It might be tempting to think that if a property is being managed by a real estate agent that you can sit back, relax, and assume all is well. It’s not a perfect world. Information may get mislaid, information known by one person may not be passed on when there are staff changes, and as a client your ideas on how the property is managed may also change. Of course, I’m assuming the agent does take notes and does keep a file of your instructions. That assumption could be wrong. At any rate, it might be useful to talk to the agent, and to make sure they take note of what you are saying, because they get things wrong. It might even be a good idea, if possible, to read through the agent’s notes on the property before they start talking to any potential new tenants.
My property is not dual occupancy. The electricity and water supplies each come from a single meter. The units are separate. Each unit has its own kitchen, lounge, and bedrooms. The rented one has its own bathroom. The laundry is shared, with the other unit (ours) having a combined bathroom and laundry. The combined bathroom laundry is inconvenient for all concerned, but within limitations, it works.
At about the time our first tenant was moving out and the new tenant was inspecting the property a new property manager took over. That was bad timing. As the new property manager was showing potential punters through the place she misunderstood the laundry arrangement. She was aware that the laundry was down stairs, but she didn’t have a key to show anyone through it. However, the property manager was telling people there was a laundry with a washing machine. Wrong! This statement was only partly correct.
There certainly was a laundry down stairs, but a washing machine was not provided. The agent should have said something along the lines, there is a laundry downstairs for your own washing machine. The result of this was that the new tenant thought a washing machine was included in the rental and had her own washing machine transported to Canberra. Of course, when the new tenant had taken out the lease and saw the laundry empty it meant she had to organise transporting her machine from Canberra back to the coast. This sets a very poor impression.
The property manager should have been aware of the situation, and a quick check of their notes would have identified the issue before it became a problem. This might seem like a small issue, but it would have inconvenienced the tenant. Perhaps there are just better property managers and poorer managers out there and you just have to be on your guard.
Showing posts with label people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label people. Show all posts
17 January 2011
13 December 2010
Nasty tenant
I had an interesting experience with my first tenant. This was towards the time when she wanted to move out. I believe she was having trouble in her personal life. She didn’t like her job and was possibly feeling homesick, as her parents lived some distance away. She just wanted to get away from the coast. I gather she quit her job, and had given a few weeks notice to her employer, but her visit to the real estate agent may have posed problems. Breaking a lease before the expiry date carries certain penalties, some of which are distinctively nasty.
We received a letter from the real estate agent who was managing the property rental. The letter was to remind us of the policy when a lease is broken. There were a number of things listed, but the penalty that caught my attention related to an existing tenant having to continue to pay rent until a replacement tenant was found.
Our tenant may have been about to get into a tricky situation. When her income dried up after quitting her job she’d be in a dire situation if she had to continue paying rent for a place she was no longer interested in having. Such a situation could last months. Well, at least until another tenant had been found. It wasn’t a well thought out plan. It could have meant she’d be paying rent for the place and not living there.
She should have notified the agent she wanted to quit the lease early and bided her time until someone was ready to move in, and then quit her job. Not the other way around. She should have worked the dates better.
As a compassionate gesture, we offered the use of our unit should it become necessary. We suggested to both our tenant and the real estate office that if someone suitable should be found who wished to move into the property, but if the move-out move-in dates for our old and new tenants didn’t match particularly well then our place could be utilized for a short duration. That of course, meant that we wouldn’t be able to stay there for however long was necessary.
She took up our offer. We asked for some rent for the period; less than half her usual amount. $80 per week seemed fair, and the offer was willingly accepted. A better deal than a motel could offer. Our real estate agent advised against this plan, but we thought it was the right thing to do.
As it happened our real estate agent found a suitable replacement tenant quite quickly. It seems that the rental market is such that nothing is left vacant for very long. However, the timing did not quite match perfectly and our old tenant was pleased we had made our half of the house available to her for a few days. On the last day of the weekend that we’d been staying there our tenant brought in her mattress and bedding. She said she loved her bed, and despite our offer to move into our place and use everything, including our bed, she preferred to use her own mattress. The bed frame was to be moved as part of her shift along with the rest of her stuff. Each to their own, I guess.
Anyway, the real estate agent in finalising the lease had made an appointment to inspect the property. This was the usual end of lease check prior to concluding the tenancy, to confirm the place was in good repair, and was nothing out of the ordinary. The agent considered the property to be in reasonable condition, however, she was concerned about the kitchen bench top. Though the inspection missed the badly repaired window fly screen, and missed the fact that one of the vertical blinds no longer operated on a lounge window. The agent noticed some cuts in the kitchen bench top and took photographs of the damage emailing them to us for comment. The agent didn’t know whether the damage was present before the tenant moved in noting that the marks didn’t seem like normal wear and tear.
This was an old property. There is wear everywhere, and the laminex bench top was slightly scuffed when we bought it. This is normal wear and its condition was noticed prior to purchasing the property, but it was reasonably okay.
After we’d been renting the place for a few months we noticed some changes in the bench top surface. With the occasional visit to address problems you can’t help but look around. We had noticed the bench was looking the worse for wear. The bench top was becoming pitted. Knife marks were showing which indicated the surface was being used as a cutting surface. We had a spare nylon cutting board in our place. When our work was finished we left the cutting board on the bench. This should have been a sufficient hint, but it seems to have gone unheeded.
Some months had passed since the cutting board had been left. And now the real estate agent was inspecting the property and had sent photographs of the damage. The photograph provided by the agent showed that the knife marks had continued to worsen. The cutting board wasn’t being used.
The agent notified the tenant of the situation and that quotations for repair would be sought. We left it to the agent to determine what a reasonable cost split between us and the tenant might be.
A new bench top surface was quoted by a provider at $1400. That seemed a ridiculous amount. The existing kitchen bench and cupboards looked like they were knocked up in a couple of weekends by someone using offcuts. The bench cupboards and drawers were neat and functional but pretty crappy. Spending $1400 would be a waste.
Bunnings sell kitchens for a little over $2000. And you can get some nice used kitchens from ebay for much less than that from people who have upgraded.
One of the repair companies the agent called in to inspect the damage noted that the surface was made of a softer material than should have been fitted to a kitchen bench top. I wasn’t aware laminex came in different hardness ratings. This advice fits with the general condition of the property which is all a little less than perfect. I expect the previous owner would have opted for a cheaper option. It explains why the knife marks were deep. The tenant was still wrong in using the bench top as a cutting board.
A lot of people use bench tops as cutting boards. I’ve seen them doing it. Though, I don’t understand why. Knives can be almost razor sharp. I admit it must be convenient to abuse your bench top like this, but it will surely shorten its life. These people may also be the same ones who use metal implements on Teflon saucepans. You shouldn’t do that either. To me this is like using the bonnet of your car as a surface to mix concrete; the paintwork will be damaged. It’s just something that shouldn’t be done. Even cutting boards get damaged. So why would anyone not use one? Perhaps someone can explain it to me.
From this point relations between us deteriorated rapidly. It’s not that she was a tenant any more. A new tenant had already taken up residence. Our claim that she damaged the bench top was denied, saying the surface was already scratched when she moved in. She plainly believed it wasn’t her fault. She became angry, upset, and then abusive. Her only defence was that the damage already existed, that it wasn’t her. This was in spite of the fact that we’d witnessed the damage worsen under her care.
This dispute and argument took place while she was living in our half of the house that we had made available to her as a favour, as a kindness, and at our inconvenience. She did not seem to appreciate that situation. At one point she telephoned leaving an abusive tirade on our answering machine some of which was unintelligible due the sound distorting due to the intensity of her screaming on the phone line. On hearing the message she was told to pack her things and vacate. We drove to the coast immediately. The two hour drive to ensure she vacated was worth it for our peace of mind.
When we arrived that evening we told her to leave. The dispute continued. She became angry, and threw a punch that fortunately missed its target. From that point her belongings were moved out with less care. She phoned her parents. She screamed abuse. She phoned a friend to help shift her things. She was upset. We were pissed off. The police arrived.
The new tenant said when we spoke to her later, that she was unaware of the commotion. Perhaps she was being tactful. There seemed to be a lot of noise. The police knocked on the door of the unit belonging to the new tenant. This must have been confusing for both of them. She couldn’t help the police and directed them downstairs.
I don’t know who called the police. So, I don’t know the pretext on which they were attending: to check out a disturbance, or to protect a tenant’s rights. She didn’t have any tenancy rights as the lease had expired and a new tenant was already in the unit. To put it mildly, we just wanted an unappreciative ex-tenant out of our property. When the police understood the situation they went on their way leaving their phone number should there be any problems. Eventually, someone called by with a ute, helped her packed her things, and they drove off. We locked up the place and went home. I wondered what the new tenant thought of all this.
When we returned on the following weekend several things had been left behind. An old car battery, a gas bottle, and a large lounge chair were left on the footpath at the front of the house. I didn’t want to pay for disposal of something that was obviously rubbish. The bond wasn’t going to be returned until the rubbish had been cleared. The items eventually disappeared.
We received a letter from the real estate agent who was managing the property rental. The letter was to remind us of the policy when a lease is broken. There were a number of things listed, but the penalty that caught my attention related to an existing tenant having to continue to pay rent until a replacement tenant was found.
Our tenant may have been about to get into a tricky situation. When her income dried up after quitting her job she’d be in a dire situation if she had to continue paying rent for a place she was no longer interested in having. Such a situation could last months. Well, at least until another tenant had been found. It wasn’t a well thought out plan. It could have meant she’d be paying rent for the place and not living there.
She should have notified the agent she wanted to quit the lease early and bided her time until someone was ready to move in, and then quit her job. Not the other way around. She should have worked the dates better.
As a compassionate gesture, we offered the use of our unit should it become necessary. We suggested to both our tenant and the real estate office that if someone suitable should be found who wished to move into the property, but if the move-out move-in dates for our old and new tenants didn’t match particularly well then our place could be utilized for a short duration. That of course, meant that we wouldn’t be able to stay there for however long was necessary.
She took up our offer. We asked for some rent for the period; less than half her usual amount. $80 per week seemed fair, and the offer was willingly accepted. A better deal than a motel could offer. Our real estate agent advised against this plan, but we thought it was the right thing to do.
As it happened our real estate agent found a suitable replacement tenant quite quickly. It seems that the rental market is such that nothing is left vacant for very long. However, the timing did not quite match perfectly and our old tenant was pleased we had made our half of the house available to her for a few days. On the last day of the weekend that we’d been staying there our tenant brought in her mattress and bedding. She said she loved her bed, and despite our offer to move into our place and use everything, including our bed, she preferred to use her own mattress. The bed frame was to be moved as part of her shift along with the rest of her stuff. Each to their own, I guess.
Anyway, the real estate agent in finalising the lease had made an appointment to inspect the property. This was the usual end of lease check prior to concluding the tenancy, to confirm the place was in good repair, and was nothing out of the ordinary. The agent considered the property to be in reasonable condition, however, she was concerned about the kitchen bench top. Though the inspection missed the badly repaired window fly screen, and missed the fact that one of the vertical blinds no longer operated on a lounge window. The agent noticed some cuts in the kitchen bench top and took photographs of the damage emailing them to us for comment. The agent didn’t know whether the damage was present before the tenant moved in noting that the marks didn’t seem like normal wear and tear.
This was an old property. There is wear everywhere, and the laminex bench top was slightly scuffed when we bought it. This is normal wear and its condition was noticed prior to purchasing the property, but it was reasonably okay.
