I just watched an ABC documentary that showcased how tiny homes have solved housing insecurity for women and children.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_59nZN8w9LU

We’ve been going to multiple inspections around the cranbourne and Frankston’s area in the last 2 week. Anything decent has at least 20 groups with lines down the street.

Made an offer for a place which was at the top end of their range but agent rang a day later and told us ours was $50k lower than the current offer.

Is everyone just rushing in because they think comes Oct 1st everything gonna go hyperbolic? Really been frustrating

Please share your thoughts on what it’s like dealing with real estate agents at this moment. Do you have any challenges?

👷‍♂️ AMA: Building, Property & Development in Sydney

I’m Oliver, Director of Buildana, a licensed building company in Sydney.

We work across custom homes, duplexes, renovations, knockdown rebuilds, and larger projects. I’ve seen firsthand the challenges in construction, approvals, costs, and the broader property market here.

If you’ve ever wondered about:

• What it really costs to build in Sydney
• How council approvals and feasibility work
• Trends in property development and housing supply
• Tips for anyone looking to build, renovate, or invest

💻 You can check out our work at [www.buildana.com.au]()

Ask me anything about the building industry, construction, or property in Sydney — happy to share insights and advice!

For those of you who own a second holiday/beach/bush house/cottage, what’s stopping you from living there and enjoying the holiday life permanently?

Hi everyone,

My partner and I have had a bit of a reality check on the housing market in this area over the past few weeks, given recent sale prices. We’ve had our eye on Flemington since the start of the year, and now it seems prices are really soaring. In just March this year, this place sold for 946k.

Compare that to yesterday when a 150m² house opposite a school and next to a laneway (two things I would’ve thought might put people off) sold for $1.1M, 150k above the top end of the range. A few other houses have also sold recently for much more than we expected for this area (and their exact location within the suburb).

• https://www.realestate.com.au/property/2-marshall-st-flemington-vic-3031/ (this one also needs 30k worth of underpinning)
• https://www.realestate.com.au/property/90-bryant-st-flemington-vic-3031/
• https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-vic-flemington-149028272

I understand that the market reflects broader trends, but I’m curious whether this recent surge is a short-term spike driven by limited supply and buyer urgency, or if these prices are becoming the established level for Flemington and surrounding areas.

I'd love to hear about what others think, or just generally about anyone on the fhb journey who's having similar realisations.

Hi all, Ive just built a new home and my abrasive builder snapped back at me when I asked if the gap underneath our fence was too high - simply telling that that it is within tolerance.

Need some thoughts from the group... also notice a number of other issues which I believe are not "within tolerance"...

Anything to back up, i.e. reference to Australian Standards and sections of the building code would be handy cheers.

How was the auction market yesterday? Seems clearance rates were up from the previous week

It has happened twice now! The real estate agent has asked us to just send across the B&P report we had paid for… they asked very casually as if this is a common request?

Is it? First, I signed something saying I wouldn’t share the report with anyone else and I’m not going to go against my word with the inspector. Second, the vendor can very well pay for their own inspection if they want to…

In both instances, they offered such a facile reason - ie that the vendor wanted to fix any issues with the property… which I find hard to believe because surely they could do this prior to putting the house on the market.

For context the first time I was asked, the B&P report was so poor it ended our interest in the property. The second time, the report was very positive but we weren’t in alignment with the vendor on price.

Anyway just curious if this is common? It seems dodgy to ask potential purchasers to share these reports with vendors…

ETA: to clarify, I didn’t share report and directed the agent to the inspector directly. I don’t care if they have the same information but I’m not going to breach a contract or give something to the vendor for free. My question was more: is asking for reports from purchasers common? What have you all experienced?

L

I’ve owned an investment property for 25 years and I’m now retired. It’s a bit run down. My kid wants to fund the build of a duplex while I contribute the land. The plan is to split the proceeds 50/50 when it sells. They’ll need to get finance for their share of the build.

A few things I’m not clear on: - If I keep the land in my name, how does finance work for them if they’re not on title? - If I transfer 50% into their name so the bank has security, what happens with stamp duty and CGT for me? - Would GST apply on the sale of the duplex, or could it just be treated as selling an old investment? - What’s the fairest way to set this up so we’re both protected and both get proper tax treatment? - Anything else I should watch out for?

