This week the team cover off on some suburbs in Hobart that are surprisingly more affordable to buy a property in than to find a rental.
It may be hard to find with the shortage of Listings on the market currently, but if you can find one, it may just be worth jumping on it!

Transcript of 'Suburbs that are More Affordable to Buy In than Rent'

Podcast Episode: Suburbs that are More Affordable to Buy In than Rent

Speakers: Aaron Horne, Patrick Berry & John McGregor

TRT: 26 mins 47 secs

Aaron: The idea of some suburbs that it’s actually cheaper to buy and pay off your mortgage in rather than actually [um] find a rent.

[intro music]  Going once, going twice! Sold… you’re listening to The Property Pod!

Aaron: Alright, guys! Welcome back to The Property Pod, your weekly engagement into the real estate here in the Hobart Marketplace. I’m Aaron Horne, I’m joined at the desk--as always--by Patrick Berry and John McGregor.

[casual greeting sounds]

Aaron: I just want to put it out that they were trying something new there today you won’t hear it in the audio format, but… what we’re trying to do is get our live setup going.

Patrick: Yes, so we’re getting a little bit closer to changing the show up and going live each week which is going to be exciting.

Aaron: Yeah, it’s been a dream for a while. We’ve been trying to sort it out. I’m just trying to nut out this kind of crossing in between people so in the video format. I’m on screen at the moment,, but I’ve just got to work out when you guys are gonna talk and know if I hit the right button.

John: Yeah, it’s not a means that you’re sitting there, just nothing, but pushing the buttons all the time.

Aaron: Well, it feels like I’m playing “Mortal Kombat” or something, where I’m kind of hitting all the buttons and just being like geez, I hope I get a combo--

[everyone laughs]

Aaron: So, it’s pretty interesting, but we’ll get there…we’ll get there [the other two agree] Things are working out all right, I’m just looking up, if you see me looking up, I’m looking up to the skies, to the gods of technology. We have invested in some stuff and we’re trying to move forward with it--I’m pretty excited with this, boys!

John: It really does look cool. It really does look cool. 

Aaron: Yeah, so now, look, it’s the future of The Property Pod, thank you for coming along this far with us and we’ll see how we go moving forward--yeah this is harder than I thought.

[everyone laughs]

Aaron: The idea of talking and hitting the buttons at the same time maybe is a little harder than we anticipated

John: Oh, man! It’s kind of like...[stutters] if ever I’m learning a new song, will be the chords, you know how to play it, and then you trying to sing and then just nothing [stutters] comes to fruition.

Aaron: Yeah, well something will come to fruition, it’ll just be lots of jumps all over the place, but that’s all right, we’ll get into some property stuff. Before we do, though, I just wanted to cover off John McGregor. You were caught in the wild on the weekend.

John: [in exciting voice] Oh yes, yes! So… it was quite… quite funny actually, because normally, I suppose [uh] I remember there was a story my brother Luke had once where he was sitting with [um] Sean Mcauliffe, and of course, Sean, I suppose, has been a celebrity for a long time, so he’s used to people coming up and asking for their photos, but obviously, Luke had just hit the point where people were recognizing him because he was sitting, having a drink or dinner with Sean Mcauliffe and then this person is coming and saying “Oh hey! I’m such a big fan! Can I get a photo?” and so Luke’s gotten ready to [you know] grab the phone, but then, Sean’s got ready for the photo and they’re like “Can you hold my phone, please?” Oh so they’ve got my car left and past the calf to get the phone because they didn’t know who the hell he was

[everyone laughs]

Aaron: Well. I’m not talking about your brother here. [John: No no no] This is a story all about you. This is you’ve been spotted in the wild as property pod.

John: Yeah, I was [uh] I actually had a fan [stutters] of our show come up to us suddenly. That was amazing! She was such a cool chick, too. Yes, I’m a big fan--

Aaron: I’ve actually mentioned her on the podcast before. I don’t know if I’ve told you this story, Pat, but [um] Saturday morning--oh no, Sunday morning! I got this photo. It’s John Mack with [um] a friend of mine and she’s like: “I saw John in the public, I saw him at the park [the other two laugh] I just had to go and tell him how much I love The Property Pod”. But, I said he’ll love that like--[accidentally coughs].

