Before Demolition:
After Demolition:
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
[Others.005] 2 old photos from early 2006
Found 2 photos we took in early 2006 just after we bought the house. Compare to the 2 recent ones during demolition, you can imagine how many trees & plants we have removed...
Before Demolition:
After Demolition:
Before Demolition:
After Demolition:
[Progress.012] Fence up!
When I drove pass our construction site late this afternoon, was quite surprise to find that our builder already setup the fences, toilet and some sediment control stuffs. It was quite late and I didn't have my camera with me, will take a few photos and upload them probably some time tomorrow or the day after.
I have been a bit lazy recently and haven't fix the tree protection fences which wasn't in good shape after the storms weeks ago. Looks like I need to get it fixed somehow this/next weekend.
As our demolisher still hasn't remove the toilet and already setup a sediment control, we now have 2 toilets, 2 sediment controls on site, plus a "semi-collapsed" tree protection fence at the front, another fully collapsed tree protection fence at the back, looks a bit funny....
I have been a bit lazy recently and haven't fix the tree protection fences which wasn't in good shape after the storms weeks ago. Looks like I need to get it fixed somehow this/next weekend.
As our demolisher still hasn't remove the toilet and already setup a sediment control, we now have 2 toilets, 2 sediment controls on site, plus a "semi-collapsed" tree protection fence at the front, another fully collapsed tree protection fence at the back, looks a bit funny....
[PropertyInfo.002] Home prices set to surge again?
There was an article called "Data points to housing recovery" on 8th June in www.news.com.au as I mentioned here.
Today, in Sydney Morning Herald, there's another article called "Home prices set to surge again, fuelling debt crisis" also talking about housing market recovery.
The most scary part is, it mentioned "The Reserve Bank meets in Sydney today to discuss rates. No move is expected this month, but a strong economy is expected to fuel two more rises over the next 12 months.". Oh, no, please don't increase the interest rate....
Remember back in mid 2003 the market was quite crazy. One of our neighbours who bought his house for about $500K in around 2001, put his house for auction. There were a few parties fighting over it during the auction and it was sold for $800K. Yes, he made $300K in about 2 years! If that's his primary residency, he doesn't have to pay any tax at all.
Then the market dropped a lot since then. From earlier this year, we started noticing signs of market recovery - lots of properties in our area were sold in the first few open houses (except for a few asking for 2003 prices...), and the auction clearance rate was also very high. On our street there's only about 17 houses, 5 of them were on the market and all sold very quickly in the past 12 months.
You will certainly make a good profit if you sell your property when the market is going up. But unless you got another property or start renting, if you purchase another one in roughly the same period, you might loose most/all of them in the 2nd purchase. Plus, you have to pay all charges twice...
1 Australian dollar was buying over $0.85 US dollars in last night's news. Wonder how long will this be going...
Today, in Sydney Morning Herald, there's another article called "Home prices set to surge again, fuelling debt crisis" also talking about housing market recovery.
The most scary part is, it mentioned "The Reserve Bank meets in Sydney today to discuss rates. No move is expected this month, but a strong economy is expected to fuel two more rises over the next 12 months.". Oh, no, please don't increase the interest rate....
Remember back in mid 2003 the market was quite crazy. One of our neighbours who bought his house for about $500K in around 2001, put his house for auction. There were a few parties fighting over it during the auction and it was sold for $800K. Yes, he made $300K in about 2 years! If that's his primary residency, he doesn't have to pay any tax at all.
Then the market dropped a lot since then. From earlier this year, we started noticing signs of market recovery - lots of properties in our area were sold in the first few open houses (except for a few asking for 2003 prices...), and the auction clearance rate was also very high. On our street there's only about 17 houses, 5 of them were on the market and all sold very quickly in the past 12 months.
You will certainly make a good profit if you sell your property when the market is going up. But unless you got another property or start renting, if you purchase another one in roughly the same period, you might loose most/all of them in the 2nd purchase. Plus, you have to pay all charges twice...
1 Australian dollar was buying over $0.85 US dollars in last night's news. Wonder how long will this be going...
[Tips.007] Are you installing clear glass for your bathroom windows/bedroom doors?
Noticed a few discussions in homeone forum about clear glass.
One of the owner chose quite mordern bedroom doors with some glass openings. Only during construction did he notice that it's in clear glass, and it's too late to change (Note: project home builders charged min $250 - $500 on top of the $ for the change, for every change after contract signed). Just imagine all your bedroom doors with clear glass openings, although it's inside the house, how embarrass it would be if anyone can see through the door while you are changing! I guess one possible option is to stick something on the glass or cover it up...
The other common mistake owners normally make is to install clear glass for bathroom windows. There are still some builders doing this and then charge extra to change the windows glass to obscure glazing. Luckily our builder has this covered as standard. Personally I think there should be a rule/regulation or something about this setup to protect the owner. It's just ridiculous to have clear glass for bathroom windows.
Hope you find all these tips helpful.
One of the owner chose quite mordern bedroom doors with some glass openings. Only during construction did he notice that it's in clear glass, and it's too late to change (Note: project home builders charged min $250 - $500 on top of the $ for the change, for every change after contract signed). Just imagine all your bedroom doors with clear glass openings, although it's inside the house, how embarrass it would be if anyone can see through the door while you are changing! I guess one possible option is to stick something on the glass or cover it up...
The other common mistake owners normally make is to install clear glass for bathroom windows. There are still some builders doing this and then charge extra to change the windows glass to obscure glazing. Luckily our builder has this covered as standard. Personally I think there should be a rule/regulation or something about this setup to protect the owner. It's just ridiculous to have clear glass for bathroom windows.
Hope you find all these tips helpful.
Sunday, 1 July 2007
[ColourSelection.001] External Colour Summary, Bricks and Roof Tiles
We finally have some lovely sunshine in the past 2 days after a few weeks of rains.
As our excavation won't start until mid/late July, I will start posting other details about our house.
First, is the external colour summary submitted to council as shown below.
To make it clearer, I will add some details. Starting with the bricks.
The bricks we are using is "POA" from PGH. A few photos shown below:
Also have a few photos of existing houses built with "POA" bricks provided by PGH as shown below.
The roof tiles we are using is "Moral Monarch French Terracotta" in "Slate Grey" colour. The diagram below from Boral Terracotta brochure shows what it looks like. Just change the colour to "Slate Grey", not the orange one as shown below.
As our excavation won't start until mid/late July, I will start posting other details about our house.
First, is the external colour summary submitted to council as shown below.
To make it clearer, I will add some details. Starting with the bricks.
The bricks we are using is "POA" from PGH. A few photos shown below:
Also have a few photos of existing houses built with "POA" bricks provided by PGH as shown below.
The roof tiles we are using is "Moral Monarch French Terracotta" in "Slate Grey" colour. The diagram below from Boral Terracotta brochure shows what it looks like. Just change the colour to "Slate Grey", not the orange one as shown below.
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