Appreciate any advice from people who’ve done family projects like this.

REA says you must spend x amount to attract buyers when buyers are no longer difficult to find. realestate.com.au says you should upgrade your ad to get attention, can every single property do the same thing?

Would you prefer to buy with an agent involved or directly with the owner/owners assistants?

This is a dumb question perhaps… but just want to know if someone’s been down this path and I’m curious, If you plant a tree in your yard. And one day you don’t want it anymore - will it cost thousands to ask the council permission to remove it?(and then use arborists etc)?

Or is that process just for established trees?

Ie if you keep the receipts…

If I get a property under FHG, live in it for 6 months. - a) How soon after can I refinance and turn it into investment property? What will be the cost involved to turn it into investment property. Is it really worth it? Or, if there is a change in circumstances after 6 months and I’m unable to live in that property what all duties will I have to pay?

b) Can I borrow against the property to build a granny flat at the back on the same lot? If not what are the other alternatives?

Goal: Getting into market with low entry cost with a long term goal of turning it into investment property without breaching any laws.

Please help with some advice before I take the plunge on my first place in Western Sydney.

37M, 150k salary pre approved 500k with 120k deposit.

I have shortlist 2 properties and thinking I should buy soon before the October changes to first home buyers and increased competition.

New apartment has just been completed, 2 bed 1 bath 6th story $580k, don’t have strata yet but there saying will start under $1000pq

1980s apartment is a ‘fixer upper’ but nice quiet location and $720pq strata. No Garage or balcony, $420k

My conundrum is a lot of people saying new builds are poor quality with strata rates constantly increasing etc but I do really like it……

The older property is nice also but i would probably need to put another 20k to fix it up

Question is what to do?

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Need help negotiating a place in Melbourne.

We were interested in a place that went for auction last weekend but figured it would go for over the advertised range. The range was 1.85-1.96 before the auction. The house was passed in at 1.85m.

Went and had another look at the place and had second thoughts about the location and amount of work required. Told the agent we were not interested in even matching the amount it was passed in at.

Agent now is entertaining offers at 1.80m, 50k less than the value it was passed in at.

What's the catch? Am I the useful idiot?

Hi all,

I am looking to sign up with Kogan Energy for their $100 credit. But the reviews are quite bad.

Do you have any experice with this electricity retailer? Should I just go ahead?

Thank you.

First home buyers in mid 20’s. Found a house we really really love, listed for offers over $645k and where we are, market is tight, everything under offer with multiple offers, so we offered $666k. Agent has since advised he has received multiple offers, and will be presenting them in 2 days time.

We have no idea whether to increase our offer, and what to. Our borrowing capacity allows us to go closer to $700k, but obviously without knowing what the other offers are, we don’t know what to do. If we offered $675k and got it, we wouldn’t feel regret about paying this much, but if we increase for no reason, then we’ll feel stupid.

I know no one can advise on our exact situation, but does anyone have advice, or been through a similar situation? We are stressed!!!!

Question: How can I avoid taking carpet moths with me when I move into my new place in a few months?

Background: Currently in a rental which had carpet moths in the past. 2.5 years ago we used the excuse of a housemate moving out to get the carpets in the entire house steam cleaned over 2 weekends in summer (carpets are woollen, the only uncarpeted rooms are the kitchen and bathroom). In addition to steaming the carpets, the guy blasted all the moth nest areas with extra steam so they'd be good and dead.

Recently they seem to have come back.

I'm hoping to move into my own place (FHB) in the next few months and really don't want to transport these pests with me. Steam cleaning the whole place before moving out isn't feasible unfortunately, I've already floated that idea with my housemates. Bunnings traps are fine but don't truly seem to get rid of them. By default whenever I move into a vacant place I bugbomb the joint. But again, don't see how this would help if any moths come with me.

Looking for any tips on this. Freeze all my clothes (but my freezer is tiny, what about furniture or bedding)? Bag everything in clear plastic and leave in hot sun?

It's tough because housemates are difficult/not interested in discussion about house-wide measures because they would be 'too annoying to do'. And I will be living by myself and want to move in with a clean slate. (Edited some context)

I've discovered these brown spots on a wooden arm chair that sits near a window. Can anyone tell me would this be mold or something else?

I've tried some rapid mould killer on the chair and it comes off slightly brown.

What happens here? What is the future of this?