http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/ onthehouse.com.au - Latest Property and Real Estate News and Gossip http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=191 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=191 Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST We all dream of making major renovations to our house: adding a deck, putting in a pool, totally revamping the kitchen. We then dream of the big price we’re going to get for the house when we wow prospective buyers with our makeover. But what’s often forgotten is that it’s the really simple things that can add significant value to your house in a cost-effective way. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=190 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=190 Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST Brett’s is a typical neighbour dispute. Whenever Brett’s next door neighbour goes out for a big night her dogs bark until she gets home. Brett (not his real name) is kept awake for most of the night. He’s furious. So he wakes early and cranks up his lawn mower. He knows that after a big night the noise must be hell for her – but it’s his form of revenge. Disputes like Brett’s are common and create a toxic neighbourhood environment. Our homes are meant to be sanctuaries – but a fight with a neighbour can make you feel under siege. “As someone said to me, ‘you’d be extremely lucky to have gone through life without having one bad neighbour’,” said Natasha Mann, Director of NSW’s Community Justice Centres, which mediates and resolves neighbour disputes. Neighbour disputes are becoming more frequent and intense as people live closer together. “We’re all living on top of each other these days,” Mann said. “Living in high-density housing definitely has an impact. It certainly is influencing disputes and dispute types. Living in those sorts of conditions we do need to be a lot more considerate of each other than we had been previously.” http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=189 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=189 Wed, 14 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST Interest rates have gone up again. They look like going up further. So it’s time for home owners to tighten their belts to meet mortgage repayments. The thought might terrify many – we’ve all tried budgets and they don’t work. So how do you make a plan to cut household spending and actually stick to it? There are a few keys to making your money saving efforts successful: http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=188 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=188 Thu, 1 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST Australians spend billions on home renovations each year. Many do it purely for the love of making their old home brand spanking new. But most of us would like to think that spending hard-earned cash on home renovations makes us wealthier – that our home’s value will increase more than our renovation costs. But will that be true? The issue splits property experts. Some say there’s no way you’ll get back your money on home renovations. Others say home renos are an easy path to big jumps in wealth. The reality is somewhere in between: making money from your home renovation really depends on how you go about it.  “They (renovations) can add value, but it doesn’t automatically follow,” said David Hallett, Victorian State Manager of building advisory service Archicentre. There’s no doubt that now is a good time to renovate: the winding back of the first home buyers grant has freed up trades people. The big costs incurred when you buy and sell your home, including stamp duty and moving costs, can all add up to $50,000 in some states. Why not spend that instead on upgrading your existing home? http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=187 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=187 Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST Many Australians dream of becoming a millionaire and living a life free of financial worries.One of the most popular paths to millionaire status is through property.Most of the Australia’s richest either made their fortunes in real estate or invest their wealth in property.They’re attracted to property for a number of reasons: strong growth potential, the ability to use other people’s money (leverage), the ability to add value, and Australians’ insatiable appetite for homes.Becoming a property millionaire isn’t a fantasy. It is a goal reached by real, ordinary Australians all the time.How do they do it?The path to being a property millionaire requires hard work. But the process is simple.Here are the five steps you need to take to build a million-dollar property portfolio.1. Find your niche What aspect of property do you enjoy most? What are you passionate about? If you focus on an area you love you’re much more likely to be successful. All the successful property operators have a niche: Harry Triguboff, for example, focuses on apartments through Meriton. A niche means you become at expert at one part of the real estate game, gaining a much-needed competitive advantage.  What will your niche be? It could be renovating disaster houses, buying bargains, building new units or homes, or building a portfolio of cash-flow positive rental properties. 2. Save Many say becoming a property millionaire is easy – even if you don’t have money. But most millionaires began by saving hard-earned cash. Saving gives you a deposit and enough to cover the costs of your first deal. The discipline of saving also helps you develop good money habits. 3. Start small All property millionaires started somewhere – usually with one small deal. They took action – starting small launches you on the road to becoming a millionaire. It also allows you to learn, and perhaps make a few mistakes, without getting yourself into too much trouble.4. Add value Many property millionaires have simply bought and held on, riding the overall gains in the property market. That requires luck – you can’t control what the market is doing. What if you want a more certain path? Your best bet is to add value to properties. The goal is to make your property more valuable. Adding value may be as simple as tidying up and painting a rental house, or as complex as fixing up major structural flaws in a house. When you add value you build equity in the house which can then be used to fund more property purchases.5. Use other people’s money (leverage) One of main reasons people become rich through property is using other people’s money – the use of debt. Leverage increases investment returns – significantly accelerating wealth building. Say you buy a $100,000 property and put up a deposit of $50,000, borrowing the rest. If the property rises by 20 per cent you’ve made $20,000 – a 40 per cent return on your $50,000 deposit. That’s nice, but not amazing.But say you bought the $100,000 house, and put up just $10,000 of your own money. This time you’ll have to borrow $90,000 – significantly more leverage. If the property rises by 20 per cent, you’ve also made $20,000. But the return on your investment of $10,000 is a massive 200 per cent. Those types of returns are the quick way to wealth.Using other people’s money means you can do more and bigger deals.   