flybyknight

oh medical! have a look inside the hospital, there may be signs around the place for rented rooms, you could get an agent on board to run it and rent individual rooms to medical staff or students. this will give you a better rental yield, however wear and tear may well be a bit higher. the other great thing is if someone moves out the rent doesn't stop, it only reduces slightly. we have a place we do exactly that with and it does ok. we're making about 40% more than we would renting it as a normal place. it could close that 8k gap you're speaking of. the agent will have a bit, but with the higher yield he's worth his pay for the peace of mind, its effortless.

We have asked ourselves the same thing. it seems you're on your own, australian's at large seem conditioned to the premise that its a warm country therefore they should live in nice looking houses that leak like a sieve. i'm afraid you are wrong with your namby pamby european living standards. you need to man up to living in damp and draught. or build your own place! i'm going the whole hog, building to passive house standards in the next year or so. i am working on the qualifications to certify such. ive spoken to a draughtproofing outfit here in the melbourne area, and they are struggling. people just dont want the service. its odd. they're quite quick to moan about fuel prices though, makes no sense at all. my guess is that a country with such money in the use of fuel, having people who understand how to save, or eliminate the use of fossil fuel is a danger to profitability. the damp in the night/mornings in the winter with single glazing must help asthmatic inhaler manufacturers too. the system will always promote the status-quo, so sadly, we're on our own!

if you are coming over on a PR visa you can also claim flights back to the place your house is periodically for maintenance visits. you can only claim the % you were actually working on the property, but it's better than a kick in the pods. 7-8k isn't much for a good geared investment, how much is that as a percentage of the house valuation? If your career here supports it, it may be worth keeping it as an investment. you should be critical with the house though, look at it from a renters perspective, is it in a good location for schools transport etc. try not to let your fondness and memories affect the decision.

can't wait to break the tie to the pump. it's coming. inside 2 years if it runs on rails crazy how much of a hole it all makes in your pocket, it seems cheap but when you have to drive everywhere it sure adds up!

srg73, it's a bit off subject, but do you have and direct project management experience to the passive house standard?

'tis funny to read, the thread on here recently that suggests the uk will have the strongest economy in europe by 2030, mainly due to the increase in population. and this thread suggesting we should cap migration to the uk for its wellbeing. i'd love to see how this is gonna work! it just shows the loyalties of the british press, its nice to see it highlighted so graphically.

Lol, its a pretty picture, with absolutely no basis of how this happened. so i guess the uk will be a totally different place, with industry, a national identity and a common drive in one direction? i doubt it. bloody ell, where did the last 4 months go, it can't be april already?

Merry Christmas Everyone! Have a wonderful, peaceful time :smile:

the AQ ones started in the 90's, when we kinda went into Iraq and got our murder on. killed almost 5000 civilians, and 20,000 soldiers that year, saddam still there though til round 2. when an enemy invades your country, slaughters your children, brothers, sisters... with guns, rockets, rpg's and drones and you find yourself with only a few old land mines and the odd gun you can scrounge from allies. what do you do? we're human, we're creative. we use what we have. not to offend, but we have a mass of people who live more simply. they do not question as readily as we do, deeply religious people. they are simply, easier and quicker to brainwash (they have lived, and are used to faith in the word and command). that's the mobile weapon system taken care of. looking at it with our media fed view, from our comparatively ivory tower, its hard to comprehend.

peccavi, beautiful. this is the point that needs to be realised. quite apart from the party line portrayed in the papers, we as a coalition have the blood of 10's of thousands on our hands. if the uk were invaded and 10's of thousands of our civilians were 'collaterally damaged' how would we respond? i think personally our response in the western world would be far more than flying a few planes into some buildings and the odd suicide attack. we are exploiting a pacifist people, no matter what the media may tell you.

me too, that's one of the reasons I stopped serving. the feeling of blood on my hands became too much to bare. the odd thing is i'm sure any individual asked would agree with you. so why, in a democracy are we still as a country doing it? we all know the propoganda of terrorism is bullshit, and yet we still allow our, and the native children of these countries to be slaughtered. some democracy huh?

pretty much yeah, that's the government line. if you can find a better explanation, that holds water, for our invasion of those countries I'd love to hear it

ex forces myself so have spoken to and worked with the guys out there. thing that bugs me is that even after all of the death, dismemberment, hatred and hurt on both sides, petrol is still over £1.20 a litre. what's the bloody point of killing the children of so many families if we have to pay so much for fuel.

they can survive a trip through the washing machine so i hear. wont this encourage money laundering? i'll get my coat....

the uk is the place to be for front row seats of global warming. the convergence of multiple weather systems, with the major stuff being driven by the jet stream that sits right overhead. or at least should sit there, it's been swinging further north and south over the last years due, it is thought to the rising temperatures melting the ice cap. i think if i was living there, a well insulated house, a good few meters above sea level would be a sound long term investment. http://ossfoundation.us/projects/environment/global-warming/arctic-polar-amplification-effect

toss a coin lol. a general comment. just seems a little odd to bash criminals when we spend most days admiring their work. i'm not suggesting a life of crime, far from it. It's a career like any other, sadly its one that chooses you rather than you choosing it. For the most part people are decent, when there is little in the way of work and a good outlook, creative people tend to look beyond the obvious. I wonder if it was this creativity, in the light of freedom, that built Australia the way it is today?

seems a strange comment, slating criminals. this land we all come to this website to love, and aspire to come to has a somewhat criminal background. those free thinking enough to commit crime, have done a pretty good job of the place maybe it's the followers who just go with the flow, who need to take a look in the mirror?

i guess you could get sky-go to work out here, have a relative in the uk with sky give you the details. you will probably need to set up a proxy server, as sky will likely lock the sky-go to the uk. with a proxy you can also get bbc iplayer etc. all in all it will be a little more awkward, but i'm pretty sure you could make it happen.

your explanation takes no account of efficiency coal plants may pollute but for the fuel in = energy out they are actually pretty efficient. even the best internal combustion engines convert well over 50% of the fuels calorific value into heat. good on a cold day... maybe not so good as a motive force.

i need to reply to this but im checking it just as im off to work! but pretty much lol hydrogen is crap RO is at best 50% efficent. petrol is super crap. and even if you charge a battery car on electricity from a coal power plant it emits less than half the carbon of the best petrol or diesel engine. wow all in one rather long sentence!

as much as you're right, the animals that will die in the outback will only die once. the farmers will not breed more as its not financially viable. so those deaths although sad will draw an end to the barbarity.

the dollar hasn't helped but producing a rear wheel drive, thirsty car is a good 10 years out of date. the world is pretty much now buying more efficient cars, and those who want to have a gas guzzler want a 4x4. where was holdens R+D dept over the last 10 years? asleep at the wheel i think. we're at a stage now where the world is turning more towards battery and battery hybrids, but Australia is still digging their heels into petrochemicals and mining. handing out placebo's like boxes to turn off a tv that is on standby. this is a sign of things to come. in the next 10-20 years when the rest of the world is burning next to no coal, and running efficient power grids, Australia will be a third world nation. with the climate, and the skills here we could lead the world, instead we seem to be asleep at the wheel. sounds kinda familiar....

why are waffle slabs bad? i'm new to this too, and will be building soon many thanks

how did i know, even from the thread title, the link would start with http://www.dailymail.co.u lol

i think champagne socialist is the cry from the corrupt media and government who he highlights. the truth is, without getting to a status of celebrity, he would have never had a voice in the first place. well played sir. one of the people, right where he belongs