John: And the beauty of going live is we have to deal with things like this--

Aaron: --or the beauty of going live is I’ve never had a glitch [the other two laugh] one time I’ve decided to go for it. No, so Megan [uh] has been a long time listener on the show--big big fan [um] I’ve mentioned her before, she bought a place on pretty road and she did it up and kind of this tiny beautiful quaint little cottage and [yeah, no] so, it’s amazing she loves The Property Pod. She’s other than none, probably number one biggest fan.

Patrick: It’s funny you say that because I was also doing a valuation this week [unintentionally coughs] Now, I’m getting the calls far out [slightly laughs] and when I was doing valuation, the guys actually moved over from Melbourne to be able to help all the valuation load that is down here to try to clear the books for this agency--

John: --because there’s so many properties--

Patrick: --getting going under the contract and so there’s too many valuations that need to be done and we got talking about Simon Presley in the marketplace and the podcast came up and he was like: “Oh what’s its name?” and I told him it’s Property Pod, he’s like I’ve been listening to that in Melbourne for ages and he started referencing different shows where we had John’s brother on and all these different things--

[the other two react]

Patrick: Man, people do actually listen to us talk rubbish

Aaron: Oh yeah, I can get you the stats like yeah, no people listen out there, we’re not just doing this for, but we do say it’s lots of fun but people are listening [everyone laughs] It’s not just our names.

John: [stutters] well, I have to say, you know, thanks--big big thanks for coming to say hello like [uh] because I felt really chuffed you know. It was [it was] a real honor to [um] just [just] say hey, you know, “big fan! Love the work!” [um] and then if your friend was like “oh, you know what’s this about?” and then she’s like--she put onto it and shut her up, so then we ended up with another listener--

Aaron: --now, shoutout to Megan, she’s off to--she’s going to work on a super yacht in the next few weeks so she’s actually leaving the states, so our listenership will [uh] go worldwide, hopefully share it with some people more--

Patrick: --more deeds [slightly laughs]

Aaron: Something like that, yeah--

John: Would you love it though to where [uh] she’s written into her contract to work on the boat [um] at a certain point in the day all that really nice chill music goes out? It has to be broadcast right across the boat for thirty (30) minutes it’s on: we’re listening to the property pod damn it

[everyone laughs]

John: It might happen [the other two agree]

[everyone laughs and Aaron jokes around]

Aaron: Yeah, so I wanted to cover off today [um] the idea of some suburbs that it’s actually cheaper to buy and payoff your mortgage in rather than actually [um] paying the rent

Patrick: That is crazy to even think that it’s cheaper to own a house and pay a mortgage than it is to actually rent a property, like, that’s scary when you think about it 

Aaron: It’s one of the big considerations I had when I was looking into buying my place was kind of like: what is my rent? Where’s my rent money going? And what’s the point in paying kind of money nowhere or paying off someone else’s mortgage.Yeah, we kind of worked out the sums that we were probably paying twenty (20) bucks or something more in mortgage repayments than we would have been in rent. So, that was a big consideration in doing that, but then, yeah, now there’s a few suburbs that are coming through on this report--where [where] do we find this report.

Patrick: Yeah so, [um] a good mate Jarrod has put out this article [um] and he’s actually got the information from one of PRD’s economists, so yeah, it’s been really interesting to  have a read over it. I think CoreLogic and Domain also have put out similar reports as well [Aaron agrees] so it appears that the three major people that dabble in sort of property information have all put similar articles out and it’s just interesting to see which suburbs are more expensive to rent in that they are to actually buy it.

Aaron: Yeah, such an interesting concept.

