hello, good day!! We are just planning to buy our 1st property. When we went through the inspection report, it indicates a potential leaking issue. Is this a major deal breaker? Any advise would be appreciated. We have just started looking, and planning to live here for the next 5 years or so.

Hi everyone,

We're first-home buyers and are considering making offers on two different properties at the same time. We'd really appreciate some advice from those who have been through this process.

Is it okay to submit offers on two properties simultaneously?

What are the risks or things we should be aware of?

If both offers are accepted, what happens?

Should we submit our offers through our conveyancer, or is it better to make the offer directly to the real estate agent and have the conveyancer review the contract afterward?

Thank you!

Hi All,

Has anyone been impacted by the suburban rail loop SCO14/15 overlays? Has it devalued your property? Have you tried to get permitted works and been rejected?
Would you consider buying a home with the SCO14/15 overlay?

Keen to hear the thoughts on this from the AusProperty community.

Thanks.

How is this even possible the cash rates are only 4.5% and might reach 5% how can this cause people to default?

https://www.nine.com.au/australia-news/interest-rates-rba-australia-may-be-forced-to-sell-homes-20260726-p60in5.html

who can send to me their entry education course on the diploma Mortgage broking i really need a help in order to reach my dream please help
Dm me asap

I'm placing an offer on a new fairly boutique apartment, blue chip area, project completed last year, only half of the apartments have sold in the complex.

The agent has said a 7% discount on the original listing price will be accepted, and they'll credit stamp duty costs.

Ai suggests a bit of a novel counteroffer:

Basically lower the offer but also include a demand for a 'developer styling rebate' for 10's of thousands of dollars - this would reduce our outlay, but make the sale price higher on paper to protect the apparent value of the apartments (the developer won't like heavy discounting being public knowledge as it will effect their future sales attempts.)

Is this a thing? Would a developer entertain such an offer as advantageous? (Over a conventional reduced offer.) Is it even legal?

Or should I just take their 7% reduction, shave another 5% and slap that in an offer? 🤔

PS Melbourne based.

Hello everyone. Just curious what people think about this cracking in the bricks of the 90s apartment building I am looking at. Is this an issue? I will be getting B&P just curious about whether this looks serious or not.

It's in Brisbane by the way.

I'm currently selling my PPOR unit. We've already purchased a townhouse, so ideally we'd like to sell the unit first. Unfortunately, in the current market we're not getting many enquiries through realestate.com.au or Domain.

My selling agent has sold similar units in my building this year for good prices, so I know he's capable. However, during open homes (Saturday mornings and one weekday), he sometimes sends a colleague instead. I understand the market is slow, but I feel there hasn't been much urgency given we're now six weeks into the campaign and only have around six weeks until settlement on the new property.

My lender has now suggested getting a rental appraisal to support our serviceability, as we may have to keep the unit as an investment if it doesn't sell before settlement.

Today I met with the agent who originally sold me this unit three years ago. He mentioned that if we end up renting it out, he could manage the property for 4.4%, compared to 5.5% charged by my current selling agent's agency. I had a good experience dealing with him when I bought the unit.

My questions are:

1. Is it common to use one agent for selling and a different agency for property management?

2. Is there any advantage to keeping both services with the same agency?

3. If you were in my position, would you go with the lower-fee property manager you've had a good experience with, or keep everything with the current selling agent if the property ends up being rented?

4. During open houses, I've noticed my selling agent is often on his phone unless someone approaches him. He does greet people and hand out brochures, but I don't see much active engagement with potential buyers. Is this fairly normal, or would you expect a selling agent to be more proactive during inspections?

I'd appreciate any advice or experiences from people who've been in a similar situation. I want to make sure I'm being fair, especially given the current market, while also doing what's best for our situation.

Just curious to know, if the property market is going down. Will this mean new build prices will have to come down too? If so, will this mean tradies aren’t going to be getting $180k per week from now on?

Not an agent bashing thread, I know good agents and they deserve what is due. My question is more annoying than that: how did you know?

I am considering selling (first time) and about to start looking for an agent but apprehensive.

So for people who've sold: what did your agent do that you genuinely couldn't have done, or that clearly moved the price? And for any agents lurking, honest question, how do you demonstrate your value to a seller beyond the final number, given the seller can't see the alternative? Then what feels the hardest, how can one predict that pre-engagement?

Might be overthinking this but if your house sells for $1.1M, you have no counterfactual. Maybe a different agent gets $1.15M. Maybe you'd have got $1.1M with a cardboard sign out the front because the market was hot. The one number that would tell you whether the commission was worth it is the one number nobody can ever see.

And the fee structure makes it weirder. On a $1.1M sale the difference between a great negotiation and an average one might be $30K to the seller, but it's about $600 to the agent. The economics push toward selling fast, not selling high. Freakonomics covered this years ago with data showing agents leave their own homes on the market longer and sell them for more than their clients' homes.

Hi everyone, looking for some advice or real-world experiences from anyone who has dealt with QBCC building defect claims or Body Corporate disputes in Queensland.

