Coincidentally, I met a Greek lady last week who had sold her house in Sydney for "$600k" and, feeling like a millionaire, was buying a bunch of those~$30k houses here to build a rental empire. I asked where the house was in Syd, and she said "North Parramatta".. I told her property taxes are high and vacant houses are often stripped of copper by thieves, but put her onto a property manager that I do HVAC repairs for - who is also Greek! - and they conversed in Greek even though she had pronounced Ozi accent! Her parents came to Durban SA, then Sydney. She wants to now spend summers in Durban + northern summers in Great Lakes.

Coincidentally, I met a Greek lady last week who had sold her house in Sydney for "$600k" and, feeling like a millionaire, was buying a bunch of those~$30k houses here to build a rental empire.

She should read articles like this one before throwing away her money:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-24/aussies-lured-by-dirt-cheap-us-housing/3970128.

Thanks for link, I wouldn't buy overseas properties at all, let alone in cities plagued by corrupt administrative largesse, poverty, and deadbeat welfare tenants. I hear "Middle Class" tenants in better areas also becoming deadbeats!

Took a google look at Nth Parramatta , did visit Sydney in 1960 as a kid and we rode trams to southern shore & boat to Taronga zoo which had rocky terrain and have always thought it was an island! - until I checked the other day!

did visit Sydney in 1960 as a kid and we rode trams

Well, you took those tram trips just in time. They were taken out of service in Feb 1961.

People jammed the trains for the last trips. Many were as drunk as skunks for the occasion. Here's a home movie showing cops having to eject some of the travelers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xyLMs8F60o.

I wouldn't buy overseas properties at all

Wise decision. It's hard enough making good investment choices in one's home market, let alone trying to do it overseas.

Apart from that, there are informed statements such as this about the US real estate market: "One of America's leading economists is Robert Schiller. He has actually said just last week [in 2012] that he believes the real estate market in the United States may stay the way it is for our lifetimes."

That's a hell of a long wait to recoup any sort of investment and investors face the real prospect that their investments will go negative before then, so they'd better not be borrowing the money for such purchases.

I hear "Middle Class" tenants in better areas also becoming deadbeats!

I was watching a TV program here recently which said that in America the middle class is rapidly disappearing. Some have moved into the upper class, but the vast majority of exiters have joined the lower class.

It showed the plight of a number of former middle class people with university degrees who used to have good jobs in the city now tending bars and living off tips -- the basic wage rate for restaurant and bar staff being only $2.13 per hour.

Here's a link to the program. I don't know if can be watched outside of Oz, but there's a transcript as well:

http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2013/s3874510.htm.

I came too late for the old tram system though I am pleased that they are making a comeback and to the slightest extent they have been back on the rails since 1997. It is a shame that the new system is not compatible with the old as bodies of the six last R-class trams to see service still exist, including the one to make the last trip to La Perouse. They are stuck in the Rozelle tram shed (which also still survives) next door to the Harold Park redevelopment. When trying to get a glimpse of the old ones through broken windows of the shed you can hear the bells of the modern Bombardier Variotrams which run between Railway Square and Lilyfield tolling, giving one a feeling that the ghosts of the old trams haunt the soul of the tram watcher.

The photo below is from a visit I made to the Rozelle tramshed in 2011. I wouldn't recommend going now, the whole site is protected by numerous Alsatians - or so the signs say.

I feel lucky enough to have experienced the mighty Red Rattler trains though. Nothing felt better than standing right next to the open doors reading a paper on the way to work or wherever and not falling out. Life wasn't so sterile back then. I am reminded of another 'tram video' where the coupled toast-rack trams that carried huge crowds of people home from work from Elizabeth Street or punters from Royal Randwick Racecourse never stopped to pick up their passengers. The driver would leave the tram on 'one notch' and if you didn't manage to climb on you had to wait for the next tram, only 19 seconds away! Now that is an efficient transport system, even if a few went home with skinned knees.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

The only time I rode trams as a kid was in the CBD when there on a shopping trip with my mother. I can hardly remember them now.

Here's some footage of some working survivors:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRwerKfxYh0.

I rode the red rattlers for many years to and from work. In winter you were lucky to find a carriage with a door that still worked and in summer you were lucky to get near an open door for some air.

The lights used to go on and off with monotonous regularity as the breakers opened and closed due to over-voltage conditions. Bloody lights always seemed to go out when the train entered a tunnel, too.