John: Well, I think where [um] I’ve had this discussion with people in the past stil, you know, the argument for renting  at that time was, well, it’s cheaper to rent than buy [um] and… where the difference would be, well, that’s really useful if you’re, you know, having to move every twelve (12) months, because obviously, moving in and out of the market by paying stamp duty and agents’ fees get exceptionally hard. But, you know, staying in the long term if you’re good, it would be that all right at the time, say you save fifty (50) bucks a week on rent versus buying the house, well then, provided you squeal that money away and do something else with it. You know, it’s, you know [stutters] I could say it’s a better use of your money, but the thing about homeownership is that, obviously, you’re building into that capital over the longest term, so, hopefully, you know, by the time thirty (30) years runs out, you’re not having to pay the ownership costs.

Patrick: Yeah, and if we look at this, like, let’s look at Glenorchy which is obviously the sub--one of the suburbs that we work heavily in. [um] It’s actually seventy-six (76) dollars cheaper per week to live in--to own a house in Glenorchy than it is to actually rent in Glenorchy. Goodwood is sixty-three (63) dollars cheaper, so like, we’re not talking like a couple of dollars here, we’re talking big money. Look at that over the course of a year and you’re in the thousands of dollars that you’re paying as well off a mortgage to a property you wan’t.

Aaron: Yeah yeah, so I guess that’s the crazy thing, that is why there’s so many people out trying to [um] buy at the moment and there’s kind of a, obviously, we’ve had--we ‘ve spoken about [this] the record lowest amount of properties on the market, but is it that kind of rents are at this point where it’s more feasible to be a homeowner, so there’s so many people trying to buy, is that kind of a perfect storm?

Patrick: Yeah, well, it is. And the report, basically, goes on to say that [um] the options for [uh] affordability are shrinking rapidly and you know, if you’re looking for something within a ten (10) kilometer radius of Hobart, you’ve got to act quickly, it’s what the report’s saying, because it’s only going to get worse as time goes on, so [um] I think, that is probably what’s driving a lot of these buyers at the moment--is that they want to get into the market and actually own a property, because they are worried. It makes me think: what am I do--like, how my kids are going? and you know, twenty (20) years later, and what a property price is going to be? Is anyone actually going to be able to buy a property? It’s scary thoughts.

John: Oh, I just happened to switch on the news. It was late last night actually and I wish I could reference what--where they’re getting this information from, but it’s right on your point, Pat, where they said--say, twenty to thirty 20-30 years ago, only ten (10) percent of [um] parents were assisting [um] their children purchasing with the use of the, you know, their equity in their own homes, whereas now that shifted to sixty (60) percent, so, you know, that’s so now like like sixty (60) percent of parents are helping their children provide that initial deposit, because on average, [um] I suppose in Victoria and Sydney, they’re referencing but, you know, Hobart’s moving towards that if we assume ten (10) percent is required [um] you know, they need ninety (90)... you know, eighty (80) to one-hundred (100) grand just to secure that deposit with enough money to purchase the home, so you know, if you get looking to get in early, I mean, there are those that you know work exceptionally hard to do that but obviously, for younger people looking to purchase early, you know, being able to accumulate that much money in only a short period of time is difficult, so it’s not surprising.

Patrick: And I think, [um] one of the other things that the article brought out, which I thought was quite interesting, was that they made a real big point that you may have to start looking in Suburbs that aren’t necessarily at the top of your list, so don’t sort of, you know, turn Suburbs off and say look I’d never live there, because you may not actually have a choice, you may have to accept the fact that you need to start in a less desirable Suburb, live there for a while, sell and upgrade to the next level, right?

John: Yeah, we’ll see and that’s that premise of the rent vesting element, isn’t it? And I’ll often say is that look, your first home never has to be your last home. It’s really only, I suppose, been in the last fifteen (15) to twenty (20) years where you know lending restrictions of [um] I’ll just put, you know, inverted what do you do this? Whatever that is? [Um…]

[Patrick laughs]

John: but we’re, you know, borrowing money…

[Patrick and Aaron reacts and laughs again]

Aaron: For everybody out there in the audio world, [um] John did the inverted comments [John: Inverted comments, that’s it!] in the air. [laughs]

