The totally off-topic thread

[whatmeworry]

Sorry to hear your father's story. Our future can get short at any time.

I am not preaching to anyone. Reality says that the overwhelming majority of people won't own their $3 million dream home this lifetime or the next. Although they may have a chance to own their own $400,000 home even if they don't want to live in it.

That's what I chose to do. And now time to start selling and cash in. Settlement in 3 weeks.

About a 10-15 years ago our neighbour bought their home for about $300k, about 6km from the city. House now worth closer to a million. Our old Dutch neighbour is devastated.

To buy a home in MEL for ~$400k, you have go to the Tarneit/Hopper Crossing area, 30km out. 30km out east in Ringwood, a home is around $700k.

You can buy a flat/unit for about 3-400k about 5-10km westside of MEL. However investor beware, already reports of too much speculation from here and overseas. Went past a couple new flat towers today and noticed many 'for lease' signs.

Then you have another problem in areas like Box Hill, Glen Waverley, Mount Waverley etc. the eastern middle suburbs with the good state schools. You have developers and people from overseas buying up homes and pushing up prices, just so they can get into a good school district. Many have dilapidated homes on big blocks going for 2-4 million.

The people cashing out, then start looking for new homes across Melbourne pushing up prices in other suburbs, who are also competing with other home buyers, investors and developers.

Certain areas and stock of MEL/SYD will have good capital growth but some will be soft.

Some people I know have looked at Melton, Geelong, Castlemaine and Bendigo and coming in by V/Line.

 

[GarrettM]

That I will certainly agree with.

We're saving. Hard. But we also like to play a bit too. Last year I made $34k (I'm upskilling to get a better job), but I also managed to save $10k AND book flights around the world in F.

Our weekly grocery bill for two of us is ~$100, I doubt many if any at all here spend less then we do and eat as well and healthily as we do. AFF events are about the only time we eat out. Yes we do have a wine problem but we buy smart. I've never owned a new car. Neither of us owe anything on a car. I don't own the latest phone.

I have family in three countries. Anyone who tells me that I'm not allowed to visit my mother because I should be be a scrooge is delusional.

The automatic putdown that I must be over-entitled because of my age is pretty disappointing.

I wouldn't necessarily buy a new car again, although I wouldn't say I regret it. It's a serious chunk of weekly income going on a depreciating asset. But I bought something to suit the plans I had as far as using it, and to date I've mostly followed through with that.

What I DO regret is getting the wife a new car when we were about to have a baby.

It's a fine car, but she's been driving mine most of the time since anyway since it's bigger and more convenient. If we'd have considered that beforehand we might have kept her old one a little longer, or used the cash differently.

Phones... mine is a solid tax deduction each year as far as use goes, but I haven't changed the phone in more than three years. It ain't broke so no need.

 

[GarrettM]

In a rental property owned by a landlord? So what was the point again? Blind Freddy can see house prices in Australia are too high - guess what - that's what I thought in 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2016 - little has changed.
Was no wind up.

Jobs/opportunities/schools etc are all concentrated in the major capitals. Until that changes - and I don't pretend to know how - things will remain the same.

 

[anat0l]

Jobs/opportunities/schools etc are all concentrated in the major capitals. Until that changes - and I don't pretend to know how - things will remain the same.

Went to a lecture many years ago given by a demographer, rather well known but can't remember his name. His vision of Australia is that we adopt what he calls "big Australia", which in essence is that instead of packing more people into struggling and sprawling state capitals (particularly those on the eastern seaboard), we start developing new large cities from existing towns around Australia. For example, could you envisage Townsville, Cairns or Mackay having populations of at least one million? What about Canberra developing into something the size of Sydney or Melbourne (with an economy to match it)?

At that time, the Maroochydore-Redcliffe-Brisbane-Gold Coast corridor would be absolutely insane, as would likely Newcastle-Sydney-Wooloongong, Melbourne-Geelong and Perth-Mandurah.

Naturally, there was a large debate about how would it be possible to support those kinds of populations in those kinds of towns, especially when everyone started going away from towns on the eastern seaboard.

