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Location, location, location!
2007-05-18 04:30:08
The most famous expression of realtors is “Location, location, location!”. This really is one of the most important things you consider when buying or renting a house. Conveniently located older house can cost much more than more distant new one. To make it easier for us, biggest real-estate internet sites now provide maps of exact location of each and every property they offer. But when you see an advertisement in a netwspaper or in a window of estate agency, you’d still have to go and look it up on the map yourself. This is what takes most of your time in the process (exhausting as it is) of house-hunting. To save some of that precious time, it is useful to know right away what kind of street your “dream home” is located on – is it a quiet no-through street or a noisy major road, is it some kind of central “artery” that hundreds of car drive through day and night or a silent crescent where your kids can ride their bikes in peace. You can guess that just by looking at


More about real estate ads
2007-05-10 03:50:07
The Age recently published little article I loved and couldn’t wait to share with you. It describes a special lexicon, a vocabulary that real estate agents use to make horrible dump sound like a palace. Didn’t it happen to you before – reading the ad makes you feel like you’ve found your dream home, just so you could be terribly disappointed when you see it in real life? Here are a couple of examples: They write: BRIGHT AND SUNNY Which means: The previous tenant scarpered with all the blinds and curtains. PETS OK Because something’s gotta be done about the rats. FULLY FURNISHED The agent couldn’t be bothered moving the previous tenant’s crap out of there ONE WEEK’S RENT FREE Will somebody please, please sign a lease on this uninhabitable shithole?! Anyway, here’s the link and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Click here to read the full article about real estate adds lexicon.


Types of properties
2007-05-02 18:24:11
The first thing you have to choose when looking online for houses to buy or rent is the type of property – and there are quite a few! Studio, flat, apartment, unit, house or townhouse – what’s the difference? Flat and apartment are almost the same; both are located in high-storey building. I think the difference between the two is that flat is smaller than apartment. Studio is a flat with only one room, which serves as a bedroom / lounge / kitchen; it is something that a student would go for. Unit means small house, usually located in a block of similar houses, it has mutual walls with other units – as opposed to a house, which is free-standing. Some units look very much like motel rooms. There is one big parking space for all the units in the block and there are common rubbish bins (you don’t have your own driveway or garage or even a rubbish bin ). It is very common that units belong to body corporate – click on this link to read who they are and what they’re for. Unit


Understanding real estate ads
2007-04-25 17:45:26
Not very long ago, whenever I read newspaper ads advertising houses for sale, it felt like reading in different language. Those advertisements have so many abbreviations – no wonder a person that is new to real estate (especially one of Australian newcomers) needs a dictionary to understand it. Some of those short-hand signs I figured out on my own, others were explained to me and there were few no one but real estate agent could understand. Anyway, here is what I’ve learned – I hope it helps you. OFP – Open Fire Place ROW – Right Of Way, meaning not driveway but some kind of access to the house OSP – Off street parking, meaning in the driveway or garage BR - Bedroom Bthrm - Bathroom Ensuite – Bathroom inside the master bedroom LUG – Lock Up Garage Robes - Wardrobes BIR – Built In Robes (Wardrobes) WIR – Walk In Robes, meaning a room for clothes storage C’yard or Courtyard (paved) – a rear yard, usually paved with concrete Open-plan – No walls Lnge - Lounge d
Read more: Understanding

Renting with pets
2007-04-21 07:38:57
I must say that renting with pets makes your job much harder, because not many landlords want to accept tenants with pets. When I was looking to rent a place, I discovered that my beautiful dog pretty much ruins my chances of getting a house by 80 percent – out of 10 houses I asked about, 8 do not allow pets. A quick tips that will save you some time: when you ask the real estate agent “Are pets allowed on that property?”, if the landlord has clearly said that – they will let you know immediately. Otherwise in a very few cases the agent will call and ask him, usually they just tell you to inspect, apply and see if you’re approved (naturally for you that could be a waste of time, if the landlord doesn’t want pets after all). Another quick tip that will help you to get reliable information – always speak to the property manager, not the receptionist at the agency. Property manager is interested in actually renting the property and knows everything there is to know about it,
Read more: Renting

