demolition site

Unfortunately, I’m not talking about our current renos. No, as I sit here, wrapped up in my PJs and slippers, and look around our lovely home, I realise it looks like a bomb’s hit it. (Apologies to anybody reading this whose home actually has been hit by a bomb.) There are our four property files (one for each, including our home) on the coffee table, which is also covered in paperwork of almost every description – receipts, scraps of paper with measurements on them (‘kitchen window, 94cms W x 137cms H’), and all four of my books relating to investment.

As I raise my eyes, I see two large boxes across the room – the new washing machine and wall oven for the unit. Past the boxes is our dining table. It’s large (2.25mx 1.5m) and apart from two place settings, it’s also covered in paperwork and other reno-related items (kitchen flickmixer tap, anybody?). About the only clean area I can see is the kitchen, and that’s primarily because the only meal we’ve been regularly having at home has been breakfast. There are other touches which add to the disaster – a basket of dry laundry by the back door (I was in a rush, so after taking it off the line I didn’t get any further with it), and the esky we cart to the unit on the other side of the laundry basket.

The place basically is a pigsty. The rest of the house is much the same. Both bathrooms need a clean, and the floor hasn’t been vacuumed in weeks.

My mum is coming by tomorrow. We take our ironing to her place so her ironing lady can do it. It’s worth the money. We don’t do it every week, but when we’re working and also doing renovations, it’s a life saver. So Mum is bringing our freshly ironed laundry over, which saves me a round trip of about two hours. However, I suspect I’ll spend that time frantically cleaning before she gets here. If nothing else, at least the place will be habitable again, I guess.

why buy investment property now?

This is a question a lot of our friends and family have been asking us, especially since we put in an offer and acceptance a few weeks back on our (soon-to-be) Glendalough unit. The drop in house prices in the real estate market, together with looming higher interest rates, makes it sound like an ominous time to be getting into more debt. I’m also aware my friends particularly are concerned that we’re taking on more than we can chew, and they’re worried about the effect of this stress on my mental health.

From our perspective, though, it really isn’t a big deal. In fact, it suits us really well to buy another property now. There are a few reasons for this.

The first is that there are two items which need to be taken into consideration when purchasing an investment property – the amount at which you can sell your property for on the market (ie. its increase in value) and the rental return it will give. The Perth market is currently ideal for buying and renting, as property values have slumped, while rents are increasing rapidly. (If you’re into flipping houses, or buying, doing some reno work, then selling for a profit, now isn’t such a good time.) Our Glendalough unit is a perfect example. We bought it for $12,000 less than the asking price, which was already very very low, due to needing some cleaning up (painting, etc). There are one-bedroom units in the Glendalough area which sell for $30,000 more than we paid for our two-bedroom. When it settles, we’ll go in, clean it up, furnish it, and make a ridiculous amount renting it out. Perfect! We won’t be positively geared immediately, but we almost certainly will be in a few years’ time. The investment yield (yearly rental income, divided by purchase price, multiplied by 100) will be over 7%.

The second reason is that the tightness in the Perth rental market is unlikely to abate any time soon. As the booming state, there is still record low unemployment. People are coming to Perth for the short to medium term to take up jobs, particularly in the resources sector. While there is a view that this will be short-lived, as an economist I don’t agree. China is sucking resources out of Australia as quickly as we can extract them from the ground. Even if the US, a large importer of Chinese goods, goes into recession, there is still China’s internal development which requires fuelling. After all, one-sixth of the world’s population lives in China, and is rapidly requiring ever more capital works – new roads, new hospitals, new factories. This isn’t even taking India’s immense growth into account. So I see it as highly unlikely that WA’s resources boom will end any time soon. This will continue to attract interstate and overseas job-hunters, who all need somewhere to live.

And interest rates? Again, it doesn’t concern me too much. I know people remember interest rates of 17%. That was when the money supply, rather than inflation, was controlled by the Reserve Bank. We’ll never see those days again. And yes, I am confident of that. I won’t bore you with an economics lesson, but I will state this: the mechanism of interest rate increases and decreases is generally very poorly understood. I can understand why people are afraid of a return to those times. However, fear doesn’t mean it will happen.

I believe in two years’ time the current rates will have worked through the economy enough to dampen inflation, and rates will be on the way down again, or at least moderating somewhat. We’re going to get a fixed term of two years on the new loan, so we won’t be hit with any surprises between now and then.

Anyhow, these are the main reasons why we are buying another property. Whether we’ll still be married after going through more renovations is another story!

dreading work

Yep. I think the title says it all. I’m not looking forward to returning to the domain of the Psycho HoseBeast Boss. At least she goes on maternity leave soon. Thank God for the consequences of unprotected sex.