John: Yeah, sorry. Um you know it has been easier to, you know, borrow money essentially [um] and we have got this thought we’re, you know, obviously, we’re, you know, generally speaking, living with their parents um they’ve got a really nice home at this point, and so they want to move out and then have the exact same home that they’ve just moved out for their parents, and it’s just doesn’t have to be the case. It’s like, well, you know, your first home doesn’t have to be you, like, you know, you’re forever home. And I ended up just catching up with [um] Andrew Leggett from Rams just yesterday, because I was thinking about, you know, there’s another unit coming up I thought, No… I might--it sort of impedes me interest so I was just curious mate what sort of, you know, what can we do at the moment [um] and the other when we looked at sort of my borrowing capacity is it--it’s fine because again, I’m just looking for a unit that’s sort of even below the median. It’s just going to be, you know, the idea being cash flow positive property, but I’m not going and trying to stretch myself to the nth degree [um] and it’s again looking in a suburb that you know is just--it’s okay, you know it’s not. I’m not trying to keep up with the Jones’s in that sense.

Aaron: So speaking of the suburbs, like, let’s cross off on this report kind of where--where is it more affordable to kind of purchase home than it is to be paying the rent at the moment?

Patrick: Yeah, so [um] houses and units in Tranmere, Gilston Bay, Glenorchy, Rugby, all topped the affordability charts [uh] Goodwood… Goodwood, Leona Valley, Newtown, Kingston, Bella, even Moonah also made the cut just--

Horn:  --Okay so…

Patrick: So there’s still quite a good amount of suburbs that are still affordable to buy in…

[Aaron agrees]

Patrick: but, this is looking at them versus renting in those suburbs as well.

[Aaron agrees]

Patrick: So, you know, Kingston. You’re paying big money to buy a house in Kingston, you know, six hundred thousand, but you’re also behind big rent to rent there.

[Aaron agrees]

Patrick: So that’s what they’re comparing to, so it’s not necessarily about being a cheap suburb to buy in. It’s a cheap suburb compared to what it costs to rent in that suburb.

Aaron:  Yeah, so as a [uh] potential home buyer out there, would it be recommended to kind of put your alerts on some of those suburbs, so the list that you’ve kind of gone off and say something comes up in this area? I’d like to be notified so that…

Patrick: Yeah, definitely, if it’s somewhere that you want to live in or somewhere that you see value in, you’ve got to have those alerts done, because you’ll never know about it if you don’t, because properties just disappear far too quickly. But, I also think you need to look outside the square, especially our younger listeners out there that are trying to get their first home, you need to accept the fact that Moonah and Leona Valley, Newtown, those desirable suburbs are probably out of your reach these days [um] so, you need to start accepting the fact that you know, maybe, Baghdad, New Norfolk, Dodgers Ferry, Carlton--those Suburbs are a little bit further out, you need to start being on that radar and maybe, you only own them for a couple of years and then you upgrade to something a little bit closer, but you need to start putting alerts on probably those suburbs as well to try find something that’s a little bit cheaper, so you can get a foot in the door.

Aaron: Okay, so you might find a winner in one of these suburbs where it’s currently saying… [Patrick: still affordable]--still affordable! However, your advice might be kind of: spread your net a bit wider?

[Patrick agrees]

Aaron: and try to and find something--

Patrick: Yeah, I think [um] for anyone that’s trying to buy at the moment, [um] you may not get exactly what you want at the moment, but it’s that’s just the way the market is, but I think you’re going to be disappointed if you don’t buy something now and then try to say “I’m gonna give up now it’s too hard”. Wait five years and then try to buy then, because I think it’s going to be even harder to buy something in Hobart and especially Tasmania so…

John: That seems to be anecdotally reflected in the people we’re catching up with, on a, you know, a day-to-day basis at this point um and it’s been--[stutters] it was uncanny we just had one go under contract [uh] on the weekend and the the buyers were lucky that it was actually the first offer that put on the--a property and they got it and I just said…

[Patrick laughs and reacts]

John: --and I just said, guys, don’t tell your friend about this, because they’re going to hate you. [laughs]

 Aaron: Yeah yeah yeah, well yeah, I’ve got some friends that had--they’ve just finally settled on their place. It was kind of fifteen (15) offers down the road and [um] I just couldn’t imagine putting in that many offers and like trying to envision myself in this house.

