API Blog :: Have your say!

November 30, 2011

Name your price


I’d really like someone to talk me through the thought process behind not disclosing a price – or price range – for a property that’s listed for sale.

BY VANESSA DE GROOT

In some ways I can see why people do it – I suppose it means you’re not limiting the potential buyers for a particular property. With no particular price listed, you might just draw in some people who wouldn’t ordinarily look at it and once they see it, they’ll fall in love with it and decide to go that extra mile and pay more.

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November 29, 2011

How will the US and Europe debt affect Australia and Australian property?


With a global economy showing little sign of recovery in 2012, let’s look at some of the issues holding back the major developed economies and what this means for Australia and its property sector.

BY ED CHAN

As you would all be aware, the US and parts of Europe are in significant economic disorder right now. The US Government’s debt of $14 trillion to US gross domestic product (GDP) of $14 trillion represents a debt GDP ratio of 100 per cent and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts this to rise to anywhere between 129 per cent and 157 per cent of GDP by 2020.

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November 25, 2011

Take action despite your fears


Over the years I’ve seen many people think about getting rich. They proclaim affirmations, visualise and meditate, yet they don’t get rich.

BY MICHAEL YARDNEY

Let’s be realistic… to get ahead in the real world you have to take action.
Why is it that most people don’t take action?

Sometimes it’s lack of knowledge, but more frequently it comes down to fear that stops people from living their dreams.

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November 24, 2011

How much leeway?


Following on from my blog a couple of weeks ago about pets and properties, which generated some very interesting comments, I’m wondering how much leeway investors out there give to their tenants.

BY VANESSA DE GROOT

I’ve got a tenant for one of my properties who’s a couple of months into a six-month lease and I’ve been informed by the property manager that she’d like to install Foxtel.

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November 21, 2011

Looking through the microscope


Remember this picture? It might look like a museum image of prehistoric man, but it’s a rock located in the Cydonia region of Mars.

BY CATHERINE CASHMORE

JPL scientists at NASA made the discovery of the ‘Face on Mars’ in 1976. Wanting to give the public a familiar looking feature, they released this image to the tremendous delight of daily tabloids that ran with headlines suggesting ancient intelligent life had been found on Mars. Of course a few years later, on closer inspection, the imagined eyes, nose, and lips turned out to be nothing more than peaks and ridges…

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November 18, 2011

America’s property markets sinking


I hope you’re not thinking about investing in US property!

BY MICHAEL YARDNEY

I find it interesting that there are still local promoters recommending buying US property at a time when the American property markets are sinking.

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November 16, 2011

Nightmare settlements


How often do property settlements go according to plan? From the stories I’ve heard recently, it doesn’t seem to be too often.

BY VANESSA DE GROOT

I had a bit of a nightmare settlement recently, where I thought everything was on track, but I obviously had my head in the sand, as I was informed by my mortgage broker on the Friday afternoon before settlement was due on the following Monday that I best push it back by at least a couple of weeks.

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November 15, 2011

Transport infrastructure and property prices: the road to riches


As a property investor you should be continually scouring the market looking for new opportunities and trends that will affect the demand for property.

BY RICH HARVEY

New and improved transport infrastructure can have a dramatic effect on property prices. On one hand you want be close to transport… but not so close that road noise decimates the peaceful tranquility of outdoor living!

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November 11, 2011

What it takes to join the ‘rich one per cent’ club


Recently there have been protests around the world against the richest one per cent.

BY MICHAEL YARDNEY

The protesters say they’re opposed to “the fundamental inequality in society – social, economic, ecological – and want to change the ways that our society is structured and run so that way, the vast majority of people – the 99 per cent – have their interests accounted for, their voices heard, their needs represented.”

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November 9, 2011

Pets and properties


Lately many of my friends have been getting pets. I suppose I’m at that age where people get animals as a test run for children… and I’ve noticed that these friends of mine really do treat their animals like they are their babies!

BY VANESSA DE GROOT

For instance, while many people would believe that animals should largely live outside, one particular friend of mine – let’s call her Jane – keeps her two puppies (they’re quite big now) inside. They roam about the house, they sleep in cages inside and they slobber all over the floor.

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