After we’d been renting the place for a few months we noticed some changes in the bench top surface. With the occasional visit to address problems you can’t help but look around. We had noticed the bench was looking the worse for wear. The bench top was becoming pitted. Knife marks were showing which indicated the surface was being used as a cutting surface. We had a spare nylon cutting board in our place. When our work was finished we left the cutting board on the bench. This should have been a sufficient hint, but it seems to have gone unheeded.
Some months had passed since the cutting board had been left. And now the real estate agent was inspecting the property and had sent photographs of the damage. The photograph provided by the agent showed that the knife marks had continued to worsen. The cutting board wasn’t being used.
 |
| The bench top before the property was purchased |
I had hundreds of photographs of the house that I took when the property was on the market. It’s amazing what you forget following an inspection, and a few photos provide a great memory jog. It also allows you to study aspects of the property in detail, which isn’t normally possible in a normal open house. Fortunately, I had taken several photographs of the kitchen which by good luck quite a few happened to include the bench top. You could plainly see some general scuff marks on the surface, but there were no deep knife marks.
 |
| The same section of bench top showing the knife damage |
A new bench top surface was quoted by a provider at $1400. That seemed a ridiculous amount. The existing kitchen bench and cupboards looked like they were knocked up in a couple of weekends by someone using offcuts. The bench cupboards and drawers were neat and functional but pretty crappy. Spending $1400 would be a waste.
Bunnings sell kitchens for a little over $2000. And you can get some nice used kitchens from ebay for much less than that from people who have upgraded.
One of the repair companies the agent called in to inspect the damage noted that the surface was made of a softer material than should have been fitted to a kitchen bench top. I wasn’t aware laminex came in different hardness ratings. This advice fits with the general condition of the property which is all a little less than perfect. I expect the previous owner would have opted for a cheaper option. It explains why the knife marks were deep. The tenant was still wrong in using the bench top as a cutting board.
A lot of people use bench tops as cutting boards. I’ve seen them doing it. Though, I don’t understand why. Knives can be almost razor sharp. I admit it must be convenient to abuse your bench top like this, but it will surely shorten its life. These people may also be the same ones who use metal implements on Teflon saucepans. You shouldn’t do that either. To me this is like using the bonnet of your car as a surface to mix concrete; the paintwork will be damaged. It’s just something that shouldn’t be done. Even cutting boards get damaged. So why would anyone not use one? Perhaps someone can explain it to me.
From this point relations between us deteriorated rapidly. It’s not that she was a tenant any more. A new tenant had already taken up residence. Our claim that she damaged the bench top was denied, saying the surface was already scratched when she moved in. She plainly believed it wasn’t her fault. She became angry, upset, and then abusive. Her only defence was that the damage already existed, that it wasn’t her. This was in spite of the fact that we’d witnessed the damage worsen under her care.
This dispute and argument took place while she was living in our half of the house that we had made available to her as a favour, as a kindness, and at our inconvenience. She did not seem to appreciate that situation. At one point she telephoned leaving an abusive tirade on our answering machine some of which was unintelligible due the sound distorting due to the intensity of her screaming on the phone line. On hearing the message she was told to pack her things and vacate. We drove to the coast immediately. The two hour drive to ensure she vacated was worth it for our peace of mind.
When we arrived that evening we told her to leave. The dispute continued. She became angry, and threw a punch that fortunately missed its target. From that point her belongings were moved out with less care. She phoned her parents. She screamed abuse. She phoned a friend to help shift her things. She was upset. We were pissed off. The police arrived.
The new tenant said when we spoke to her later, that she was unaware of the commotion. Perhaps she was being tactful. There seemed to be a lot of noise. The police knocked on the door of the unit belonging to the new tenant. This must have been confusing for both of them. She couldn’t help the police and directed them downstairs.
I don’t know who called the police. So, I don’t know the pretext on which they were attending: to check out a disturbance, or to protect a tenant’s rights. She didn’t have any tenancy rights as the lease had expired and a new tenant was already in the unit. To put it mildly, we just wanted an unappreciative ex-tenant out of our property. When the police understood the situation they went on their way leaving their phone number should there be any problems. Eventually, someone called by with a ute, helped her packed her things, and they drove off. We locked up the place and went home. I wondered what the new tenant thought of all this.
When we returned on the following weekend several things had been left behind. An old car battery, a gas bottle, and a large lounge chair were left on the footpath at the front of the house. I didn’t want to pay for disposal of something that was obviously rubbish. The bond wasn’t going to be returned until the rubbish had been cleared. The items eventually disappeared.
02 December 2010
The tenant encounters the vertical blinds
The tenant mentioned a problem with the vertical blinds in the lounge. She said one set of vertical blinds wasn’t working. I dropped by to see what was up. This was the second time I had repaired the blinds for the tenant.
Some months ago I spent time straightening one of the mounting brackets. The bracket had been bent down so far that it caused the slats to drag along the floor, and many of the links at the base of the slats had become dislodged. With the slats dragging the ground the pull cord was difficult to operate. We fixed it. Straightening the mounting bracket raised the blinds. With the slats off the floor opening and closing became much easier. It wasn’t perfect, but quite reasonable. We explained that this was an aging property. The aging blinds also required a gentle touch in their operation. She couldn’t have listened.
On this second occasion the mounting bracket was bent so far down that the rail itself seemed to be twisted. I wondered how much pressure could have been applied to bend the steel bracket so much. How could this happen? I removed the bracket and took it to the workshop. With the bracket straightened and refitted I was expecting the problem to be resolved. However, when I attempted to draw the blinds they wouldn’t budge. The pull cord was seized. The cord which swivels the slats was also seized. Nothing worked. I didn’t understand what was going on so I disconnected all the slats and removed the rail entirely and took it away to check it out. I was surprised with what I found. No, I was amazed.
It was interesting to inspect the mechanism of the vertical blinds. To see how the innards of the blinds actually worked. The draw string on the blinds forms a loop arrangement. There are two tiny pullies at one end of the rail, and one pulley at the other end. The cord runs in these pullies and the weight keeps the cord taught.
The cord had been pulled with such force that the rail mounting bracket had bent, the force of which had twisted the rail into a position that caused the cord to dislodge from the pullies. The cord then jammed itself between the pullies and the slat swivel mechanism. One of the pullies had been damaged in the process, and had become chipped. The pulley at the opposite end of the rail which supports the cord had been ripped from its mount. This pulley was missing entirely. I can’t imagine how hard the cord would have had to have been pulled to cause the pulley shaft to rip from its mount. I only hope whoever did this got rope burns in the process, or when the pulley broke with the force of whoever it was that was forcing things gave them a good crack on the head as it twanged across the room.
This damage, in so far as I can tell, effectively destroyed the rail beyond repair. There was no way I could fix this. A quick solution was to remove the cord, which freed up the slat swivel mechanism. There was now no way to draw the blinds, except by hand, by pulling on the slats.
I asked the tenant about the cord weight, which was missing. This is the weight that dangles at the end of the cord to keep the cord firmly located in the pulley mechanism. Apparently it broke. The weight was a plastic assembly incorporating a single pulley for the cord and includes a lump of steel (ie. the weight that’s tucked away inside it). How can a weight break? It probably broke when it hit the floor when the pulley was ripped from its mounting. I asked where it was. Don’t know, was the response. I asked about the missing pulley in a vain hope that it might be able to be refitted. I also asked about it to draw attention to the fact that it was missing. Don’t know, again, was the response. I was pissed off at the lack of care.
We must try not to rent to a young person in the future. You learn by experience.
Some months ago I spent time straightening one of the mounting brackets. The bracket had been bent down so far that it caused the slats to drag along the floor, and many of the links at the base of the slats had become dislodged. With the slats dragging the ground the pull cord was difficult to operate. We fixed it. Straightening the mounting bracket raised the blinds. With the slats off the floor opening and closing became much easier. It wasn’t perfect, but quite reasonable. We explained that this was an aging property. The aging blinds also required a gentle touch in their operation. She couldn’t have listened.
On this second occasion the mounting bracket was bent so far down that the rail itself seemed to be twisted. I wondered how much pressure could have been applied to bend the steel bracket so much. How could this happen? I removed the bracket and took it to the workshop. With the bracket straightened and refitted I was expecting the problem to be resolved. However, when I attempted to draw the blinds they wouldn’t budge. The pull cord was seized. The cord which swivels the slats was also seized. Nothing worked. I didn’t understand what was going on so I disconnected all the slats and removed the rail entirely and took it away to check it out. I was surprised with what I found. No, I was amazed.
It was interesting to inspect the mechanism of the vertical blinds. To see how the innards of the blinds actually worked. The draw string on the blinds forms a loop arrangement. There are two tiny pullies at one end of the rail, and one pulley at the other end. The cord runs in these pullies and the weight keeps the cord taught.
The cord had been pulled with such force that the rail mounting bracket had bent, the force of which had twisted the rail into a position that caused the cord to dislodge from the pullies. The cord then jammed itself between the pullies and the slat swivel mechanism. One of the pullies had been damaged in the process, and had become chipped. The pulley at the opposite end of the rail which supports the cord had been ripped from its mount. This pulley was missing entirely. I can’t imagine how hard the cord would have had to have been pulled to cause the pulley shaft to rip from its mount. I only hope whoever did this got rope burns in the process, or when the pulley broke with the force of whoever it was that was forcing things gave them a good crack on the head as it twanged across the room.
This damage, in so far as I can tell, effectively destroyed the rail beyond repair. There was no way I could fix this. A quick solution was to remove the cord, which freed up the slat swivel mechanism. There was now no way to draw the blinds, except by hand, by pulling on the slats.
I asked the tenant about the cord weight, which was missing. This is the weight that dangles at the end of the cord to keep the cord firmly located in the pulley mechanism. Apparently it broke. The weight was a plastic assembly incorporating a single pulley for the cord and includes a lump of steel (ie. the weight that’s tucked away inside it). How can a weight break? It probably broke when it hit the floor when the pulley was ripped from its mounting. I asked where it was. Don’t know, was the response. I asked about the missing pulley in a vain hope that it might be able to be refitted. I also asked about it to draw attention to the fact that it was missing. Don’t know, again, was the response. I was pissed off at the lack of care.
We must try not to rent to a young person in the future. You learn by experience.
18 November 2010
It's not too much to expect
If you book a room in a motel you don’t go sticking a knife through the window’s insect screen for any reason that might be convenient to you. It doesn’t matter what the reason is; you just don’t do it. If you have a problem you call the manager. Was it because the tenant was some kind of spoilt brat who did whatever she wanted at home and expected the same treatment everywhere else?
It comes down to respect for other people’s property. The place was being rented. That doesn’t entitle the person to treat it like their own or worse. If you hire a car from a rental company and lose some money down a crevice in a seat you don’t have any right to start cutting up the upholstery in search of it. It's the same with property rentals. You don't go cutting things up without asking permission.
It comes down to respect for other people’s property. The place was being rented. That doesn’t entitle the person to treat it like their own or worse. If you hire a car from a rental company and lose some money down a crevice in a seat you don’t have any right to start cutting up the upholstery in search of it. It's the same with property rentals. You don't go cutting things up without asking permission.
10 November 2010
Some curious tenant behaviour
I have to admit being surprised to see the change that had taken place to one of the windows in the unit the tenant was renting. Doing some maintenance around the house I spotted one of the window fly screens had had a piece of screen cut out of it. A neat square had been opened in a lower corner. I didn’t remember seeing such a large hole before when I was checking out the property. Then I realised, with the sliding window opened slightly the cut out would be a spot for the tenant’s cats to walk in and out. It was a cat door.