The latest high speed rail proposal seeks to make a bunch of towns along the track's route which is an attempt to essentially stop urban sprawl and encourage more people to live further out and yet be within striking distance of major city jobs.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Yes we do have a wine problem but we buy smart.

OK let's agree to disagree - YES you both have a wine problem - don't we all - but buy smart? Questionable! For example - the Wolf Blass Grey Label at what $7 bott? Why didn't you call me imm and say hey CE check this - I would have funded 1,000 cases - 10,000 cases - we could have knocked me out here at +100% easy in a day - your house deposit would have been 12mths closer in one foul swoop! You feel me?

 

[medhead]

There's no way that anyone can fix that without very specific, discriminating and draconian laws that will never pass any parliament, let alone one aligned strongly to the right.

Actually it is easily fixed by simple adjustments to the tax treatment of property. Remove the ability to claim expenses against other income, move those expenses to be offset against the capital value. But you're right about the right - suggest such a simple solution you'll find that house prices will collapse and rents will skyrocket.

 

[JohnK]

Well I dare say there are many more options out there to find out what would be best for you rather than relying on this forum, just saying........

Or perhaps you are just boasting? just saying....

Boasting? I am failure. AFF only knows part of the story. Why would I boast?

But you would be surprised how often one can get some decent advice on AFF even if that advice is not intentional. It is good to hear how people go about life in general.

 

[JessicaTam]

Oh, I am down to 350 unread emails.

 

[pagingjoan]

Oh, I am down to 350 unread emails.

Hmmm.
My email system tells me that I have 4,362 unread emails, having returned from a few weeks away.
It can't possibly be true.
And I would never have noticed the count, had it not been for your post, JT.
So now that I feel so overwhelmed, we should record the need to share a glass of restorative Champagne when next we cross paths.
And my task tomorrow is to clean up that backlog.

 

[Abdul_A350]

We have been selling off most of our Kobe and Yokohama properties recently and will do nicely out of it in AUD and EUR terms with thanks to recent exchange rate movements.

These are mostly commercial properties, but one of our agents is Australian and she was telling us some information about the negative gearing system for residential properties in Australia... in both Japan and I believe the US, it works basically the opposite way in that you get a tax deduction on your own mortgage and that only. Are there many other countries that have a similar regime to Australia?

 

[JohnK]

$3m dream home??? Bugger me. I've got my eye on homes in Perth's north for about 20% of that figure. That'll do me nicely.

And I'm in a $400,000 home closer to the city that's done ok for us in the past four years, although we haven't been able to eat into the mortgage as much as we'd originally hoped.

Sounds like you have done alright though. The way I see it as mentioned earlier, if you cannot afford to buy the house you want then there are other houses one can purchase or even units/apartments. The general rule of thumb used to be property doubled in value every 7 years. Sure some got lucky but they also worked hard to pay off the property.

 

[Flashback]

We have been selling off most of our Kobe and Yokohama properties recently and will do nicely out of it in AUD and EUR terms with thanks to recent exchange rate movements.

These are mostly commercial properties, but one of our agents is Australian and she was telling us some information about the negative gearing system for residential properties in Australia... in both Japan and I believe the US, it works basically the opposite way in that you get a tax deduction on your own mortgage and that only. Are there many other countries that have a similar regime to Australia?

Yes, this happens in the US (not sure if all over, but definitely for those in California).

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

But seriously mrs.dr.ron and dr.ronette - you dudes been floating around this planet since Adam was a boy - in all that time how much has it cost you in real $s with your cards being compromised in any way? .............................................

Ahhhhhhhh Cruiser, you might be right, nothing has happened to either of us in all that time, BUT in the next six months we have 3 major trips, will be way 26 weeks, will visit 16 countries - some dodgy places ( some multiple times) so it is for those reasons and my peace of mind that we are getting them.

I would not want to come back on here and give you a piece of my mind :idea: :shock: with a post that my CC had been skimmed in Entebbe while waiting at their salubrious airport and not knowing about it for a week.

