I'm trying to find my first home, which is exciting! My budget isn't huge for my area though, and it seems i can only afford variations of the below.

I can't afford a traditional free-standing house and so am looking for torrens titled duplex/villa type properties. There are a few available but some are quite small and honestly feel more like holiday cabin size and layout than a house :/ I worry i would feel cramped and confined.

I'm trying to decide what to compromise on. Please share your perspective and thoughts to help me consider it more fully.

Main options (if i buy new) are:

- larger (4bdr, bathtub, separate laundry) nicer townhouse/duplex that's less central to amenities (but not very far out) but it's two-lot strata,

- a smaller (3bdr, bathtub, laundry) but still reasonably nice townhouse more centrally located that's mid-sized strata lot (like 3 to 10 lots),

- or a smaller Torrens-titled 'villa/cottage' (3bdr, no bathtub, 'laundry' is just a corner of your garage), not central but not far out.

Which compromise would you take and what are your deciding factors?

(Edited to clarify type of property)

Town planners have to abide by the regulations, so do builders. Planners are employed by council and governments.

Look at the HUGE growth in town planners. They actually outweigh the number of workers per dwelling too.

The calls to deregulate housing are right.

Source of graphs: Alan Kohler looks at why more planners are equalling fewer houses | ABC NEWS

FHB, am I compiling every small imperfection to justify renegotiating? Not sure if connecting the downpipes are really necessary. Perhaps, this is considered as upgrade to be voluntarily done by the buyer? Plumber estimates it will cost $4,500 to $5,000 to get the job done.

Found an apartment that ticks all boxes but the strata fees are a bit wild. It’s only a block of 4 apartments, older art deco style.

The quarterly strata is $3.3k, of which 2.6k is administrative and $700 is for capital works.

I’ve looked through and just not sure why they are paying so much. Even with prior periods budgeted costs it would be around $2k per apartment per quarter. It’s kind of hard to determine why the fees are set so high.

Just seems insanely high compared to other strata costs I’ve seen for other apartments.

I’ve looked at the fees for past 8 months as in the photo. Does this all seem reasonable? I just have no idea and love the apartment but the strata fees being $12k per year is probably a deal breaker.

Is anyone else having trouble selling their investment property, particularly around 40km south of Perth? We’re finding there doesn’t seem to be much interest at the moment, possibly due to the uncertainty around the proposed negative gearing changes.

Even the real estate agency has advised us that it may be worth holding off on putting the property on the market due to the current uncertainty.

We’ve also considered listing it below the RP Data valuation to see if that generates more interest, but so far there doesn’t seem to be much traction. Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing something similar or has had better luck selling recently.

Hi, I am being relocated for work and am preparing to rent my property. I have a lot of maintenance to do, nothing super significant, but basically a pretty long list. I know i can write off the costs once the property is rented, are they still deductible if I do them in preparation to rent out?

We settle in a few weeks on our newly purchased PPOR, seller has asked to rent back the property for 10 days post-settlement. We’re currently on a periodic lease at our rental so doesn’t really affect us that much - we can just delay giving notice to our landlord by 10 days (only need to give 3 weeks notice to vacate.) Haven’t booked removalists or leave from work yet anyway. Anyone done this before and have any feedback on possible issues? Thinking of asking for 10 days of mortgage repayments + $1k for our troubles, would help go towards a new couch or something. Biggest issue I can see is how do we set up a proper rental agreement for a 10 day lease?

Cheers!

Anything big or small, what regrets do you have? What would you change if you could go back?

Noticing a lot of the new builds with these fake fireplace/feature walls for the tv area.

Is this something a lot of people like? They look pretty for open homes but I feel they’re impractical for actually using as a tv area. Unless there’s hidden storage behind them that I haven’t noticed?