I wouldn’t have dared doing anything like this to someone else’s property. I couldn’t believe someone would do it to mine. Presumably it would be repaired at the end of the lease. It was a disrespectful thing to do which annoyed me. I might have agreed to it, but I wasn’t asked. That was annoying.
I was surprised a few weeks later when I noticed the same fly screen lying against an outside wall. Why was the tenant removing the flyscreen? Possibly the hole wasn’t as large as it needed to be for the cats to get in and out. Possibly one of the cats had pushed through and dislodged the screen. I don’t know. The screen seemed precarious where it was resting, so I shifted it. While moving it I saw that it was damaged.
It is an aluminium screen, and one of the corners of the frame was bent. It was the sort of damage that might occur had the screen been caught by a wind, flown through the air, and hitting something hard. I felt irritated when I saw the damage. I have to say I don’t exactly recall seeing the condition of the screen when I bought the property, but I have no reason to believe it was anything other than perfect; well to be fair: serviceable. Now it was well on its way to being stuffed.
I wouldn’t have dared doing anything like this to someone else’s property. I couldn’t believe someone would do it to mine. Presumably it would be repaired at the end of the lease. It was a disrespectful thing to do which annoyed me. I might have agreed to it, but I wasn’t asked. That was annoying.
I was surprised a few weeks later when I noticed the same fly screen lying against an outside wall. Why was the tenant removing the flyscreen? Possibly the hole wasn’t as large as it needed to be for the cats to get in and out. Possibly one of the cats had pushed through and dislodged the screen. I don’t know. The screen seemed precarious where it was resting, so I shifted it. While moving it I saw that it was damaged.
It is an aluminium screen, and one of the corners of the frame was bent. It was the sort of damage that might occur had the screen been caught by a wind, flown through the air, and hitting something hard. I felt irritated when I saw the damage. I have to say I don’t exactly recall seeing the condition of the screen when I bought the property, but I have no reason to believe it was anything other than perfect; well to be fair: serviceable. Now it was well on its way to being stuffed.
09 November 2010
Expenses
I was impressed by a local car service workshop I had been going to. I had some trouble with an old car while driving on the highway. The car barely made it home. I found a repairer and the problem was quickly fixed. It struck me that the guy seeing the interstate number plates could have fleeced me, but he didn't. So, I developed a favourable impression of the workshop and staff, and that lasted until recently. It lasted until noises, clunks, and a vibration started coming from the back of the car each time the brakes were applied.
I had taken the car to this workshop based on my previous experience with them. I was genuinely impressed with the place; the guy who ran it seemed genuine too. Well that was until the brakes gave trouble. There were no horrible accidents caused by brake failure, just a horrible bill.
We’d come to Canberra from Melbourne and the car had to have a vehicle roadworthiness inspection prior to being registered in the ACT. It passed the roadworthy without incident, but there was a sound from the rear you could hear when the brakes were applied. My enquiry to the mechanic about the noise was that it was dust and nothing to worry about.
The noise did sound like dust in brake drums, because I know that sound. This car had disks all round. The months passed and the noise got worse. Before the car was taken to a brake specialist there were clunking noises and a noisy scraping sound that reverberated through the whole car. The brake pads had worn down to the extent that there was no pad left on one of the wheels. The noise was the sound of metal on metal, and the wear had been such that one of the callipers was damaged. If the brakes had been inspected property during the roadworthy check the $1000 expense of replacing disks and callipers may not have been required. During such checks, mechanics often check one side of the vehicle during their inspection and assume the other side to be the same. That may have been the problem, but I have to wonder if any brake check was done at all. The mechanic might take offence at that suggestion, but the bottom line is that the noise couldn’t have been dust and they missed picking up the brake problem.
Getting the finance for this property was a bit touch-and-go at one point. The last straw on camel’s back that nearly brought things to a halt was the solicitor’s fee. I was expecting them to bill me, oh, sometime later. No, they wanted their fee included in the settlement cheques. I didn’t really account for that and consequently had to use credit card money to help cover the cheques.
Banks have a killer interest rate on cash advances from credit cards. It’s not that borrowing on the card maxed out the card, but it came close. Then there were other expenses that did max out the card. As a consequence I’m having trouble getting the card’s debt cleared. I’ve had the property for about a year and I still have the credit card debt, and the way banks operate the cash advance interest will remain until all debt on the card has gone. A banking policy of kicking you when you're down; making things hard for you when you can least afford it.
So just when I wanted a steady uninterrupted flow of money to help pay off these debts we were asked by our tenant if we could fit new screen doors to the property. I don't know why we were so soft.
I had taken the car to this workshop based on my previous experience with them. I was genuinely impressed with the place; the guy who ran it seemed genuine too. Well that was until the brakes gave trouble. There were no horrible accidents caused by brake failure, just a horrible bill.
We’d come to Canberra from Melbourne and the car had to have a vehicle roadworthiness inspection prior to being registered in the ACT. It passed the roadworthy without incident, but there was a sound from the rear you could hear when the brakes were applied. My enquiry to the mechanic about the noise was that it was dust and nothing to worry about.
The noise did sound like dust in brake drums, because I know that sound. This car had disks all round. The months passed and the noise got worse. Before the car was taken to a brake specialist there were clunking noises and a noisy scraping sound that reverberated through the whole car. The brake pads had worn down to the extent that there was no pad left on one of the wheels. The noise was the sound of metal on metal, and the wear had been such that one of the callipers was damaged. If the brakes had been inspected property during the roadworthy check the $1000 expense of replacing disks and callipers may not have been required. During such checks, mechanics often check one side of the vehicle during their inspection and assume the other side to be the same. That may have been the problem, but I have to wonder if any brake check was done at all. The mechanic might take offence at that suggestion, but the bottom line is that the noise couldn’t have been dust and they missed picking up the brake problem.
Getting the finance for this property was a bit touch-and-go at one point. The last straw on camel’s back that nearly brought things to a halt was the solicitor’s fee. I was expecting them to bill me, oh, sometime later. No, they wanted their fee included in the settlement cheques. I didn’t really account for that and consequently had to use credit card money to help cover the cheques.
Banks have a killer interest rate on cash advances from credit cards. It’s not that borrowing on the card maxed out the card, but it came close. Then there were other expenses that did max out the card. As a consequence I’m having trouble getting the card’s debt cleared. I’ve had the property for about a year and I still have the credit card debt, and the way banks operate the cash advance interest will remain until all debt on the card has gone. A banking policy of kicking you when you're down; making things hard for you when you can least afford it.
So just when I wanted a steady uninterrupted flow of money to help pay off these debts we were asked by our tenant if we could fit new screen doors to the property. I don't know why we were so soft.
04 November 2010
Should you bother with what the tenant says?
Well, of course you should. But you shouldn't let their requests get in the way of your own priorities in life.
The last thing anyone needs immediately after settlement is bills. Some effort and money was invested in cleaning the place. We repaired a few things around the house that needed doing, and replaced the existing lampshades in the unit. To improve presentation prior to renting. There had never been a need for a letterbox by the previous owners, but one was required now before we could rent. Things were generally done economically. We were looking forward to getting a tenant into the place.
The property was advertised and a tenant was found remarkable quickly. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly it was taken. The agent was considering several applicants and gave it to a young woman who had a few pet cats.
Very soon after our new tenant took up residence she came to us with a request. She was concerned the unit would get hot and uncomfortable for her cats if they were locked up all day with the doors shut. The house had two sliding glass doors along with two sliding aluminium screen doors. They were security doors but not as tough as some products on the market, and of course the fly screen was nylon. Not the most durable thing when cats start scraping at the door. She was concerned the screen doors would not offer sufficient security if the main doors were left open. Could she please have security screen doors fitted?
As it happened she knew someone, a friend, or a friend of a friend, who was in the business of making and fitting security screen doors. He could do a deal because of her relationship with him and the price would be good. And he would fit a new screen door to our downstairs unit at the same discounted price.
We briefly explained our financial situation, which I doubt interested her. Basically, we were saying we couldn’t afford this. Stainless steel mesh insect screen doors are relatively expensive. She volunteered to pay for the doors herself. She must have said that without thinking, and possibly bit her tongue afterward. At least it indicated the strength of her bank account. We agreed to have the doors fitted, but only if she purchased them and we undertook to make regular repayments to her each fortnight. I find that arrangement so bizarre: she was to pay us rent for living in the property, we were to pay her for screen doors.
Anyway, we had three aluminium and stainless steel screen doors fitted to the house. I had seen these things advertised for some time. They have an aluminium frame with stainless steel mesh. The screens give the impression of having the door open which of course allows more of the view to be seen. In hindsight we should have said something along the lines: no, put up with things as they are or move out.
Experiences like these make you hard. Particularly when unexpected car repair bills hit. There were a few other expenses too. Clearing the debt was tougher than expected.
The last thing anyone needs immediately after settlement is bills. Some effort and money was invested in cleaning the place. We repaired a few things around the house that needed doing, and replaced the existing lampshades in the unit. To improve presentation prior to renting. There had never been a need for a letterbox by the previous owners, but one was required now before we could rent. Things were generally done economically. We were looking forward to getting a tenant into the place.
The property was advertised and a tenant was found remarkable quickly. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly it was taken. The agent was considering several applicants and gave it to a young woman who had a few pet cats.
Very soon after our new tenant took up residence she came to us with a request. She was concerned the unit would get hot and uncomfortable for her cats if they were locked up all day with the doors shut. The house had two sliding glass doors along with two sliding aluminium screen doors. They were security doors but not as tough as some products on the market, and of course the fly screen was nylon. Not the most durable thing when cats start scraping at the door. She was concerned the screen doors would not offer sufficient security if the main doors were left open. Could she please have security screen doors fitted?
As it happened she knew someone, a friend, or a friend of a friend, who was in the business of making and fitting security screen doors. He could do a deal because of her relationship with him and the price would be good. And he would fit a new screen door to our downstairs unit at the same discounted price.
We briefly explained our financial situation, which I doubt interested her. Basically, we were saying we couldn’t afford this. Stainless steel mesh insect screen doors are relatively expensive. She volunteered to pay for the doors herself. She must have said that without thinking, and possibly bit her tongue afterward. At least it indicated the strength of her bank account. We agreed to have the doors fitted, but only if she purchased them and we undertook to make regular repayments to her each fortnight. I find that arrangement so bizarre: she was to pay us rent for living in the property, we were to pay her for screen doors.
Anyway, we had three aluminium and stainless steel screen doors fitted to the house. I had seen these things advertised for some time. They have an aluminium frame with stainless steel mesh. The screens give the impression of having the door open which of course allows more of the view to be seen. In hindsight we should have said something along the lines: no, put up with things as they are or move out.
Experiences like these make you hard. Particularly when unexpected car repair bills hit. There were a few other expenses too. Clearing the debt was tougher than expected.
02 November 2010
Looking for a tenant
The real estate agent was surprised when we said pets were okay. Most rental properties don’t allow tenants to have pets. The agent said allowing pets would open up the market for us.
The property has polished floor boards. So there are no problems if are any little ‘accidents’ occur. No carpets to worry about. Anyway, the floor lost its highly polished surface many years ago and is looking a bit scuffed. So, the odd scratch that appears on the floor will blend with the existing marks.
Within a very short time someone was interested in renting. Actually, a few people were interested. We left the decision to the agent. A young woman took the place. She had a few pet cats for company, and seemed happy in her new home.
