All Forum Posts by: Helen Rolls

Hi. Here in Australia we have a site called airtasker.com. You won't get a logo for free, but someone will likely offer to do one for you cheaply. I assume there is something similar in most countries. Cheers, Helen

Hello Richard. I have been doing live in house sharing for in excess of 10 years. It has it's good moments and bad. No matter how well you screen, people can be amazingly good at telling you what you want to hear. Psychologists call them social chameleons. Usually you know within a few days whether it's going to work or not.  To protect yourself, always get them to send you a copy of their ID before meeting with them and have a room-mate agreement set out before they move in. Mine isn't quite 600 pages Sheldon Cooper style but I have tried to cover everything from shelf space in the fridge to acceptable hours for the music to be turned up.  Things usually most contentious are paying on time, splitting the bills, sharing housework,and shower schedules. It's important, especially early on, to set aside time to discuss any thing that may be annoying either of you. As the incumbent resident you need to be able to adapt and accept different people. On the plus side you get to learn a lot about people when you share. Not always good things but the learning shouldn't go to waste. Sorry about no paragraph breaks. It doesn't work on Firefox mobile for some reason.

Hi Diane. Welcome to BP. I'm currently living in Sydney but Melbourne is home.

Im confused, are you after a mentor or a coach? My understanding of a mentor is they are someone who is doing what you aspire to be doing. It's a relationship not a transaction. As in any functioning relationship there is give and take, what do you have to give in the relationship? A quick search on this site should provide some good information on how to find and approach a mentor.

Good luck @Warren Bright. Keep us posted.

@Dorniecesher Johnson I'm in the same boat.  I keep jumping from one idea to another.  I'm also complicated by being in Australia.  

Hi Tammy,

I'm only new to real estate investing. I wanted to be sure I was covering all my bases with a CAPEX analysis. So I analyse each property individually, looking at major features like roof, heating, cooling, hot water, anything likely to break down really. Then I work out an estimated rest of life (the building inspector did this as part of his report) and then I put in an estimated replacement cost. I then divided the amount per item by the number of months of life left in them to get a CAPEX cost per month.

I recently read an article by Brandon Turner on why sub-$30K houses will never make you money and he had put together a similar analysis on projected costs.

Cheers,

Helen

@J. M

Hi, if you end up in Australia I would be happy to show you around Sydney.  There is plenty of room here too.

Thank you @Deborah Tuck. This is highly enlightening and just the kind of information on other Australian's experience I have been searching for. I really admire your tenacity in learning the lessons from your first experience and trying again. I might not have had the same courage in your situation.

@Ricky Bobby and @Michael Boyer, thanks for your responses. Ricky thanks for the recommendation, I have bought the ebook.  I plan to invest Warren Buffett style, buy and hold. I am not interested in blue chip but smaller companies that have a sustainable growth agenda and that look to be undervalued by the market, and decent dividend returns. 

Thanks Michael, I've added them to my list to borrow from the library.  I am aiming to avoid funds, I have a high enough exposure through my Superannuation Fund, which rode through the GFC better than most, but I have little control and I want to be an educated investor.

Ricky, I think your impact is around the wrong way.  At the moment the AUD is around $0.71 on the USD.  Pity I didn't start this while the AUD was strong.  While our tax rules are different any income I receive from foreign investments is taxed as income which is about 30%. There is some benefit to buying local shares that are fully franked which means that if the company pays company tax you get some tax relief from any income.  I need to get my head around tax implications - or more sensibly talk to my tax agent.

Michael, I did mention Motley Fool, but you made me take a better look.  I had not realised there was a forum.  I had only been looking at recommendations. So thank you. 

Cheers,

Helen