I believe they're called "Hoons"?
 

Well, arrived on schedule last Sunday week and picked up the ordered car next day. Insurance I got via the dealer to avoid the hassle - though his insurer quoted very much the same as I had got on the internet.

The driving here (Sydney Northern Beaches) is much worse than I remember in the past - perhaps it's something to do with the fact it's my own new car and not some hired hack but it sets your teeth on edge every few hundred yards (metres to you.)

I suppose the fact that the average age in Oz is so much lower than the UK and that inexperienced drivers are more aggressive and unthinking is the answer but make sure you have insurance, people!

Went out house hunting today: peculiar system - open house on each only for around 45 minutes on a Saturday - how one is supposed to visit more than one or two is beyond me! We did manage four out of a list of twenty but I can see the next year or two disappearing quite quickly in rental accommodation!

Weather beaut though - very dry, deep blue skies and no worries....

Re: I believe they're called "Hoons"?
 

Welcome to the new country Rog ;)

Few more weeks in the new car and you won't even notice the hoons. Mebbe you'll become one too :D

Re: I believe they're called "Hoons"?
 

Welcome to our neck of the woods Rog. Take your time to choose your house, the prices are pretty good at the moment!

Anyway, if you see a bad driver in a white calais, it could be me, but I'm too old to be a hoon!

Re: I believe they're called "Hoons"?
 

At least the drivers have exceptional reactions here - 90% of them can drive a couple of feet behind you so I suppose they MUST have!

No real rush to get a house: prices are over the top and I suspect there is resistance at these levels. Last week's auctions clearance was around 50%, that was up on the previous few months but it doesn't spell panic buying to me.

With the general levels of salary that folk have talked about here, I think that many of the expensive properties are only selling because people are able to trade up - and this must rely on first timers at the lower end of the market. And that must depend on interest rates, which everyone seems to see creeping upwards over the next year or so.

But who knows!

Re: I believe they're called "Hoons"?
 

Rog,

I'm not sure whether you can do this in Sydney; but down here in Melbourne we saw most (nearly all) of the potential properties by going around with the agent rather than using open house.

We did go to one open house and we also went to an auction just to see what happens. It was bizarre to see the Agent outbidding the only bidder everytime and then complaining that not enough people had made bids! :confused:

Best wishes for the future.
Alistair

Re: I believe they're called "Hoons"?
 

Rog I thnk you right about the bottom of the market being stuck. I am talking as a first time buyer priced out of the market. Anything below 500,000 is out of the question for most people in my situation but those houses are not available except in some souless suburban hellhole full of Ned Flanders with no public transport.

Anything over 600,000 seems to struggle to sell and sellers are often dropping prices by 100,000. The agents will open non tennanted houses at other times. Something else rediculous is the sellers tax Bob Carr had imposed on investment property sellers. Instead of opening the market it has probably stopped the very people who have hiked the prices from selling.

Some are trying to get the buyer to pay the sellers tax but anecdotal evidence in the SMH indicates that is pissing off buyers who then negotiate a price by a margin bigger than the sellers tax.

Interest rates will whack some sense into the market but there are mixed signals there. Maybe the RBA will have a nice Xmas present for all.