Open Homes for this Weekend 02/10/2010

Check out these great properties that we have open for inspection this weekend.

15/39 Cootamundra Drive MountainCreek 
11-11.45am 

18 Wandoo Street Minyama 
12-12.45pm

5/5 Tranquil Place Alexandra Headlands
1-1.45pm

My Triathlon Pink Race Day

Sorry for the delay on letting you know how my triathlon went, but the boys here have kept me very busy with all the Sales they have been making.

I was so nervous about competing, even though it was a non competitive triathlon! I didn’t sleep to well and woke up before my alarm – which I suppose is better than waking up late!! I had already packed everything in the car so only needed to get myself ready and get going. I got to Kawana very early and got myself a great parking spot as I didn’t want to be walking a long way back to my car after the race. Unfortunately that also meant that I was waiting around for the race start for what seemed like an eternity. Still better to be over  prepared than under prepared!

We all had to meet at the pool and be briefed on the course layout at 7.20am. We were to start the triathlon in lots of 10, 1 minute apart so no one would be over crowded and kicked. Now this is a fantastic idea, all triathlon races should start like this. I came out of the water with the 5th fastest swim in my age group. I am very pleased with this result having not swum for so many years.

Then it was off to transition, the one thing that I had not practiced. To any one looking to participate in a Tri, I recommend you practice the transition. So off I go on the bike leg. I have decided to ride the mountain bike as I am still not comfortable on the road bike. I do wish that I had not used the mountain bike. Although I felt safe on the bike, my time was not to crash hot due to the wind resistance. My time was the 15th fastest for my group.

Now for the run. This is the leg of the race that I was most worried about. Turns out I didn’t need to worry to much, thanks to all the transition training from bike to run that I did. Yes my legs still felt very heavy but I thought I ran pretty well. My time for the run was 2nd fastest, not bad I think!

All in all I had a great morning. The race was not as hard as I thought it would be and I am now about to start training for another triathlon to be held in November. I can’t wait, and this time my husband may also compete. J

Japanese buy 50% of Hyatt

A LEADING Japanese development company has taken over a residential project at Hyatt Coolum and bought a 50% interest in the resort.
Sekisui House has announced it will take control of the residential project and accelerate the building of 448 new houses, apartments and terraces at Hyatt Coolum.
Lend Lease, the company that originally owned all of Hyatt Coolum, will still have a 50% share in the resort and manage the residential development.
David Hutton, head of development at Lend Lease, said there would be no changes to the operation of the resort or its brand.
The development of a new Hyatt residential community was controversial when it was approved by Maroochydore Shire Council in 2006 and attracted more than 3500 objections.
Under the plan, 448 new dwellings will be built on a 150ha patch of Hyatt land, most of which is near the beach at Coolum.
Sekisui will take control of the land and start design work on individual housing in the coming months.
Mr Hutton expected construction to start by March next year and said there would be no changes to the approved master plan.
The development will include a range of different housing types including freestanding homes, terraces and apartments.
The majority will be low and medium density housing with some areas planned to be high density.
Once the proposed 448 new dwellings are completed, Mr Hutton said there would be an injection of more than 1000 people into Coolum.

Find the full story at Sunshine Coast Daily

Nigerian fraudsters sell a Aussie House

As some of you may have already heard, it looks like the Nigerians scammers have learnt a new trick.
A South African who had two investment properties in Western Australia had his email broken in to, and they managed to capture documents relating to the properties. Then using a combination of email, telephone and fax they sold one property and nearly sold the other and funnelled the money to Chinese bank accounts.
The unfortunate landlord only found out when he was contacted by a neighbour. To stop the second sale, he had to fly to Australia to block the transaction, whilst the first house was sold in June.
REIWA’s Brian Greig has said that the real estate agents involved in the sale did not do anything wrong and followed the correct process. “If they are sophisticated as they seem to be, identity checks will not be enough — they can forge them.”
Since the number of property transactions without any face to face contact is increasing, its very difficult to clamp down on this type of fraud. No one seems to be sure how to stop it which could cause serious problems if this becomes more popular with fraudsters.

Tips to Painting

Painting! I think we have all thought about painting and beleave that it is easy and then half way through realise that it is a time consuming and tedius job!!  Here are some tips that will make painting much easier and quicker and give your rooms a 'proffessional' finish with out the tears.

• Fix all problem walls and ceilings first. Do not paint over cracks and holes.

• Wear old clothes. No matter how hard you try you are bound to get paint on your clothes!

• Prepare walls in your wet areas (kitchen, bathroom and laundry) with low sheen acrylic that has a fungicidal additive. There are now anti mould paints available on the market. 

• Protect your carpet by using 50mm duct tape. Run the tape along the carpet and push the edge that buts up against the wall down with a putty knife to stop any accidents with your paint brush! Have more drop clothes than you think you need and tape them to the floor to stop them from moving around and exposing floor.

• Remove or cover all odd shaped items – door knobs, lights, window locks etc – with kitchen cling wrap to protect them from splatters.

• Always use low tack masking tape. This tape will not ‘pull’ of the paint when you have finished painting. Always remove immediately after you have finished painting.

• Paint the ceiling first. This will make getting into the corners easier and make wall drips less of a problem. You should also wear goggles to stop paint getting into your eyes.

• Use a roller. This will give you a better finish and save you loads of time. You may want to purchase an extension for the roller to get to the ceiling and the top of walls.

• If you are painting stairs, paint every 2nd tread. You can still use the stairs whilst painting.

• You are now able to purchase low odour paints and these are excellent for the use in bedrooms.