Patrick: I can’t imagine the time it takes to actually look at that many houses and become emotionally invested in that much property.

[Aaron agrees]

Patrick: Like, I can understand where it’s probably getting to the point where people are just I don’t care, just sign something, and just hope like…

Aaron: Yeah, well, I guess like that’s kind of, as you were saying, what you’re saying about kind of you know, you might have to settle it’s--it’s such a strange concept, because especially when you’re a first time buyer for sure,  if you’re kind of making that first investment into buying a home, yes it might not be your forever home but you still don’t want to be buying a--

John: --there’s something for the sake of buying it! 

Aaron: Yeah yeah, so it’s such an interesting kind of concept. Yeah, so very interesting--moving forward. Yeah.

Patrick: We’ll just have to keep watching this and see what happens.

Aaron: Oh yeah, no, it’s kind of even like what Simon was saying last week is, you know, things could be kind of like this for a few years, so very interesting for you, boys, as agents and kind of the way your job or your profession may be kind of--

John: --[it can] it can pivot overnight, because [um] dad was telling the story, they were sitting in the board of the RIT and there was just a bit of silence, you know, this is several years ago, and then one of them just goes… “W-Who turned the tap off?” and what they were referencing in that moment was in where, all of a sudden, you know, all the activity just came to a screaming halt and then no one, no one was buying.

[Aaron agrees]

John:  [Um] and all of a sudden, all those, you know, large open homes ahead, they just all disappeared in such a short, you know, time frame [um] that’s the thought, well, when people go look when’s the best time to buy and sell is just when you can, you know, like the idea for people trying to time the market, obviously, is for people [much smarter than] much smarter than me, but [um] in the end, [it’s a] it’s a purchase that’s going to last you over the course of your lifetime, not the next five minutes, you know, so [um] where they go? what’s going to happen? well, I don’t know. What do you want to do now? you know, where do you want to be in thirty (30) years? So it’s like for me [um] you know, I guess the sooner you get it, in that sense, hopefully the better it’s going to mean for you over the long term. 

 Patrick: All right 

Aaron:  Yeah cool, excellent.

Patrick: Well, I actually reckon, this is a good spot to segue onto our second article…

Aaron:  Hmmm. I actually didn’t read the second article. I was getting live [uh] area all set up.

Patrick: That’s all right. I can leave this one because it’s going to be a really short one, but I just think it fits really well with how we’ve been talking about [um] you know, maybe buying something a little bit out of your area, making it your own, and then upgrading. 

[Aaron agrees]

Patrick: So, there was a recent article about a lady that bought a house [um] quite dated it [uh] she was quoted at ten thousand dollars to give the front side of the property a facelift and she managed to do it for a thousand bucks.

[John reacts and agrees]

Aaron:  I did read this, this was, [um] they like kind of painted the front of the façade like there’s a brick house…

Patrick: and they’re really simple things, but geez, the end result looks so good and it only cost a thousand bucks and I’m looking at it from my real estate perspective, and I’m thinking you’ve only spent a thousand bucks, but you’ve added twenty, thirty thousand dollars because it now looks nice.

John:  Just yeah the perception value 

Aaron:  So, brought it up to a place where it’s kind of like your instant first reaction, I know you talked John a lot about like removing the “buts”, you know, you’re a batman, but [um] yeah, removing them  buts.

[everyone laughs]

Aaron:  Yeah, I read off this: she got [uh] painted it like a black façade…

Patrick: That’s it! So, she [uh] painted--she bought the painting bolt from Bunnings, so she managed to get a really good deal on the pain,t because instead of buying just your small tins, you bought big ten (10) and twenty (20),  I don’t know how picked that code two ten liter drums or whatever they sell them in.

Aaron:  She just went…

Patrick: Big yeah! She went big to be able to get the…

John:  She went, [stutters] she went big and went home. 

