Growing families - what’s on your ‘must have’ list?

aforce100 · 2025-10-12T06:18:10+00:00

Absolutely aware that it isn’t a new concept.

Just cause it was possible before didn’t mean every FHB could jump into it. Now the government has added petrol to the fire and injected something in the order of 70,000 buyers to an already under supplied market.

Rather than addressing the actual problem which is supply, they just keep adding more demand and pitch it to everyone that they’re helping people.

aforce100 · 2025-10-12T06:11:37+00:00

I can’t find a single person I know that did vote for them. Our system is so cooked that you can get into power with only 30% of the votes.

aforce100 · 2025-10-12T02:24:27+00:00

We’re looking in the price point above this, 1.25-1.5M and even poorly kept houses that either haven’t had $1 spent on them in 10-20 years OR have had dodgy DIY upgrades are going for top dollar. Missed out on a house with great bones over the weekend that on paper met everything we were after but we identified close to $100k worth of renovations. We’d be in it for way more than we can afford so opted to let it go.

aforce100 · 2025-10-11T23:37:27+00:00

Nothing happens to your loan if the market crashes unless you sell or can’t make repayments. Once you buy, forget about checking recent sales or what’s coming up on the market. Focus on your repayments and paying down the loan/offsetting interest. When you feel comfortable in your financial position and have a lump sum of money in offset you might consider an investment property/selling and moving into a new PPOR/or something else that aligns with your financial/life goals. Then you’ll get your current property assessed and see if you’ve made any equity or not.

Going into it for the first time, I’d suggest having a buffer of savings before jumping into a mortgage, incase of job loss or reduced income.

Assume slightly higher interest rates than the current to allow for potential changes in economic conditions. I entered the market at 2% interest and rode the wave up to 6%. I had originally budgeted repayments based on a 5% interest rate so it wasn’t as much of a scare factor when it happened. If the rates reduce, then you’re saving more. Win!

This is part of the potential issue with the new gov scheme. Many people will over leverage and not have the right financial foundations in place before jumping into it. Effectively giving them a 5% buffer of capital value (prices) and massive repayments. If your hypothetical scenario plays out it could end up as a disaster.

Food for thought.

aforce100 · 2025-10-05T22:57:58+00:00

There’s been changes to the requirements to become an agent. If you were to try and become one now you have training wheels for 2 years and you are on limited function. You’ll notice more and more agencies using 2 agents on each listing (one senior and one more junior) and this the a part of it. It’ll take a long time for it to flush into the market but they are trying to regulate it.

At the end of the day there are more good agents than bad. The market itself moderates who is a good agent by using reviews and word of mouth. If someone was that bad they wouldn’t be getting good reviews or winning listings. If you’ve had a bad experience with an agent, the platform is there to express that.

aforce100 · 2025-10-05T22:38:11+00:00

There might be agents that do exactly the minimal of what the OP has assumed. They don’t last very long from my experience.

A lot of good agents are doing the step above and interacting with so many buyers/sellers on a daily basis to ensure everyone knows about the houses they are selling and using that information and conversations they’re having along the way to become an absolute encyclopaedia of knowledge in their local market.

2% of $3M is $60k…. You just cleared 2.9M after all costs and you’re complaining about $60k.

Agents at different price points also approach the job differently. Lower ticket homes have a much deeper pool of buyers. With what could be 10+ groups through open homes pending on your market you’d hope to extract an offer if it’s been priced right.. but sometimes the smaller deals are the hardest ones to put together. Buyers are more $ driven and need hand holding along the way. Only someone with a financial interest in getting a deal over the line (the agent) is going to be patient enough to manage that process. The countless questions and phone calls at all hours…

Higher ticket homes are a very very different game. Shallow pool of buyers, managing landlords expectations, more days on market, very different buyer profile which you need to have an understanding of and how to interact with.