Do your research!  onthehouse.com.au offers property sales data for you to do your property research. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=186 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=186 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST Most home owners and investors are chasing one thing: explosive capital growth. One key to getting it is your area’s overall sales performance. Some locations and suburbs surge ahead of others and deliver amazing price gains. They’re called property ‘hotspots’. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=185 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=185 Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST Home buyers are being urged to enter the Sydney market now with prices expected to surge further in the remainder of the year after better-than-expected gains at the start of the 2010 driven by explosive rises in the Inner West, Eastern Suburbs and Lower North Shore.   Henry Wilkinson, principal of Sydney-based buyers agent and property consultant Homesearch Solutions, says people should be buying now, rather than waiting. “We’re advising our clients to buy early this year rather than later,” he said. “We’re just seeing no sign of any change – unless there’s some world economic difficulty that comes from left of field. If fundamentals stay the way they are we’re expecting a very strong year in growth of greater than 10 per cent.” http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=184 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=184 Thu, 4 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST Australians are rekindling their love affair with beach property with coastal areas along the nation’s Eastern Seaboard experiencing strong price recoveries. Beach areas were hard hit during the global financial crisis, but buyers are flocking back into the market with industry players predicting further strong gains throughout 2010. According to an analysis of REX data, house prices gains in major coastal areas such as the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Tweed and Port Macquarie are accelerating. “There are more buyers than stock at the moment,” said Michael Knights, sales associate at RE/MAX Property Associates in Mooloolaba on Queensland’s Sunshine State. He says the market – particularly for houses below $1 million – is being driven by second, third and fourth home buyers; and over-fifties looking to cash up and downsize and move to the coast for lifestyle. “They’re selling big properties to buy smaller ones; they’re definitely back in the market. Buyers are coming from all over Australia.” http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=183 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=183 Tue, 2 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to raise official interest rates today, by another quarter per cent to 4 per cent.One of its major concerns is a possible outbreak of inflation – a general rise in the price of goods and services – as the Australian economy continues to recover. Higher-than-expected inflation can destroy wealth as it makes the money we have worth less. Many financial experts recommend taking out some protection against inflation. Assets such as gold have traditionally been seen as hedges – as has property. Conventional wisdom is that house prices will always go up more than inflation – providing an inbuilt hedge. But is that true? http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=182 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=182 Thu, 3 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST There was a time, say ten years ago, when you couldn’t go to a dinner party without having to hear somebody’s renovation stories. Tedious discussions about the 27 shades of green they’d been through before finally choosing the ‘Eucalypt Heritage’.  Anecdotes about how the simple wall ‘knock-through’ became an open-plan kitchen/living/dining area after half the house collapsed. During the property boom, these stories were replaced with endless discussion about the next ‘big’ suburb. People no longer ‘went up’, they simply sold up and moved on. Well, guess what, renovating is back in fashion! http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=181 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=181 Wed, 2 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST Population experts tell us more people are living on their own, yet our houses are expanding faster than the waistline of fast-food devotees. New research shows new houses built in Australia are now the largest in the world, beating even the Americans. Data commissioned by CommSec shows the Australian house has grown on average by 10 per cent in the past decade to 214sqm - or three times the size of the average British house. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=180 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=180 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST Like flowers after the rain, interest rate rises are inevitably followed by newspaper stories filled with the woebegone faces of the mortgagees who are calculating how much rising rates will hurt the hip pocket. The last rate rise was estimated to add around $40 a month to the average $300,000 mortgage. That’s $10 a week. Which adds up to mortgage stress for some. But not all of us. ‘Mortgage stress’ is the term we use to cover the unpleasant reality of what happens when people struggle to meet their home loan payments. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=178 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=178 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST A federal government investigation warns that up to 62,000 NSW coastal homes could be devastated by flooding if climate change predictions come to fruition. Homes in the Lake Macquarie, Wyong, Gosford, Wollongong, and Shoalhaven areas, along with the Rockdale council area of Sydney, would be most at risk. The ‘worst-case scenario’ report envisions a cataclysmic combination of sea levels that have been increased 1.1 metres by rising global temperatures meeting a ‘perfect storm’ – a powerful east coast low-pressure system. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=179 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=179 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST Need inspiration for a home makeover? Perhaps you should be checking out the next hotel you visit. No, really. Far from the nameless, faceless, beige fests of the past, today’s hippest hotels ooze personality and lust-worthy style. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=177 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=177 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST On the subject of luxury real estate – but this time with a difference – it seems that trailers are no longer trashy. The first luxury Airstream trailer park has been established on the roof of the Grand Daddy Hotel in Capetown, SA… making each trailer effectively a penthouse. Each of the seven trailers (oh, let’s be real and call them caravans, folks) is lavishly decorated in a different theme and situated around a rooftop bar. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=176 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=176 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST The New York Post reports that Nicolas Cage’s property portfolio is disappearing like a house of cards. Two New Orleans properties (including the six bedroom Garden District mansion pictured) were auctioned off recently after a local lender foreclosed for unpaid mortgage debts, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. The actor has another ten luxury properties around the world – including two castles in Europe and a private island in the Bahamas – all up for sale. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=175 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=175 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST It will come as no surprise to potential tenants to find that demand still far exceeds supply in Sydney’s rental market. The NSW Real Estate Institute reports that the available rental vacancy rate for October remained at 1.3%. There has been no increase in the vacancy rate for Sydney’s inner suburbs since July, despite increased numbers of investors in the property market. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=170 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=170 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST The recession has passed, the emergency is over and the good times are rolling again.Or that’s the official Reserve Bank line anyway, as they raised interest rates by 0.25 per cent earlier this month. It was hard to tell whether the tabloids were more outraged by the rate rise or the fact that it occurred on Melbourne Cup Day. Has the RBA no compassion, no party spirit? Apparently not. In further disheartening news, they’re talking about the fact “that it is prudent to lessen gradually the degree of monetary stimulus that was put in place when the outlook appeared much weaker”. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=173 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=173 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST Retrofitting. It sounds like something you’d do to a vintage 80s frock to bring it into the noughties. Unfortunately, retrofitting a house isn’t quite as easy as taking up a hem. When you’re sitting in your west-facing, uninsulated, brick-and-tile box in the suburbs, it seems light years away from those ‘pavilion-style’ houses they feature in magazines, with their cross-ventilation, internal courtyard-pools and triple-glazed floor-to-ceiling windows. It may not be as far as you think.Organise a Home Sustainability Assessment at www.enactenergy.com.au and they’ll not only work out how you’re consuming water and energy now, but will make recommendations on how to make improvements at your house. Best of all, they’ll line you up for any and all the Government rebates and incentives to which you’re entitled. They’ll even help you fill in the paperwork.   http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=171 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=171 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST On the scale of international celebrity, Kim Kardashian probably rates somewhere around Iceland.You know, not that interesting unless there’s a meltdown. But, between being the daughter of OJ Simpson’s lawyer and being one of Paris Hilton’s best friend (possibly more because they have sex tapes in common than anything else), she’s also acquired a luxury apartment in West Hollywood – and it could be yours for the asking price of US$1,099,000. To save you looking, we bring you the best room in the house – a powder room of eye-popping design. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=172 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=172 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST So Greg Norman and Chris Evert have split after 15 months of marriage. Ho hum, old news. New news is that Norman has listed his Jupiter Island home in Florida, US, for US$60 million. Given that he held onto the 8.04 acre estate, with its dual waterfronts, throughout his marriage to Evert – and the glossips are citing this as one of the reasons for the split – it’s interesting timing. Maybe he just doesn’t need the garage space for 17 cars anymore?   http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=174 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=174 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST Australian Property Investor magazine reports that investors who buy an average house in Tasmania’s Clarence City, east of Hobart, for $178,000 are picking up Australia’s best property bargain. Number one on the magazine’s list of the country’s 100 Hottest Suburbs, Clarence City (including Clarendon Vale and Rokeby) is a ‘longterm hold’ area that, according to the report, will see significant growth in the next five to seven years.   http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=169 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=169 Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch have been the winning bidders of the French government's exclusive sale of Sydney's prestigious eastern suburbs estate, Le Manoir, paying $23 million for the prime piece of property. Situated close to the Packer compound in Bellevue Hill it is rumored that the young media lion Murdoch was able to fight off the Gladiator, Russel Crowe, who had been photographed inspecting the property.  A $50,000 refundable fee was required to be paid by all bidders for the privilege to submit a bid at auction. The Murdochs have been inspecting family friendly homes now that Sarah has announced the impending arrival of their third child.  