The property has polished floor boards. So there are no problems if are any little ‘accidents’ occur. No carpets to worry about. Anyway, the floor lost its highly polished surface many years ago and is looking a bit scuffed. So, the odd scratch that appears on the floor will blend with the existing marks.
Within a very short time someone was interested in renting. Actually, a few people were interested. We left the decision to the agent. A young woman took the place. She had a few pet cats for company, and seemed happy in her new home.
20 October 2010
Is it safe?
What is it about people with their disregard for the dangers of electricity? A lot of people like to dabble with their home electrical systems. It can save you money, and if you are competent why not. But if you don’t know what you are doing – do yourself a favour and and leave it alone!
There could be a whole variety of problems that might cause what's happening in this picture. The heater itself could have a problem, perhaps the power outlet has been damaged, or the insulation at the plug might have been damaged. It is images like this that were on my mind and led me to change the fuses in my new property.
My new property is an older building and the house wiring uses fuses in the meter box rather than circuit breakers. I bought some fuse wire and set about replacing all the power and lighting fuses. Everything was working okay before I started. I just wanted new fuse wire in each fuse. It’s not as odd as it seems.
If you overload the wiring in a correctly wired and correctly fused circuit the fuse will blow. That's what's meant to happen. The fuse blows before any damage is caused. But if fuse wire has been replaced with something else you are removing a safety device, and run the risk of starting a fire. The example in the picture would be easy to see and smell, but if the fire starts in a wall cavity or in the ceiling you are unlikely to know about it until the blaze is well alight.
I was checking the fuses because of previous experiences. I bought a house in Tasmania many years ago, and just out of curiosity I had a look at the meter box and all the fuses. There was a huge piece of copper wire in one of the fuses. (Huge: think power cable.) It was plainly dangerous. From that day onward I never trust what other people put into their fuses. When I bought my next house in Canberra I made the same check, and you guessed it, one of the fuses had a piece of copper wire installed. It was a thin piece of wire, but it wasn’t fuse wire. So, it’s no good.
I left the card of fuse wire in the meter box for the tenants should they need to replace one on their own. Now that I’m about to rent the property, maybe I should replace all the fuses as a matter of course after each tenant moves out to make sure the correct rating have been fitted.
Don't adopt a "She'll be right" attitude, and forget about it. Check it. Fix it. Make it safe. If you don't trust yourself, call an electrician. It'll be money well spent.
There could be a whole variety of problems that might cause what's happening in this picture. The heater itself could have a problem, perhaps the power outlet has been damaged, or the insulation at the plug might have been damaged. It is images like this that were on my mind and led me to change the fuses in my new property.
My new property is an older building and the house wiring uses fuses in the meter box rather than circuit breakers. I bought some fuse wire and set about replacing all the power and lighting fuses. Everything was working okay before I started. I just wanted new fuse wire in each fuse. It’s not as odd as it seems.
The fuse wire in most of the fuses seemed okay. The occasional one was discoloured, which is perfectly fine. But if got so hot to cause a discolouration you have to wonder what was going on. They all got replaced because I had no way of telling for sure that the correct rating fuse wire had been fitted to each fuse. Fuse wire for lights is thinner than that used for the power system. The thickness can give an indication, but you don’t know for sure what’s in there. So, I replaced the lot. Except for the stove and main fuse which generally never blow and ordinary usage wouldn’t affect them. The only way to be sure of what’s fitted is to replace the fuses with new, correctly rated, fuse wire.
One fuse caught my eye. The fuse wire on one had been replaced with copper wire. How did I know it was copper wire? Because it was very flexible and comprised multiple fine strands twisted together like you would find after stripping the insulation from a piece of speaker wire. What idiot would do such a thing? I don’t know but I suspect it happens a lot.
One fuse caught my eye. The fuse wire on one had been replaced with copper wire. How did I know it was copper wire? Because it was very flexible and comprised multiple fine strands twisted together like you would find after stripping the insulation from a piece of speaker wire. What idiot would do such a thing? I don’t know but I suspect it happens a lot.
If you overload the wiring in a correctly wired and correctly fused circuit the fuse will blow. That's what's meant to happen. The fuse blows before any damage is caused. But if fuse wire has been replaced with something else you are removing a safety device, and run the risk of starting a fire. The example in the picture would be easy to see and smell, but if the fire starts in a wall cavity or in the ceiling you are unlikely to know about it until the blaze is well alight.
I was checking the fuses because of previous experiences. I bought a house in Tasmania many years ago, and just out of curiosity I had a look at the meter box and all the fuses. There was a huge piece of copper wire in one of the fuses. (Huge: think power cable.) It was plainly dangerous. From that day onward I never trust what other people put into their fuses. When I bought my next house in Canberra I made the same check, and you guessed it, one of the fuses had a piece of copper wire installed. It was a thin piece of wire, but it wasn’t fuse wire. So, it’s no good.
I can just imagine the scenario. Someone loaded up the circuit in the house with too many appliances, or some electrical gadget developed a problem and the fuse blew. And the power went off. This would have happened in the dead of night, or on a Sunday or public holiday when the shops were closed and there was no fuse wire to be found anywhere, and there was a house full of guests. So, what did the numskull do? Grabbed the first bit of scrap copper wire they could lay their hands on and stuff it in the fuse, and think it’s fixed. Wrong! No doubt done with the intention of replacing it next time they went to the shops, but that never happened, because they forgot.
With this experience, I can understand why replacing fuses was considered the work of a qualified electrician. Doing it with the incorrectly rated fuse wire (or with copper wire) can cause a fire. Replacing fuses is also kind of tricky. The ceramic fuse blocks can sometimes be very difficult to get out. Sometimes you have a fight on your hands to pull them out, as they can be difficult grab hold of. They can stick like someone used Loctite, or Araldite, or something to glue them in place. There is also the constant danger of inadvertently touching one of the electrical contacts during the process. Yes, I know, there are switches to shut off the power, but who’s to say the electrician wired the house correctly. Trust nothing. You should even check that the light and power fuses actually go to light and power. Like I said, trust nothing.
I left the card of fuse wire in the meter box for the tenants should they need to replace one on their own. Now that I’m about to rent the property, maybe I should replace all the fuses as a matter of course after each tenant moves out to make sure the correct rating have been fitted.
Don't adopt a "She'll be right" attitude, and forget about it. Check it. Fix it. Make it safe. If you don't trust yourself, call an electrician. It'll be money well spent.
29 September 2010
A bizarre conversation with my solicitor
Things begin to fall into place. Finance was approved. The real estate agent had the deposit and contracts were exchanged. A settlement date was set. I’ve always been so curious about the process involved in settlement, and at some stage would like to be present when it takes place.
Though, probably a brightly lit office tended by clerks and junior legal staff manage one settlement after the other, and the coffee stained table is strewn with snack wrappers. It would have to be this way given the lack of care some conveyancers and solicitors demonstrate.
I imagine a darkish, sombre room. The room might be wall-panelled, perhaps a glassed book case stands against a wall, a mahogany table dominates the room, everything reeking of conservatism and money; perhaps it would be the office of a bank. On opposite sides of the table the solicitors or conveyancers are seated, representing me and the vendor. The real estate agent might be present, and perhaps a couple of bankers representing the financial organisations. The very stern solicitors would study the contract of sale, check the sale price, ensure the cheques were just so, and then various documents would be slid across the table.
Though, probably a brightly lit office tended by clerks and junior legal staff manage one settlement after the other, and the coffee stained table is strewn with snack wrappers. It would have to be this way given the lack of care some conveyancers and solicitors demonstrate.
I was curious about this particular settlement, given that it was almost 200km distant from Canberra. I wondered that one or other of the legal teams would travel to the other city, or meet somewhere between the two locations. Neither of these options were considered, when I enquired. My solicitor would contract someone to act on his behalf, or if no one could be found, the vendor’s solicitor would be asked to handle everything. Did I mishear something: the vendor’s solicitor would do everything. Sounds like a potential conflict of interests. It’s done all the time, he said.
28 September 2010
My job
The one thing I didn’t mention to my lender was my employment situation. Well, not in as much detail as I could have done. I answered all the questions that were put to me in the application form. I answered completely and truthfully. However, there were certain things happening in my life that the form didn’t ask. So I didn’t tell them.
I had been in the same job for about 4 years. I expect lending institutions like to know that you are in a steady job. It helps keep the repayments coming. The application form asked questions about my employment history and I responded with exact dates and salary. They asked about my personal finances and I responded accurately and completely.
What they didn’t know was that the company I worked for was in the middle of a restructure. This restructure had been on the go for some time, and my job had been targeted as one that had to go. I had managed to procure an alternative job; I then sought permission to quit my current job early, and start the new job the day after the old one finished; which was nice. My separation package made up a substantial proportion of the deposit for the property I wanted to buy. So, redundancy was a good thing for me. Though I have to say, I did enjoy the job very much, I knew it well and did it well, and I knew I was going to miss it. That’s life I guess. Apart from my annoyance with my employer of what was going on, because I thought management were making some bad decisions, the payout was going to help buy me a property. So, to some extent, I have to thank them for providing the means of purchasing my second property. It wouldn’t have been possible without the separation package.
Restructure: that’s a term more and more people are becoming familiar with. I’ve met with restructure experiences more times than I would have preferred. This restructure was an on- and off- and on-again experience that was really pissing me off. More than a year previously there had been a staff announcement about an intended restructure. Jobs were to go. Then notice came that my job was safe; it wasn’t going to be targeted. The restructure wouldn’t affect me. Then about six months or so later it was on again and my job was to go. Then once again they changed their mind; my job was safe. Then there was a new development and my job was to go, and it was definite this time.
It makes it difficult to plan your life when the crowd you work for can’t make a decision and stick to it. It makes you wonder about the calibre of the management. I was determined not to let their sloppiness upset my life. Though, their decision had upset my life. There is no getting away from that.
I used to live in Melbourne. I left Victoria, selling my house to move to the ACT and a new job. This job. And here I was being retrenched from it. Yes, I felt put out. My house in Melbourne didn’t sell for as much as I would have liked, the new house was purchased in Canberra for more money than I would cared to have parted with, and it was a smaller house than my Melbourne place.
Anyway, the new job had a better salary, which always helps, but the job was only a six months contract, with the possibility that it would be made ongoing. My intended lender didn’t ask me if I had plans of quitting my current job, or if I was considering changing jobs, or whether the new job was in a more or less stable environment. They didn’t ask. So, I didn’t tell them. Well, why would they? They would have had no idea. They probably assume people wouldn’t be asking for a loan unless you have a job that enables you to make the repayments.
I felt relatively sure I would keep the new job. I didn’t want to jeopardise my chances of not being approved for the loan. So, I didn’t say a word.
I suppose at some point the lender could have contacted my employer to check me out. Perhaps they did. Wary of not being approved for the loan, I kept quiet about it. Each time I received an email or phone call from the lender I felt on edge. I was always expecting a question on my employment situation that would have given the game away. Fortunately, it never happened.
I had been in the same job for about 4 years. I expect lending institutions like to know that you are in a steady job. It helps keep the repayments coming. The application form asked questions about my employment history and I responded with exact dates and salary. They asked about my personal finances and I responded accurately and completely.
What they didn’t know was that the company I worked for was in the middle of a restructure. This restructure had been on the go for some time, and my job had been targeted as one that had to go. I had managed to procure an alternative job; I then sought permission to quit my current job early, and start the new job the day after the old one finished; which was nice. My separation package made up a substantial proportion of the deposit for the property I wanted to buy. So, redundancy was a good thing for me. Though I have to say, I did enjoy the job very much, I knew it well and did it well, and I knew I was going to miss it. That’s life I guess. Apart from my annoyance with my employer of what was going on, because I thought management were making some bad decisions, the payout was going to help buy me a property. So, to some extent, I have to thank them for providing the means of purchasing my second property. It wouldn’t have been possible without the separation package.