Comfort of your home
2007-04-19 20:04:23
By Anthony Braun. When we say “home”, we mean the dearest to our heart place, the one that we value more than anything. It is a home where we grew up or our kids are growing up, or a place we’re growing old in. It is as hard to find two identical houses, as it is two identical people – they just don’t exist. Every house is a mirror of habits and lifestyle of the family that lives in it. It has unique energy and atmosphere. Older houses have their own charm – built for ages by our ancestors, they last much more than one lifetime. Given proper maintenance, they look just as good as the new houses; have a dignified and inviting appearance, making their owners proud. But this article is about a new home for a new family. When anyone decides to build his own home, the first specialist to see would be an architect. A word of advice – what you need to know at this stage is that all architects are very different in terms of their talent, views and opinions, experience and, finall


How renting from real estate agency works
2007-04-16 03:43:56
Before I first went to real estate agency , I imagined that people there will help me to find a house according to my needs, but this is not the way it works. What happens is that you go to the agency, get a rental property list and check it for a house that suits you. When you find one, you need to call the agency and ask about inspection. The person you need to speak to is a “property manager” – it’s a real estate agent that is in charge of that specific property. He or she has all the information about it and is actually interested in renting it. After you’ve seen the house, fill an application form, put together all the documents that go together with it (see list here) and hand them over to the agency (or you can fax them, but it would take you forever – 18 pages are a lot to fax!). Then your waiting period begins, agents are processing applications and after they are done – landlord gets them and chooses the tenant he wants to rent the house to. If you’re lucky to


Applying for rental property
2007-04-12 03:10:32
Here is the list of documents you might have to present when applying for rental property Drivers License Passport Birth Certificate Other Photo ID Current Wage Advice (proof of income) Previous tenancy reference Previous 4 rent receipts Motor vehicle registration certificate Bank Statement Telephone Account Electricity Account Gas Account Different agencies ask for different documents, but if you have everything on this list with you - you can’t go wrong


Renting in Australia - Part 3
2007-04-06 04:46:11
A good idea is to make a list of houses you like, not just one or two – in our current situation several couples are competing for every house. So don’t think that applying for a house means you will get it, always have some more on your list. Finally after you’ve made a list of houses you like, it is time to inspect them. What many people do (without any success) is try to apply for apartment without inspecting it first, to save time. There is some logic to that – it happens that we can’t go to inspection because of work or whatever reason and there is no guarantee that we’ll get the house, so why waste time inspecting it. But this system will never work because it’s illegal to apply for house you didn’t inspect (driving by doesn’t count) – so the agents simply won’t let you. What not many people know is, that you can apply during the inspection, if you have all of the documents with you (see the list of what they might want you to present here). The agent holdin
Read more: Australia , Renting

Renting in Australia - Part 2
2007-04-01 04:48:10
After we have transportation sorted out, where do we go to look for houses? There are a few options. Newspapers have sections for rental ads, real estate agencies have rental property lists and, of course, Internet has it all – the sites I like and use all the time are in the right sidebar under “Useful resources”. So the information is there, but what is the quickest and easiest way to get it? Newspapers are good, but not good enough – they are not easy to search when you’re looking for a house in a specific area. You have to go through all the list of ads to choose one or two houses you might be interested in. Going to real estate agencies has its good and bad sides. The good side is that you do get an updated list of houses for rent in the area that agency covers (usually it is the same suburb the agency is located in).The bad side is that you won’t get too much help from the agents (you will probably get to see the receptionist that doesn’t know much), so this list is
Read more: Australia , Renting

Buying a house: Auction Vs. Private sale - Part 3
2007-06-24 03:10:03
What “For sale by private bid” means There is also a relatively new thing, called “For sale by private bid”. It means that the house is advertised with asking price, to give buyers some idea what seller wants for the house. There is also a day when the bidding closes. Whoever is interested, makes his bid in the agency before the closing date, then seller reviews all the bids and chooses the highest one. Agency gets in touch with that buyer and asks him to confirm his offer, from there on its like private sale. Buyers like this way of purchasing property because less pressure is involved than in auction. Sellers like it because it has a closing date and drives buyers to make up their minds. Private sellers Some people choose to not use the estate agents when they sell their property. The most common reason to do that is to save on agent’s commissions. Also, people don’t like the pressure agents put on them to sell the house, because to them no sale means no commission. For s
Read more: Auction , Buying