http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=168 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=168 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST It’s an odds-on bet that more interest rate rises are coming our way on Melbourne Cup Day when the Reserve Bank Board meets again. And all those economists are betting on a series of quick and fast rate hikes, with some saying we may even see a half a per cent increase and another quarter per cent rise before Christmas. Darn. Back in the days of ancient Babylon they would have jubilee celebrations every 50 years, part of which involved the regular cancellation of debt. How nice would it be if the big banks would do the same thing? http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=167 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=167 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST This year’s strong housing market will continue into 2010, according to QBE Lenders’ Mortgage Insurance HOUSING OUTLOOK 2010 – 2012 report. The research, written by BIS Shrapnel, confirms that current low interest rates have alleviated the mortgage pressure on households, bringing housing affordability back to its most attractive level for almost a decade. Prices at the top end of the market have fallen more than average houses, giving home owners the opportunity to trade up to their next dwelling after selling their current house into the buoyant first home buyer market. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=165 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=165 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST Potential first home buyers may have only four weeks to get their property finance plans underway in order to qualify for the First Home Owner Boost of $10,500 for established properties, according to brokers Mortgage Choice. Even though the deadline for the grants is 31 December 2009, many lenders are pushing mortgage approval turnaround times to anywhere from one day to up to six weeks as well as creating tougher lending criteria.   “While processing times will vary between lenders, the next four weeks are crucial for many buyers wishing to receive the Federal government’s incentive,” says Mortgage Choice senior corporate affairs manager Kristy Sheppard. “Eligible borrowers need to ensure they have applied for finance at least six weeks prior to the First Home Owner Grant boost deadline, by mid November, to allow adequate time for loan processing and grant application. If not, they risk missing out on the extra money!”The majority of lenders require at least five percent of the purchase price to be built from genuine savings accumulated over at least three months - excluding any state or federal government grants. “Our mortgage brokers are explaining to first homeowners that not only do they need to have applied for finance well before the end of December, to be safe, they also need to meet stricter lending criteria,” Sheppard says.“Reputable mortgage brokers can help borrowers determine the requisite borrowing level for their desired property, how much they will be allowed to borrow, provide an estimate for loan repayment amounts and assist them through the property purchase process.   “As mortgage interest rates are expected to return to more ‘neutral’ levels of between seven to eight percent, first time buyers need to put the First Home Owner Boost aside and research their true limits - financially and emotionally - before taking on what is often the largest financial commitment many Australians will make. “   Do your research!  onthehouse.com.au offers property sales data for you to do your property research. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=166 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=166 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST The L.J. Hooker real estate franchise has been bought back by the grandson of the company’s founder, L. Janusz (LJ) Hooker, the grandson of the company’s founder, buying back the company from The Suncorp Corporation who have owned it since 1989.Sir Leslie Joseph Hooker opened the first LJ Hooker real estate agency in Maroubra, New South Wales, in 1928. “It was Sir Leslie who said ‘Real estate is not about houses, it is about people’,” said LJ Hooker Managing Director, Alan Lambert.  “Sir Leslie retired as LJ Hooker chairman in 1974 and was still active on the board until he died in 1976. The passing of control back to the Hooker family will be remembered as a milestone in this iconic Australian brand’s great history.  “LJ Hooker has come full circle, and I am proud that the family will once again be leading the company in this next chapter of what has been one of the great success stories of Australian business,” Mr Hooker said.   Do your research!  onthehouse.com.au offers property sales data for you to do your property research. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=164 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=164 Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST Rents have not barely risen at all in the last 12 months, as first home owners launched into the market and left renting behind. While the median asking rental prices for houses and units in Sydney and Perth continued to decline, a small rise occurred in Brisbane, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra.  “The overall rental growth of 1.3% in the 12 months to September 2009 is the lowest annual growth rate since 2005, significantly down on the two previous annual increases,” says Australian Property Monitors economist Matthew Bell, who compiled the report.“The declines have been helped along by low interest rates and the First Home Owners Boost giving tenants more accessibility to alternative options to renting.” While rents were flat overall, the news isn’t all bad for landlords and investors with rental yields only slightly down in the September quarter but remaining generally strong over the last 12 months. Yields remain historically high due to the strong rental growth prior to 2009. http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=160 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=160 Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST Embattled 2DayFM breakfast announcer Jackie O has sold her Sydney city apartment for $910,000 after planning to spend more time at her highlands retreat. The co-presenter, who works with Kyle Sandilands, sought solace at her country home during the pair’s recent live radio rape scandal. Earlier this week, Jackie O’s husband Lee Henderson was airlifted to Sydney suffering burns from a petrol accident at the highlands home. The couple initially bought their two-bedroom apartment in Elizabeth Bay for $512,500 in 2001. They have bought a $2.75 million terrace in nearby Paddington to use as their city base.   http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=159 http://www.onthehouse.com.au/news/article/?ArticleId=159 Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST There’s another half a per cent interest rate hike to come by Christmas, according to Macquarie Bank’s interest rate strategist Rory Robertson. He says financial markets are factoring in a two per cent increase by the beginning of 2011, which will take the average mortgage rate to the mid seven per cents. Other bank economists are saying the rises will be slow and steady, and shouldn’t cause too much pain for homeowners who have been paying extra into their mortgages while rates have been at 50 year lows.