own strategy. Mine is to aim to live in Europe within 2 years and work 6 months here and take the summers off at least for the next ten or so years until I stop working.

Not everyone is in a position to do this and I agree that this is a strange and even stressful time to be a property investor, but I quite enjoy it and I do well - not as well as some, but pretty good. And, I have only ever bought one property in a state capital city in Australia - a unit in Sutherland, NSW and made about 30% profit after costs in five years, which wasn't that great but not that bad either. Other mistakes have been Bellingen and Ocean Shores. I have made a small profit on paper in Bellingen and a paper loss in Ocean Shores. I still own both but am going to sell them this year, hopefully.

Anyway, bottom line, it won't make me rich, but it should, I pray, allow me to semi retire in my early 50's, fully retire in my early 60's and continue to provide me with a passive income for the rest of my life and let me travel a bit and never worry about bills.

As an aside, when it comes to strategies, I recently chatted with a colleague who bought (borrowed heavily and more than I would have the guts to) ten houses, sold 5 when they doubled, used the profits to pay off most of what he owed on the other five which was giving him a good passive rental income and enough to retire at 55 which he will do next year when he has paid the last $100K off. I thought about that - talk about a simple easy project admittedly very ballsy - and where I would invest if I did the same thing (which I won't and do not recommend as I am not an expert and in fact do not know anything about these things). I came up with the following list of 12 to pick 10 from:
Broken Hill, Mildura, Whyalla, Ceduna, Katherine, Tenant Creek, Townsville, Toowoomba, Port Augusta, Ipswich, Port Lincoln, Albany.
I think in these areas, which have good economies going forwards, on a 20% deposit paying an average house price in an average neighbourhood, an average rental would cover most of the costs (someone would need $600K upfront approx to do this plus a lot of time!!). There would also have to be an ability to pay off a grand a week off the principal as well in my view.

Anyway, if I'd listened to the ABC or believed what I read in the papers ten years ago (well actually, I did believe it for a while and then stopped) I'd be a whole lot poorer than I am now.

Originally Posted by big_matt (Post 10526823)

Is there any point to this post, apart from telling everyone how much money you've made and how many properties you own?

Maybe spare a thought for the young people who will perhaps never own a single home before showing off about how much money all your properties bring in and how early you can retire from it.

The sooner houses go back to being homes rather than financial vehicles the better as far as I'm concerned.

Originally Posted by big_matt (Post 10526823)

Is there any point to this post, apart from telling everyone how much money you've made and how many properties you own?

Maybe spare a thought for the young people who will perhaps never own a single home before showing off about how much money all your properties bring in and how early you can retire from it.

The sooner houses go back to being homes rather than financial vehicles the better as far as I'm concerned.

Originally Posted by blue_hotel (Post 10527180)

The point was to counter what was being said at the start of the thread, which was all doom and gloom for property. I do not think it is if you look around. The other point I was trying to make is that pretty much anyone can do it if they want to and the younger they start the better. And you do not need much money to start. A house in Mildura costs about $220K. Put thirty grand down and the rent covers the rest. Even someone as bitter sounding as you might be able to comprehend that if you spat the sour tasting grapes out of your mouth.
Houses and property have always been financial vehicles. It has never been any different. Or do you think we should all live in council houses provided and subsidised by the state? Actually, I do, but it isn't going to happen, just like superannuation is always going to be a huge rip off.

Originally Posted by sign (Post 10526499)

where there is a winner, there is a loser, someones child loses at you expense he or she has to borrow more to support your win, he or she suffers so do his or hers parents, debt ain;t good but it ain't your fault the sytem is kiilin the young. just glad i am old, too many asset rich old folk, the kids ain't gotta a chance.

Originally Posted by blue_hotel (Post 10527180)

Houses and property have always been financial vehicles. It has never been any different.

Originally Posted by pomikev (Post 10527642)

Bullsh#t, Traditionally for hundreds of years maybe thousands of years a house was worth the cost of the original materials less depreciation, to maintain a properties original value it had to be maintained and repaired, the concept of making a profit out of a place of abode is a totally new invention of capitalistic greed, selfish laziness and social irresponsibility.

The attitude of "I'm alright jack **** everyone else" is totally abhorrent and the reason the world is in such disarray.

Originally Posted by Kim67 (Post 10527646)

So what about the land it's built on?

Originally Posted by ozzieeagle (Post 10527648)

I've always been told a house is worth stuff all and only depreciates.... It's the land that goes up in value. Not sure how anyone can get past that one. Sit long enough and you'll always .... Always come out in front.... Even in Detroit ....

Originally Posted by geordiebloke (Post 10527650)

How does that work for apartments then?

Originally Posted by ozzieeagle (Post 10527651)

They still have SQ MTR Location value.... Which equates to land.

.

Originally Posted by pomikev (Post 10527721)

The older I get the more I have started to see through all that materialism and started to value the immediate moment of felt experience instead of gazing with regret at the past or standing on tiptoes staring over the wall into the future and projecting unnecessary worry and anxiety into that space.

Instead of seeing life as some competition to see who can grab hold of the most objects and possessions in an attempt to feel secure I am starting to see life as more of a dance, and the point of a dance is not to arrive at a certain spot on the dance floor at the end, the point is the dance itself.

One thing I have learnt as I have gotten older is "Nothing Lasts" not your friends, not your enemies, not your fortune, not you loves not even your dear dear self, all things change, everything ends, degrades, morphs into something else, evaporates.

so the point for me has changed from "what can I get to make things secure forever" to "what do I really want to be doing today that will give me joy right now".

Hope this makes sense, and thank you for listening to the eccentric ramblings of an old ex-pat schoolboy who still wishes he was playing conkers and making bows and arrows in the fields and lanes of the old Devon countryside of long ago.

Capitalism was a big con in my opinion, it failed to deliver the things they promised it would and I have seen through a lot of the doctrine as the shell game that it is.

Love you all.

Originally Posted by big_matt (Post 10526823)

The sooner houses go back to being homes rather than financial vehicles the better as far as I'm concerned.

Originally Posted by Zen10 (Post 10527809)

+1. It's a form of parasitism that has done more damage to Western liberal democracy than Hitler.