The breakfast with SO’s mother and stepfather went well today. I had to leave after a couple of hours, to pick up a queen sized bed with SO’s dad, so that provided an opportunity for SO to show his mum and stepdad our renovation-in-progress. Apparently they were surprised at the scope of works we’d undertaken, despite the fact we’d described it to them earlier that morning. SO’s mum is currently renovating her own place, but it seems that she’s done everything in the wrong order, which has subsequently caused a lot of problems. It puts our renos into perspective, though.

On the topic of family, my mother broke up with her latest mistake on Friday night. She is actually doing pretty well – she did some retail therapy yesterday, and talked to me for over an hour today about her new outfits. I’m glad he’s out of her life. How can you respect a man who says to anyone, ‘If I’m impotent, it’s your fault’?! Yes, he’s all class.

neverending renovations

These renos are taking forever.  I think I’ve officially lost interest.  However, we’ll be able to start painting soon, which I will be able to be involved in, so that should help.

I saw the doctor today (my general practitioner).  Apparently my blood pressure is 104/71, which I was pretty happy with.  It’s always been on the low side, but as I’m on the Pill I keep expecting it to be higher than it is.  On the down side, the doc wants me to lose 5kgs in the next 6 months.  I don’t think this is unreasonable; on the contrary, I agree with both the time frame and the amount.

I remember being at my all-time highest weight of 70kgs when we got married in November 2006, and not being happy about it.  I’m 175cms, so 70kgs isn’t huge on me.  However, here we are in April 2008, and I’m weighing in at 82kgs.  Sigh.  I explained to my doc that there’s a lot happening just at the moment (renovating, buying a new property, etc) and he nodded understandingly.  He said that the antidepressants can also cause weight gain.  Well, no surprises there I guess! 

In other news, my mother-in-law is coming to breakfast tomorrow.  I don’t object to her coming over and seeing us; what I don’t like is how SO is always in a bad mood after he’s seen her.  She has a lot of issues, but she’s his mother, and he doesn’t bother with her much, which upsets her.  I try to be understanding of all of this. 

Speaking of parents, I found this link the other day.  It encapsulates my fear of being a parent and owning every single toy under the sun. SO’s sister and brother-in-law are like this, and it’s incredibly intimidating. Their kids are three and one, and they already have two full bedrooms, plus their own gamesroom, full of toys. I don’t know how to avoid it, but I don’t want to end up like that. Fortunately kids are definitely in the future for us for some time yet – at least until I’m off the Lexapro.

breathing slowly and deeply

We’ve just found out that the offer and acceptance we put in a month ago for a two-bedroom unit has been approved for finance.  This means that in about four weeks, we’ll be the proud owners of another renovator’s delight.  I’m both excited and very nervous.  Our current reno is going over time and over budget, just as all good renovations do.  My fear is that we’ll still be renovating the current one when we acquire the newest one.

I know that the stress is getting to me.  My sleep has been all over the place – I wake up every night between 1am and 3am, and am awake for up to three hours.  Also, I’m clenching my teeth in my sleep.  I’m also getting the sickish feeling in my stomach.  At this point, I’m just trying to remember to breathe deeply and think positively.  I was driving to Bunnings today (where the staff now know me by name) and found I was repeating to myself, ‘I am strong and able to handle this….. I am strong and able to handle this…. ‘.  I just hope it’s true.

I’m also trying to keep a watchful eye on my mental health at the moment.  I don’t want to fall off the deep end, with everything that’s happening.  My psychiatrist has also said that some people reach a good level of drug dosage on Lexapro, then after being on it for a while, it seems to just lose a bit of effectiveness.  He said an increase of even 5mg can right things, and has given me the go-ahead to increase my dose if I notice this happening.  I just want to be sure that if I do increase my dose, it’s for the right reasons, not because of temporary stress which will pass.  The difficulty is knowing the difference.

On the topic of depression, earlier this week a friend of ours sent us a couple of books by Matthew Johnstone.  His book, I Had a Black Dog, is a pictorial depiction of what it’s like to live with depression.  It describes exactly what it’s like.  I’ve not come across anything before which outlines the effect depression has on your life – on relationships, your view of the world, and the numbness you feel.  This book captures it perfectly.  I strongly recommend it for people who suffer from depression.  He and his wife have also written a companion book which is specifically aimed at anyone who’s in a relationship with someone who is depressed.  Both books are well worth reading.  (And no, I’m not getting paid to write this!!)

I do have more to say, but it’s getting late and, well, I need my sleep.  Night!