Today's Tune of the Day is Raiden - Infection (E-Sassin rmx). Sci-Fi tech drum and bass at it's finest.
The perfect antidote to annoying work and loud workplace neighbours.
21 April 2010
13 April 2010
Property musings and economics 101.
You may recall a few weeks back I blogged about one of the units in our complex going back up for sale at a considerable increase over the initial price. The asking price at the time was 460k, a 16 per cent increase from the initial price of 395k a little over a year ago. At the time, I was quite chuffed, because I saw the listing as a possible indication of capital growth in our unit.
Unfortunately the property is still for sale and they've now dropped the asking price by 5k. See below for a screenshot of the listing.
I'm fairly novice at the property game, but around six weeks without an offer and a drop in price is not usually a really great sign. It seems that the vendor (who I think is probably still the developer, given the clauses in the contract about on selling before settlement) probably over valued the place a little.
Further examination of houses for sale in Franklin (see image below, click for a larger size) shows that there are three bedroom houses available for purchase for less than 460k. Perhaps it's not so surprising that the unit hasn't sold yet, given the obvious advantages the houses (and their land) have over the townhouse at a similar price.
However, it's also worth noting that all the three bedroom houses in a similar price range are under offer. I'm fairly hopeful that they'll go soon, and the unit in our complex will then be the most attractive (in terms of price at least) option in Franklin for a place with three bedrooms. Please note, I haven't really considered the two bedroom houses listed there as comparable properties - they're bloody tiny!
The length of time 7/56 Christina Stead St has been on the market may also reflect the general dip in the first home buyers market that was an inevitable result of phasing out the fist home buyers boost and rising interested rates. According to an article I read this morning on news.com.au, not only has there been a drop in the number of mortgages applied for recently, but the percentage of mortgages accounted for by first home owners has dropped from 28.2 per cent in May last year to 18.1 per cent in February this year.
It's all a bit of a balancing act really - the benefit of capital growth due to a strong market needs to be balanced against the increase in interest rates, and higher mortgage repayments. Fairly basic economics really, but something I'm still learning about now that I have a reason to maintain and interest about it.
Where this all comes back to me, as I mentioned in my initial post about unit 7, is that the price that this house go for may have an impact on how my unit is valued by the bank when we finally get a mortgage. If the house is valued at more than 80 per cent of our loan amount (we're aiming at 350k for reference) then we don't have to pay mortgage insurance. The ratio of the value of the property to the loan amount is one of my new favourite pieces of jargon about the property industry - the Loan Valuation Ratio, or LVR. According to my calculations, our property needs to be valued at approximately 440k to avoid mortgage insurance (i.e. 350/440 < .8).
So will someone please buy 7/56 Christina Stead Street already, for $440k or more. Please. You'll save me like $5k.
Unfortunately the property is still for sale and they've now dropped the asking price by 5k. See below for a screenshot of the listing.
I'm fairly novice at the property game, but around six weeks without an offer and a drop in price is not usually a really great sign. It seems that the vendor (who I think is probably still the developer, given the clauses in the contract about on selling before settlement) probably over valued the place a little.
Further examination of houses for sale in Franklin (see image below, click for a larger size) shows that there are three bedroom houses available for purchase for less than 460k. Perhaps it's not so surprising that the unit hasn't sold yet, given the obvious advantages the houses (and their land) have over the townhouse at a similar price.
However, it's also worth noting that all the three bedroom houses in a similar price range are under offer. I'm fairly hopeful that they'll go soon, and the unit in our complex will then be the most attractive (in terms of price at least) option in Franklin for a place with three bedrooms. Please note, I haven't really considered the two bedroom houses listed there as comparable properties - they're bloody tiny!
The length of time 7/56 Christina Stead St has been on the market may also reflect the general dip in the first home buyers market that was an inevitable result of phasing out the fist home buyers boost and rising interested rates. According to an article I read this morning on news.com.au, not only has there been a drop in the number of mortgages applied for recently, but the percentage of mortgages accounted for by first home owners has dropped from 28.2 per cent in May last year to 18.1 per cent in February this year.
It's all a bit of a balancing act really - the benefit of capital growth due to a strong market needs to be balanced against the increase in interest rates, and higher mortgage repayments. Fairly basic economics really, but something I'm still learning about now that I have a reason to maintain and interest about it.
Where this all comes back to me, as I mentioned in my initial post about unit 7, is that the price that this house go for may have an impact on how my unit is valued by the bank when we finally get a mortgage. If the house is valued at more than 80 per cent of our loan amount (we're aiming at 350k for reference) then we don't have to pay mortgage insurance. The ratio of the value of the property to the loan amount is one of my new favourite pieces of jargon about the property industry - the Loan Valuation Ratio, or LVR. According to my calculations, our property needs to be valued at approximately 440k to avoid mortgage insurance (i.e. 350/440 < .8).
So will someone please buy 7/56 Christina Stead Street already, for $440k or more. Please. You'll save me like $5k.
12 April 2010
Week 26 (and bleep bleep music)
I was thinking that I should stop calling these weekly updates and just call them house updates or something, but that would require going back and re-tagging all the previous weekly update posts, which I'm not going to do.
Anyway, I finally made it up to the site with a camera and took a few more pictures. Unfortunately, they're not that great because there was someone working on the site, which precluded jumping the fence and getting a better view. Much as I found this annoying at the time, I can't really complain that people are working on the site on the weekend - the more work done more often on the site the better!
I did manage to snap some through the fence, and what you'll notice straight away, is that in addition to all sorts of brick walls, there's a roof!
Booya! The astute among you may also notice the pallet of roof tiles in the foreground. As you'll see in the next shot, despite there being guttering etc, the roof does not yet have tiles.
