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Thursday May 27, 2010
ADVERTISING FEATURE
Bricks
& mortar
An initiative from
Buyer, and seller, beware.
Should home owners buy first
then sell? Or sell then buy?
MEL 27-MAY-2010 PAGE
12
When it comes to upgrading to a new property, most home
owners sell their existing home first and buy later.
Real Estate Institute of Australia president David Airey
says every case depends on the buyer’s circumstances.
‘‘There are risks on both sides, but, if you think about it
carefully, I’d still opt for sell first and then buy, rather than
buying and then selling,’’ he says.
‘‘If we take the current market, which is slowing down,
now is a very good time to consider selling, and taking
today’s price . . . and buying in the same market –
you’ll probably be paying the same sort of numbers.’’
Bankwest head of mortgages Dean Gillespie explains
that it comes down to what you can afford.
‘‘Most people will already have a mortgage . . . so they may
not be able to afford another at the same time,’’ Gillespie says.
But a bridging loan can help in that case.
‘‘A bridging loan allows the customer to buy a second
property while they still own the first,’’ Gillespie says.
‘‘The bank will not ask the customer to make any repayments
on the additional loan amount for six months, until they’ve had a
chance to sell the original property.
‘‘But the interest rates are usually higher so it’s worth talking
through what you’re looking to do with the bank.’’
쎲 PRODUCTION
LINE
Worker sacked
after nut nibble
A woman who worked at a
bakery for 17 years was sacked
for eating a piece of nut on the
production line.
Susan Longworth, 54, of
Bolton, England, was placing
chopped hazelnut on toffee
cakes at the town’s Park Cakes
bakery.
While waiting for the next
batch of cakes to arrive,
Longworth popped a piece of
hazelnut into her mouth.
But her boss spotted her and
called her into his office. Within
minutes she had been suspended and was escorted from
the premises.
Longworth said: ‘‘He said he
was taking into consideration
my honesty and the length of
time I had been working there
and I thought he was going to
give me a warning.
‘‘I could not believe it when he
said he was sacking me.
‘‘He said it was like stealing
from the company and it was
gross misconduct.
‘‘Everybody is shocked by
what happened, people keep
saying they cannot believe it.
‘‘Most of all, I am just annoyed by what I have done for
that company and this is how
they have treated me after 17
years.’’
A spokesman for Park Cakes
said: ‘‘Park Cakes Bakeries
takes issues of hygiene very
seriously indeed and has very
strict rules about eating or
chewing on the production line.
‘‘To do so is an act of gross
misconduct and, as such, warrants dismissal.’’
He added that Longworth
was the only full-time member
of staff to be dismissed for eating, but a number of agency
staff had previously been removed for the same reason.
You’ve got the cash to splash
F B 1 2 3
C M Y K
Selling first and buying later leaves house hunters with a better
knowledge of how much money they have to spend, and how
much they can borrow from a lender.
‘‘The usual answer is you can use the sale price of your
(existing) house by selling it before you buy something else,’’
Airey says. ‘‘You can take your time negotiating the best
possible sale price, as opposed to being forced to sell because
you’ve bought something else.
‘‘You’re in a position where you can bid and buy at an auction,
knowing you have the money to pay for it, as opposed to being
forced to buy out of desperation.’’
After your home has sold, you may be left with more cash
than you expected, but that can also mean you’ll end up paying
more for a new property.
‘‘The cons are that if you’re selling in a rising market, you
might get a good price, but you might have to pay more for the
property you’re buying,’’ Airey says.
Deadlines can get you moving
House hunters can also rush into buying a new home because
they have a looming settlement date on their existing property.
‘‘Effectively, you could be homeless, if the settlement of your
own place ends before you’re able to buy a new one and take
possession,’’ Airey says.
Although a deadline can galvanise some home owners:
‘‘Most buyers are a lot more motivated when they need to buy a
home, rather than when they’re just looking.
‘‘Anything done under pressure is always going to be a
decision that’s made without a cool head.
‘‘Purchasing property should be done with the head and not
the heart.’’
쐽 The Real Estate Institute of Australia’s site is
www.reia.com.au.
쐽 Next week Bricks & mortar looks at ways to cut loan costs.
Small
home loan
rates from
Bankwest.
l
Bankwest Home Loans:
Delightfully smaller rates
Call 1300 725 560
Police take cover in their attempt to storm the heavily defended Kingston bastion of drug lord Christopher Coke.
쎲 KINGSTON
Picture: AP
VIOLENCE
PM blames conspiracy for criminal link claims
Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce
Golding complained today of an
international conspiracy
against him after news reports
suggested US authorities consider him a ‘‘known criminal affiliate’’ of the fugitive drug baron
Christopher ‘‘Dudus’’ Coke.
More than 60 people were
killed after soldiers stormed
Coke’s bastion in the barricaded
slum of Tivoli Gardens in
Kingston in an unsuccessful bid
to arrest him for extradition to
the US to face drug-trafficking
and gun-running charges.
Tivoli Gardens, Jamaica’s
first public housing project, is
in a part of West Kingston represented in parliament by Golding, who long resisted the extradition request for Coke.
Golding faced mounting
questions about his own role
after he was forced to admit two
weeks ago that he hired a US
law firm to help lobby against
the extradition request.
The violence in the Jamaican
capital began on May 17 when
Golding reversed his position
and ordered Coke’s arrest.
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