[Aaron agrees]

John:  Was it no--go big or go home, damn it sorry!

[everyone laughs]

Aaron:  Sorry. Sorry, paddy! I broke you, damn it, that nearly worked. 

[Patrick laughs]

Patrick: In addition to that, they painted the window frames, they spruced up the front door, they put a paint at the roof, and then they just did it with a spray gun, that they I think, borrowed from a friend and got a lesson on how to use it [um] but yeah, overall, they were able to take what was a 1970’s basic home and turned it into what looked like quite a modern home. Now, obviously, the article says that they’ve still got lots of work to do inside, but the first impressions from the street just made it look like a completely different house. So I guess if you are looking to try buying something in the market at the moment, you know, try to go in with a bit of an open mind, because there are simple hacks that you can do to really change the look of a place without too much effort. 

John:  Yeah, absolutely. And it’s not just discrediting the element of a [um] you know, the quality that a professional tradesperson is going to bring [um] however, not all of us are in the position to be able to use a trade you know to get the result that we’re looking for so being able to invest that time to learn [um] you know, probably take it took a lot longer than a professional may [uh] but obviously, it still gets the result that they’re could be exceptionally happy with, you know.

[Aaron agrees]

Patrick: And look, this article had another really interesting fact and I love facts and stats and [um] this is what the article went on to say that Bunnings has researched and apparently over 49 percent of Australians are planning to complete more DIY Projects in 2021 that they have in previous years. 

John:  Really? Yeah yeah that’s really cool.

Patrick: I assume that that’s because obviously, travel’s off the card so people have a little bit extra cash so they’re looking to re-invest it back into their own properties.

Aaron:  Oh man I remember when--

Patrick Berry: --you’ve been doing a lot of rounds! [laughs]

Aaron:  Yeah, that’s kind of all I’m doing. I’m actually looking into that [um] we’ve got a granny flat out the back of our place, that kind of  it has been gutter and we’re kind of the plan was to do it up in covert and kind of get it all ready. Actually, the plan was to do it up and my brother who lives in Canada was [um] going to come and stay with us Easter this year but obviously, everything changed about the world and also having a son [uh] time is really not something that I have.

[laughter]

Aaron: So the idea of [um] yeah, doing that is excellent. I would love to do it.

Patrick: Now the idea of getting to Kohl’s to do the groceries is a win [laughs]

Aaron: In daity dirty [laughs]

John:  Well this is a weird segue, but I [um] you know, I was watching this video down the rabbit hole of, you know, video games that you took years to complete [um] and I’m just thinking you know, if you’re doing one of those, you know, where do you find the hundred hours now to sit there and chew on a giant RPG like with you, boys, with kids and everything else you know so [um] you know, when it comes to Renault Projects, obviously, that’s a huge disruption as well, but if I mean I suppose we can’t discredit how fortunate we are to have access to so many video learning, you know, like Youtube or whatever to just learn how to do stuff like it would how much how many times have you jumped on their main in this process just to go how to X.

Aaron: The amount of times that Youtube has come to the rescue on just being like a simple thing where I know like back in the day you would have just done it wrong, had a crack, but just having that safety  net of being like, can I change the toilet myself? Like, do I need to get a plumber to do this? Or like, can I just plum into my own toilet? Yeah, well yep Youtube says you can. I’m gunner.

[everyone laughs]

Patrick: Aaron discovered a car. [laughs]

John:  Yeah yeah yeah. Well, I remember when there was angry, well, I remember when [uh uh] we’re doing the house of Mex Partner and we’re renovating the--doing an ensuite in the bathroom, so we started looking at different tilings,  because her parents had done [um] tiling at their place previously and we thought, okay, we built up. There was some error of, you know, competency I suppose, between all of us but then the complexity of doing those bathrooms with the tiles we chose and all that we’re like there is no hope in hell and with the 1950s old home nothing’s level, nothing’s even, so the idea that we’d even bother trying to attempt that was just, it would have been idiotic because [um] I remember when the trailer came out, he had lasers pointing in all these different directions in the--in the room just to make sure everything could line up [um] and so, but we could certainly do a lot of so much demoing work and painting and other elements to get to that point so then he could come in and go and just get straight to the work and disappear again so, you know, there’s so much prep work that we were able to save ourselves money on so that professionals cold come in there and do like the really hard work that obviously, only a skilled professional can bring.