Restructure: that’s a term more and more people are becoming familiar with. I’ve met with restructure experiences more times than I would have preferred. This restructure was an on- and off- and on-again experience that was really pissing me off. More than a year previously there had been a staff announcement about an intended restructure. Jobs were to go. Then notice came that my job was safe; it wasn’t going to be targeted. The restructure wouldn’t affect me. Then about six months or so later it was on again and my job was to go. Then once again they changed their mind; my job was safe. Then there was a new development and my job was to go, and it was definite this time.
It makes it difficult to plan your life when the crowd you work for can’t make a decision and stick to it. It makes you wonder about the calibre of the management. I was determined not to let their sloppiness upset my life. Though, their decision had upset my life. There is no getting away from that.
I used to live in Melbourne. I left Victoria, selling my house to move to the ACT and a new job. This job. And here I was being retrenched from it. Yes, I felt put out. My house in Melbourne didn’t sell for as much as I would have liked, the new house was purchased in Canberra for more money than I would cared to have parted with, and it was a smaller house than my Melbourne place.
Anyway, the new job had a better salary, which always helps, but the job was only a six months contract, with the possibility that it would be made ongoing. My intended lender didn’t ask me if I had plans of quitting my current job, or if I was considering changing jobs, or whether the new job was in a more or less stable environment. They didn’t ask. So, I didn’t tell them. Well, why would they? They would have had no idea. They probably assume people wouldn’t be asking for a loan unless you have a job that enables you to make the repayments.
I felt relatively sure I would keep the new job. I didn’t want to jeopardise my chances of not being approved for the loan. So, I didn’t say a word.
I suppose at some point the lender could have contacted my employer to check me out. Perhaps they did. Wary of not being approved for the loan, I kept quiet about it. Each time I received an email or phone call from the lender I felt on edge. I was always expecting a question on my employment situation that would have given the game away. Fortunately, it never happened.
20 September 2010
Westpac stuffs up
My funds to cover the deposit were held in two accounts. A Westpac savings account had the payout from my previous employer. I had just changed jobs while in the middle of a real estate deal. The money was from the termination payout. The remainder of the deposit was held in an offset account linked to my existing home loan, which had a cheque account facility. I wanted to write a cheque, but there were insufficient funds in the cheque account to cover the deposit. It was about $10,000 short. So, I needed to transfer some money to make up the difference. That shouldn't be too difficult. Surely.
That evening after work I rang Westpac telephone banking. I explained that I wanted to transfer some funds, mentioning that I wanted the funds transferred quickly. The person on the phone said there would be no trouble in transferring the funds, but advised that it might take a few days, and added that if I wanted to transfer the money quickly it would be best to visit a branch and speak to a teller. This person emphasized that the process would be much quicker through a teller at a branch of the bank. So, a visit to the bank was required. I thanked him, and made that my first priority in the morning. I was up early and waiting at the front door of my local bank branch at opening time.
There was plenty of money in the Westpac account. I asked for $10,000 to be transferred, and I provided the account details. How long would it take, I asked. Usually overnight, the teller said, but she explained that as the funds were to be transferred to another bank, they couldn’t tell me exactly how long it might take, but probably the day after next. This was remarkably similar to what I had been told by the online banking person on the previous evening. And I mentioned my recent experience of the evening before. The young teller I was speaking to admitted to being inexperienced and sought advice from her supervisor, who turned out to be a nasty piece of work.
I explained my request and passed on the advice I received from Westpac telephone banking. That’s wrong, the supervisor said, it is much faster for telephone banking to have done it for you. She added that telephone banking is always saying that. And they’re wrong, she snapped at me. She then directed me to a telephone in the corner of the bank that I could use to contact their telephone banking service if I wished.
I wonder if there was no phone in the corner of the bank and had the closest public telephone been down the street somewhere whether she would have directed me to the pubic telephone box.
I was in a bank and a supposedly experienced banking officer was offering the use of telephone banking services when there was a teller sitting across the counter from me. I found this experience bizarre. I didn’t know what to say. The stupidity was bewildering, but what really offended me was the aggressive and offhand manner of this person. This was a Westpac experience; I’d like people to know that. I suspect the funds would be transferred equally fast or slowly by either method. I declined the use of their telephone and asked the teller to continue with the transfer. I was getting fed up.
With the funds now on their way to my cheque account I wrote the cheque for the property deposit and took it to my solicitor explaining what I had done, and asked him to hold it for a while. This was on a Tuesday. The solicitor agreed not to post the cheque and contract until Friday, which would be more than ample time for my funds to be transferred and cover the cheque.
On the weekend I saw the $10,000 appear in my account. The cogs in the financial machinery were turning. The funds took longer than expected to be transferred but the money was in my account. The cheque was covered. The transfer took about four days rather than the estimated two that Westpac advised. I doubted the mail service would be very fast in getting mail to a regional area meaning the cheque wouldn’t have reached the real estate office before Tuesday. Everything was working out. Wrong!
I got a call from the real estate agent early in the week to say the cheque had been dishonoured. I apologised and said I couldn’t understand why that would have occurred saying I would look into it. I was panicked.
How could this be? Had I made a mistake? Had I misread my account statement? I was beginning to doubt myself. I felt a sinking feeling as various possibilities for what went wrong began circling my mind. I skipped work and went home where I could try and come to grips with this.
At home I checked my account again. The $10,000 was definitely there. The account total balance had gone up. The total balance was greater than the cheque I had written. No home loan payments had taken place. But a new entry had appeared: a $40 dishonour fee. How could this be?
I rang both financial institutions. Neither of them helped. Though, in speaking to some informed staff from both I got to the bottom of it. The cheque had been dishonoured because the $10,000 was forwarded with a note from Westpac instructing that a 7 day hold be placed on the release of the funds, which caused my cheque to bounce. The $10,000 had been transferred as though it had been a cheque, in which a certain time has to pass before access to the funds was allowed. The staff where my cheque account was held, very reasonably asked if the $10,000 was a cheque deposit. I said no, and they couldn’t understand why this request was made.
The staff at the Westpac telephone banking were helpful and courteous, and in particular a woman I spoke to. She was a supervisor at telephone banking. She confirmed that the funds had been transferred as though it had been a cheque. She could see from my account that the money was available and should have been transferred without a hold. She could not explain what had happened. To her credit, she deposited into my account $40 in lieu of the dishonour fee that I was penalised by the other financial institution. This was nice, but it didn’t help me pay the deposit.
The real estate agent needed the deposit without delay. Ironically, I was advised that if the cheque were to be presented again on the next business day it would have been okay. Had the real estate agent not have been so quick off the mark to bank the cheque the funds would have been available. But the agent couldn’t present the cheque again as it was still in the hands of the bank and wouldn’t be returned for a week or so. Another urgent visit to the bank was required.
I rang the real estate agent and explained what had happened. Though I doubt they would have had much interest, and may have been wondering if I were some sort of charlatan. I asked for my cheque to be returned when they got it, and requested their bank account details and made a cash deposit. It was a different bank but fortunately only a short walk from my own. My pockets were stuffed with two envelopes bulging with $100 notes to cover the $30,000 deposit. It’s surprising how much space money occupies. I was a target waiting to be robbed. Fortunately, within a short time the deposit was safely in the real estate agent’s trust account. Perhaps I should have done this first time around, but money transfers are supposed to make things easy, not difficult. I hate Westpac.
The Westpac stuff up had enraged me. On my visit to the Westpac branch I was itching to catch the eye of the supervisor who botched this. I wanted a word with her. I wanted to tell her what I thought of her and Westpac. She would have got an earful of abuse. She wasn’t on duty. And unfortunately the teller who dealt with me that morning had to wear my grumpiness. I had him count the money several times; when he finished weighing the notes on his machine (which I didn’t trust), I got him to do it again manually in a private bank office. He was irritated by my request. I didn’t care. Stuff them.
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That evening after work I rang Westpac telephone banking. I explained that I wanted to transfer some funds, mentioning that I wanted the funds transferred quickly. The person on the phone said there would be no trouble in transferring the funds, but advised that it might take a few days, and added that if I wanted to transfer the money quickly it would be best to visit a branch and speak to a teller. This person emphasized that the process would be much quicker through a teller at a branch of the bank. So, a visit to the bank was required. I thanked him, and made that my first priority in the morning. I was up early and waiting at the front door of my local bank branch at opening time.
There was plenty of money in the Westpac account. I asked for $10,000 to be transferred, and I provided the account details. How long would it take, I asked. Usually overnight, the teller said, but she explained that as the funds were to be transferred to another bank, they couldn’t tell me exactly how long it might take, but probably the day after next. This was remarkably similar to what I had been told by the online banking person on the previous evening. And I mentioned my recent experience of the evening before. The young teller I was speaking to admitted to being inexperienced and sought advice from her supervisor, who turned out to be a nasty piece of work.
I explained my request and passed on the advice I received from Westpac telephone banking. That’s wrong, the supervisor said, it is much faster for telephone banking to have done it for you. She added that telephone banking is always saying that. And they’re wrong, she snapped at me. She then directed me to a telephone in the corner of the bank that I could use to contact their telephone banking service if I wished.
I wonder if there was no phone in the corner of the bank and had the closest public telephone been down the street somewhere whether she would have directed me to the pubic telephone box.
I was in a bank and a supposedly experienced banking officer was offering the use of telephone banking services when there was a teller sitting across the counter from me. I found this experience bizarre. I didn’t know what to say. The stupidity was bewildering, but what really offended me was the aggressive and offhand manner of this person. This was a Westpac experience; I’d like people to know that. I suspect the funds would be transferred equally fast or slowly by either method. I declined the use of their telephone and asked the teller to continue with the transfer. I was getting fed up.
With the funds now on their way to my cheque account I wrote the cheque for the property deposit and took it to my solicitor explaining what I had done, and asked him to hold it for a while. This was on a Tuesday. The solicitor agreed not to post the cheque and contract until Friday, which would be more than ample time for my funds to be transferred and cover the cheque.
On the weekend I saw the $10,000 appear in my account. The cogs in the financial machinery were turning. The funds took longer than expected to be transferred but the money was in my account. The cheque was covered. The transfer took about four days rather than the estimated two that Westpac advised. I doubted the mail service would be very fast in getting mail to a regional area meaning the cheque wouldn’t have reached the real estate office before Tuesday. Everything was working out. Wrong!
I got a call from the real estate agent early in the week to say the cheque had been dishonoured. I apologised and said I couldn’t understand why that would have occurred saying I would look into it. I was panicked.
How could this be? Had I made a mistake? Had I misread my account statement? I was beginning to doubt myself. I felt a sinking feeling as various possibilities for what went wrong began circling my mind. I skipped work and went home where I could try and come to grips with this.
At home I checked my account again. The $10,000 was definitely there. The account total balance had gone up. The total balance was greater than the cheque I had written. No home loan payments had taken place. But a new entry had appeared: a $40 dishonour fee. How could this be?
I rang both financial institutions. Neither of them helped. Though, in speaking to some informed staff from both I got to the bottom of it. The cheque had been dishonoured because the $10,000 was forwarded with a note from Westpac instructing that a 7 day hold be placed on the release of the funds, which caused my cheque to bounce. The $10,000 had been transferred as though it had been a cheque, in which a certain time has to pass before access to the funds was allowed. The staff where my cheque account was held, very reasonably asked if the $10,000 was a cheque deposit. I said no, and they couldn’t understand why this request was made.
