If you are considering purchasing your first home in Victoria, the good news is that our government might give you more money.
From the 1st of July first home buyers purchasing a newly constructed home may be eligible for an increased First Home Bonus of $13,000. People buying their first (newly constructed) home in regional Victoria got even luckier - on top of First Home Bonus they may be eligible for another payment of $6,500, the First Home Regional bonus. This is all in addition to the First Home Owners Grant ($7000), of course.
It is funny how these adjustments to grants and bonuses point at the main goal. What the government would really love to see people doing is showing preference to newly constructed houses (as opposed to the established ones), so they take the 2K bonus that established houses were previously eligible for and give it to the newly constructed homes in metro and regional Victoria, raising the total amount from $11,000 to 13,000. And to encourage people to buy homes in regional Victoria even more - they raise the regional bonus another $2000 - from $4,500 to $6,500.
Another funny little detail that I noticed is that to qualify for the FHOG the property should cost less than 750,000 - when previously it was caped at 600,000. I wonder if this is because the median prices went up 25%(!) last year. What do you think?
Thank You very much for this wonderful post! This is such great news especially for those people who are planning to buy a house in Australia. The government is very supportive and is helping those future home owners to easily and afford-ably buy the house that they want. I hope everybody would get a chance to avail this offer. Thank you very much for this great news!
This is great news! People in Australia are being given chances of having their own house. Thanks to the government, they are very supportive. This is very helpful, especially to those who are paying big amounts for their house rental.
If your answer to the question in my headline is yes, then you will be happy to hear the news. There is a way you can stop sales people from bothering you after work, when you are cooking dinner, settling your kids to sleep, or (finally!) sitting down to read a book on the couch, after a day’s work.
Remember when “Do not call” register was introduced? Well, now there’s a “Do not knock” campaign that can help you limit, if not completely eliminate, door-to-door sales.
“A man’s home is his castle” is not just a saying. It is enough to affix a “Do Not Knock” sticker to your front door (which you can get from Consumer Action here) to warn traveling sales people that they are breaking the law if they dare knock on your door.
Those of you sick of door-to-door sales yet too busy to put a sticker on the door will be happy to know that there will be changes to hours when sales people can and can not knock on your door.
Right now sales people can knock seven days a week, 9am to 8pm. After the new laws come into effect, we get a whole day off, on Sunday, and the rest of the weekdays they can’t bother us after 6pm (or 5pm if it’s Saturday!)
I do realize that sales people are just doing their job. But the rest of us are just living our lives. I can’t speak for everyone else, but my own selfish nature doesn’t take it well when strangers intrude on that hard-earned free time that I get to spend with my family.
So the new laws get a big YAY from me! How about you?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Chris Lang. Chris Lang said: New blog post: Are you sick of salespeople door knocking your home? http://bit.ly/cO0503 [...]
Today RBA has lifted the interest rates again, for the 6th consecutive time. I didn’t mention any of the previous rate rises on Homeiown (why bother when the mainstream media is covering it well anyway), but this time is different.
Well, firstly, this interest rates rise will push the Standard Variable Rate above the 10 years average, and this is kind of big deal. The 10 years average is 7.5% and after today’s RBA decision the new Standard Variable Rate goes up above that number. Of course all the banks are quick to pass that on.
Percentages, percentages… look all too small and insignificant, aren’t they?
How about a real life example. Take a typical 30 year housing loan of $300,000. Today, with the same loan, you would be paying $317 more a month compared to September last year.
You know what, forget September last year, and compare it to last month. From May on, assuming that interest rates are not going anywhere (which is probably unreasonable) you will be paying $51 a month more, that’s $612 a year. Which means that average first home buyer is now around $600 a year poorer.
“Today’s rate rise is tough for families and small businesses”, Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan admits, and as a consolation reminds us that the rates are still significantly lower than they were at their peak. What a joke. Let’s just hope that that we all get a pay rise to cover this extra expense - otherwise it could just wipe out that holiday we were planning off the calendar.