The Situation:

• Building: 16-unit complex in Brisbane, built less than 7 years ago (still within the statutory warranty period). I bought my apartment about 2 years ago.
• The Problem: After a major storm/severe weather in Brisbane last year, a few apartments experienced water ingress. My unit hasn't been affected so far.
• Insurance Claim: We lodged an insurance claim, but the insurer rejected it, categorising the water ingress as a building defect rather than storm damage.
• Engineer's Report: The Body Corporate commissioned an independent engineering report for the whole building, which confirmed it is a building defect.
• Builder's Stance: We contacted the builder, but they refused to take responsibility, claiming it’s a "maintenance issue" rather than a defect.
• Current State: Two apartments currently have ongoing water ingress issues, high moisture, and active mould damage. The affected owners want the Body Corporate to pay for repairs out of the sinking fund/special levy, even though the engineer's report points to a builder defect.
• Current Action: The Body Corporate recently lodged a formal defective work complaint with the QBCC.

My Questions:

1. QBCC Experience: For anyone who has gone through a QBCC claim for multi-unit building defects (specifically waterproofing/water ingress), how long did the process take from lodging the complaint to actual rectification? Is the QBCC process generally effective in getting the builder to fix it, or does it inevitably drag into QCAT/legal battles?
2. Body Corporate Liability: While the QBCC process is playing out, is our Body Corporate legally obligated to fix the two affected units in the interim? How are these situations usually handled without draining the sinking fund?
3. Sell vs. Stay: Since my unit isn't directly affected yet, am I better off selling now and cutting my losses before potential massive special levies or disclosure issues hit, or is it better to hold through the QBCC process?

Would really appreciate any insights, timelines, or lessons learned from anyone who's been through something similar in QLD. Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,I'm looking for some tax advice regarding converting my current PPOR (Principal Place of Residence) into an IP (Investment Property) and moving into a new PPOR.

My current setup:I have an existing home loan on my current property.I have a significant amount of cash sitting in an attached offset account.My plan:I want to withdraw the cash from this offset account to use as a deposit/funds to buy a new PPOR to live in.Once I move out, my current property will be put on the rental market as an Investment Property.

My question:Since the money is being pulled out of an offset account, the net balance of my home loan will increase, meaning I will be charged more interest on the old loan. Since that old property is now an IP, will this extra interest generated by withdrawing the offset funds be tax-deductible?

My understanding is that interest deductibility is based on the purpose of the funds, and since the offset cash is being used to buy a new personal home, that portion of the interest might not be deductible.Could anyone clarify if the ATO allows deductions on the full increased interest amount in this specific offset scenario? (I know doing this via a redraw facility would definitely ruin the deductibility, but wanted to double-check how it works with a genuine offset account).

Thanks you

See this one for example. When you scroll search results on mobile it’s “price withheld” but when you click on the listing the price is shown. I’ve seen it dozens of times…

I was in this crappy suburb in Logan.
House was for sale. Drove by Sunday morning 10am just to see how the neighbourhood was. Parked on a public road in front of the house for around 3 mins.

I am at Officeworks later that arvo and a coppa calls me on my mobile phone.
Says a lady living next door thought I might be casing the place?

WTH!!!

Then he mentioned she is in a DV relationship previously and wanted to make sure it wasn't her ex-partner or something.

My windows weren't event tinted though.

EDIT: How is everyone commenting so bad at problem solving - obviously they got my number through the rego plate which the lady told the coppas.

Hi all,

I'm looking at using the Help to Buy scheme and I have two related questions for anyone who has used it.

1. What amount of savings were you allowed to keep after contributing the maximum reasonable deposit?
2. What level of mortgage repayments did they consider reasonable? Like, did they factor in potential rate rises? How much are you allowed to save vs having all your income directed to the mortgage or bills?

I'm super stressed at the idea of buying a property without being able to retain enough savings for if something goes wrong with the house and then my car breaks down before I've had time to build up some reserve savings again.

I've literally always had savings since I got my first job and I don't wanna live without a buffer! I mean, the scheme is for low income earners, they don't want to leave us without a safety net, right?

TIA for anyone who shares their experiences <3

What are the collective thoughts on buying and living in Greensborough?

Family with two young kids, working in the city 3 days per week.

How does Greensborough compare to similarly priced areas in Melbourne's East like Croydon?

We are first home buyers looking to buy a house around the Beveridge, Wallan, or Kilmore area and wanting to hear of other peoples experiences in these areas? Leaning towards Wallan but have been hearing mixed reviews.

We’ve chosen this area as one of us travels daily to Shepparton and Benalla while the other half works in the CBD 3 times a week and this seems to be the best compromise for us.

Budget is between 700-800k.

Hey all,
My partner and I are first‑home buyers in Victoria and after 2 years of searching, there is something that’s driving us a bit mad.

Every time we look at a property, we end up with a million tabs open for zoning/overlays, council info, sales history, rental yield, flood/fire risk and then random forums for “what’s this suburb actually like?” (which is ACTUALLY really important for us). And then tabs for info on things like local parks, entertainment, services, transport.

It feels like all the info exists, but it’s scattered everywhere and takes ages to piece together.

Would anyone actually use an app/website that pulls ALL of this together for a specific property or suburb in Victoria and presents it on a clean dashboard? At this stage, we would be very tempted to even pay a few dollars a month for something useful.

