+ SHOW US YOUR PAD/ FLAT/ CAVE/ PENT-HOUSE/ CARDBOARD BOX/… +
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Goes with the small house crazy that is sweeping the usa. Looks great, very warm & charming. Thanks for sharing
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That's a nice place you've got there @Clint_D. I'm a fan of relatively small, quirky houses, so it's right up my metaphorical street.
And if you want to follow the previous episodes in the saga:
It's like the forum's own version of Grand Designs. We just need someone to make snarky comments, and see Clint battling disasters during the build.
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Awesome Place @Clint_D ! You should be proud of how it's turned out! My parents live in a 1923 spanish-colonial (kind of an oxymoron I know) and they never seem to be close to finished with projects lol. Seeing you pics makes me miss the classic homes in Texas.
Hope you enjoy it!
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@Graeme or perth… slowly getting there.
Perth was proper mental a few years back, and pushing Sydney valuations. Now the median price in Sydney is around a million dollars, and up by 15% to 20% over the last year, whilst Perth is a little over half that, and falling.
That said, when I did visit the city seven or eight years ago, blocks in the more desirable suburbs were expensive, but if you bought one then it'd take 18 to 24 months to get a builder because they were all down the mines!
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mm yeah @Graeme that's quite true. i think currently due to the mining decline as well, there are lots of new property development that fail to sell that well. but that being said, i've seen quite a number of chinese nationals buying up property here in perth. the prices cannot be compared with sydney, but nonetheless still higher than what most people can afford for houses that have a decent distance to the city.
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There's very little in the Australian property market that's affordable to someone on an average, or even decent income. Unfortunately that's the result of a speculative investment bubble, high population growth with a lack of infrastructure being built, and a media that seems to be cheerleaders for the real estate industry.
Perth, which is one of the cheaper capitals, would need to fall by around 40% to bring prices back into line with affordability. Sydney probably needs to drop by 70% or so. People are going to get their fingers
burntincinerated! :oExcept, I'll be proven horribly wrong. Again.
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yeah the speculative bubble and media is definitely the cause and if anything falls, people are going to get their fingers incinerated,
but then again, negative gearing in this country is quite the contributing factor from what i see. i'm no expert but if you could reduce income taxes wholly by your losses from investment. the rich and richer will be the ones that gain the most. :o -
For the non-Australians, the tax system allows a property investor to:
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Offset any losses from interest payments of renting a property out against their overall income tax. This is negative gearing. This also acts as an incentive to hold interest-only loans, rather than paying down the mortgage.
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Depreciate assets if they've purchased a new-build development.
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Pay a reduced rate of capital gains tax if they hold onto the property for more than a year.
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There aren't tax incentives to renovate older properties, so there are a lot of places that haven't been updated in years. (For example this one is grim, this isn't quite so bad, and the seventies called and want their interior decor back!)
The net result is that the tax system encourages speculation as investors are relying on property prices to rise ahead of wages over the long term to cover substantial losses in the short term. (Robert Shiller, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on the housing market would suggest that's a bad bet to take.)
Throw in the tendency for landlords to hold large portfolios with a minimal level of equity in them, and you're injecting a lot of fragility into the financial system. I keep on telling myself it'll end badly, and keep on being proven wrong! :o
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I'm currently looking for a guest / day bed combo for my apartment. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions, or thoughts on the directions I'm looking at below.
My requirements are:
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I don't want anything too big. I'm likely to be living in a one bedroom apartment for the medium term.
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It's got to be reasonably comfortable.
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I'd prefer something durable. I'd rather buy once and not replace it.
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Ideally I'd like something that's reasonably easy to transport. So folding or capable of being taken apart.
Stackable Beds
I really like the Zeitraum Guest. Just don't look at the price. It doesn't come apart for ease of transport, and is designed around a proprietary foam mattress.
The Toro stacking bed is similar, but I believe is demountable. It's a bit limited with its mattress depths too.
Other honourable mentions are the Turtle Stappelbett, which is probably the nicest piece of design, and the Lönneberga Staple Bed, which has a cushion that doubles up to store bedding.
My concerns with these are that they have limited mattress choices, aren't necessarily easy to move, and are possibly compromised relative to a regular bed.
Traditional Daybed
This is the Chesa Laria daybed. It'll take a standard mattress, is demountable, but rather large and very expensive.
The Arielle daybed by Auping is another option. They can be found a lot cheaper elsewhere. I don't think that it'd be as comfortable as the above, though.
The downside of the above is that they're both singles, but something like the Chesa Laria would be less compromised in its day-to-day usage by not being a stackable design.
Camp Beds
The Topos Workship WW2 Camp Bed is one of the nicest of this genre. It can also be purchased with a futon style mattress that will make it more comfortable. But a pair together and you'd have a portable double bed.
They can work as a daybed, can be packed away in cupboards when not needed, but I'm not sure how comfortable they'd be on a regular basis.
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Living in my studio for many days at a time, I can say this is the most practical option, combining maximum comfort and portability. It can be dressed up with nice sheets and things if that's your style. It works, as long as you can let go of the ego that says, I'm rich, I deserve a frame and a mattress ;D. It's a lie, mattresses and frames suck. I lived off the $100 option in the studio for years and my back loves me for it!
http://www.aerobed.com/Raised-20-in-Bed-with-Smart-Settings-Pump-Full-P1970.aspx