Buying a house: Auction Vs. Private sale - Part 2
2007-06-06 01:58:14
What is a private sale? A private sale is also called “Private Treaty”. A house is advertised in newspapers by estate agents, whoever is interested comes to the agency and makes his offer, the seller considers the offered price and then buyer can do some negotiation about the conditions of sale etc. When they agree on everything, contracts are written, signed and buyer pays a deposit. Unlike in auction, several states have “cooling off period” which means that buyer has X days to change his mind and if he decides not to buy – seller must give the deposit back. Good points of private sale in buyer’s eyes are: • He can take the time, no pressure involved • The price and the conditions of sale can be negotiated • Cooling off period is your way out in case problems were found in the house • To sellers private sales cost less than an auction, which can result in lower asking price To be continued…
Read more: Auction , Buying

Buying a house: Auction Vs. Private sale - Part 1
2007-05-30 02:43:33
When you’ve decided you’re ready to buy a house, it means that one big decision is made and you’re now in Buyers Land – a totally new territory where you have so much to learn. One of those new things is the way people sell houses – by private sale or an auction. I wasn’t that familiar with the property auctions before I came to Australia, this is why I had to do some research about that and this is what I have found. Auction – what’s it all about House is being advertised by estate agents in newspapers, they prepare brochures with photos of the house and its floor plan, and they put a signboard near the house to advertise it and to make easier for interested buyers to locate it. Seller sets “reserve price”, which means that he won’t sell for anything lower than that during the auction. The date of auction and inspections are advertised in newspapers and on the signboard. All of the inspections and check-ups have to be done before the auction day. Many sellers lik
Read more: Buying , Private

Median house price – what is it?
2007-07-14 06:58:14
All they talk about on the news is how housing becomes less and less affordable. The median price is climbing up like crazy everywhere. But what is a median price, why look at it and how it’s different from average price? Well, that’s really easy – here’s an example: Suppose we take 7 houses that were sold and sort their prices from lowest to highest (in thousands of AUD) 250, 252, 278, 286, 302, 325, 339 Median price here is 286, because it’s in the middle of range – 3 prices are lower and 3 prices are higher than it. How median price is different from average price? To calculate average price we have to sum all of the prices and then divide by the number of houses, so that Average price = (250 + 252 + 278 + 286 + 302 + 325 + 339) / 7 = 290 What median price shows? It shows who rules the market in a certain place (suburb or area) at certain time (i.e. 3 or 6 months or a year): if there are more people buying expensive houses than cheap ones, it will go up, but if there are


Strata title and body corporate
2007-07-27 20:53:59
If you are planning to buy a unit or a flat in apartment building, you need to know what the strata title is. Basically, strata title makes it possible for you to own a part of the building (and before the strata title law was introduced, it was impossible.) Why do we need strata title? Usually any apartment building or block of units has “common areas” such as entrance hallway, car spaces or garages, garden, gym, pool, etc. It is clear that you’re responsible for maintenance of your flat, but who is responsible for maintenance of all common property? The answer is “all of the owners of flats/units together”. Naturally, when many people are involved in something there might be differences of opinion between them, so this is why body corporate was created. It is the organization that is in charge of enforcing all the regulations for strata units or apartments. What kind of regulations are there? As an owner of a strata title, you are responsible for things such as: • gettin


How big is one acre in square meters?
2007-08-03 20:35:15
So here I was, reading this ad about a beautiful house on a huge block of land. To be more specific, it was sitting on 1 acre allotment and I was thinking – how really big is it, how many square meters is one acre? It’s a fact that people from different countries use different measurement units, a person from Europe is used to square meters and kilometers, while someone from US is used to square feet, yards and miles and in Australia they use both square meters and acres. And most of us know that there are feet, meters, acres and hectares but we never know how to do the conversions between those. So for all of those wondering, here goes: 1 acre = 43,560 square feet = 4047 sq meters = 0.4047 hectares. 1 square yard = 9 sq feet = 0.836 sq meters If you can think of any other useful conversions, comment on this post and I will have them added. After all, if you’d like to know – I bet someone else has the same question.


