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  1. Brian Taylor
    June 8, 2021 @ 11:34 am

    That’s a great article, Neil. As a fellow “aging baby-boomer” I share many of your thoughts about the current real estate market – especially the despair for young people trying to get into their own home. Just one of the problems young people face in today’s world.

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  2. Kara
    June 8, 2021 @ 12:22 pm

    Thank you Neil Jenman for yet another thought provoking article. To follow on from one of the ideas about asking your parents for help, I believe it’s actually a responsibility of those who were lucky enough to get on the property ladder at a time when prices were more reasonable, to help the next generations.

    As a member of the baby boomer generation I’m only too aware of how lucky I was to be born at that time in history. There are many in the following generations who rightly or wrongly revile the boomers as being the cause of all the current ills of the world and deeply resent us. I’m not willing to take on all the responsibility since history is continuous. The ethos of each period of history is determined by that of all the periods that preceded it. No period of history is an island (to paraphrase John Donne, the great English poet). The boomers were as much a product of their historical era as the millenials are.

    Nevertheless where we have been the beneficiaries of an accident of history, such as in relation to housing prices, I do believe it is incumbent on us to help our children.

    About 10 years ago I took out a sizeable chunk of my superannuation and gave it to my daughter (as a gift, not a loan) to make her first property purchase. I did this to persuade her to take out a property loan which she was reluctant to do at the time. I figured she would inherit my estate eventually, why not now while she was young enough to have all the benefits of youth in financial matters. She reinvested the profit from that and has now turned it into an even higher profit on a subsequent purchase, which will substantially reduce the mortgage on her family home.

    Not only did I have the good feeling that comes from helping someone I love, it has, even better, given me immeasurable joy to see what she has done with it and how it has prospered her and her family into the next generation. I’d have had none of that if it all happened after I was dead and buried!

    While my generation was the beneficiary of lower housing prices, individually we have no power to change today’s property market. However we do have the power to help our children prosper even in these weird and wonderful times, by helping them now.

    Thank you for raising this issue. I hope it prompts many of your readers to consider helping their next generations, without waiting to be asked.

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  3. Jeff
    June 8, 2021 @ 9:54 pm

    Thanks for that Neil.
    One point: I am in a position to sell an investment property and give some $$ to my son who is trying to buy a roof over his, and his family’s heads.
    The problem is, I see my adding to his pot, as contributiing to the problem!
    Those that make money out of real estate (The Trio of agents, banks and governments) want to bleed every stone they can lay their grubby hands on. They (pick whichever of the Trio you like) milk one source of $$$ then turn on another.
    Now that the kids’ money has been exhausted, the Trio are “encouraging” us baby boomers to “help out”. Yeah, help prices to keep rising! We are made to feel guilty, that’s the best way to extract our hard-earned cash – tug at our heart strings! Hell, they even have our wives on their side!
    And all these schemes acheive is higher prices for homes. As Alan Kohler said – the trouble with houses is they are too affordable. Money is WAY too easy to get.
    New home buyer “grants”, low interest rates for new home buyers, Banks of mum and Dad’s, all contribute to boost affordability.
    And the poor punter just trying to buy a roof over his familiy’s head, is sucked in.
    When I bouight my first house – I was single, living at home. $38950 was more than TEN times my annual salary. (I had $16000 deposit – saved up from about ten year’s working). But I didn’t buy for investment. In those days there wasn’t a real estate “industry”. It was just another purchase – cheaper than rent!
    So everyone just bought one house. It took a long time here in Canberra for prices to start moving upwards. Unytil the first first home owners grant. That ($14000) pushed the prices up. All of a sudden a new home buy could afford $280000 (5% deposit). Average houses in Canberra were less than that – for a very short time.

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  4. Geoffrey Prendergast
    June 10, 2021 @ 9:15 am

    Thank you Neil,
    It is one of the best articles I have read about climbing the property ladder, and I have read many articles on this subject. Excellent advice and I appreciate your thoughtful approach to placing yourself in a position to buy your own home.

    Kind regards,
    Geoff

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  5. Kristine Colliver
    June 11, 2021 @ 2:45 pm

    What a fabulous and thoughtful article Neil, bang on. Thanks for your time and energy into an important topic. Kristine

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  6. Hitesh
    June 23, 2021 @ 9:28 am

    Very useful article, it gives me lot of insight how to assist my home-seeker, first home buyer and first time investment property clients. I shared it with my son, who will be first home buyer in next 1-2-3 years, i liked idea of buying investment property in regional center, i least thought about it before. Thanks heaps Neil.

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