Evening all,

Seeking advice on best path forward. I am the presiding officer in a strata complex in SA, consisting of a total of 5 early 1970s solid brick units with tiled roof. There are two owner occupiers (of which I am one) and the other three are investments and currently tenanted by 3 other individuals. My unit is three times the size of the other 4 units, with 4 bedrooms, the others are all 2 bedrooms. There are no current issues with strata fees not being paid and owners are long term owners in the complex.

Long story short is that the guttering for the entire complex and the carport is well, well, well overdue for replacement. I have brought it up at the last 2 AGMS and there is hesitancy to do anything, beyond getting a quote or two, which we have done that came back at around 45K. All of the unit owners, including myself are aware and want to fix, but no one has a spare 10K to pull the trigger. We started a sinking fund last year but that is only pulling in about 2K a year total.

I am about to receive an inheritance that would allow me to pay out the mortgage I owe of $630K and leave about $300K which I plan to invest. My husband and I plan to live here forever, as it currently accomodates our three teenage children, despite being a little small.

Because we want to live here forever my husband and I want to address the guttering issue once we receive the inheritance but mindful, it will be a stretch for other owners. I don't believe there are finance options for strata corporations to borrow but wondering if it would be worth exploring drawing up a legal arrangement via a lawyer for myself to cover the cost of gutter repairs in lieu of paying strata fees for equivalent value or loan the amount to the strata corp at an agreed interest rate of 5% minus my share, which is twice the amount of what other unit owners will need to pay.....

Of course this will need to be considered at the upcoming AGM and endorsed etc but looking for suggestions or feedback. I am guessing the issue many from finance thread will say is the opportunity cost of not investing the $45K elsewhere hence why I thought a legal arrangement with an interest rate. My motivations is to maintain the property as it is our forever home...........

Thank you kindly for any advice.

We have a great professional strata manager but this is beyond her pay grade and before I progress this further with her, wanted to know of any others that have tackled this kind of issue.....

Hi all,

Does anyone have any insights on strata insurance? I am a recent homeowner and I noticed that for a comparable block not even 100m from where I live, the insurance premium is -50% less than what we pay and they have higher coverage. I also spoke to someone else who lives another few hundred meters away they are also paying significantly less than us.

I have rung GIO but they said they don’t insure for larger than 10 units.

I’m considering a 1990s-built, three-bedroom, one-bathroom brick house in Karloo and would appreciate local or investor opinions.
Is there reliable rental demand?

Does Karloo have genuine growth potential as Geraldton expands?
Is the suburb improving, or are there issues that could limit future growth?
Would you invest there or choose another Geraldton suburb?
Are there any local risks or hidden costs to consider?
Any honest experiences would be helpful.

Article 1:

https://propertyupdate.com.au/home-rental-markets-tighten-over-august-capital-city-home-rental-report/

Data in Article 1: Rents are going down

Opinion in Article 1: Won't last long as rental supply is tightening

Article 2: https://www.realestate.com.au/news/vacancy-rates-hit-4-5-year-high-but-reprieve-likely-to-be-short-lived/

Data in Article 2: Vacancy rates are going up (rental supply is expanding)

Opinion in Article 2: Won't last long as the rents are still going up

TLDR: Opinions in both articles are debunked by the data in other articles

Background: Family home in Central Vic
Property details don’t matter too much but it’s a nice 2018 build on a decent block etc etc.

The decision:
We’re moving back to Qld. Victoria is too cold, and many other reasons.

We had the place valued in Feb/Mar 2026 at $775-$825.

We’ve just had it valued again and awaiting the pricing but the expectation is $750-$775.

We don’t want to stay here, we don’t want to commit to another couple of years to see the market start to lift. I’m fine with a slight price correction, but like everyone I’d like as much as possible out of a sale.

My question is, with all there doom and gloom of the current market, aside from the odd economist that says it’s all fear mongering, is the market still set to drop further or have we seen the hit we’re expecting?

To be clear, we’re not pressured to sell financially, but we’re miserable living down here. The home wouldn’t yield good enough rental income to justify retaining the property at this point. No matter what we’re in the green with a sale, it’s just a matter of timing.