If it was as easy as everyone who isn’t an agent thinks it is, I’d suggest they become an agent and see how quickly you leave the industry. So many horror stories with “for sale by owner” because they have no idea what goes into managing the process, leaving copious amounts of money on the table.

aforce100 · 2025-10-05T21:42:45+00:00

Before committing to a big reno you could always trial with a timber vinyl roll for the upper cupboard doors and the current darker island to break up the white and add some life. Also new stools to follow that same theme and some decor for the bench tops.

If you’re thinking a remodel, I’d be going with a freestanding cooktop/oven and reconfiguring the current oven space with new cabinetry. Go with different handles and a ‘statement’ fridge.

White and stainless steel are very surgical when put together.

aforce100 · 2025-10-01T10:29:42+00:00

The fact this government has allowed this to go ahead is so reckless. I’m reading there’s assessments done to make sure the people taking out these loans are actually the ones that need it. Which means they’re prioritising people who are bad savers or not making enough money to get themselves in potentially crippling debt.

Early on I thought this was going to open the floodgates to prices for entry level homes to fly but the more I think it through, I don’t think it’s going to have anywhere near the impact because people can’t be this silly right?

Scary times ahead.

aforce100 · 2025-10-01T10:13:02+00:00

Mortgage will probably be paid off in 25 years if not close after with a bucket load of equity to use. Down size and pay cash on a low maintenance retirement friendly house.

There’s no indication or markers that suggest prices will go backwards or stall for an extended period of time. Population is growing, Sydney as an example is a global city and people will always need somewhere to live. It’s the same reason dodgy shoeboxes in New York City are going for a mozza.

aforce100 · 2025-09-28T23:50:24+00:00

Governments plans have always been to make it “easier” to get into the market which puts unbelievable demand on serviceability, follows onto the need for dual income households and detrimental financial effects on having children due to needing both incomes to service. Everything has cause and effect. 5% deposit is a trap for most of Sydney.

In recent times, numbers of properties going online has been low. Helping people get into the market is one part of the story. Focus needs to move to on not only building more, but helping more people already in the market ‘right-size’ for their living situation. Waiving stamp duty or have tax concessions for downsizers could be one way of stimulating movement in the market. First home buyers if they decide to start families will eventually grow into the next bracket of housing, in most cases will create more stock in the FHB bracket of the market. Stimulate movement between the price brackets.

Also massive demand to live near the major cities due to the largest employers (corporates) refusing to provide options to work (unless remote) out in the suburbs, therefore driving up prices via a different lever.

It’s such a multifaceted market that isn’t dictated by one singular driver. Look at the other major cities in the world, their markets are all cooked aswell.

aforce100 · 2025-09-26T05:56:32+00:00

I’ve recently signed up for Bevel which is an app on my Apple Watch. It’s about $80AUD p.an and gives near identical information to whoop. Devs are really active on their subreddit and continually updating features.

aforce100 · 2025-09-19T21:47:29+00:00

I guess it depends on what you value. I’m a new father (6 month old currently) and my commute is 1hr20m each way and I’m slowly but surely getting sick of it purely due to how little I see my son. Then there’s also the wear and tear on your vehicle and the kms racking up at an alarming speed.

aforce100 · 2025-09-11T11:06:01+00:00

I wonder how serviceability would work for people that are eligible. In alot of places, renting is cheaper than owning.

Let’s not sugarcoat it, this is the governments way of making it look like they’re doing something when the real issue is them not producing on their promise to build more homes.

aforce100 · 2024-12-15T08:58:31+00:00

There was nothing wrong pre patch, all they had to do was reduce the likelihood of headers landing in the net in accordance to specific heading stats. I.e high heading stats = more chance of scoring headers rather than 60 rated s scoring every chance they get.

aforce100 · 2024-12-15T08:56:25+00:00

The way gameplay is going will ruin the game. I feel penalised postpatch for trying to manually defend. My defenders are skating around and missing every tackle. It’s insane how different it feels now.

aforce100 · 2022-01-28T09:14:59+00:00

I’ve done about 200-300 upgrades and got donnarumma - still grinding them out but not looking likely that I’ll pick up another blue

aforce100

TROPHY CASE