+ SHOW US YOUR PAD/ FLAT/ CAVE/ PENT-HOUSE/ CARDBOARD BOX/… +
-
The living area always stays pretty tidy-you can probably notice the little family of stuffed animals on the couch. My wife loves them and they are a stand-in for the kids and pets we've yet have. Stuffed animals are marvelously self-sufficient. You can travel for months on end and they don't make messes, require babysitting, and they rarely have their friends over to party.
The second shot is my office-I am required to keep the door shut most of the time. Right now its actually reasonably neat-it gets far worse. I could use some more books shelves because the library is now spilling in stacks onto the floor. This is what the life of an English professor actually looks like. Not featured: my collection of guitars which hang distractingly on the wall reminding me that I'd rather be jamming than grading or writing!
In any case, its a delightful little home with a cosy front porch from which I can watch the intoxicated local university students stumble home, walk-of-shame, and occasionally fight! ; )
Un saludo!
-
I thought I would put up my favorite space in my house. At the top of the second floor, the house was built with a flex room, so I turned it into a bar. An airplane themed bar.
-
Some posters and art work in the bar.
-
Latest addition is the huge DC3 above the bar back.
I have about 14 old tin toy planes that still work , here's 2 of my favorites.
I guess I'm still a child at heart. -
Then off of the bar is a balcony, a space which I also love.
-
Your invited.
-
Great DC-3 @ROman ! Like the tin toys, the whole room
-
Thanks to the above comments. It's a fun spot to hang out, I spend a lot time there.
-
that view though….. amazing!!
-
@Graeme Its still a great couch, raw or washed!
Un saludo!
-
-
@Snowy will confirm that Sydney's property market is insane. For example, a burnt-out, two-bedroom terrace on a 49 m2 (500 square foot) plot sold for $911,000 in May.
The problems are down to:
-
Sydney's geography makes it hard to expand the city. It's wedged in between the sea to the east, and national parks to the north and south. The Aussie proclivity for urban sprawl, and poor transport infrastructure add to this.
-
If you think "buy to let" is big in the UK, then it's nothing compared to Australia. About 50% of all property bought in Sydney is by investors, it was over 60% last year.
-
If the rent from an investment property doesn't cover the mortgage, then that loss can be deducted from your salary. So a $10K shortfall on a $100K income, would mean only $90K is taxed. This is called negative gearing, and it became a major campaign issue in the recent election.
-
Meanwhile, any capital gains are taxed at half the rate of income, provided you hold the asset for over a year. So property investment is all about prices increasing, because the rent won't cover the mortgage, and this helps bid up prices.
-
During the financial crisis, the government brought in very generous grants to first time buyers to support the market. This had the effect of propping up prices, when a correction might have otherwise happened.
-
There's an awful lot of money coming into Australia from overseas, particularly China. A lot of this is looking for a safe home, in case of trouble at home, and finds its way into real estate.
I've been convinced it's not going to end well for the last six or seven years, but, like London, it's gone way past the point of being merely bonkers, and shows no sign of slowing down.
As an illustration of the madness, at the peak of the Tokyo property bubble in 1989, the average, new apartment sold for about eighteen times median income. I think that second hand places were about thirteen or fourteen times salary.
The median Australian income is about $60K. The median house in Sydney is just over a million dollars, about seventeen times salary, whilst the median apartment is $720K, about twelve times.
OK, it's not as crazy as Vancouver is right now, but…
-
-
I'm in Melbourne, which is 25% to 30% cheaper. I've been tempted by Sydney (and I do want this house), but have been scared off by the living costs.
Going back to the "Show Us Your Pad" theme, here's my living room. The Chesterfield sofa is a new addition, and it's a restored / rebuilt 1835 piece. In purple.
It was supplied by The Original Sofa Company, and is fully hand-tacked (which is rare). The leather is thick, not in an Aero FQHH jacket way, but getting there, and hand dyed, so it should get a tea-core effect over time.
