Smashed Avocado-Gate - Bernard Salt

the collective excuse that we all pay too much for property

 

I'm pragmatic about the situation. If I can't yoafford housing then I will do either 2 things, rent or get a better paying job. It's pointless for me to compare with others all the time. If I really can't afford Sydney then I'll have to look elsewhere. I will need to live with compromises. Like I said before we cannot stop other people from buying properties and overpay them. Unless government is going to do something about it, all these talks about unaffordability results just talk and frustrations. Life is not fair and it is. While there are people in the Philippines content to live under metal sheet shelters, we are complaining that we can't live close to CBD. Take a trip to the slums and hopefully you come back with new perspectives.
That's the system we're living in, unfortunately. Look at Singapore, it provided good government housing to its citizens but as the country matures, increasing population, the demand for housing goes up. Yes it's a small country with little resources and land is scarce but government has difficulty in containing price rises. So what do you say? Get rid of foreigners who need shelters? The sooner we stop complaining the earlier we can start on working on getting ourselves a home. Of course there's always a possibility that property crashes and level the ground but what are the chances? Don't misunderstand that I don't sympathise with those who can't afford.. I'm too concerned with my kids ability to buy their own but I too started with nothing and a 25k paycheck. Choices were limited, more so now.

 

Excuse for what?

 

To live like kings/queens if they don't live in Sydney

 

Thanks very much, you are too kind but I have to come clean here, I'm gen x, born in 1975

 

you're older than me

 

No-one's telling you that you have to buy a property anyway, much less one in Sydney. But if you do want one, buy something affordable and then it doesn't matter whether you have a high paying job or not.

 

^^This.
I'm 26,
I've doubled my income twice in the last 5 years. Study, learn, work hard, work smart. Avoid dead ends. More than ever GenY has the ability to grow their career by moving from opportunity to opportunity.

However I bought my first place on my graduate income for 234k in a flat market (5 years ago) in a part of western Sydney with high drug use and social housing. I lived there for 3 years.
I've now bought two more, live in a beautiful part of the world on a good block of land, and have grown my portfolio to several times what it started at. Getting married, running a budget, taking risks, getting hands on renovating homes alongside full time jobs all helped. I've also always commuted >1hr for work. Current commute: 100mins each way.

It's not important what the comparison is to previous generations. Examine the current conditions, figure out how to make it work for you. Don't look at average income figures and average prices because who wants to be average!? I realise this is anecdotal, but that's the thing about being different to the average. You aren't going to be reflected in the majority... You either make it work or you don't.

 

I hasten to add we're forced to pay too much because of 10 years of under supply not meeting the recent demand surge

 

I'm with @C-mac on this one. Sydney is nutz and mostly unobtainable for a FHB.

Unless you're on a magnificent wage you're better off taking the @The Falcon approach and putting 20 percent of your mere mortal income into some sort of fund.

However there's more to Oz than Sydney! You can still buy comfortably pretty much anywhere else. Just drop your expectations, start small and inch forward.

 

No offence taken at all.

Sometimes I wonder how much different life would have been with kids in my 20's. But I don't like to look back as I'm happy with how things are now and I'll never know any different.

Same thing goes with property investing. If I'd started 20 years ago things would now be vastly different. History is set, it's the future you can change the course of. We run much the same strategy though with Buy Build Hold.

 

Wow. All that and you're only 26?! Nice job

 

I think it's all relative - was speaking to my dad about this last night for some perspective.

When my dad was 21 he just finished his degree, earning $85/week as a trainee accountant. His parents passed away so he had no help and bought his first house in Mt Druitt for $23k. There were Greyhounds breeding in the bathtub and rats nesting in the oven, he worked 3 jobs and sometimes did a paper run at 4am so they could get by. They only had second hand furniture, cheap dinners & bomb cars to run around in.

This was still an expensive outlay, in a very rough area in West Sydney back in the mid 70's.

For me, I try and balance the spending with the investing, I have a dedicated savings plan (excel file with about 20 rows on 6 tabs ) but I'm not shy with spending a dollar either and like to enjoy the finer things in life - even if it slows down my investment plans a little.. There has been several times I had my smashed avo on sourdough and I didn't even feel guilty for it ; )

 

Are you going to change tune when the oversupply kicks in and buy up big in Brisbane and Melbourne?

We are paying more for land as developers are building the infrastructure in new subdivisions. Developers pay for roads, power, sewer, water reticulation, stormwater, gas, phones, fibre etc all paid for upfront. Previous generations had Government pay for the infrastructure (not just maintenance). This would be paid for then recouped over the usable life of the assets not paid for upfront by developers and recouped from the buyer. Bring forward 40 years of repayments to your purchase and you will notice how much it adds to the purchase cost rather than being amortised over the life of the asset.

 

I have a friend on facebook who posts pics of her breakfasts that she has at a cafe every weekend.

She can do that, and its good for that business owner and the staff of the business, but for me, it's no thanks. Not my routine.

 

To be clear, I've got a house in Sydney, but if I wasn't in the position to have one that's what I would do rather than whingeing about it..it's a renters market.

 

That's probably what I'll end up doing. It's a 10-15 year plan..ie to see sizable cg on oversupplied bn and Mel property.
Till then...it's smashed avocado and freshly squeezed orange juice with truffles on the side for me

 

Your friend may have a lot of time on her hands but it takes all types to make the world go round right?

I don't post pictures of food I just eat it

 

Not to mention DCPs funding maternal health centres, multi purpose buildings, regional sports ovals, major intersections, libraries, bigger council offices etc etc. We even have GAIC funding transport infra in other suburbs and regions.

 

I'm kinda over this whole generational property affordability thing. How about people buy investments and let them grow then draw money out and buy where they want to live.

It's so crazy that it actually might work.