Ironic, isn’t it.
First we get stung by forever rising housing prices. Then, after we’ve paid whatever it takes to secure ourselves a home and got into a mortgage for the next 30 years, they say that the rise in house prices pushes inflation up and that deserves another interest rates rise. So there we are, having overpaid for the house, we now have to overpay for the mortgage as well.
And renters amongst us are in no better situation - they don’t even own an “asset” that appreciates with the housing market, but are paying higher rents because their landlords with mortgages are passing on the difference in their mortgage repayments.
What are higher interest rates doing to your family budget?
I’ve always found house-hunting to be stressful, but never imagined other people would feel the same way - I thought it was just me and my partner who would get nervous, frustrated and fight about which property we should or shouldn’t buy.
And here is the undeniable proof: 74% of Australians find inspecting properties stressful! This is according to a survey conducted by Lonergan Research exclusively for realestate.com.au in March 2010.
Wait, this gets even better - realestate.com.au thought the result of this survey was important enough to go and rearrange their whole website, to make it easier to navigate, more intuitive, requiring less thinking and consuming less time, all of that to make the stressed home-buyers happier.
And to tell you the truth, I quite like the outcome. The change wasn’t just made overnight, apparently the whole website was available in BETA since March 2010 and thanks to the beta-testers (real estate agents and consumers) a lot of bugs were fixed and new features were added.
Honestly, the decision to spend just one month in BETA seems kind of brave to me, because every little change takes time to implement and test - but it looks like they made it happen. Inevitably, you will find more stuff that needs fixing, but since we’ve established that realestate.com.au do care about user experience (well, why else would they change the whole website around?), sending your feedback is a worthwhile thing to do.
Let’s make one thing clear - there was no complete makeover, and you will still be able to recognize the website when you log on (so don’t panic!). The website now has a more modern look and feel, search has been given a central position and the ads are less intrusive. In your property search results, apart from the upper banner ad, you won’t meet any more distractions, as the majority of ads sit much lower, closer the bottom of the page. You now have the ability not only to view, but also to compare the properties you’ve selected.
I won’t go into a detailed review of the website now, as I have this planned for later. Let me just say that you have a nice surprise coming, so stay tuned - I am working on it, and your patience will be rewarded soon.
And now, if you have 4 more minutes, have a look at the Breaking News Video, presenting the latest and greatest realestate.com.au and watch a couple of stories of real homebuyers, who used it to their advantage.
[...] the stressed home-buyers happier. Just a couple of weeks ago Realestate.com.au came up with this huge makeover for their website, and now I find out about the Commonwealth Bank’s latest invention, that is all about helping [...]
One of the latest additions to Domain.com.au allows you to make your house hunting much more efficient, by saving your time, petrol and the stress of rushing to inspect 3 different properties within the same half an hour.
From now on, your inspections at Domain.com.au begin online.
What am I talking about? Video, of course. You won’t be restricted to still images any more, instead you will be able to view video clips with sound where agents are presenting the properties to you, as if you were there in person.
Domain.com.au has partnered with a company called Visual Domain and together they plan to give the audience a chance of inspecting properties in the privacy of their own home.
Domain Sales Manager, Carolyn Matthews, said: “Video offers agents and vendors the chance to communicate with their clients through vibrant and interesting means. Potential buyers can immerse themselves in your listings, at the same time stimulating your market share and increasing your profile. Domain Video provides businesses the opportunity to be true leaders in your field”.
Of course, video doesn’t come cheap and at this time only the more expensive properties’ vendors are opting for video ads in their listings. However, I do believe that as time goes by, this will be a must-have feature for most vendors, because video is a VERY powerful tool.
But enough said, one picture’s worth a thousand words - and one video’s worth a thousand pictures, so here is a demonstration. Let the new age in house hunting begin!
