Residential Building WA

One of the top real estate websites, realestate.com.au, has release their report highlighting the top 10 suburb searches around the country.

While no WA suburbs made the top 10 nationally, there were some interesting results. WA's top 10:

Shenton Park

Nedlands

Mount Hawthorn

Floreat

Bull Creek

Melville

Carine

Peppermint Grove

Booragoon

Leederville

Have any of these surprised you?

Saving some space in your home can be challenging, especially if your family is growing. This list of products attempt to make your life easier, and may give you some creative ideas.

Who hasn't gotten home from IKEA, opened up the box, started to put together the furniture and then realise it's all gone horribly wrong...?

Most of us have gone through that horrifying experience, but we reckon that the 21 people in the following link take the cake.

Check them out here

What's an upside down design? Well traditionally, the living area in a 2 Storey home is on the bottom. By turning the design upside down (you don't really have an upside down house with the roof in the ground!) you can take advantage brilliant views. Especially in Perth. Here's some great views:

Swan River

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Watermans Bay

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Swan River

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Perth Hills

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Swan Valley

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Perth

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Fremantle

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Mandurah

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Yanchep

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And to give you a taste of home that could take advantage of views like this:

There's some media floating around about a report that was released to fuel the rent v buy argument.

The good news for consumers (you!) is that it's now been stated that it's even money when considering the financial outlay.

Well our question is this: Do you want to invest in your own home, or pay off someone else's mortgage?

Your money is exactly that.. Yours. 

The report is here: ABC Article

Have you ever wondered how we get our display homes to look so homely?

At 2Storey, we spend just as much time as planning the build as we do to planning the final touches and interior design.

It’s so important to us that you get an incredible first impression from our display homes. We want you to be able to imagine yourself living in that very home.

To do this, we ensure our interior designers understand how important emotion is to us. If you feel welcome in our display, then we’ve done our job.

If you’d like to see what we mean, visit any of our display homes. All locations and open times can be found here: Display Homes

Via WAToday - Melissa Browne

My dad retired when he was in his early fifties and just before he did he sat my mum down and uttered those words people are never fond of hearing: "We need to talk."

Fortunately for my mother he went on to tell her they owned more investment properties than she was aware of, and were in a far better position financially than she believed them to be. 

While this worked out well for my mum, this is an uncommon situation rather than a regular occurrence. The danger when one partner abdicates responsibility for the finances of a household is they really don’t know what the other one is doing, which can lead to a common case of love-transmitted debt. 

So if you’re part of a couple what can you do to ensure you dodge that trap and have a great basis of financial trust in your relationship? 

1. Understand each other's money beliefs. As a relationship becomes more serious there should be some obvious conversations that naturally occur. These might include living together, children and hopefully finances. By understanding each other’s money beliefs you can work together as a couple to ensure you’re financially secure.

For example, one partner might believe you should never take on debt while another believes you need debt in order to make money. To avoid potential conflict down the track it would be helpful to explore each other’s positions around money to decide if this is a story you want to be part of. 

2. Be transparent. My husband and I have a joint account we contribute to but we also have separate bank accounts. That works for us and I enjoy the independence of not having to explain or justify every shoe purchase. However, we both know each other’s internet banking logins so if we wanted to know how each other was travelling financially or we were concerned there might be some overspending we can easily jump on and take a look. By removing any secrecy around finances you can build trust so you can maintain independence but still be a true partnership. 

3. Understand what you are signing. It’s never OK to be told, “Just sign here and I’ll explain later.” If you are putting your autograph to something you need to understand the financial implications of what you are signing. If it’s a financial language barrier you have with your partner then find an advisor you trust such as an accountant, solicitor or bank manager and run through the documents with them to ensure you understand exactly what it is you’re signing and the benefits to you both. 

4. Talk to each other regularly about your financial goals. Whether it’s monthly, quarterly or annually, make sure you talk about what you want to achieve and how you are going to get there. Your goal might be an overseas holiday, another investment property or contributing more to super but the important thing is to have something to be working together toward. 

5. Set and track a budget. This is perhaps the non-sexy part of being part of a couple. If you’re going to form a partnership then part of that must be deciding together how you’re going to spend your money and what you’re both going to contribute. This is going to mean you’re both going to have to sit down together and talk about money – there’s simply no way around it. There are plenty of simple, free apps to help you do this. 