Average size of land block
2007-08-10 23:50:06
At first, it was a kind of mystery to me, why the houses in Australia keep going up in prices. My logic was saying that over time the house is getting older, this is why it should become cheaper, but reality shows exactly the opposite. People with more experience in real estate were saying that it’s the land price that goes up, not the house. This got me thinking that if land is the main factor in a real estate deal, then the bigger the block your house stands on – the better. But what is considered a big block? That question sent me chasing statistics, and I found a very useful source – HIA Economics group site. Their research says that the average size of land blocks we build houses on got smaller over the time. The average size for Australian capital cities in 1993-94 was 802 square meters, and then in 2003-04 it went down to 735 square meters. But in Melbourne it is even smaller: in 1993-94 the average size was 716 square meters and in 2003-04 it shrunk to 571.
Read more: Average

What kind of house can I afford?
2007-08-25 00:38:02
After the latest raise in interest rates everybody are talking even more about housing afford ability crisis. The builders say that people who don’t already own a house (which they can sell) simply can not buy a house. “First home buyers just aren’t buying”, they say. So how do you check what kind of house (if any) you can afford? First, you need to see how much money you can spend - to get an idea what your limits are. Probably a good idea would be to play with one of the mortgage calculators - here is an example. Try setting different loan amounts and see how much money you will have to pay every month, based on that choose the amount that you can borrow and repay. To see what the value of any kind of house is, you are going to need an estimate. As you know, any information in our time is for sale, so it will cost you - but try to pay as little as possible. You can get away with paying as little as $10 if you buy the “Guide to Property values” on


Real estate squares - what are they and how big they are?
2007-09-03 04:52:27
 Very often we see property size advertised in “squares”. For a long time I had no idea what those squares were. After a bit of research, I have found an explanation - here is the “magic” formula 1 square = 100 square feet = 30.48 square meters So roughly, 1 square equals 30 square meters.


What is the real property value?
2007-10-09 20:35:02
Every 2 - 3 years every council evaluates all the properties in its area. There are 3 ways of valuating a property : using Site Value, Capital Improved Value or Net Annual Value. Site Value means just land value; Capital Improved Value means value of both the house and the land. Net Annual Value is a bit different – it means how much the annual rent would be if the property was leased (less the landlord’s expenses). Usually for residential properties it is calculated as 5 % of Capital Improved Value. There are 79 councils in Victoria and they use different methods of valuation. Sounds too complicated, right? Wrong! There is an easy way to get the real value of the property (as recorded in council’s books) using council rates that the owner pays. The Real Property Value calculator is based on the latest 2007 information of all the councils of Victoria. Use it to see what the real property value is – not the blown up market value, not the sky-high asking price – but the conserv


Council rates explained
2007-10-03 03:15:09
For quite a while I thought that council rates are the land tax, but it’s not so. In Victoria, council rates consist of 2 parts. One part is called “municipal and garbage service charges” and it is not affected by the price of the property – meaning all the properties in the same council area pay the same. The other part is called “general rates” and it is affected by the value of the property – meaning those who have more expensive properties pay higher general rates. How rates bill is calculated First, council determines the annual budget for the new financial year – how much money they need to spend on all their services. Then they subtract from that budget all the money they get from government funding or loans. The amount that is left has to be raised from council rates. Money for garbage collection and community services is divided equally amongst all property owners in the council area. That amount is also subtracted from budget and that leaves with the one final
Read more: Council

How high will my mortgage repayments be?
2007-09-24 00:43:19
Another useful piece of information I found in the Census 2006 is the mortgage repayments statistics. Basically it tells us what we should expect to be paying on monthly bases. So the numbers are saying that the majority of the people who bought a house on mortgage are paying from $1050 to $2400 a month. In that range the most common repayments were broken into 5 groups: 1) $1,050–$1,199  a month 2) $1,200–$1,399  a month 3) $1,400–$1,599  a month 4) $1,600–$1,999  a month 5) $2,000–$2,399  a month Within those 5 groups, most of the people (27 %) are paying from $1600 to $1999 a month, and the next most common payments are $1200 - $1399 and $1400 – $1599 a month: 20 % and 21 % of people respectively are paying that much. The highest and the lowest repayments are the least common – just 18% of people pay as much as $2,000–$2,399  a  month and only 14 % pay as little as $1,050–$1,199 a month.