You can see Dana's bike in the foreground here. I'm happy to report this is the second time she's made the ride up to the site. There may be hope for her becoming a cyclist yet...
I've included a shot of some other units around the site that are a bit further along to give an idea of the colour of the roof tiles.
Now we play the waiting game once more. To help tide you over, here's a version of Pink Floyd's Money from Dark Side of the Moon in an 8-bit format. Ahhh, the nostalgia...
Anyway, I finally made it up to the site with a camera and took a few more pictures. Unfortunately, they're not that great because there was someone working on the site, which precluded jumping the fence and getting a better view. Much as I found this annoying at the time, I can't really complain that people are working on the site on the weekend - the more work done more often on the site the better!
I did manage to snap some through the fence, and what you'll notice straight away, is that in addition to all sorts of brick walls, there's a roof!
Booya! The astute among you may also notice the pallet of roof tiles in the foreground. As you'll see in the next shot, despite there being guttering etc, the roof does not yet have tiles.
You can see Dana's bike in the foreground here. I'm happy to report this is the second time she's made the ride up to the site. There may be hope for her becoming a cyclist yet...
I've included a shot of some other units around the site that are a bit further along to give an idea of the colour of the roof tiles.
Edit: Also: Master of Puppets in 8-bit. This has amused and entertained me for well over a minute now.
09 April 2010
My Blog-Fu is weak
Haven't fired out a post for a while, so I thought I'd throw some words together. After the flurry of activity that was Feb/March, things have slowed down to a more managable pace. Work has been pretty slow, and I'm still waiting to hear back about the job I went for back in March (which also happens to be the job I'm in at the moment) and the wait is certainly dragging on a bit. It has cast a bit of a pall over work generally, even though things are fairly interesting at the moment. But the less said about work the better.
On the house front, I haven't managed to get up to the site and take some good photo's since I last blogged, for a combination of reasons. These include builders working on the site (precluding a good ole fashioned fence jumping) and terrible weather when I've had time to visit. The end of daylight savings for the year has also made getting up to the site after work to take pictures difficult, as half the time it's already dark by then.
I miss daylight savings (and summer) already! Having made that slightly maudlin statement, the weather at the moment is pretty choice. Autumn and spring really are the best times of year in Canberra - usually lots of sun, but with a crispness to the air which I really enjoy.
Speaking of the nice weather, I've been trying to take advantage of it as much as possible recently, with several bike rides and some bush walking. I even managed to get Dana to ride her swanky bike all the way up to Gungahlin (around 11km from where we live at the moment) for breakfast the other day, which was a major achievement. I've also helped form a mixed netball team, which has been interesting and very confusing. We're called "Fonzy and the Shark Jumpers" which I've had to explain to many many people. Troglodytes.
To save me the trouble of explaining it again (and you, the reader, the embarrasment of asking) Wikipedia has all the answers and a you tube video of the original is below.
And again!
On the house front, I haven't managed to get up to the site and take some good photo's since I last blogged, for a combination of reasons. These include builders working on the site (precluding a good ole fashioned fence jumping) and terrible weather when I've had time to visit. The end of daylight savings for the year has also made getting up to the site after work to take pictures difficult, as half the time it's already dark by then.
I miss daylight savings (and summer) already! Having made that slightly maudlin statement, the weather at the moment is pretty choice. Autumn and spring really are the best times of year in Canberra - usually lots of sun, but with a crispness to the air which I really enjoy.
Speaking of the nice weather, I've been trying to take advantage of it as much as possible recently, with several bike rides and some bush walking. I even managed to get Dana to ride her swanky bike all the way up to Gungahlin (around 11km from where we live at the moment) for breakfast the other day, which was a major achievement. I've also helped form a mixed netball team, which has been interesting and very confusing. We're called "Fonzy and the Shark Jumpers" which I've had to explain to many many people. Troglodytes.
To save me the trouble of explaining it again (and you, the reader, the embarrasment of asking) Wikipedia has all the answers and a you tube video of the original is below.
Waterskiing in a leather jacket?!? Will that crazy Fonzy ever learn?
And again!
I think maybe one of the reasons I've been caining the excercise recently (as well as the video games) is that I haven't really been enjoying alcohol that much of late. This may shock those that know me. It's also too expensive, and I'm saving pennies like nothing else to cover the stamp duty on the home, which is due in July, 12 months after we signed the contract. The stamp duty caught be a little off guard as well - I've had the deposit saved for ages, and in my mind the stamp duty was covered by the first home owners grant (and boost). Unfortunately, the timing of things means that this isn't really the case, because the stamp duty needs to be paid up front, before the completion of the house, and the grant/boost are paid as a rebate, straight to the bank, after settlement. This is not really a problem in terms of our ability to pay them, but it is frustrating. I had thought I had the majority of the scraping and saving sorted for the moment.
As a side note, I think the ACT is just about the only place in Australia where I would have to pay stamp duty; all the other states more generous exemptions for first time home buyers. However, the ACT have more limited sources of revenues than other states, so they're less generous with their exemptions.
As a side note, I think the ACT is just about the only place in Australia where I would have to pay stamp duty; all the other states more generous exemptions for first time home buyers. However, the ACT have more limited sources of revenues than other states, so they're less generous with their exemptions.
But the Canberra property situation is for another post.
Anyway, what was supposed to be a quick post has now eaten through half of my lunch break, and I'm starving. I'm off to get some food and buy a dressing gown (the mornings are getting a chill to them). Hopefully should have posts on the house, bush walking, and netball soon, or at least when I can be bothered getting round to resizing pictures.
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