The staff at the Westpac telephone banking were helpful and courteous, and in particular a woman I spoke to. She was a supervisor at telephone banking. She confirmed that the funds had been transferred as though it had been a cheque. She could see from my account that the money was available and should have been transferred without a hold. She could not explain what had happened. To her credit, she deposited into my account $40 in lieu of the dishonour fee that I was penalised by the other financial institution. This was nice, but it didn’t help me pay the deposit.
The real estate agent needed the deposit without delay. Ironically, I was advised that if the cheque were to be presented again on the next business day it would have been okay. Had the real estate agent not have been so quick off the mark to bank the cheque the funds would have been available. But the agent couldn’t present the cheque again as it was still in the hands of the bank and wouldn’t be returned for a week or so. Another urgent visit to the bank was required.
I rang the real estate agent and explained what had happened. Though I doubt they would have had much interest, and may have been wondering if I were some sort of charlatan. I asked for my cheque to be returned when they got it, and requested their bank account details and made a cash deposit. It was a different bank but fortunately only a short walk from my own. My pockets were stuffed with two envelopes bulging with $100 notes to cover the $30,000 deposit. It’s surprising how much space money occupies. I was a target waiting to be robbed. Fortunately, within a short time the deposit was safely in the real estate agent’s trust account. Perhaps I should have done this first time around, but money transfers are supposed to make things easy, not difficult. I hate Westpac.
The Westpac stuff up had enraged me. On my visit to the Westpac branch I was itching to catch the eye of the supervisor who botched this. I wanted a word with her. I wanted to tell her what I thought of her and Westpac. She would have got an earful of abuse. She wasn’t on duty. And unfortunately the teller who dealt with me that morning had to wear my grumpiness. I had him count the money several times; when he finished weighing the notes on his machine (which I didn’t trust), I got him to do it again manually in a private bank office. He was irritated by my request. I didn’t care. Stuff them.
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13 September 2010
Meeting our solicitor
We made an appointment with our solicitor. The solicitor’s office was on the top floor of one of Canberra’s few tall buildings. We took the elevator to the top and got out. The office was on the next floor up. That’s odd, and a thought occurred to me. I began to think of the movie “Being John Malkovich” and that weird seven and a half floor thing. We climbed the remaining stairs to the office. Glossy stairs, shiny handrail, gleaming black marble everywhere. The office was perfectly neat and spotless. We sat on the plush leather couch and waited for our solicitor. It was such a surprising contrast being led into our solicitor’s room to see an untidy tousled haired unshaven man. So long as he can do the job. That’s all that counts.The property has an access lane at the back. I don’t know what the history of that was; possibly something to do with sewerage and access. Most of the properties have a driveway leading from the lane, with some having a carport. Our property had a garage that was accessed from the lane. That was in addition to the driveway that came off the street. It was unusual. Our solicitor studied it and pondered the situation, and took pains to point it out. Yes we knew the set up. Despite us telling him we’d seen the property, walked around it, and knew about the lane our solicitor pondered some more and took pains to discuss the easement and describe the hazards.
In some ways it would be good to learn how to undertake your own conveyance processes. There are do-it-yourself kits available, though I’ve never been game to try it. Perhaps if someone deals in a lot of property it might be worthwhile. There was a news item on the weekend about a real estate scam that caught my attention. If it's true the solicitors didn't do much of a job in checking ownership.
The document had to be signed and the deposit paid. Up until this point no money had exchanged hands. And that wasn’t going to happen until my finance was approved. We asked the solicitor about making the sale conditional on securing finance. This was not possible, he said. I was amazed. Properties can put purchased subject to the sale of another property. So why wasn’t this possible. I don’t know but it was annoying.
There was a clause in the contract, our solicitor pointed out, which would hit us hard if we backed out of the deal for some reason, or did not proceed on the specified dates. We asked the solicitor to sit on the contract for a while. There was no way it was going to be signed with that sort of clause, at least, not yet. Not until finance had been approved. The waiting continues.
08 September 2010
The vendor gets tough
Up to this point the vendor's agent had been leaving messages trying to get things moving faster. Possibly being pressured by the vendor. This had been going on for a few weeks. But the most recent call was different. The most recent contact had a vicious edge to it.
The message was along the lines, if exchange does not take place within a week the property will be put back on the market and listed with another real estate agent. It had a nasty tone. These vendors didn’t seem particularly nice at all. Of course, the agent had always been polite to me. I could tell that the real estate agent who rang me wasn’t pleased with the vendors either. After consideration, it seemed to me to be an empty threat.
It was at about this time I heard some news that took my attention. There was a news item on TV. It may have been coincidence, but a few days before the vendor made this threat there was a news segment that took my interest. The essence of the news story was to say that real estate prices were moving upward again. The news report said that the upward movement related to capital cities only. There was also an implication that the financial crisis may have been coming to an end. I wondered if our vendors had spotted that news item too and may have considered they might have been able to get more money for their property. Perhaps they were wondering if there were any buyers out there willing to pay more than we had them locked in for with our offer. We were certainly dragging our feet somewhat. Though, the news item focussed on major cities, which was certainly not the location of this property. There was no comment in the bulletin regarding regional towns.
I suspect with finance being tight, jobs being lost, that investment properties or holiday houses would be getting sold, and country areas would be the first to see property sales. People are not going to sell the family home if they have an investment property. And that was the appeal for us: get a bargain if we can. On the other hand, perhaps the vendors were just pissed off with us for taking too long to finalise the deal. Who knows? Though, it’s not as though real estate prices had fallen to bargain basement give away prices. This property was okay and it was a fair price.
Anyway, it was remarkably soon after that news bulletin that the vendors seemed to be getting agitated and wanted things to move faster. I was still having difficulties with the finance people. I was on edge over the deal. I wanted the property, but had no funds as yet.
The message was along the lines, if exchange does not take place within a week the property will be put back on the market and listed with another real estate agent. It had a nasty tone. These vendors didn’t seem particularly nice at all. Of course, the agent had always been polite to me. I could tell that the real estate agent who rang me wasn’t pleased with the vendors either. After consideration, it seemed to me to be an empty threat.
From things we’d been told by staff from various real estate agents who knew this particular property this threat didn’t make much sense. Various agents had said the property had been on the market for ages. It was priced way too high initially and wasn’t selling. We were told that there had been a few offers in the past, but all had been rejected. They had shifted agents once and it still wasn’t selling. Anyway, it occurred to me that should the vendors have decided to relist the property with another agent I would have spotted it with the new agent and I could have worked with them. By all accounts we were the only people showing any interest in recent months. Chances are that we would be buying the property from whichever agent they chose to sell it through. Surely the vendor didn’t think listing with another agent would magically release a whole new bunch of potential buyers that would somehow have excluded us. Anyway, I was doing all that I could, under the circumstances. This was an annoying development.
I can understand the agent feeling miffed by this recent development. After all, it’s the agent who stands around showing people through the property week after week waiting for some punter to come along. I imagine they wouldn’t be impressed if, after hooking me, the vendors decided to pull the property from sale and change agents.
It was with this aggressive attitude of the vendors and all the badgering they had been doing in recent weeks that we decided to cancel the arrangement to buy the existing furniture that was in the house. The arrangement would have suited us, but it was also done in part to save the vendor the inconvenience of having to deal with it. They lived in Sydney and may not have wished to go to the trouble of moving it. Stuff them; they can keep their furniture. But we still wanted the property. Though the thrill and excitement of owning it had been eroded.
It was at about this time I heard some news that took my attention. There was a news item on TV. It may have been coincidence, but a few days before the vendor made this threat there was a news segment that took my interest. The essence of the news story was to say that real estate prices were moving upward again. The news report said that the upward movement related to capital cities only. There was also an implication that the financial crisis may have been coming to an end. I wondered if our vendors had spotted that news item too and may have considered they might have been able to get more money for their property. Perhaps they were wondering if there were any buyers out there willing to pay more than we had them locked in for with our offer. We were certainly dragging our feet somewhat. Though, the news item focussed on major cities, which was certainly not the location of this property. There was no comment in the bulletin regarding regional towns.
I suspect with finance being tight, jobs being lost, that investment properties or holiday houses would be getting sold, and country areas would be the first to see property sales. People are not going to sell the family home if they have an investment property. And that was the appeal for us: get a bargain if we can. On the other hand, perhaps the vendors were just pissed off with us for taking too long to finalise the deal. Who knows? Though, it’s not as though real estate prices had fallen to bargain basement give away prices. This property was okay and it was a fair price.
Anyway, it was remarkably soon after that news bulletin that the vendors seemed to be getting agitated and wanted things to move faster. I was still having difficulties with the finance people. I was on edge over the deal. I wanted the property, but had no funds as yet.
11 August 2008
The importance of tick boxes
I received a telephone call from the Macquarie bank. They said I was behind in my repayments. And we all know what that means. If you don’t keep up with the repayments for something it gets taken away from you.
It’s Macquarie Bank that funds my home loan for Virgin Money. I wonder why Virgin doesn’t fund its own loans. I would have thought Virgin was big enough. Anyway, the person from Macquarie rang to say that I was behind in my repayments by $1339.13. I recall that amount being flagged as my first repayment in an email that had been sent to me.
This was disappointing news, and disturbing. I had thought the repayments would have been the least of my worries. I had a job, I could afford the repayments, and salary deductions had been set up. So what was going on?
In my previous home loan I was aware of the importance of making as many early repayments as possible. A lesson from a few years previously sprang to mind. I’d taken out a small loan with a Tasmanian cooperative building society. The loan was only for a few thousand dollars. The person setting up the loan asked if I would like to delay the repayments by a few weeks, or was it months. I can’t remember. It sounded like a generous offer, and I never questioned it. I only thought how generous it seemed. That was my mistake. Financial organisations aren’t generous. I didn’t enquire further, and I was stung.
When the loans officer had made the offer, I had assumed she had meant:
With that lesson in mind, when I went along to Westpac for a home loan I was adamant about when my first repayment would begin. I had things worked out in my mind such that when the loan took effect (settlement), I had my first repayment going into my account on the very next business day. There’s not a lot of interest that can accumulate in one day, but my first repayment dropped the principal more than would have happened had I waited for a fortnight or so before the first repayment was made.
So, when Macquarie rang to tell me that nothing was being paid off my home loan I was astonished. I explained to the disinterested person who rang that I had about $90,000 in an offset to the loan. I believe the way this works is that if I make repayments greater than the minimum my offset is increased by the difference. If I make repayments that are less than I should, or presumably if I don’t make any repayments the offset amount is reduced, but the loan keeps getting repaid. Actually, I don’t make repayments to the home loan account, but make deposits into the offset account. Presumably, funds flow on a periodic basis from my offset account to the home loan account. So, what was going on?
After some telephone calls, lots of people checking on things, it got fixed. It turned out that when the loan was being set up (was that by Virgin or Macquarie; who knows) someone forgot to start the automatic transfer of funds system. Some tick box on some computer screen somewhere had been left un-ticked. Was that some form I had forgotten to complete and send away, I enquired? No, it was something that gets done their end, and someone just forgot to do it.
I was reassured that everything would be okay in the future. But I wondered how much my principal had increased because no repayments have been made. They say they will look into that aspect. And I thought the problems were over. Thankfully, I had deposited my tax return into the account not so long ago, which would have helped. Though, it makes you wonder about the people who run the financial world.