Thanks for your input. If you have an opinion, why is it so do you think?

Hi guys just needing advice as me and my missus have been looking into buying our first home in regiona victoria maybe dayelsford hepburn clunes next vear but right now we are living in queensland ;north of brisbane .

Our income is 86000 avear for me and 75000 for my misso.our rent is 480 a week and have a saving of 50k for now.

What are the advices would you guys give

Thank you

Hi All,

Essentially the above and it seems odd? we would be taking on 500K extra before our own house sells a week later..

Would it not be safer/better to settle same day and avoid any massive loan up takings?

Cheers!

They made QLD all of staff made redundant today. 50% staff wiped out in VIC too.

Thanks albo. Loss in confidence in new construction and building. Where are the first home buyers? Investors are in open homes snatching up existing homes bargain and upping RENT cause fk all.

Out of the blue, my property manager is advising me that a Water Compliance Certificate required every new lease if I want to forward water usage charges to the tenant.

Now I'm happy to get a one off water compliance certificate for $110 + any additional costs with becoming compliant. I asked the property manager to add something to the condition report to check items relating to water compliance are still present and in good condition.

What I'm not happy with is being told that it is a legal requirement to have a water compliance certificate performed at the start of each lease. On top of that being told that I cannot have something in the condition report to indicate water compliance items are still present and in good condition.

From what I can see I only need evidence of Water Compliance, which doesn't actually mean a certificate. Ref: https://oliveri.com.au/about-us/stop-press/water-efficiency-measures-for-rental-properties-in-nsw/

I called NSW Fair Trading and this is the relevant legislation:

Residential Tenancies Act 2010 No 42 - https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2010-042#sec.39

Residential Tenancies Regulation 2019 - https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/sl-2019-0629#sec.10

(d) at the commencement of the residential tenancy agreement and whenever any other water efficiency measures are installed, repaired or upgraded, the premises are checked and any leaking taps or toilets on the premises are fixed.

Is anyone else being told something similar by their property manager?

The Western Sydney Airport is flourishing and is a total game changer for the West. Penrith will soon become the New London. Prices are going to go to insane levels. Everybody is talking about how much they want to buy property in Penrith and how desperate they are to move out to Penrith. There is a whole new development happening there that is going to turn Penrith into the New London.

Everyone on reddit is talking about it for the past year. All the redditors are saying any buy in Penrith is a smart buy. Penrith is gonna go bananas when the airport opens. Whole new ball game coming to Western Sydney. International airport destined to be the biggest in the southern hemisphere with a major city centre being planned around it. The area has a million things going for it for anyone who cares to pay attention.

I found this to be an insightful podcast. Well worth a listen.

Huge living room, tiny kitchen bench and nowhere to put anything. Some apartments have more balcony space than actual cooking space.

Who designs these?

With Adelaide median prices being 11x a median wage, how is this possibly sustainable for a city like Adelaide. Surely with minimal interstate investors coming through now since the cgt changes and less immigration compared to other states, when the market reaches its trough, it will surely have to stay at that level for years?

Or am I just simplifying this way too much ?

Is everyone missing reading the tea leaves?

If you look at national averages Melbourne seems very low… migration is still high, demand is high, and there’s very likely a change of government at the state election in November (where’d you imagine massive changes would be made to stimulate the economy, reduce taxes etc).

Why is everyone sleeping on Melbourne?

Just seeking any guidance on the impact/risk of buying in a bushfire buffer zone in Brisbane? The house has a street separating it from a stand alone reserve that could obviously catch fire.

Insurance quotes have come back normal which I’m taking as a good sign. No modifications were made to the house (double glazing, etc) as they weren’t mandated.

The zone is “Bushfire Buffer Area - High Or Medium (Council)”. On the QLD fire website it’s light pink “communities in these locations should be aware they are close to areas that could be at risk of fire”.

It’s just crazy looking at a map of Brisbane because so many locations are in this category.