I had a first recently. I got a message from the REA I bought a long time ago off saying they had a property in my building that was having a mid week open home and I should come by to said open home and “support my neighbour”. Anyone else think that’s odd? The neighbour wouldn’t be there and we are not buying. I gather it’s to say that they got someone through the door… I mean props to them for being community minded I guess.

I bought my first home in Melbourne in March ‘26, not long after the recent peak in my area.

My Bank has it down at least 7% since then, and I’m now seeing places in the same area listed well under what I paid.

I’ll admit I had a nagging feeling I should have waited until after the budget and the state election. There was talk of the Libs scrapping stamp duty for first home buyers under $1M, plus some tax changes for investors on the table. At the time they had little to no chance of winning, but if they do get in, it would have applied to my situation. Still, I absolutely love the place I bought, and it obviously wasn’t going to sit there waiting for me. I figured it was better to act than hesitate and regret it.

A few things have made me feel better about it:

1. There’s almost nothing out there I’d want to buy and live in. Prices are lower, sure, but since buying I haven’t seen a single place I’d be as excited to call home. A lot of what’s coming up looks like ex-rentals being offloaded.
2. Scrapping stamp duty probably won’t save first home buyers much. If you've suddenly got an extra $40–50k to put toward a purchase, I'd assume that will just go into bigger and better offers. So prices under the threshold would rise by at least that much (as we've seen in the past) so the saving gets eaten up. Even if I’d waited and qualified, I think I’d have broken even at best.
3. I think Victoria will be one of the first markets to recover. It’s been the laggard for a while, and for bloody good reason, but I don’t see that lasting forever.

Anyone else in a similar spot? Bought near the peak and either regretting it or weirdly comforted by it? It’s great to finally have a home and my weekends back, but damn, I’d have loved to have the ball in my court the whole way through, with agents actually returning my calls.

An apartment in Edithvale south east Melbourne for under 400k and the weekly cost of body corp is 322???? Is that absurd or the norm?

There is 50 apartments in the complex and I just cannot fathom how the body corp would be so high they’d make 16,000$ a week

So I want to sell my current home and buy a new one. How do I actually work this out so I am out of my current home and into the new one before the settlement?

Do I ensure that the house I'm buying settles first so I get a week or so to move and then my old house settles like a week later?

And what covers the mortgage in between, would that be a temporary bridging loan of a week or something? That seems like a lot of work for the bank for just a week or two.

I'm also considering subject to sale and a long settlement, just to ensure it all works out.

Our neighbours are looking to sell. They have a basement that floods, and a builder has quoted them a large amount to properly fix and waterproof. Since they got this quote, they've been coming at us complaining that its because of water coming from our side of the fence. We are uphill from them, so it makes sense that some comes across but council guidelines seem to suggest that is a normal thing and not our liability.

We want to be neighbourly but also don't have a lot of money. They initially said we have to build stormwater pits, which we pushed back on, and now they are asking if we can put agi pipe behind the small retaining wall, which we may be open to.

Just wondering if anyone else has had this experience and how fair it is this solution?

Last year sold a house in UK - commission was 1% and Rightmove listing and photographs were included. Here (Brisbane) Ive been quoted 2-3% plus costs of marketing. I'm just wondering how typical/negotiable this is - Loads of agents falling over themselves to sell my house - how successful have people been in getting a good deal?

Has anyone personally used Power to the Buyer Agency recently to purchase an investment? Not finding much information or reviews about them online so I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience. How was your experience with their service, communication, transparency around costs and the overall buying process?

A two bedroom apartment would sell a lot easier in the future which is my main reason for forgetting to instead of one

I'm looking at buying in the mickleham area have seen this town house in the same estate i currently rent in what do you think?

NSW based.

The only light on my floor stairwell has gone out. I’ve emailed strata about it and they asked if any other lights are out as it’s not worth a commercial callout just for one light. They then said they’d speak to the committee about it. Do I have any leg to stand on other than it being unsafe? Thanks

Hey all, basically what it says in the title. Have been renting the place for 2 years and our property manager and landlords have been fairly decent, it’s no fault with them.