I have seen many visual tours but none that had a realtor or other person giving a tour of the house. I think this sounds like a very good way to highlight the features of the house.
There I was, reading the latest headlines to see what’s on in the property world - after all this is the busiest season - when I found these interesting articles, definitely worth sharing. This is not just news, but definitely is food for thought.
We’ve heard a lot about foreclosures in the USA, but not so much here, in Australia. Nonetheless, apparently we’re not doing too well on that front - Port Melbourne was identified as an area where people are experiencing a pretty strong mortgage pain. According to ratings agency Fitch, 4% of households are behind on their payments.
Port Melbourne is not the only spot - the mortgage defaults rate in Oak Park, Mornington, Hoppers Crossing, Melton and Boronia is over 2%. Read the full article in The Age here.
Do not assume that people who default on loans are owner occupiers - there are investors as well that can’t keep servicing their mortgages. This article in Sydney Morning Herald puts this in a totally different light - when an investor defaults on a loan, what happens to the tenants? Do they become homeless? The article speaks about Sydney, but I wonder how many people in Melbourne are being forced to look for another home - and the rental market is tight as it is already.
Economists expect the interest rates to go up in 2010, to be more precise they expect a raise of 1% in 2010 and a raise of another 0.75% in 2011. This would mean that on a mortgage of 300K the increase of monthly repayment will be $190 in 2010 and $340 in 2011. As if people didn’t have a hard enough time already, with all the financial crisis, unemployment and unaffordable housing. Read the full article here.
And this last article is on entirely different topic. Did you know that Aussie homes are the biggest in the world? Australian Bureau of Statistics says that the average floor area of a new Aussie home is now 215 square meters.
Ironically, although the houses are becoming bigger, blocks of land are getting smaller. If you think of it, this is exactly the opposite of what you’d want - you have now more of a depreciating asset and less of an appreciating asset. Go figure Read the full article in Australian Property Investor magazine here.
so not only do the Aussies have beautiful weather, beaches really good standard of living they also have the biggest houses too. No wonder som many people emigrate there
I’ve talked all about energy efficient new houses, but the reality is most of us are living in established homes. Does it mean there is nothing we can do about our energy bills?
Of course not. Here is a list of 8 things that are easy enough to do, affordable enough to implement and worth doing to pay less for cooling, heating and water. Some of these are really straight forward and I am probably not introducing new concepts - but never mind that, they still work if you give them a try.
1. Plant native plants in your garden. They are drought-tolerant and won’t consume as much water as non-native ones.
2. Replace the shower heads to water saving ones. You won’t notice the difference in the shower - but you sure will in the bill.
3. If it leaks, fix it. All the taps, inside and outside your house, all the torn drippers, everything. Do not forget to check for leaking toilets..
To save energy
4. Replace your regular light globes with energy-saving ones. Yes, they cost more, but they last longer and consume much less power so it’s worth it.
5. Replace your lighting fittings with the ones that have a ceiling fan. It will help you save on energy in the summer as well as in the winter.
During the hot months circulating air will make the room feel cooler (as much as 8 degrees cooler!), which consequently can reduce your air conditioning bills by up to 40%.
During the cold months you can run the ceiling fan in a reverse order, to push the hot air from near the ceiling (where it normally gets by laws of physics) down towards the floor. This can reduce your heating bills by 10%.
6. Use rebates available to you to insulate your house for free. It will make it cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter and reduce your bills.
7. If your house has external blinds (most houses do), close them in hot days. Less sun will gets in, the temperature will be lower when you come home and you won’t have to run the aircon as much.
8. Finally, the most obvious (yet most commonly forgotten) tip: turn the lights off when you leave the room. Duh, you say… but if I had a coin for every time my partner had forgotten the light on, for the whole day, with nobody in the house, I would be filthy rich by now
Got any tips of your own to cut the cost of home bills?
Just loved your tips on saving energy! Especially, about using a fan to cut air conditioning bills! And using it in reverse to warm the room! Who would have though of that!