What are my chances to own a house?
2007-09-15 00:37:40
Sometimes it really helps to see “the big picture” to understand better where you fit in. Recently the Australian Bureau of Statistics released Census 2006 data and, believe it or not, if you take time to really look at it - some very interesting things surface. As anyone who wants to own their home, I wanted to know what my chances are and when I buy it – how big will my repayments be. With those questions in mind I have done some simple math on the Census tables and this is what they reveal. From all the families that live in Melbourne, 35 % fully own their home, 42 % are still paying the mortgage and 19 % are renting. Census divides all the families into 3 groups, so I can be even more specific: From all the couples with no children 47 % fully own their home, 30 % are paying the mortgage and 18 % are renting, which means that for childless couple the chances of buying their home are better than other families. For couples with children the percentage of home owners is lower: o


Build your own house
2007-12-04 23:48:35
The housing affordability (which is really closed to none these days) got me thinking – there must be a way out. So I can not afford to buy a reasonably sized house in the inner city suburbs, but does it mean that I am doomed to renting? At first I was thinking – what if I buy a block of land and build my own house? This way I can save the money that otherwise would have been the builder’s profit. But then – I don’t know the first thing about building a house and what’s involved. How much would that cost, what kind of permits do I need to get, who will draw my plans, where to start? So I was searching for answers and found some useful info. At first, I wanted to see how much I will save if I build myself. So I have found this building costs calculator.Use it - and get an idea how much your dream home will cost you. Don’t miss the assumptions they base the calculation on (listed under “Assumptions”). Having done some more research I started to doubt my ability to hand
Read more: Build

Home owner’s expenses
2007-12-19 01:55:53
Many of us don't know, forget or do not think about the expenses that come with owning a house, yet they can add up. I decided to list most of them (everything I could think of) as a reminder of what's involved in owning a house. So there are expenses of purchasing a house, as well as expenses of owning and maintaining it. House buying expenses: Inspection: building (to check that there are no terrible flaws in the house) and pests (such as termites) Transfer of the property (legal fees) House owning expenses: Mortgage interest Mortgage insurance - to cover the lender Council taxes (Property taxes) - general rates and rubbish collection Body corporate (Homeowners' association) fees House maintenance - repairing, replacing and renovating costs Utilities - Gas, Electricity, Water, Sewage, Gardening (lawn care, etc), Phone, Cable TV, Internet House insurance - to cover the house/ its contents, in case of earthquake, flood, fire, burglary, etc.


Live house auction – have a look
2008-02-29 18:43:22
Many people have told me they find auctions stressing and intimidating. But let’s face it – more houses are sold now on auctions compared to private sales, so limiting yourself and passing on auctioned properties just because you are scared of the process is not a good idea.


What building inspection reports DON’T cover
2008-02-22 17:17:43
Getting building inspection reports is a very important stage in the process of buying a house. Sometimes people decide to skip those reports for many reasons such as time pressure, the high cost, couldn’t be bothered, etc. They are really playing with fire, because if later on it turns out that house has a problem – it’s their problem.


Appraisal and valuation: the huge difference
2008-02-16 22:12:09
If you look up appraisal and valuation in the dictionary, they will come up as synonyms, but there is a huge difference between those words when it comes to real estate.
Read more: Appraisal

Building a house from concrete blocks
2008-02-08 20:05:47
Speaking of concrete houses, I was under impression that ZEGO offers a unique solution - but actually that they have many competitors:
Read more: Building

Expenses you must know about when buying a house
2008-02-01 22:46:27
When people are planning to buy a house, the first thing they think of is “do I have enough money for a deposit?”. But the expenses of buying a house don’t end there – in fact, there are many more costs people must know about in advance, so they would have a chance to save enough money. Here’s a list that covers most of the house-buying expenses:
Read more: Expenses

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