From Russia (well not exactly) with love

Hello all,

I am one of SS addict who has now moved to Property Chat. I was formerly known as edison but recently changed title to kamchatsky a few months ago in SS, and now PC.

Just in case if you want to know what kamchatsky is, it is part of the name of city Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Far East Russia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky

PK is part of Kamchatka Peninsula, which contains lots of active volcanoes which are all UNESCO Heritage Listed:

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/765

My avatar shows one of the volcanoes next to PK.

It is also the largest city in Russia that is not connected to rest of Russia by road. It is the second largest isolated city in the world.

Across Avacha Bay from PK, is the Rybachiy Nuclear Submarine Base, which is the largest Russian submarine base, housing all the submarines for the Pacific.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/rybachiy.htm

Personally I have never been there but it is a place I want to visit someday.

Even though I am known as kamchatsky, I am not Russian but am a Chinese (hence name of my thread).

I arrived in Australia in 1989 and lived in Adelaide for 11 years. I moved to Sydney in 2000 for work. At that time I have very little savings and I had to save up slowly. It was tough but slowly and surely I started saving for my fund for my wedding and also my house.

I live in our 4 bedroom PPOR at Cherrybrook which was bought in 2007 just after Mrs Kamchatsky and I got married. It cleaned out my bank account, but luckily Westpac had a deal at that time of 85% without LMI which saved me some money. We pretty much maxed out our capacity.

Even though there is great advantage to have IO on PPOR with offset, my better half and I decided to keep P&I to eventually pay off our PPOR. Otherwise we could spend all the offset cash easily.

We bought at Cherrybrook at that time because we wanted our kids to go to good primary and high school, and at that time we did not even have kids. In fact we did not have kids until 2012. Now our second one is coming later this year. It will be some years yet before we can use the local schools that influenced our PPOR purchase 8 years ago. Sometimes I think I just think way too far ahead.

Looking back we could have bought closer to city at that time, but the houses at Cherrybrook is larger and in better conditions, and schools are great in the area. Anyway, I did buy in Sydney so I am not complaining given that anything in Sydney has gone crazy recently. Northwest Rail Link Cherrybrook station also helps a bit.

I would not be surprised if our kids end up never going to our local Cherrybrook Technology High School, as my better half is determined to get our kids to get to selective schools (like the usual James Ruse, Baulkham Hills, etc etc etc) or even go for scholarships on those great private schools (eg Knox Grammar, Barker). CTHS is a great school to go to and very well sought after, so it could be ironic if none of my kids go there in the future.

We also have a 3 bedroom IP house at Schofields which was purchased in January last year brand new by Mirvac. It was completed in November last year, and it is now cash flow positive due to the interest rate drop, and lack of strata fees. I certainly cannot complain about this.

I did look at Upper North Shore (Wahroonga/Turramurra) area late last year (nice area, great private schools) but the numbers only works if I move and live there. However Mrs Kamchatsky wants to stay at Cherrybrook. If we bought IP there instead, there I could see significant negative gearing, even though those area always have good potential.

I have been looking at Adelaide recently to see IP opportunities but their current state of economy is holding me back from buying. Their current Labour government does not fill me with confidence. IMO they have been holding power for too long and too comfortable.

I thought about Brisbane but we don't know the market well and don't know the place. Mrs Kamchatsky and I have similar views that we need to hit the ground and looking around before committing purchase. This is difficult due to coming of second child and Mrs Kamchatsky's upcoming maternity leave, and we are reluctant to fly there especially whilst pregnant.

So our second IP could be coming in say 2017 when she gets back to work. However we do have some equity cashed out ready to buy anything that we see value right now.

I look forward to the new chapter at Property Chat. Let me know if you have any questions.


From Cherrybrook with love,



Kamchatsky

 

Great intro - the only one so far with a bonus geography lesson!

 

Thanks for the intro, a little bit different, and very interesting!
You'll be set once NWRL opens - 35 mins to Chatswood I think

 

Actually, according to the NWRL calculator (http://nwrail.transport.nsw.gov.au/), it only takes 21 minutes from Cherrybrook to Chatswood .... and 41 minutes from Cherrybrook to Wynyard. Whether I believe it is another question.

 

The portion to Chatswood is automated I think so should be about right.

 

Welcome. I would love to also explore these type of places in Russia that not many have heard of.