Aaron: Yeah, I guess just to put a button on this like the article for the Bunnings kind of makeover is really really good; it’s awesome to hit up Youtube and really good to [um] hit those Bunnings Magazines where they say, oh you can change your house like this, yeah however, trained professionals are really good [laughter] and there’s a reason you pay the premium.

[Patrick agrees]

Aaron: I know I saw on the article a few people saying like, oh well, if you equate the amount of hours that they did it’s how much is your time worth, how much is the safety?

Patrick: Yeah. And that’s exactly right like I think the article said it took them something like eight weekends to do it. 

Aaron: Absolutely.

Patrick: That’s, you know, sixteen (16) days--they spent full time just painting. Well, I know that what is that worth to them.

John:  Or the house that you know wherein or example at [um] or my friend’s house in Moonah [um] I think it’s about a five or six thousand dollar job, but it was done in five, you know, four or five days [um] while he was still able to go to work and make money whereas, it would have taken well, no it would hit my friend’s time frame, probably eight weeks to do the job, you know, so [um] you know, in that sense it was worth spending the money 

Patrick: Yeah, 100 percent!

Aaron: Yeah , indeed it’s a really--it’s a hard balance, but there’s a reason there are professionals out there, but there are also things that you can do as you’ve mentioned, demoing and getting it ready will save heaps of time and labor [uh] on that front, so hit up your--I learned to hit up Jackson Cooper plumbing because changing the toilet by myself is not a good idea.

John:  The first time you did, Pat, you guys did [um] own a builder, didn’t you?

Patrick: Yep.

John  Would you do that again?

Patrick: Can’t anymore. You have to have a license; you don’t have to have a lot of yourself.

John:  Okay well, imagine if [um] you didn’t need it and you know you had time over, would you still do that “take that” process?

 Patrick: I think I’m lucky because I know enough people in the industry, so I could do it?...

John:  Theoretically, yeah.

Patrick: Yeah, however if I didn’t have the contacts I have, I probably wouldn’t do it because there is a lot of work involved and Abbey and I spent every weekend there cleaning the side to making sure all the rubbish was removed already or the builders to come back the following week and start again. So, we spent, you know, every weekend for probably six months up there.

John:  Yeah. Wow, okay.

Patrick: So, yeah. I enjoyed the process and it allowed us to be able to, you know, get the house built cheaper. Well, not cheaper, just meant that we were able to put more things in there that you wanted to normally be able to afford to do.

John:  Yeah yeah, that makes sense.

Patrick:  But, yeah, it’s a lot of work for someone to take on board, but unfortunately, due to safety and different insurances and bits and pieces now, owner builder is no longer an option.

John:  Yeah, fair enough.

Aaron: All right crew, I reckon that that is a [uh]--a nice place to finish up! There’s probably another topic there and owner builders and tradesmen, all that stuff there that we can deep dive into another time? Shout out to everybody that’s [uh] watching, hopefully, you didn’t get a headache from...

John:  I do want to make a quick announcement of what the few changes to our office though?

Patrick: No, hit that next week.

John:  Hit that next week? All right!

Aaron: That’s so good…

Patrick: He’s cutting your job. [laughs]

Aaron: I’m cutting you early. My fingers are getting sore from all this switching [laughs] I cannot…

Patrick: We can’t game like we used to, obviously. [laughs]

Aaron: That’s right, I don’t have one-hundred (100) hours. [laughs]

Patrick: All right, boys! We’ll finish it here then. Awesome!

[Aaron agrees]

[everyone laughs]

John:  Two these are words. 

Aaron: All right.

John: Cheers, guys!

Aaron: Thanks, guys!

John: and see you, mate!

Aaron: Yes, see yah!

[EXTRO + Disclaimer]