It’s Macquarie Bank that funds my home loan for Virgin Money. I wonder why Virgin doesn’t fund its own loans. I would have thought Virgin was big enough. Anyway, the person from Macquarie rang to say that I was behind in my repayments by $1339.13. I recall that amount being flagged as my first repayment in an email that had been sent to me.
This was disappointing news, and disturbing. I had thought the repayments would have been the least of my worries. I had a job, I could afford the repayments, and salary deductions had been set up. So what was going on?
In my previous home loan I was aware of the importance of making as many early repayments as possible. A lesson from a few years previously sprang to mind. I’d taken out a small loan with a Tasmanian cooperative building society. The loan was only for a few thousand dollars. The person setting up the loan asked if I would like to delay the repayments by a few weeks, or was it months. I can’t remember. It sounded like a generous offer, and I never questioned it. I only thought how generous it seemed. That was my mistake. Financial organisations aren’t generous. I didn’t enquire further, and I was stung.
When the loans officer had made the offer, I had assumed she had meant:
- we can put a freeze on the repayments and interest charges,
- you can have this loan now,
- make no repayments for x amount of time, and
- you will be no worse off than had you started making your repayments straight away.
- we’ll allow you to skip the first few repayments for x amount of time, but
- interest will accrue and add to your principal based on our current charges.
With that lesson in mind, when I went along to Westpac for a home loan I was adamant about when my first repayment would begin. I had things worked out in my mind such that when the loan took effect (settlement), I had my first repayment going into my account on the very next business day. There’s not a lot of interest that can accumulate in one day, but my first repayment dropped the principal more than would have happened had I waited for a fortnight or so before the first repayment was made.
So, when Macquarie rang to tell me that nothing was being paid off my home loan I was astonished. I explained to the disinterested person who rang that I had about $90,000 in an offset to the loan. I believe the way this works is that if I make repayments greater than the minimum my offset is increased by the difference. If I make repayments that are less than I should, or presumably if I don’t make any repayments the offset amount is reduced, but the loan keeps getting repaid. Actually, I don’t make repayments to the home loan account, but make deposits into the offset account. Presumably, funds flow on a periodic basis from my offset account to the home loan account. So, what was going on?
After some telephone calls, lots of people checking on things, it got fixed. It turned out that when the loan was being set up (was that by Virgin or Macquarie; who knows) someone forgot to start the automatic transfer of funds system. Some tick box on some computer screen somewhere had been left un-ticked. Was that some form I had forgotten to complete and send away, I enquired? No, it was something that gets done their end, and someone just forgot to do it.
I was reassured that everything would be okay in the future. But I wondered how much my principal had increased because no repayments have been made. They say they will look into that aspect. And I thought the problems were over. Thankfully, I had deposited my tax return into the account not so long ago, which would have helped. Though, it makes you wonder about the people who run the financial world.
16 July 2008
The previous owner
K, the previous owner dropped by. She promised to pick up some gym equipment that had been left behind in the carport. She also spoke about arranging to finish some carpentry work on our wardrobes. The stuff in the carport was no problem at all. We had left a ton of stuff in Melbourne. That was not an issue to us. However, the wardrobe situation was troublesome.
Despite promising that work on the wardrobes would be finished before we moved into the house the work had not been completed. The mirrored doors had been fitted, and while the wardrobes were new, which was nice, it would have been better had the job been completed. Some of the railings were missing from the inside, and the drawers needed fascias to be fitted to improve their appearance. Wardrobes are pointless if you can’t hang your clothes in them.
Despite promising that work on the wardrobes would be finished before we moved into the house the work had not been completed. The mirrored doors had been fitted, and while the wardrobes were new, which was nice, it would have been better had the job been completed. Some of the railings were missing from the inside, and the drawers needed fascias to be fitted to improve their appearance. Wardrobes are pointless if you can’t hang your clothes in them.
15 July 2008
Cruise control
The lack of sophistication in technology
My new ute has cruise control fitted. I found cruse control takes a bit of getting used to if you’ve never experienced it. I had it set during the recent trip to Melbourne, and then forgot to switch it off when approaching a service station where I wanted to stop. I approached the entrance rather quicker than expected. As I said, it takes a bit of getting used to. While I find the device great to use, they feel weird. It’s like relinquishing control. Well, I guess this is true to an extent, but the thing is that the controller doesn’t control the car’s speed in the same way that I would.
It’s strange as they try to accelerate up hill as well as down hill. That’s truly bizarre. As you near the crest of a hill, I would be inclined to ease off on the throttle and let the car coast, but not cruise control. With it switched on the car keeps gunning it up and over the top. They can also be very nasty when you find yourself accelerating into blind corners. Some of the bends on the highway can be tight, and leaving the cruise control set at 100 kph on a bend can put the wind up you. Sure you can put your foot on the brake, or disable the device, but I wonder if manufacturers could improve upon the technology. Here are a few ideas.
Manufacturers might link cruise control devices to the steering. That wouldn’t be difficult with a few micro switches. Perhaps they should also have an inclinator built into the device to monitor whether the vehicle is travelling up or down hill.
There is little point in accelerating down hill; it’s a waist of fuel, but that’s what they do. As soon as the car gets over the top of the hill, the throttle doesn’t ease off to allow gravity to speed the car, but no, its full speed ahead. Similarly, if an uphill grade immediately follows a downhill grade the device should detect the change and maintain the higher speed (within reason) in anticipation of the load of the hill on the engine, rather than waiting until a reduction in speed to be detected before throttling up.
It wouldn’t be too hard. The current speed is known. An inbuilt timer could come into play with this. The logic might operate like the following: If the device has detected a down hill grade by the angle of the vehicle against horizontal, it should register that it’s going down hill. If it then registers an up hill grade it should maintain the current throttle opening. And if the designers were really on the ball they could design the device to note the rate of deceleration and open the throttle an amount to anticipate loss of speed. Of course, if at the bottom of the hill there is no subsequent up hill run, the device would detect this by registering horizontal for a prolonged period of time. It would be up to manufacturers (or users) to program the device as to what point the road surface is considered level. If the vehicle has been driving horizontally continually for maybe 10 seconds or so without a change in the inclination it could resume normal operation at your predetermined speed. It could also operate in a kind of inverse way at the top of hills. As the top of the hill is approaching, rather than the vehicle continuing to accelerate over the crest and accelerate down hill as they do, the device should detect the change, maintain current throttle opening or back off on the throttle, allowing gravity to accelerate the vehicle, and similarly if the road remains level for 10 seconds or so the device should return to normal operation.
Similarly, an intelligence should be built into cruise control devices such that when driving on level ground if the steering wheel is turned more than a certain amount from centre, the current speed is maintained or reduced until the steering has returned to the straight ahead position before the device returns to normal operation. It wouldn’t be too difficult for manufacturers to determine the maximum amount that the steering wheel can be turned, at different speeds, to determine whether it’s safe or not. Depending upon how tight the corner is, the device could maintain whatever speed you were travelling, decrease the speed or disable cruise control until the steering was straight again. And if manufacturers were really clever the could program to adjust for cornering on sloping road surfaces.
I know I’ve gone on about this, but these devices do seem to be lacking.
Cruise control is on, but the brain is off
I expect modern commercial vehicles have cruise control devices fitted in addition to automobiles. On the highway more and more I noticed trucks as well as cars drifting past each other at what seems like half a mile per hour faster than the other. Can’t these people step on the accelerator for a few seconds?
Do you want me to exceed the speed limit? Sure I do, if you are so anxious to overtake. If you are unhappy to drive 1 mph slower than me and stay behind me, than 1 mph faster and be in front then you should darn well step on the accelerator and get on with it. You are annoying me, and making everyone else behind you angry by holding them up with you antics.
I was watching S in the ute as we were driving down the Hume Highway, no doubt with the cruise control set. I was also watching the behaviour of the truck drivers we encountered. She was driving ahead of me and we were both aiming to sit on 100 kph. Many times while on the freeway I’d see a semi coming up behind me, creeping slowly closer by the minute. Eventually the semi would pull out and overtake, which is okay. But on more than one occasion they would do this on the approach to an uphill grade. They would pull out and overtake, and as the hill made its presence felt on the truck it would loose speed. But the cruise control of the ute would keep the car’s speed at a steady 100. Eventually, the semi would slow and pull into the lane behind the ute, and in front of me.
Eventually, the top of the hill would be reached and the semi would gradually gain speed and catch up to the ute again and pull out into the other lane and overtake it, and that’s okay. But just as often by the time it had caught up, changed lanes to overtake, it was on another uphill grade and quickly lost ground again and have to pull back behind the ute and wait for the cycle to begin again. This is annoying, and I found it to be stupid, stupid behaviour.
After a while I would watch the type of semi that passed me and if I noticed the truck looked like some sleek, new, high powered, monster I would stay behind it even if it did slow a little, because generally they just kept on going and faded into the distance. But so often the drivers of older, slower, trucks attempted the same kind of thing. I quickly learned that if these twits wanted to play silly buggers by passing a quicker vehicle (in this case, me in my brand new, empty truck) then when that hill came along I’m going to pass them without hesitation.
Here are two things to consider when driving:
My new ute has cruise control fitted. I found cruse control takes a bit of getting used to if you’ve never experienced it. I had it set during the recent trip to Melbourne, and then forgot to switch it off when approaching a service station where I wanted to stop. I approached the entrance rather quicker than expected. As I said, it takes a bit of getting used to. While I find the device great to use, they feel weird. It’s like relinquishing control. Well, I guess this is true to an extent, but the thing is that the controller doesn’t control the car’s speed in the same way that I would.
It’s strange as they try to accelerate up hill as well as down hill. That’s truly bizarre. As you near the crest of a hill, I would be inclined to ease off on the throttle and let the car coast, but not cruise control. With it switched on the car keeps gunning it up and over the top. They can also be very nasty when you find yourself accelerating into blind corners. Some of the bends on the highway can be tight, and leaving the cruise control set at 100 kph on a bend can put the wind up you. Sure you can put your foot on the brake, or disable the device, but I wonder if manufacturers could improve upon the technology. Here are a few ideas.
Manufacturers might link cruise control devices to the steering. That wouldn’t be difficult with a few micro switches. Perhaps they should also have an inclinator built into the device to monitor whether the vehicle is travelling up or down hill.
There is little point in accelerating down hill; it’s a waist of fuel, but that’s what they do. As soon as the car gets over the top of the hill, the throttle doesn’t ease off to allow gravity to speed the car, but no, its full speed ahead. Similarly, if an uphill grade immediately follows a downhill grade the device should detect the change and maintain the higher speed (within reason) in anticipation of the load of the hill on the engine, rather than waiting until a reduction in speed to be detected before throttling up.
It wouldn’t be too hard. The current speed is known. An inbuilt timer could come into play with this. The logic might operate like the following: If the device has detected a down hill grade by the angle of the vehicle against horizontal, it should register that it’s going down hill. If it then registers an up hill grade it should maintain the current throttle opening. And if the designers were really on the ball they could design the device to note the rate of deceleration and open the throttle an amount to anticipate loss of speed. Of course, if at the bottom of the hill there is no subsequent up hill run, the device would detect this by registering horizontal for a prolonged period of time. It would be up to manufacturers (or users) to program the device as to what point the road surface is considered level. If the vehicle has been driving horizontally continually for maybe 10 seconds or so without a change in the inclination it could resume normal operation at your predetermined speed. It could also operate in a kind of inverse way at the top of hills. As the top of the hill is approaching, rather than the vehicle continuing to accelerate over the crest and accelerate down hill as they do, the device should detect the change, maintain current throttle opening or back off on the throttle, allowing gravity to accelerate the vehicle, and similarly if the road remains level for 10 seconds or so the device should return to normal operation.