About a year ago construction started behind our house. We previously had a wooden fence installed on the back (like the one on the right side of the second pic). One morning we woke up and half of the back fence had been entirely replaced by the metal grating fence you’d usually see around construction sites. Ok, it felt a bit intrusive, we’d lost a bit of our privacy and it happened entirely without notice but at least there’s still sort of some barrier there. Neither we nor our PM were given any notice.

A year later, we wake up and the other part of the fence has been completely removed, except this time there’s not even any barrier that’s been resurrected in its place. See pic 2 lol. Again we weren’t given any notice. It’s just a little bit invasive, right? There’s tradies standing around and even on what was our side of the fence. There’s now a direct and unimpeded route from our backyard and back door to our suburb’s main road. If we had (for eg) a dog there would be obvious issues with that. They’ve also lowered the construction site by around 1.5 metres compared to our property, so it could even be sort of dangerous if someone takes a stumble in the dark.

It’s all probably the sort of thing I’d be fine to grin and bear if we also didn’t have a rubbish problem caused by the construction workers. They constantly throw plastic and cardboard fast-food containers, plastic bags, and even sometimes screws etc into our yard. It happens enough that it becomes an eyesore after like half a week, and it’s been happening for pretty much the last 9 months.

Pics included, the first is what we have to deal with on a semi-daily basis. Maybe I’m having a whinge, it’s not that much rubbish in the scheme of things but it’s a fucking pain to do the mowing and have to continually pick clear containers that I previously missed out of the way, or to hear screws clanging around the rotor. Usually at least it’s concentrated towards the back of the yard (as you’d expect if it was tradies just chucking it over) but today it was dumped in the middle, which I really doubt anyone has the arm for (especially to throw a plastic bag!)… ofc that would imply that the rubbish is being deposited from within the premises of our yard.

We had friends over last week, a couple of whom are much more confrontational than us, and they decided to chuck the day’s deposits back over instead of binning them. Fair fucks! However the next day we got double the amount thrown over to our side. I tried approaching one tradie who was standing near the barrier about it but he apparently couldn’t speak English (which is bs bc I heard him talking fluent English on the phone earlier). The whole thing just feels completely disrespectful at the very least.

Who do we go to for this? Is there any sort of method of recourse we have available for both these issues, as renters?

Also sorry for the blog post! And also for posting here, I’m not really sure where to put this.

Hi all. We were looking for a property near South Sydney (St George area) but a property at Arncliffe caught our eye as well. As this area was never in our radar and a quick google search gave favorable result, would be great to hear from the brain trusts here so that we would not regret moving in here if we end up buying it. For context, will be needing to travel to Macquaire Park for work and kid would need to come down to Hurstville for college.

In Melbourne,

1. Are brick houses built in the 1970s, 80s, 90s or 2000s considered the best value, and why? Is there a particular decade buyers prefer?
2. How long do these houses realistically last if maintained well? Also came to know from an older agent that the real issue with brick-houses is not the bare structure, but the wood/other materials used within it. So overall in his perspective 'brick houses' still will cost you in longer term.
3. Also, why do older brick homes often seem more desirable than newer builds from builders like Carlisle, Henley or Metricon? Surely newer homes offer better energy efficiency and lower running costs over time?

Is it mainly about build quality, land, location, affordability or buyer perception?

Had look into few brick houses, (may be structurally good still), but plumbing/corridors/baths etc all have to be taken into vs New builds

Keen to hear/thoughts from the experienced hands here

I’ve been mainly following the market in Brisbane and surrounds and noticed quite a few listings sitting for longer, with some sellers making fairly substantial price reductions of $50k–$100k. I’ve also seen some properties sell for like 1M+ that I wouldn’t have expected to?

It’s made me curious about how people are navigating the current market, particularly when asking prices, automated valuations (Domain, property.com.au, etc.) and actual buyer expectations don’t necessarily align.

A few things I’m interested in:

For buyers: What actually motivates you to make an offer? Are you waiting for further reductions, offering below asking, or still seeing competition for well-priced properties?

For sellers: How are you determining your asking price and when to adjust it? How do you know whether you’ve reached the market rather than just chasing it down?

Regarding AVMs: How much weight do you give automated valuations? Would a property advertised below its estimated value make you more inclined to inspect or offer?

Price reductions: When you see a property reduced by $50k–$100k, does that make it more attractive, or do you assume there’s room for further negotiation?