Also, I’ll keep in mind to buy the energy saving globes the next time
Really helpful article.
Comment by seduction community — January 2, 2010 @ 10:58 pm
If you watch or listen to or follow the news in whatever way, you couldn’t have missed this bit - on Tuesday this week the interest rates were left on hold by the RBA.
What was close, you say? Mortgage stress, that’s what. For the folks who only heard about the mortgage part, but never about the stress part, here the exact definition of a mortgage stress: when people are paying above 30 percent of their income on mortgage repayments, they are under mortgage stress. In basic human language it means that they find it much harder to make the ends meet.
If this article catches you before you made a decision to take a mortgage, good. Because there is something you need to know: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Glenn Stevens said that anyone taking on a new mortgage should allow for at least a two percentage-point increase in interest rates. Translation: they are going to increase the rates in the nearest future. To avoid getting into a loan that is too heavy for you, see what your repayments will be if the interest rates raise 2% and then see if that number is still less than 30% of your income.
Of course they won’t raise the interest rates 2% overnight, but it is possible - and even likely - that by the middle of 2010 the rates will rise 1%. I’ve never liked percentages because they can look deceivingly small and insignificant, but if you look at the real numbers - they never lie.
Let’s take the average standard variable mortgage of 270K (according to Australian Bureau of statistics). Let’s assume you’re currently paying 5% interest on that kind of loan over 15 years. Your monthly repayments would be around $2,135. This means that if you are earning anything less than $7116 a month, you’re in a mortgage stress already.
If they raise the interest rates 1%, your monthly repayments will become $2,278. That would mean that to not be in mortgage stress you’ll need to earn over $7593 a month. Do you expect a pay rise of over $5700 in the next 6 months? If you’re not, mortgage stress looks very likely to occur.
You can do this little exercise on any numbers using this helpful calculator here, and my message is loud and clear: please don’t bite more than you can chew, even if the banks let you.
Have you ever experienced a mortgage stress? How did you solve this problem?
[...] presents What mortgage stress is and why should we care posted at Home I Own, saying, “For the folks who only heard about the mortgage part, but [...]
I am renting a paying 30% of my income for the rent, if we continue to pay that much as a rent or loan repayment wouldn’t this effect our living standard?
Well, if 30% is very close to mortgage stress, and those are your loan repayments, then imagine what happens when the interest rates go up. If you’re renting, at least you can find a cheaper place to live if you can’t afford the rent any more - if you’ve bought and can’t repay the loan, now that’s much worse.
Remember my post about government supporting the environment? Well, it appears that the builders are not so thrilled with the idea of making houses as “green” as possible. Why? Obviously because it makes the houses more expensive and therefore, reduces builder’s profit, plus makes the house harder to sell.
All the new homes in Victoria now must have a 5-stars rating in energy efficiency, and that’s not the highest rating - you could go to 6 or even 7 stars, but it will cost you. For 6 stars you will have to add about an extra 10,000 and for 7 stars - 14,000.
Google in real estate listings market
Not long ago we discussed Google’s invasion of the real estate listings market and what it might bring, and now it looks like the largest companies in that market are not happy. In fact, Domain.com.au and RealEstate.com.au are considering pulling their advertising off Google (that totals in millions of dollars they pay Google for displaying their ads, when people are searching for real estate keywords).
While the giant media companies aren’t happy about the competition, I believe that for us, the consumers, there will be advantages and benefits. I would imagine that prices and possibilities of advertising on Domain.com and RealEstate.com.au will get better, let’s wait and see what happens.
Costs of land are up
Undeveloped land in Australia became more expensive by 7.4 %, a survey by HIA (Housing Industry association) says. It happened in the March 2009 quarter and the median lot price increased to $172,490. I just couldn’t find their definition of “lot” to see exactly how much land it is. It would be a number between 744 square meters (the largest median lot, located in Tasmania) and 607 square meters (the smallest median lot, located in WA).