Often it is one partner that puts up their hand to manage the finances in a relationship, which is fantastic. However, I believe it’s so important for both parties to be open, transparent and willing to talk about finances in order to ensure there is financial trust and love-transmitted debt is avoided. 

We saw some of Perth’s most amazing homes on TV last night, and we’ve all been watching House Rules. Well this got us thinking! It’s not always possible to build the best home, although our designs are pretty good, but it is possible to add the wow factor yourself. Here’s some of the best tips and tricks from around the internet:

What’s your style? If you stick to your theme, it will look incredible

Choosing your style is the start of the process. You will have an idea of what your home should like, but do some research. Have a look at what’s been done in other homes and see if you can take some inspiration. Don’t think you have to reinvent the wheel just to have a lovely looking home. Sometimes the best design can come from inspiration of another space. Just add your tweaks and personal touch! Don’t be afraid to try new things. Current trends can easily be found by doing an internet search.

Pic: http://bit.ly/1nxYizC

Choose your colour palette and stick to it

Ask yourself this. What’s your favourite colour? When you’ve answered that, then ask yourself whether that colour is going to work within your home. Now it’s getting confusing? Well you’re not alone. So many people pick their favourite colour, whack it up on the wall or buy a whole heap of items for decorating. They stand back at the end of the day and think “what have I done!” When choosing a colour palette for a room, or even the entire house, you need to consider the mood you want for the room, and if the colour will tie in with the theme you’re trying to stick to (More on themes below). Use this colour wheel to give you a starting point. Just remember, painting a wall doesn’t finish the job. You want to make the colour work by keeping within the right colour palette with all the little bits and pieces.

Pic: http://bit.ly/1wpVN7X

Light fixtures can add, or take, from the mood of the space

Just like choosing the right colours, light fittings are incredibly important. You don’t want a pretty, pink, grand chandelier within a warehouse theme that includes lots of timber an iron! Think about your theme, and then do your research. Find other spaces that fit your idea, and see what lighting is being used. This will save you time, and money!

Pic: http://bit.ly/1pcGH5Z

The right mirror can make the room feel bigger

Remember this when thinking about installing a mirror: What’s going to be reflected? There’s no point installing a mirror if there’s nothing to be mirrored is there?! I nice piece of art will do the trick. The next point to think about is the size. Get the size of the mirror right and you can open up a whole room.

Pic: http://bit.ly/1l58CfO

Furniture can make all the difference

So you’ve got your style, you’ve figured out the lights and you’ve got the perfect mirror. Now all you need is the furniture that’s going to add the final touch to the space. As we’ve spoken about, you need to keep your theme and colours in mind. You may want to find that statement piece, or you may just want to tie the colour on your wall “pop”. Whatever it is you want your furniture to do, the right piece can do it!

Pics: http://bit.ly/1iAnJTN

1 - You get to “humblebrag” about your bigger home

Pic: http://bzfd.it/1ieyJkk

2 - Because two is more than one

Pic: http://bit.ly/1rZaeBh

3 - You can make a staircase slide

Pic: http://huff.to/1o3GfX5

4 - Well, sunrises are better from the second storey

Pic: http://bit.ly/1jdNPXu

5 - And sunsets

Pic: http://bit.ly/SpWkHM

6 - Everyone likes to look down on the world… kind of

Pic: http://bzfd.it/SGfGZA

7 - This

Pic: http://bit.ly/SGfMjR

8 - Look at the view

Pic: http://bit.ly/SpX7IL

9 - With the extra space, look how big your kitchen can be

Pic: http://bit.ly/1k4dBiS

10 - And your bedroom

Pic: http://bit.ly/1fNvxg0

11 - And create a hidden “man cave”

Pic: http://bit.ly/1oAOJCL

12 - And well because your home will be awesome!

There's been a recent WA Budget change with some negative media relating to the affects toward first homebuyers. 

Fear not! The stamp duty threshold has been lowered for buying established from $500,000 to $430,000. However, there are no stamp duty changes for building your new home. 

Building a new home sees no change, but land tax has been upped by 10%.

What does this mean for you?

Well that's easy! It just means that your choice between building your first home or to buy established becomes easy.

Building wins! It's more beneficial for you.