Open Homes for this Weekend (11/9/10-12/9/10)

From top left, clockwise - 27 Karumba st, 29 Saleng Cr, 25 The Plams, 30 Wandoo St, 18 Wandoo St, 5/5 Tranquil P

27 Karumba St Warana 11-11.45am Saturday and Sunday
29 Saleng Crescent Warana 12-12.45pm Saturday
25 The Palms, 10 Melody Place Warana 1-1.45pm Saturday and Sunday
30 Wandoo St Minyama 2-2.45pm Saturday
18 Wandoo St Minyama 2-2.45pm Saturday and Sunday
5/5 Tranquil Place Alexandra Headlands 1-1.45pm Saturday and Sunday

Harvey Norman Headland Golf Club Pro-am.,

A big thank-you to all the crew at Headland Golf Club Buderim for putting on yesterdays Pro-Am. What a beautiful day for the event with a good day had by all. Congratulations to the Professional winner Marcus Cain who shot a 67 to win by one stroke. Our Pro that we teamed with Mark Boe (Nzl) didn’t have his best day, but certainly enjoyed his visit to the Sunshine Coast from his new base on the Gold Coast. Good luck with your career Mark I hope you have a long and successful career (even if you are a Kiwi).
Luke and Gary would also like to offer a huge thank-you to Harvey Normans Kawana who were the major sponsors of the day and offered some excellent prizes(including the mini rechargeable speakers I was lucky enough to win) Cheers Guys.
Thanks again, I can’t wait for next years Harvey Norman Headland Golf Club Pro-am.,

The week before..............

Well it is the week before my triathlon and I am really starting to wish I had another 2 weeks of training! I know I can complete all 3 disciplines, its just stringing them together that is my worry. 

Rather than swim training in my normal 25 metre pool at Pelican waters, I thought it was time to upgrade to the actual pool we will be swimming in on the day. So off I went to Kawana Aquatics Centre and did my laps in the 50 metre pool. Ok, I know I’ve been in the pool for the last 2 months BUT 50 metres is such a long way after the 25 metres!! However after 4 or 5 laps, I got used to not having a wall in the middle of the pool and I was ok. I would however like to make a note to the staff allocating lanes for general public lap use – please don’t make it the middle lanes- I was surrounded by kids attending squad training and they can really motor along, I felt like a turtle swimming next to them! So that was my last swim training, all completed and I was quite happy with how I went. I think I might even continue now that I’m used to it.

I will be going for a ride this afternoon followed by a run. I am trying to fit in some hills in my bike training, harder than you think, the Caloundra area of the Sunshine Coast is quite flat. I really struggle with this training due to my nervousness on the bike but I am slowly getting over the nerves. I generally try to ride around 5kms more than the race distance and then follow the bike ride with a 10 -15 minute run to get used to ‘heavy’ leg feeling that you get when you come of the bike (due to your legs filling up with lactic acid).

I will be having my last run training on Friday afternoon and then have a rest day on Saturday to get ready for the big race day this Sunday. It will be a shock to get up early and race as I have done all my training in the afternoons. I know I should have done some in the morning, BUT, I just can’t seem to get out of bed and feel motivated enough to train.

Saturday night will be an early night and packing everything for the race. I didn’t realise that I would need quite so much stuff.. towels, swimmers, socks, sunglasses, hat, shorts, shoes, bike, drink bottle, goggles and more……

Home loan cheat sheet - Interest Only Loans

Many borrowers shy away from interest only home loans, fearing that they’ll never make headway with their mortgage. But the beauty of this product is that you really can get the best of both worlds – provided you know how to work it.

An interest only (IO) loan is one that requires the borrower to repay only the interest charged each period, rather than making repayments towards the principal and interest.
These types of loans are very popular with property investors, but they can be useful to owner/occupiers as well.

IO loan repayments will always be lower than standard principal and interest      (P & I) loan repayments, because you are only obliged to repay the interest component.
For example, if you have an IO loan of $200,000, you will only be required to pay the amount of interest charged each month. If the home loan rate is 7%, this equates to $14,000 per year, or $1,165 per month.
This is far less than what you would be required to pay on a standard principal and interest loan, which our mortgage calculator estimates would be around $1,415 per month. This equates to a saving of $250 each month.

The pros
You can use this freed-up cash to help pay for other living expenses, or to boost your savings so you have a cash buffer to help deal with emergencies.
But here’s the really good news: if the thought of making no progress on your loan makes you anxious, don’t stress. You are free to make extra repayments as often as you like!
You could convert your mortgage to an IO loan and continue to make payments of $1415 per month – even though you only need to pay $1,165.
That’s the main benefit of an interest only loan: your minimum obligation is lower, but you have the flexibility to pay as much or as little off the principal amount as you wish.
This makes IO loans a great option for those who need some financial flexibility. For instance, you may be experiencing a lower income cycle when you have small children and you’re not working.
In a few years time when the kids are at school, and your income improves because you’re once again earning a regular income, you can transfer the loan back to a standard principal and interest product. But in the meantime, you’re under less pressure when making your mortgage repayments each month.

The cons
Interest only loans are primarily aimed at property investors and as such, they are usually only available for terms of up to five years. This is because the bank wants to see you make some headway with your outstanding principal amount eventually, so they put a limit on the interest only timeframe.
At the end of the interest only period your loan will generally revert to a standard principal and interest loan, with repayments calculated over a 25-30 year timeframe.
For those borrowers that are not very disciplined with spending and saving, they may find themselves five years down the road without having made a single payment off their principal. The benefits of having lower mortgage repayments throughout those five years may make it worthwhile, but this will depend on your personal situation.

As always, when making decisions to do with large sums of money, make sure you consult us to discuss your needs. Please feel free to contact Brad Nolan of Eastern Financial Solutions for a free, no obligation review of your finance options on 07 5444 8101.

Kind Regards,
Brad Nolan - Director
Mobile: 0410 574505
E-mail Web 

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