I own a typical dogbox 1BR unit in inner city Sydney. I've had it for 20 years and only just realised I have no insurance for it.

Should I start now with landlord insurance or any other kind of insurance?

Not sure what I need. Any advice welcome please and thank you.

It has had good tenants the whole time. No serious building issues or defects.

First home buyer here. Anyone know a good suburb to keep an eye out for properties less than 1m

Currently live in Hawthorne (yep bougie) and if I want to buy in my suburb, a townhouse is like min 1.2m (get fktt)

Happy to move but also be realistic about travel, I’m a nurse and do night shifts a lot so I don’t want to drive home too far

PS I am not from Brisbane (originally from nz)

Has anybody bought crown land and how was the purchase price calculate

Hi, I am looking for some suggestions on improving the house layout. I am thinking about knocking the kitchen and living room wall down to open the space up. Not a big fan of the lounge/sunroom. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

$1.4M for a 3 bedroom house but they say the market is cooling down?

Hi everyone, I moved to Sydney earlier this month for what I thought would be a long term job and signed a 12-month lease near Milsons Point. Unfortunately, I was let go shortly after starting, through circumstances outside my control, and am now without income.

I contacted the real estate agent to ask about negotiating an early exit or finding a replacement tenant, but they said I’d have to pay the four-week break fee under NSW law.

Is this my only option? Can the landlord agree to waive/reduce the fee or allow a replacement tenant? Would applying to NCAT for hardship termination be worthwhile, or could it cost me more in rent while waiting?

I’m not trying to avoid my responsibilities, I’m just trying to minimise my losses in an unexpected situation. I’m early in my career and don’t have much savings ://, so I may have to return to my home country because of this.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hey all

Planning on buying a unit and i am curious as to how bad noise travels in fairly newish built apartments within the last 10 years?

Ive heard some horror stories online but it seems like people from the states complaining more.

I know you could have a bell end of a neighbour but generally speaking do the new ish builds have better sound controlling measures?

First-time investor here! I've just signed a contract on a $280k Melbourne CBD apartment, expecting $580-
$600/week rent.
My strategy was to buy something affordable that largely pays for itself, then purchase a capital-growth-focused property in 3-5 years.
However, after speaking with Graeme Holm, I'm second-guessing myself. His argument is that buying for yield over growth could limit my ability to build a portfolio. And tells me I'm making the biggest mistake as wealth is where Capital Gains is with being able to utilise the CGT by purchasing new builds for investments.
I'm also wondering whether rising construction costs and potentially restricted new apartment supply could eventually benefit existing Melbourne CBD apartments.
Has anyone successfully gone yield-first, growth-second? Did your first property help or hinder your next purchase?
Would especially love to hear from Melbourne CBD investors about their experiences with capital growth and rental demand.

My wife and I are considering to build a new house and we found some houses in our neighbourhood and online which we really like, but we struggle to find out how this style is called.
Can you guys help us?

Sorry for the poor images, I don’t want to photograph neighbour’s houses to obviously 😅

A duplex my partner and I were interested in is three levels, with a seperate (no internal stairs) room, kitchen and bathroom downstairs. During the inspection we loved the place, but the downstairs area suspiciously didn’t seem like it lined up with the rest of the house. We found the development plans online, and confirmed the area was non habitable. My partner and I just heard back from a request from council, confirming that the lot has had no building approvals or amendments since the original development plan.

This afternoon, I contacted the agent to advise him that the downstairs area is not approved and is actually a non habitable space. He hasn’t responded yet.

The listing included detail such as calling the space a fully separated studio style accomodation and provided rental appraisals for the space (seperate from the two other floors).

What are the agents obligations with regards to changing the listing? I know there was another offer on contract, could they just accept the other offer without informing the buyer?

We are still interested in the property, just at a reduced price considering the approval issues. Curious to know if there is anything I have missed here or if there is any recommended next steps? We are first home buyers so a little unsure how to proceed.

Hi everyone,

We’re building a new home with a volume builder in Melbourne and have been quoted $36K for the staircase and glass balustrade for the design shown in the attached image.

We’re honestly scratching our heads trying to understand how it gets to $36K, as we were giving a verbal estimate at the time of initial quoting of about 12 to 15k. We are not after something super fancy. minimal 10mm glass, standard stairs (not floating etc..) so keen to hear from anyone who has recently built or upgraded their staircase.

The specs are:

• 10mm clear rebated glass
• Plaster Wall Balust on first floor is 5 meters.
• Glass fixed into a closed outer stringer
• Staircase and glass balustrade as per the attached design

I understand that such staircases and glass balustrades aren’t cheap, but $36K seems like a significant amount.

1. Is $36K a reasonable price for this type of staircase and glass balustrade through a volume builder, or does it sound excessive?
2. Has anyone priced a similar staircase directly through an independent staircase manufacturer or glazier? If so, what sort of pricing did you receive?
3. If we went with standard MDF stair treads with carpet, but kept the glass balustrade and handrail on the staircase and the glass balustrade around the first-floor landing, what sort of price range might we be looking at?
4. Has anyone successfully negotiated a staircase upgrade with their volume builder or had the work done separately? Are there any practical issues with doing this outside the builder's contract?

We’re not necessarily chasing the cheapest option, but we’d like to understand whether this is a fair price and where we could potentially save without compromising on the overall look.

Would really appreciate any recent quotes, experiences or advice, particularly from people who have built in Victoria.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,
I’m looking into buying my first home in Australia next year and am currently exploring my deposit options.
I previously transferred my KiwiSaver funds across to my Australian superannuation fund via the Trans-Tasman retirement savings portability scheme. I have a couple of questions about how these funds are treated:
1. FHSS Eligibility: Are transferred KiwiSaver funds counted as eligible contributions for the First Home Super Saver (FHSS) scheme, or are they kept in a separate/locked tier within the Aussie super fund?
2. Withdrawal Percentage / Caps: If they can be used for a first home deposit through the FHSS scheme, is 100% of the transferred amount accessible, or are there specific caps or rules on how much of that transferred balance can be withdrawn?
Would love to hear from anyone who has successfully transferred their KiwiSaver across and used it to buy a property in Australia, or from brokers/financial professionals familiar with trans-Tasman super rules!

I guess no one would say yes to a stranger on the Internet but I’ve lost my RP data with my last company.

I was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to spare it to me tonight even just to look up a couple of things and then change the password,

why would you do that? I could pay for it. I don’t know what.

Please

Thanks so much

Heya, first home buyers here. Seen a dream place that’s just outside our price range (we’re hoping to find somewhere for under 640-650K).

This place is listed as 660-680K for auction next month.
I’m wondering if it’s even worth putting in a lowball offer? Or wait and see if the auction passes without buyers?

For context it’s a two bed apartment that was last sold for $660k in 2021 and given how much prices have fallen, I’m wondering what to do?

Any thoughts are appreciated, how much to offer always seems like a bit of a shot in the dark!

Edit: so a lot of people seem to be reading this right but they’re missing a crucial element while the market to recovers. It’s gonna be say,one year three year five years whatever. While you wait you’re also losing in ‘real terms’ because inflation still compounds while the property takes time to recover.

Can anyone recommend any property managers around western suburbs that aren’t charging an arm and a leg