Hi. I'm new to this forum. My name is donvale from Australia. Hope to learn more about real estate and also be friends with members of this forum. :smile:

OK , I'm off to mediation on thursday, basically what I am trying to find out is that can a persons evidence ( a person living at my rental) be used in mediaition and a tennancy tribunal meeting if their name isn't on the Tennancy agreement? chrs

Hi everyone Thought this might be worth discussing. If we could claim all repairs as expenses, including stuff like recladding with current materials, replacing the roof, etc, what would be a realistic timeframe before you typically would have to just pull a house down and start again? If...

I have a renovated house privately on the market via my trademe profile that has been listed for about 3 weeks. I had a local viewer approach me earlier this week via the TM site who inspected today. She declared she went through the unrenovated house in July 2008 with an agent when we...

3:40 PM Tuesday Feb 9, 2010 ---Quote--- The Prime Minister has just delivered his statement to Parliament, tipping an increase in GST, cuts in income tax rates and a change to the way property investment is taxed. There has been a swift reaction to his speech. Here a selection of comments...

One of the fundamental principles of managing money is that time and money are inextricably linked. People who are successful at creating wealth are those who understand the connection between time and money and use it to their advantage.

*Land tax, RFRM tax, capital gains tax all out – Key* *Rob Hosking* | Tuesday February 9...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/blogs/stirring-the-pot/3306901/Political-meddling-with-property-has-never-worked by Bruce Sheppard It seems that it is an almost timeless belief of politicians that rapidly rising property values is a bad thing. Those who own property, which in bygone days...

I have plans to build a garage on my property, and ideally would sit it hard up against the neighbours garage which is hard up against my boundary. His garage is 3 metres high, and mine will be 2.5 metres high, however zoning rules say that on his northern boundary I can only build within a 2 metre...

09 February 2010 ---Quote--- Prime Minister John Key is *expected to target tax breaks for landlords *in his first parliamentary speech of the year setting out the Government's plans. Mr Key also suggested he would be looking at Working for Families, and that could mean both tax issues and...

*Wed 3 March 10 7pm arrival for 7.30 start Freemans Bay Community Centre 52 Hepburn Street Freemans Bay APIA Members $5 cash, non members $15 payable at the door Email admin@apia.org.nz or visit http://www.apia.org.nz/events?eventid=a0f1023a-8cf4-4751-9dbf-46bfbb24f73a to register * For...

09/02/2010 ---Quote--- the ird will today appeal a high court decision in favour of two christchurch surgeons it had accused of underpaying themselves in order to save on tax. Orthopaedic surgeons ian penny and gary hooper both formed companies for their private practices and employed...

Advice required for best structures for the following scenario: We own 1 rental in our own names(husband & wife) & are looking @ purchasing another.Both properties will be cashflow positive. Husband earns the higher income. Looking @ purchasing other properties with another couple(husband...

I recently received the invitation to the annual AGM for the body corporate of a 2brm unit I own. The local real estate agent office is managing our BC, which is all fine. It's a block of 6 units and there is usually not much business to discuss at the AGM, so it's all fairly simple. However, with...

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE PROPOSED TAX CHANGES TO PROPERTY? DO YOU THINK THE PROPOSALS ARE FAIR? TAKE ACTION AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. With the great assistance of a Capital Property Investor member, we have come up with the following template base to write a letter/email to John Key, Bill...

Real Estate – Non-residential • Industrial property leasing and they are flat at present • Commercial Property Leasing: Lots of inertia in terms of trying to get businesses to commit to premises. Shorter lease terms being negotiated. Sales - slowly improving but industrial and office markets...

Real Estate – Residential • Real estate. Improved stock levels, but unsure on values going forward. • Property Valuation market still tight • Real estate Mount Maunganui, monthly sales down to 30 to 40 sales per month down from 140 average 2005,, falling volume and prices, lots of people geared...