No more underquoting in real estate pricing
Can you believe that estate agents will finally stop deliberate underquoting? I have trouble imagining that, but we shall see, as now Consumer Affairs of Victoria and ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) are making this happen.
Under new laws from January 1 2010 if you’ve done pre-purchase inspections, paid for pre-purchase advice (any pre-purchase costs you’ve incurred), and at the auction it turned out the reserve price was higher than the ad said, you are entitled to get everything you spent back. Also vendors would face fines up to $220,000 for underquoting.
And over to you - what is the most interesting piece of news you’ve read last week?
[...] Kit Latest Posts Green homes explainedHow to get yourself a government-funded hot water systemProperty news: 4 real estate articles worth reading [...]
If I had to name the most interesting bit of real estate news this week, it would be about Google entering the real estate market (and starting their quest from New Zealand of all places). It doesn’t surprise me that they did - what took them so long is what surprises me. I mean, if you were in a position to grab a huge piece of a very yummy pie, why would you wait? Google literally rules the world of online advertising which leaves little chance of any real estate website competing with them.
According to the news, in New Zealand there is now a real estate section in Google Maps and it’s populated with listings from 2 big real estate websites in New Zealand. What more, Google invites any estate agency to upload its listings to Google for free.
That article made me so curious about what’s going on with Australia, how far did Google get here and some very interesting facts surfaced as I looked through the listings in Aussie Google maps / real estate section.
Apparently this is a brand new feature and was only added yesterday, July 6. It was announced by Andrew Foster who wrote on Google’s Official Australian blog “Today we’re adding a feature to Google Maps in Australia that we think will make Maps an even more invaluable resource to Aussies as they go about their busy lives. Increasingly, people are heading online when looking for a new house to rent or buy, and from today, we’re adding the ability to search for properties on Google Maps. We’ve worked with partners across the real estate industry to provide up-to-date listings, which you can search for directly from the Google Maps search box.”
So here is what it looks like (watch the video below):
My next question was - where did the listings come from? Apparently Google have solved the problem of populating their section with ads mostly from myhome.com.au, homehound.com.au and real-estate-australia.com.au (in Victoria). Same as in New Zealand, the most popular websites Realestate.com.au and Domain.com weren’t interested in uploading their ads into Google’s new section.
Of course Google’s interface needs a lot of work to match that of Realestate.com.au, but something tells me they will get it “just right” very quickly. It will be very interesting to see how Domain.com and Realestate.com.au handle the competition - or will it be cooperation?
What do you think of this feature, did you try it? Do you think it will work with or against the big real estate websites?
[...] long ago we discussed Google’s invasion of the real estate listings market and what it might bring, and now it looks like the largest companies in that market are not happy. [...]
If you are considering purchasing your first home in Victoria, the good news is that our government might give you more money.
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Read the full article in 
If I had to name the most interesting bit of real estate news this week, it would be about Google entering the real estate market (and 
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Golden Lumpia. Golden Lumpia said: RT @home_i_own: New blog post: First Home Buyer Grants: the good news http://www.homeiown.com/first-home-buyer-grants-the-good-news/ [...]
Pingback by Tweets that mention First Home Buyer Grants: the good news | Home I Own, Aussie Real Estate Blog -- Topsy.com — July 8, 2010 @ 4:10 pm
Thank You very much for this wonderful post! This is such great news especially for those people who are planning to buy a house in Australia. The government is very supportive and is helping those future home owners to easily and afford-ably buy the house that they want. I hope everybody would get a chance to avail this offer. Thank you very much for this great news!
Comment by Kevin - Moncton REALTOR® — July 31, 2010 @ 7:38 pm
This is great news! People in Australia are being given chances of having their own house. Thanks to the government, they are very supportive. This is very helpful, especially to those who are paying big amounts for their house rental.
Comment by Jeff Ragan — August 8, 2010 @ 9:46 pm