Similarly, an intelligence should be built into cruise control devices such that when driving on level ground if the steering wheel is turned more than a certain amount from centre, the current speed is maintained or reduced until the steering has returned to the straight ahead position before the device returns to normal operation. It wouldn’t be too difficult for manufacturers to determine the maximum amount that the steering wheel can be turned, at different speeds, to determine whether it’s safe or not. Depending upon how tight the corner is, the device could maintain whatever speed you were travelling, decrease the speed or disable cruise control until the steering was straight again. And if manufacturers were really clever the could program to adjust for cornering on sloping road surfaces.
I know I’ve gone on about this, but these devices do seem to be lacking.
Cruise control is on, but the brain is off
I expect modern commercial vehicles have cruise control devices fitted in addition to automobiles. On the highway more and more I noticed trucks as well as cars drifting past each other at what seems like half a mile per hour faster than the other. Can’t these people step on the accelerator for a few seconds?
Do you want me to exceed the speed limit? Sure I do, if you are so anxious to overtake. If you are unhappy to drive 1 mph slower than me and stay behind me, than 1 mph faster and be in front then you should darn well step on the accelerator and get on with it. You are annoying me, and making everyone else behind you angry by holding them up with you antics.
I was watching S in the ute as we were driving down the Hume Highway, no doubt with the cruise control set. I was also watching the behaviour of the truck drivers we encountered. She was driving ahead of me and we were both aiming to sit on 100 kph. Many times while on the freeway I’d see a semi coming up behind me, creeping slowly closer by the minute. Eventually the semi would pull out and overtake, which is okay. But on more than one occasion they would do this on the approach to an uphill grade. They would pull out and overtake, and as the hill made its presence felt on the truck it would loose speed. But the cruise control of the ute would keep the car’s speed at a steady 100. Eventually, the semi would slow and pull into the lane behind the ute, and in front of me.
Eventually, the top of the hill would be reached and the semi would gradually gain speed and catch up to the ute again and pull out into the other lane and overtake it, and that’s okay. But just as often by the time it had caught up, changed lanes to overtake, it was on another uphill grade and quickly lost ground again and have to pull back behind the ute and wait for the cycle to begin again. This is annoying, and I found it to be stupid, stupid behaviour.
After a while I would watch the type of semi that passed me and if I noticed the truck looked like some sleek, new, high powered, monster I would stay behind it even if it did slow a little, because generally they just kept on going and faded into the distance. But so often the drivers of older, slower, trucks attempted the same kind of thing. I quickly learned that if these twits wanted to play silly buggers by passing a quicker vehicle (in this case, me in my brand new, empty truck) then when that hill came along I’m going to pass them without hesitation.
Here are two things to consider when driving:
- Know the limitations of your vehicle, and drive accordingly
- If it seems apparent that another vehicle is travelling faster than you, don’t overtake it, because they are only going to overtake you further down the highway.
08 July 2008
The furniture arrives
I’m surprised neither of us got sick from our experience of that weekend working on a cold and damp night.
Our furniture arrived today. I rang Wridgways in the morning to find out what was happening; I wanted to get a delivery date. They said they’d been trying to contact me all day yesterday. That’s probably true, as I wasn’t at work. Though I was surprised when they said they didn’t know where to deliver our stuff. Almost every box had my address on it. I wonder why they didn’t try me on my mobile.
The truck arrived just before 11.00am and they were gone by 3.00pm, and afterwards the house looked like a warehouse inside and out by the time they had finished. There was stuff everywhere. Boxes had been stacked two or three deep and two high. S fed the men up on pies and beer. This is probably always a good thing to do. It may have led to them leaving lots of large plastic bags to cover our stuff that was left on the front veranda. These people work hard and a little kindness can go a long way. The veranda tends to get wet in the rain and the plastic covers were welcome. The Canberra Wridgways people were excellent (good on you, guys); unlike our Melbourne experience with Wridgways.
A few damages were evident. I have two wooden crates. I spotted one of the crates had been stored on its side. I hope it wasn’t the one I had marked ‘stereo and computer’. Some of the removalist boxes were badly squashed. While they were unloading and before everything had been removed I had a look inside the truck to see how things had been packed. Some boxes were squashed in sideways. I spotted one upside down.
We have an old copper which got damaged, and was squashed out of shape in the shift. I think I spotted the location on the truck where the copper had been packed. I noticed an almost perfectly circular space between several cartons on the truck. It was probably the copper that had been rammed into the gap, deforming the boxes into the shape of a circle, and damaging the copper in the process by squashing its sides. That’s not particularly clever packing.
Anyway, it was darn nice to be able to sit in an actual lounge chair, and turn the telly on. Normality had begun. That is, amidst the chaos of stacks and stacks of removalist boxes.
Our furniture arrived today. I rang Wridgways in the morning to find out what was happening; I wanted to get a delivery date. They said they’d been trying to contact me all day yesterday. That’s probably true, as I wasn’t at work. Though I was surprised when they said they didn’t know where to deliver our stuff. Almost every box had my address on it. I wonder why they didn’t try me on my mobile.
The truck arrived just before 11.00am and they were gone by 3.00pm, and afterwards the house looked like a warehouse inside and out by the time they had finished. There was stuff everywhere. Boxes had been stacked two or three deep and two high. S fed the men up on pies and beer. This is probably always a good thing to do. It may have led to them leaving lots of large plastic bags to cover our stuff that was left on the front veranda. These people work hard and a little kindness can go a long way. The veranda tends to get wet in the rain and the plastic covers were welcome. The Canberra Wridgways people were excellent (good on you, guys); unlike our Melbourne experience with Wridgways.
A few damages were evident. I have two wooden crates. I spotted one of the crates had been stored on its side. I hope it wasn’t the one I had marked ‘stereo and computer’. Some of the removalist boxes were badly squashed. While they were unloading and before everything had been removed I had a look inside the truck to see how things had been packed. Some boxes were squashed in sideways. I spotted one upside down.
We have an old copper which got damaged, and was squashed out of shape in the shift. I think I spotted the location on the truck where the copper had been packed. I noticed an almost perfectly circular space between several cartons on the truck. It was probably the copper that had been rammed into the gap, deforming the boxes into the shape of a circle, and damaging the copper in the process by squashing its sides. That’s not particularly clever packing.
Anyway, it was darn nice to be able to sit in an actual lounge chair, and turn the telly on. Normality had begun. That is, amidst the chaos of stacks and stacks of removalist boxes.
07 July 2008
Finally cleared out from Warrandyte
We rose, not so early on Sunday morning, and got back to Warrandyte for more packing. We quickly realised that there was no way all our stuff was going to come with us. So, we loaded the hardware and things that wouldn’t come, and took it to our storage at Fort Knox.
We had an amazingly large amount of stuff (three trolleys full), and an amazingly large amount fitted into the space we had. Some of it was balanced precariously. We’ll have to make another trip later.
After a while we both became very casual when crossing the road with approaching traffic. Hey, this is our street; keep your speed down: See, we’re not rushing out of your way. Actually, you could hear the traffic coming a long way off because of the wet road. The wet weather made things miserable. But, gradually things came together.
As I was loading the truck I had a curiously large number of motorists toot at me and calling out unintelligible things as they drove past. Were they feeling sorry for me, seeing me packing in the dark, or telling me to get off the road? Maybe they thought I was up to no good, and robbing one of the houses on the street. No idea. It was bizarre.
I squeezed our boxes into every nook and cranny, and almost packed them to the ceiling at the front of the truck. It was very loaded well.
I had to ring the rental company and apologise for not returning the truck on time. It was due back in Canberra at 5.00pm and here it was 4.00pm with us still packing in Melbourne. We needed another day.
S had collected a lot of magazines over the years, and wondered if Melody would have liked them. Passing them on would have been a way of getting rid of them. No, she wasn’t interested. Fortunately, it was rubbish night in Warrandyte, and the neighbours’ bins became very useful. Every bin in the close vicinity began to bulge as we filled them with our magazines and other rubbish.
Despite packing carefully and stacking the various boxes as high as possible so that there would be the maximum amount of floor space for our plant pots it became apparent that there would be insufficient space for them all. Drastic measures needed to be adopted: Large pot plants were placed next to one another on the floor, with tiny pots located in the gaps between the larger ones. Now came the tricky bit. Another layer of pot plants was placed on top of the first layer. That’s not something you would think of doing if you valued the pots or the plants in them. It was desperation. Then came all the last minute things, and before the truck doors were closed things were literally being thrown inside. Brooms, strips of wood and other stuff that I can’t recall, were literally thrown inside on top of everything else. There was no choice really. We finally left at about 10.00pm
We had an amazingly large amount of stuff (three trolleys full), and an amazingly large amount fitted into the space we had. Some of it was balanced precariously. We’ll have to make another trip later.
After a while we both became very casual when crossing the road with approaching traffic. Hey, this is our street; keep your speed down: See, we’re not rushing out of your way. Actually, you could hear the traffic coming a long way off because of the wet road. The wet weather made things miserable. But, gradually things came together.
As I was loading the truck I had a curiously large number of motorists toot at me and calling out unintelligible things as they drove past. Were they feeling sorry for me, seeing me packing in the dark, or telling me to get off the road? Maybe they thought I was up to no good, and robbing one of the houses on the street. No idea. It was bizarre.
I squeezed our boxes into every nook and cranny, and almost packed them to the ceiling at the front of the truck. It was very loaded well.
I had to ring the rental company and apologise for not returning the truck on time. It was due back in Canberra at 5.00pm and here it was 4.00pm with us still packing in Melbourne. We needed another day.
S had collected a lot of magazines over the years, and wondered if Melody would have liked them. Passing them on would have been a way of getting rid of them. No, she wasn’t interested. Fortunately, it was rubbish night in Warrandyte, and the neighbours’ bins became very useful. Every bin in the close vicinity began to bulge as we filled them with our magazines and other rubbish.
Despite packing carefully and stacking the various boxes as high as possible so that there would be the maximum amount of floor space for our plant pots it became apparent that there would be insufficient space for them all. Drastic measures needed to be adopted: Large pot plants were placed next to one another on the floor, with tiny pots located in the gaps between the larger ones. Now came the tricky bit. Another layer of pot plants was placed on top of the first layer. That’s not something you would think of doing if you valued the pots or the plants in them. It was desperation. Then came all the last minute things, and before the truck doors were closed things were literally being thrown inside. Brooms, strips of wood and other stuff that I can’t recall, were literally thrown inside on top of everything else. There was no choice really. We finally left at about 10.00pm
01 July 2008
A $90,000 loose end tidied up
The Virgin card arrived in the post this afternoon. At last I can correct that dumb mistake that occurred during settlement and deposit the $90,000 cheque. But I wonder what it has cost me in increased interest repayments.
S called in at the Belconnen solicitor’s office to pick up the cheque. She was treated in an offhand manner by the staff at the office. That was at William Heague, Belconnen. She was amused to note, that when they spotted her title (Dr) their manner changed markedly.
S called in at the Belconnen solicitor’s office to pick up the cheque. She was treated in an offhand manner by the staff at the office. That was at William Heague, Belconnen. She was amused to note, that when they spotted her title (Dr) their manner changed markedly.
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