If you want to buy a home before Christmas, you'd better get your skates on! With the standard 6 week settlement, this weekend is shaping up to huge for auctions with home owners wanting to move in before Christmas. Just as importantly, you really need to have your finance in place because lenders (and brokers) just can't make magic happen overnight. Some banks have [...]
How did it get to be November already? I feel like I've blinked and almost missed 2021. Are you feeling the same? Maybe it's a good time to slow down, take a breath (or 5), and make the most of the rest of the year - because it's about to speed up again. I've just had a weekend away with my husband, without the kids. [...]
To say that I'm thrilled that my business won bronze in Service Business of the Year for the Roar Awards is a massive understatement. 2020 was a huge challenge for all of us. Like many of us, I had to make a decision whether to pull back, reduce everything and go into survival mode to make sure we were OK or take a risk [...]
When you’re buying a home, it’s important that you take into account all the “other” costs so that you don’t have to live on noodles or baked beans (or fresh air) for the first few months . These costs include: stamp duty - talk to your broker about any exemptions or concessions that may be available building and pest inspection - we always recommend [...]
If you’re selling your home, it’s always great to invest a little into styling your home so it presents in its best possible light to potential buyers. The real beauty is that a fresh pair of eyes is looking at your home in the way a buyer would, and they know what they’re usually looking for. But if that’s out of your budget or [...]
We all know that having a plan is a better way to achieve success than just winging it, and this is especially true of a financial plan. Whether you're just starting your career, midway through, or heading towards retirement, it's important to have a well thought-out financial path to follow so you know where you're heading, what you're working towards and the steps needed [...]
Do you have a “fun money” allocation in your budget? In my experience, this is the secret to successful budgeting. Fun money is an amount allocated every month to nothing - or anything - with no accounting for it. You can spend it on whatever your heart desires without guilt or explanation. You can save it for a few months and buy something ridiculously [...]
Buying your first home is hard. Particularly with prices going up faster than we can save! Data from leading property researchers, CoreLogic, have shown that property values have seen their fastest pace of annual growth in the past year since February 2004. If you're not a property owner yet, this stat is pretty scary. So the answer is to find a way to make [...]
When it comes to women who make things happen, Zoe Foster Blake is leading the race right now. She’s an incredibly successful entrepreneur with many strings to her bow, yet she’s never been comfortable with that title. She was a blogger before blogging was a thing, a beauty editor for Harper’s Bazaar and Cosmopolitan, author of fiction, non-fiction and kids books - including Wrong [...]
Renovating your home can be so much fun, but it can also be stressful. From my experience there are three things that are an absolute must: your vision your budget your team You have to know where you want to end up - the look and feel you're going for, the features you love, and the things you want to steer clear of. Be really [...]