PS: Ron says I haven't got a lot in my mind to be giving a bit away !!

 

[blackcat20]

In a rental property owned by a landlord? So what was the point again? Blind Freddy can see house prices in Australia are too high - guess what - that's what I thought in 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2016 - little has changed.
Was no wind up.

In a house owned by family that we don't pay to occupy.

I wouldn't necessarily buy a new car again, although I wouldn't say I regret it. It's a serious chunk of weekly income going on a depreciating asset. But I bought something to suit the plans I had as far as using it, and to date I've mostly followed through with that.

What I DO regret is getting the wife a new car when we were about to have a baby.

It's a fine car, but she's been driving mine most of the time since anyway since it's bigger and more convenient. If we'd have considered that beforehand we might have kept her old one a little longer, or used the cash differently.

Phones... mine is a solid tax deduction each year as far as use goes, but I haven't changed the phone in more than three years. It ain't broke so no need.

I bought my car new 9 years ago. Back before I travelled or had a serious love of wine, so the expense wasnt too great for me. Now though I cant justify a new car and its perfectly good so Ill keep it as long as possible.

 

[medhead]

Well so much for opinion:

Tokyo knifeman kills more than a dozen

Certainly everyone is free to express an opinion. But people are equally free to respond when that opinion is clearly wrong. It is not an attack on freedom of expression to say something is wrong, either.

 

[junbugging]

Well so much for opinion:

Tokyo knifeman kills more than a dozen

Certainly everyone is free to express an opinion. But people are equally free to respond when that opinion is clearly wrong. It is not an attack on freedom of expression to say something is wrong, either.

Struggling to make much sense of this out without recalling the original opinion. Was the claim that Japan doesn't experience violence (rather than terrorism) because of racial homogeneity?

As someone who contributes to Japan's racial heterogeneity I must say that the degree of homogeneity is still quite high. But there is no a priori reason why a lack of diversity might not create its own problems.

I would also note that the Red Army was quite active back when the degree of homogeneity was considerably higher.

That particular nutcase also overstated Japan's population by around 50 million, so it's possible she actually meant Nigeria or Bangladesh. All these foreigners look alike, after all.

 

[JohnK]

In a rental property owned by a landlord? So what was the point again? Blind Freddy can see house prices in Australia are too high - guess what - that's what I thought in 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2016 - little has changed.
Was no wind up.

Agreed. House prices are obscene. They were high in the decades you mention but not as high as today. I could easily buy an apartment for $170,000 in 1999 but I wouldn't pay $500,000 for that apartment today.

I think we are about to see a big tumble. Building new apartments is out of control. They are either preparing for an invasion or want to flood the market with excess property to drive property prices down.

That's fantastic for those without property but a serious dent in retirement plans for those who have been counting on the investment for retirement.

Purely speculation on my part as things don't quite feel right. Think it's time to cash up before the Ponzi scheme collapses. There is no way I want to work until I am 68. I have already worked ~7 years longer than I expected to work.

 

[Pushka]

Bravo to all involved in finding Jocelyn. What a beautiful little girl and reading the story of her being found, what a miracle. I cannot imagine the parent's terror.

 

[medhead]

Struggling to make much sense of this out without recalling the original opinion. Was the claim that Japan doesn't experience violence (rather than terrorism) because of racial homogeneity?

As someone who contributes to Japan's racial heterogeneity I must say that the degree of homogeneity is still quite high. But there is no a priori reason why a lack of diversity might not create its own problems.

I would also note that the Red Army was quite active back when the degree of homogeneity was considerably higher.

That particular nutcase also overstated Japan's population by around 50 million, so it's possible she actually meant Nigeria or Bangladesh. All these foreigners look alike, after all.

I simply cannot answer your question without exploring a whole range of issues around definitions. Something that is not possible for me to do.
Even within the supposedly homogeneous Japan there are 2 main racial types, I think that makes it relatively difficult to say that everyone is predominately of the same race. But again this is the off topic thread.

 

[love_the_life]

Oh, I am down to 350 unread emails.

You go girl (woman), the end is in spitting distance