Hi everyone We're locking for new deadlocks for our PPOR, and just wondered if anyone knows about the relative quality of the different brands. So far, we've seen Sylvan, Lockwood and Windsor. We gather Sylvan's the cheap end of the market and Lockwood the more expensive; anyone know how Windsor...

What are all the tax breaks of real estate? (sorry I'm a newbie). Basically the ones I'm confused about is people who make a loss from their properties and write it off from the tax from their job? How does this work? And is another way to pay less tax just write off the loan interest and...

*Millions saved: rates rise cut * By NATALIE AKOORIE - Waikato Times Last updated 12:00 08/02/2010 About $2.2 million has been slashed from Hamilton City Council's annual budget to pave the way for a lower-than-predicted rate rise. Rates were projected to...

08/02/2010 ---Quote--- the housing market has failed to start the year with the traditional january rush of new listings, quotable value says. Qv spokeswoman glenda whitehead said sales were normally at their lowest during the christmas period, but there was usually an increase in listings...

*Insulation turns houses into potential death traps* Article from: Image: http://www.news.com.au/images/sources/h14_theaustralian.gif (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/) February 08, 2010 01:20am ...

I've read a number of books on the subject but am by far no expert. I'm in my early 20's and saving up for a deposit. In the next few years what should I do to keep learning. And my main question is... Do I need to join a property investment association? (I've seen them advertised in the...

TO say you live in Ropes Crossing rather than Blacktown, Glenmore Park over Penrith or Glen Alpine instead of Campbelltown adds thousands to your home's value. Latest sales figures reveal suburbs ending with waters, park, point, hills or heights can be worth more than three times as much as...

WANT to know how to exploit investment opportunities this year? Take several large steps backwards. Investors fail to see the best opportunities to buy or develop growth real estate because they look too "micro". The bigger picture is more important. But they can't see the suburb for the houses....

EIGHT per cent is the magic number for the housing market. Historically, when home loan interest rates reach 8 per cent, the steam goes out of rising housing prices. Until mortgage rates hit that benchmark, prices will keep growing -- albeit at a slower pace than last year. In the depth of...

MELBOURNE home owners have spent more on renovations than residents elsewhere in the country for the second year in a row, with Victorians shelling out $1.66 billion last year on property improvements. The city's builders are reporting that the level of inquiry for home renovations has...

BECOMING a landlord is the aim of many, but you need to know what you're doing. Property investing is the subject of countless books and seminars in which so-called experts talk about the easy millions to be made. It sounds easy but becoming a landlord is not an instant one-way street to...

I keep an eye on the rents advertised on Trademe for our IP's suburb. It's an awfully small sample size so may not mean anything ... but in the last fortnight 3-beddies are up a good $30 a week on average, compared with nov/dec/jan. It's Christchurch, so maybe it's just the start of varsity...

Bernard Hickey details the key news over the weekend in 90 seconds at 9am, including news Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard has told TVNZ it's unrealistic for New Zealand to think it can match Aus... MucnAr07c2Y&feature=sub

Bernard Hickey delivers a housing report in association with the BNZ on how the landscape for fixed and variable mortgages has shifted fundamentally in the last 18 months. Back before the Global Fi... iThIUqxS_Ug&feature=sub

One of the key lessons we learn in life is that it is important to save. There is a big difference though, between what we learn and what we do and many people find saving difficult.

The commercial rental property market in New Zealand continues to be very much a tenant's market... but there are many landlords who simply don't get it...

Summer, the busiest property selling season, is upon us and many owners are considering moving without using a real estate agent.

Just a couple of years ago, the headline above would have made absolutely no sense to anyone. In fact even today, a great number of people would still think it is gobbledegook. But the world is moving fast and what is one day a word or term that only makes sense to geeks, can almost overnight become everyday language. We now "Google" things, and "Facebook" people rather than research things or write letters, and suddenly we are accustomed to it. So let me explain today's heading...

Finally, we’re priced right, our house looks so good we are considering keeping it and not selling after all, but we STILL don’t have any buyers looking at it!! What gives?? I hate to say it, but maybe your agent isn’t using the right tools to market your home.