Market conditions: Are you noticing a genuine shift in buyer confidence and behaviour, or is it simply taking longer for properties to find the right buyer?

I’m especially interested in what creates an environment where buyers are actually willing to make offers. Or what kind of product makes people willing to make huge offers.

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed that as well in my area which includes Capalaba and Thornlands lots of big houses are coming back into the market due to contract crash because the offer was subject to sale.

Boy is this dude in for shock

Email from agent

how desperate are they. 2 bedder unit. how lowball can i go

------

Hi XXXX

Please find the contract attached

Owners are looking for 700,000 but can negotiate. 

The property is vacant and can be moved into straightaway after settlement/before under license

Will you be attending this afternoon's inspection?

Kind Regards, 

First home buyer

Finding out that real estate agents are dodgy

Will tell price guide over phone but won't write it down

Also when I tell them I'm a doctor they start acting all weird and pushing their stuff.

Looking up the properties have been on the market for 2 months

I'm in NSW

Any tips for dealing with the slime?

For those who live here (particularly those with kids), what are your pros and cons? Any regrets living here?

Suburbs with decent public transport would be better, but you get more bang for your buck if you look a little bit further out of the city. We want to be max 10km from the city.

I finally found a place in an established pocket in Werribee, enter COS and now the BP report came back with this result. My buyer agent said it’s not a major problem and can be easily tackled. However my conveyancer said it’s a major defect and I might rescind the contract. Now Im confused whether or not to proceed. These kinds of problem can be a major thing in the future and with big cost incur. Can anyone who has faced with similar situation advice?

Thank you in advance.

Note: im not in the country at the moment so i cant inspect myself. Everything has to rely on agents though.

Hi,

I write this at 1am out of desperation

After sacrificing any holidays, pursuing job hopping and jobs on the side , I finally afforded my own apartment after years of renting (since 18)

I (26m) did everything right just to afford this , I have no family and just wanted to live a quiet life by myself

A few weeks ago, I moved into a third level apartment (with a fourth level on top ) in a building of under 100 units.

The first few days were great ,after this, there has been so much noise due to garbage sound proofing, the neighbour is up at all hours and it’s like I can hear them walking back and fourth . Every step they take on hardwood results in creaking , thudding and stomping noises . My apartment actually shakes at times

I have no idea what to do , ultimately if I end up saying something there is no reason for them to listen .

I spent all my money paying settlement costs

The apartment above is an exact replica to mine , if I pursue owners corp, I fear this will make the situation worse

I believe the person may have some mental issues because the behaviour is just not normal

I feel completely trapped , especially as a light sleeper and spent majority of nights on a few hours of sleep , what am I suppose to do ?

Damn I don't know what's happening...

You know our tenant was caught having drugs... he was caught because my uncle spotted v small vials and when I examined it it had cigarette butts and a ball of aluminum foil...

The man would go to the shared bathroom for half an hour long always flick the lighter, play some random youtube shorts in high volume and after he left... the bathroom

He left a v deep stench in a way like as if he smoked thousands of cigarette in one go.... it was a v thick smoke

The man did it atleast 3 times a day

I m so shocked I never knew how the drg*s smell like..

This is just an awareness

Stay safe guys...

Noticed some huge price drops on 3 bedroom townhouses in my area recently (South West Brisbane).

In one complex of mostly identical 3 bedroom townhouses, sales in the last 6 months have been:

• $815k in April
• $810k in May
• $730k in September
• And now $650k in October.

That's a drop of around 20% in just 6 months.

What's interesting is how wildly different some asking prices still are. In the same complex as those listed above, there are 4 currently for sale but the 2 with prices are offers over $700k and offers over $790k for the exact same 3 bedroom townhouse.

In another townhouse complex in the same suburb, there are currently 2 for sale (exactly the same townhouse, 3 doors apart) with one listed at offers over $685k and other other offers over $849k.

Odd to see such a large difference in asking prices for identical properties, Some realistic and some completely unreasonable given recently sales data.

It feels like some sellers are adjusting their expectations to recent sales, while others are still pricing based on what properties were achieving earlier in the year.

Is anyone else seeing this around Brisbane? Are we starting to see sellers price expectations diverge significantly from what buyers are actually willing to pay?