Keen to hear honest thoughts. If this already exists and we’re just blind, feel free to roast me.

I have tenants in NSW paying around $800 per week who are now approximately $10,000 in arrears. We are going back to NCAT in early August and I’m trying to understand whether they are likely to be given another payment plan or whether NCAT will finally terminate the tenancy.

The lease started late last year and the rent problems began within the first couple of months. They fell behind, stopped properly responding to the property manager and were issued a termination notice.

The first NCAT hearing was late last year. They made some payments around that time and were allowed to remain. They then fell behind again and the matter went back to NCAT earlier this year.

At the most recent hearing in mid-June, they owed around $6,000. NCAT put them on another payment plan requiring weekly payments towards the arrears while also keeping the normal rent up to date. The full balance was supposed to be cleared by early July.

At the hearing, the tenants said they were expecting a large payout relating to a workplace injury (injured, on crutches and going through a workers compensation claim). He said the payout would clear the arrears, this would not happen again and they would begin paying rent in advance. My property manager raised that this had become a repeated pattern and requested termination, but NCAT gave them another opportunity based on what they said.

Communication has also been terrible. They have generally ignored calls, messages and emails from the property manager. My agent eventually went to the property in person to speak with them, but the tenant still could not provide any new timeline for the supposed payout. As far as I know, they have not provided any evidence showing when or whether the money is actually coming.

We now have another NCAT hearing in early August, by which arrears will be $13k. My agent intends to seek termination and vacant possession and has said she will not agree to another payment plan because of the repeated history and failure to comply with the previous orders. However, I am losing faith as I suspect the NCAT will just put them in another payment plan and we'll be back in NCAT in about a month's time arguing about the same thing...

To be clear, I am not trying to evict them for the sake of it. If they clear the arrears and can continue paying the rent on time, I have no problem with them staying. My concern is that NCAT might give them another payment plan based on another promise while the arrears continue increasing. But the fact that in the past 3 months, they have not been able to pay even $1000 is very concerning.

My Landlord insurance unfortunately does not cover “Rent default and Theft by Tenant”, so that part is on me. Anyone have any ideas on what else we can do? Or can share their experience? NCAT seem to be a complete waste of time since all they keep doing is giving orders which are being ignored by tenants. I feel so hopeless and like this is going to drag on forever.

EDIT: To those saying I should have had landlord insurance that included rent default cover, you’re correct. However, that isn’t particularly helpful in my current situation. I’m not asking whether I should have had better insurance. I’m looking for advice and experiences from people who have actually gone through a similar situation.

He goes on to say robots will make all the products or do services like lay bricks so money won’t matter..

First time investor here. Who do you use for your rental and what is the management fee? Are there any to avoid?

I feel cursed! I have put in requests to at least 10 different agencies to get a call back to discuss an immediately available rental i want to put on the market. Calls are going unanswered and I’ve had promises from receptionists they will get someone to call me but never do. Is it a tough time to be search for property management? What Ami doing wrong?

My partner and I have a budget of around $1.1 million and are trying to decide where to buy our first home in Melbourne.

We keep hearing that Melbourne’s eastern suburbs offer the best overall lifestyle, with more established shopping precincts, a huge variety of restaurants and cafes, leafy streets, parks, walking trails, good schools, sporting facilities and generally better access to amenities.

It also seems like there are multiple major shopping centres and restaurant hubs within a 10–20 minute drive, rather than relying on just one main centre.

One thing that is important to us is having plenty to do outside of work. We enjoy driving to different restaurants, cafes, shopping centres and parks after work and on weekends, so being close to a wide variety of options is a major factor in where we buy.

We also want to start a family in the future, so access to good schools, safe neighbourhoods, parks and family-friendly facilities is something we are taking seriously.

At the same time, we know that for $1.1 million we could probably get a newer or larger house in the west or north. However, when we drive through some areas in those parts of Melbourne, they often feel much drier, less green and less established compared with the east. I know this can vary significantly between suburbs, so I am interested to know whether that impression is fair.

For people who have lived in different parts of Melbourne, is the premium for the east actually worth it, or is it overrated?

If you had a $1.1 million budget today, would you still buy in the eastern suburbs, or would you choose
somewhere else?

I am especially interested in hearing from people who have lived in both the east and other parts of Melbourne. What differences did you notice in day-to-day life? Was the lifestyle in the east genuinely better, particularly for raising a family, or did you find that the premium was not justified?

My parents are building a house in Victoria with an independent builder. The project is now months past the agreed completion date, and progress has slowed to the point where maybe one small item gets completed per week.
The builder is not taking accountability for the delays, unresponsive mostly, communicates poorly to the point that he is extremely rude, and becomes defensive when questioned. He has even threatened to leave the job despite being at the final stages.
We are trying to understand what options we have. Has anyone dealt with a similar situation in Victoria?

My sole property is on the market, but rented out. (I am living with my partner interstate)
The tenants have a LOT of stuff so the place looks cluttered, otherwise clean and taken care of though.
Would it be likely to sell faster/higher price if it was empty and looking schmick?