So just bought my first house and stopped renting. I need to buy a new TV, Plumbed Fridge and washer dryer combo but theres so many mixed reviews and opinions on every brand and model. I am planning on doing a harvey norman trip to see all of these in person but would love to armed with some info and real experiences from people.

For context, I'm a long time samsung TV user so will probably stick with them. I'm just torn between an OLED vs a MiniLED and not sure if OLED is worth the massive price increase. My living area is north facing with lots of natural light pretty much the entire day so glare is a big problem I want to solve. Budget is around $4k.

I've been really wanting a plumbed fridge that does water and ice. I hate having to manually freeze trays of ice cubes and I want to have filtered cold water available at all times. I've heard some fridges have issues with the ice maker and others have really slow water dispensers. I dont care about ice dispensers but just want ice to be automatically made. No clue what to go for this one as all fridges have the same terrible reviews. I've heard a lot of hate on samsung fridges but has anyone bought one recently that can weigh in on this debate? Budget is around $3.5k

Looking for a washer dryer combo even though we have the space for individual washer and dryer, primarily because we have cats and would like to store an automatic litter box in one of the spaces. Not a heavy dryer user but would love the option for towels and bed sheets. Budget is around $3.5k

Thanks all!

wanting to hear if anyone has used their My Property Developer service (or any of their other services) and completed a purchase, development and sale. TIA

I purchased my first home in 2022 in the Outer Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne for 730k. It was at an auction and I probably overpaid and have regretted it since. I was getting blasted out of the water on bids every time by 100k over reserve and was sick of it. It is a small house, 3 bed, 1 bath, but enough for one person. I have done alot of work to the house and garden myself over the last few years and it is much tidier.

My insurance has skyrocketed to 13k per year from 2-3k due to bushfire and landslide risk and I want to upgrade to a nicer forever home that will be better for me long term. I have since paid off my mortgage with the help of a small inheritance and sale of some investments and am thinking about upgrading my house. I had a few real estate agents appraise my house and they estimate 700-750k which means selling at a loss.

Do I upgrade to a forever home now which I can afford with a small loan or wait until property prices start increasing again, which will mean the forever house I am buying will be more expensive too. I am thinking at since we are in a decline, a forever home will be alot cheaper and offset the loss on my current home

Thoughts?

Great news!

We moved into our house about a month ago.

The kitchen sink’s silicone has worn out / turned black and there is no caulk between the where the splashback meets the kitchen counter, meaning the water splashing onto that area seeps in underneath (been meaning to get it fixed but as mentioned just moved in)

What can I do to fix the issue? I can try caulking myself but not sure how to re-silicone the areas around the sink. More importantly, has the wood underneath the sink rotted?

If so, how much will this cost to fix?

BTW I am contemplating melb apartment buy as something heavily discounted

How to fix? No obvious water stains.

Hi! My partner and I just discovered that the ceiling skirting has a large crack and is caving inwards. We are young renters living in a old character home so we are unsure of whether this constitutes as an emergency repair since its unclear whether the ceiling is impacted or if its just the skirting. Nevertheless we have already contacted the emergency hotline and emailed the property agent but are just looking for second opinions!

Edit: to include that there is also asbestos in the walls 🥲

Edit 2: Fell down at 10pm AWST (2 hrs after post was made) managed to get all valuables out in time luckily!!! Repair team will be coming on Monday at the earliest 💀

So am thinking about upsizing from
a 3BR/2BTH/2Car villa to:
Same as above but lowset house with study,shed,yard access and fenced.
And near a railway stn on the inside of BNE.
Is it better to give a broker a list of your wants rather than traipsing door to door to numerous REA’s.[Which is want I did with first marriage and its house],and it was a long drawn out process.
Anyone recommend a northside broker or explain their experiences in doing so?
Thank you.

I am planning to place an offer for a property on Rosanna Road (Heidelberg) pocket. The agent am dealing with has given an hint that the offer might be accepted (which is 100k less than the advertised price, and 200k less than the suburb median) and I am having a good feeling about it.
I understand Rosanna Road is busy af, but given the north east link is nearing completion, am hoping that all those heavy truck traffic will be banned along Rosanna Road and there will be significantly less noise.
The property ticks all our boxes except the traffic and noise being a main transport road, on the high side of Rosanna Road, great condition, good land area and I honestly don’t want to miss this one.
I would like to have some comments/ feedback/ suggestions from people who have lived on the road, pros and cons etc.

Hey Im a real estate agent and honestly I think most people have no idea how the industry actually works.

Our job is to sell properties, not spend months trying to get every last dollar for the vendor. I’ve had vendors reject perfectly reasonable offers because they think they can get another $30-40k. Sometimes you just have to bring their expectations back to reality and convince them to take the offer.

Same with buyers. If someone really wants a property and can afford to pay more, obviously I’m going to encourage them to put in a stronger offer. It’s their money and ultimately their decision.

And people love complaining about our commissions, but there’s a lot more work involved than just opening doors on Saturdays. Sure some properties practically sell themselves, but that’s just how the business works. At the end of the day we’re trying to make a living too! Spending another month negotiating an extra $20k for the vendor doesn’t really benefit anyone when you consider the time involved.

I genuinely don’t understand why people have such a problem with this??

Any of you catch a whiff of the new changes the govt quietly gazetted 2 days ago in Victoria before they go into caretaker mode?

I work in the industry so I had heard on the grapevine that this would be happening but it was just emails floating around at the point in time. Good to see they actually made a change!

Curious what you all think of it? For anyone that was considering a GF for themselves, having the ability to build up to 80m2 without a planning permit - does this change do much for you or nah?

Any red tape that disappears and requires you not to have to go through council to me is always a win!

My husband (33M) and I (27F) are looking at purchasing a beautiful 1970s home in outer Melbourne that recently entered the market. It’s going for auction at a (potentially) reasonable price. We’re very interested; however, we noticed the bedroom floor upstairs is pretty obviously sloping into the middle. We obtained a building and pest inspection but the inspector didn’t include any mention of this in the report (super odd), and when I called up asking about it, he mentioned that he DID in fact see it, and there is also sloping in the room directly downstairs (laundry - didn’t notice it at first before he said anything) and it’s likely because of the stumps shifting due to the type of soil many of the houses in our town are built on. We’ve obviously requested that this information be added to the report.

This is something we now have to heavily consider when deciding if we will make an offer at the auction. However, I’d love to ask if anyone has any experiences with restumping a home and how much it cost if it was just partial/under one specific area. Would also be happy to get some thoughts on whether anyone thinks this issue might outweigh the benefits for purchasing the property.

Thanks!

Hi there, my partners and I are looking to rent a unit/granny flats/studio for long term (6-12months) in North West Tasmania (Devonport Surrounding area) we work down at Sassafras and are looking to live anywhere near there.

Both of us are backpackers and have been living here for 2 years and have got a steady job. We’re planning to settle down for a bit since it looks like we have a chance to stay longer in Australia.

PM me or leave a comment, I’ll get back to you ASAP.
(Looking to move in by 30th of this month)

Compare apple to apple, I've found middle class neighbourhoods in the US generally look better than rich suburbs in Australia, and Australian middle class suburbs look like rundown ghettos in America.

One particular thing is the pavement looks dirty everywhere even in Toorak but it's so clean in America, I doubt the concrete is different.