The driver would leave the tram on 'one notch' and if you didn't manage to climb on you had to wait for the next tram

That reminded me of my father jumping onto the bus when it changed down to first gear on the uphill run outside our house. There was no bus stop there but those old Albion double-deckers with crash gearboxes almost rolled back a few feet between 2nd and 1st providing the opportunity to get on or off from the open platform at the rear. Conductor didn't care a bit.

One thing I can't understand about the US is why wages, particularly in the services sector, are so poor. It wouldn't be like the employers could afford to pay their staff a decent wage.

Things in Australia are usually more expensive and that reflects the high wages people get here though the two nations shouldn't be so different in that area. The minimum wage here is something like $13 or $14 an hour and cabbies probably get the lowest wages overall.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

From the 'Foreign Correspondent' program clip that I linked to:

[REPORTER]: “What would you all say if I told you the minimum wage in Australia is more than $16 and that applies to service workers and if you’re a casual worker so you don’t get paid holidays, it’s more than $20 an hour”.

LIZ: “I would say I’d like to move to Australia”.

One thing I can't understand about the US is why wages, particularly in the services sector, are so poor.

Except in some notable industries such as vehicle manufacturing, trade unions never got a stranglehold on wages and conditions there. Add to that what I call the 'sink or swim' culture of the American upper class that considers any type of social reform to be some type of communism. (And I mean no offence to our American members.)

If you watch the clip you'll see a former money market guy admitting that since his salary dropped to one tenth of what it was he can sympathise somewhat with the plight of those in his situation -- but he considers that as moving slightly to the centre.

It wouldn't be like the employers could afford to pay their staff a decent wage.

In the FC program clip, one bar staff employer says that he does pay above award rates simply to get better people who will stay the distance.

One other thing I remember was the drivers of the old Leyland buses (single and double deckers) leaving the front door open on a scorcher of a day to let more air in. Not possible today with the traction interlocks on all doors.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

One other thing I remember was the drivers of the old Leyland buses (single and double deckers) leaving the front door open on a scorcher of a day to let more air in. Not possible today with the traction interlocks on all doors that lock the park brake on when the doors are open.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

I agree with you Brad, about modern life being so sterile. I always enjoyed riding the older City Rail suburban trains on hot days during our vacations, as I could open the door at the end of the carriage, to let a nice breeze in. The newer trains aren't capable of that anymore. Heck, I don't think they even have windows that you can open?

The buses here are the same. My morning bus is an old 1980s Custom-Coaches rebuilt Scania K92, but it has great character, an awesome sounding diesel engine, and opening windows! The bus that does my afternoon trip is a significantly newer (less than ten years old) Custom Coaches Mercedes or Renault rebuild. It has A/C only (no windows to open), and lacks character, like a lot of the newer "soulless" buses. That, and it scrapes it's rear end on speed bumps and hills!

Chris

Have just been told over the phone by my bank that my commercial loan application for my new workshop space has been given conditional approval, subject to the usual property valuation process.

That alone is very good news, but what has staggered me is that the loans guy managed to get me what are essentially residential loan conditions -- much lower interest rate over a much longer than usual period. This was quite unexpected as I have been cost-modeling on standard commercial loan terms. He said my record of repayments and long association with the bank helped swing this deal.

Am awaiting the letter of offer and then it's go time!

Well it was definitely 1960 that we paused in Sydney for a day on train journey from Portland to Brisbane leaving Vic for good. I can see now why my mother wanted to take in the sights for memories because she worked as a Conductor on buses and/or trams there in WWII. Very fortunate to ride them as I checked the other day and this was their last year! Only have one 'video-clip'-memory on trams and it's a ripper: It was either to or from Bondi I believe, and the tram was on a long straight road with a reasonable but not too steep? decline, the driver let it rip, it was loud and fast! Tram buffs may know the route as I have no idea of Sydney streets.

I think I know the stretch of tram route you remember. My parents moved to live in Bondi Road in about 1948, when I was 14,(gives away my age!) and the tram went through a long cutting to get down to the beach level. There were no stops in the cutting, and I am sure it would be loud.
A few years ago there was a very popular childrens book titled "A Tram to Bondi Beach" illustrated by Julie Vivas. We have two of her original illustrations hanging in our living room and I remember the trams very well.

Harold