2 hours I won't get back

I have been to these meetings before like around 16 yar ago and 8 yar ago and also today.  When is a person old? It reminds me of the committee at Boca Del Vista, all wearing floral shirts and arguing the ramifications of increasing the cost of scones.  The short history of Retirement Villages (RT) goes back to the 1990s.  These villages were born out of the baby boomers starting to hit retirement age and needing somewhere to downsize.  The contracts at the start offered low priced entry into the village lifestyle scene with the RT company taking a large part of its profit at the end or at the exit from the village. Hence the eight year holding rule whereby the money from the sale of the unit is held for the company's use for eight years after exit and then paid in full.  Most exiting families take a hit in order to receive most of the sale proceeds immediately.  A formula is used to work out an amount perhaps around 10% of the sale price which will be deducted. There are two other cost factors in selling the unit. The costs of refurbishment to an as new updated standard for resale and the costs, capped at 1% of the value, for sales advertising. These are the three amounts to be deducted from the final amount on settlement day.  A rough example would be for the sale of a $500,000 unit subtract $50,000 to compensate for the 8 year rule, subtract another $45,000 to bring the unit back to as new and another $5,000 for advertising. That will leave you with $400,000 in the pocket.

PS If you can be bothered, the two areas to save on these costs are endeavouring to bring the unit to as new with your own labour force and waiting out the 8 years after it is sold.  The less complex for us is to pay those amounts and pocket the rest. The company is generally never happy with outside contractors trying to do stuff to the units on the cheap.  It adds complications to the resale timeline.

These are the guys that bought three Stockland Villages

Cutting thru

We had a meeting with our Sydney Superman today. There are only three things to note, as currently we have

• Low interest rates
• Low unemployment
• Low inflation

Everything else is crap.  These mean the market is up and you should make over 10% on investments which we have done in the previous year.  Not that we had much to do with it as he gets his % to rebalance and reweigh.  He knows his stuff. The government have changed the licensing stakes big time after the banking Royal commission.  According to the Financial Advisers Act 2017, in order to stay in the business you really have to be good at it now and all advisers going forward need a new degree qualification of which he is sitting his fourth 3 hr exam in as many weeks in order to satisfy the finance police.

Retirement Signs

There have been a number of sights out our front windows but this guy just can't help himself. You know you are living in a giant retirement village when the neighbours are flitting around in the golf buggy.  The golf course is right there so when driving around the course why stop at the 19th hole just keep driving home.  I remember on Hamilton Island they issued us with a Golf Buggy because our accomm was a km or two up the hill. Maybe we should get a four wheel drive version for the beach. Carry the gear plus a kayak or two.

The Long Green

Hamilton driving in the pissing rain 2006

The Puzzling Photo

It has been said that the fifth sign of retirement is doing jigsaw puzzles. I beg to differ.  The below photo of the Red Circle was completed some 30 yar ago and was a tad difficult. Also in the recent video of the AT I posted the other day, you may have noticed an open to the public community jigsaw puzzle just sitting in the common room waiting for a passerby to add a piece here or a piece there. It just so happens I did complete a puzzle the other day which was unique in that I took the photo that is it's subject.
There is a measure of control over your own puzzle experience when you are responsible for deciding the content, especially when the cut out frame does not produce sufficiently unique shapes for each piece. The Red Circle was essential in having uniquely shaped puzzle pieces.  The Bay of Silence puzzle had a sand section that I am still not sure is put together correctly, as some pieces seemed to interchange.
This puzzle is another way of reliving our recent Europe trip. There is a black art in selecting the puzzling photo. The detail here was good in three quarters with boats and apartments divided by the bikini girl but more towels or people were needed on the sand.

The Red Circle

Bay of Silence

Stockland Exit Strategies

I went to a seminar cum lecture cum info session on the tricks and traps of exiting a retirement village. Stockland is stretching the definition of the renewal clause into an upgrade clause.  The gist is, to get the unit back to something like new for the incoming lessee, the current lessee's estate must pay that cost of approximately $15000. Only Stockland have been charging $55000.   So the key points are

• Know your contract (eg Government changes post 2006)
• Attempt the renewal yourself or get some quotes before signing the vacant possession release
• Challenge the Stockland cost of works for the renewal
• Keep informed of similar unit values in the same village
• Negotiate the units' resale price and agree on it.

Packed house at Burnside