As many Aussies would know the rental market in some areas is astounding at the moment. Rental bidding wars, some official some not official. People going in to sign their new lease papers only to find out another renter has been given the property even after said tenant was approved for the property.
I know that the rental vacancy is low but the tactics we are seeing in Melbourne are disgusting. I have friends (lovely family with 2 kiddos and one in the oven, have been very good tenants the last 2 and a bit years in the same house) their landlord has kicked them out of their house so that the can renovate and get more money a week.
Yes their house was becoming a bargain at $230 for the 3 bedroom in a popular inner city suburb (well if you ask Mum 20 mins on the train isn't inner city though :D) but they were not even given the option to stay. They were not even offered a rental increase notice to stay in the house. Most likely because the landlord thinks they can get a whole lot more per week if they just paint and rent out again.
I have even seen evidence of this greed around where we live, this is a 90 min drive from Melbourne and a basically rural area mind you... The house 2 doors down was around $150 when we were looking to rent here. Now just to put things in perspective, the house we live in is 3 bedroom, as is this other house. Our kitchen is much nicer, lounge is larger and the house generally looks to be in better condition than the other house. We also have been paying $150. Our rental increase will be $160, that was the original price of this rental when we saw it so that's no shock to us. What IS shocking is that I now see the house 2 doors down asking for $175 a week in rent!
While I know there are interest rate rises and things that the actual home owner has to contend with and that many of them have losses on rental properties, that jump in price for a rural area property is just greedy. I foresee that house being on the rental market for quite some time!
So with the pile of ranting over with, it would seem that Victoria has already had enough of these antics and is going to do something about.
Rental war agents face bans if they do not adhere to the new guidelines set out by Real Estate Institute of Victoria stating that:
■That once a tenant has been told their application is successful, no counter-offer can be accepted.
■Not to use a range of prices when advertising.
■To ensure the initial advertised price is realistic.
■To not initiate a bidding process for a rental property.
Maybe by putting these guidelines in place the price of an average 3 bedroom house for rent wont cost the same as a mortgage. And maybe it would mean that my friends could find a house for their growing family without having the price of it go up before they have even seen it.
Rant over!
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Now who wouldn't want
this for valentines day?
I'm sure Mr M would most appreciate being shaken awake to go to work rather than the usual gentle "Hun its time to get up there is a coffee in the kitchen for you" that he normally receives.
And gee it would make a nice change to wake up to this rather than my gorgeous (albeit mischievous) toddler waving at me and pulling the doona off me.
:D
And if the boom doesnt do it for you maybe
Clocky is more your style.
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The top of my shopping list this week goes something like this....
500g bag of salt (I make my own playdoh don't actually use salt in food)
2kgs of SR flour
2kgs of white sugar
1kg of brown sugar
and lots of rice.
You might look at this and think I do a lot of baking... Fact is, while I do cook every day, I need to replace these items due to Mr Mr taking these things out of my cupboards in the morning and playing with them. The other morning for instance I woke up only to step in a giant mound of brown sugar next to my bed. This morning I woke up to find salt all through Mr Mr's hair, all over his table and all over (and inside) his fisher price stride n ride toy.
I guess some people might think it nice to wake up only to have to vacuum as soon as they are out of bed, but I'm not one of them!
Oh well Its just one of the many joys of toddlerdom I guess... joy for him that is :D
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Well Mum has "Duck Friday" inspired by "Goat Friday" I believe, so I'm bringing you "Pimp my puter Wednesday"
Okay as you may have noticed by my post "THE keyboard" I am dreaming of upgrades for my PC. Nothing to do with how it runs, my PC is super the way it is. I just long for some prettier peripherals to make my computing experience all the more pleasant. That and who doesn't love new things with funky lights on them!
So I give you
THE case! Just a dream for the moment as my current case is still pretty and is in perfect working order. And I definitely have better ways to spend my money (damn us needing food and such hehehe) so I plan to save my pennies (yes I actually have a jar I'm putting my silver coins into for these upgrades) and pimp out my puter piece by piece. The case will very likely be last due to my more pressing need for a more responsive mouse and less sticky keyboard.
I will welcome any suggestions on things I could waste my money on! And I hope someone is interested to see what item I pick for next week, not as thrilling as ducks and goats but its all I could think of for now :)
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Children shamed on unpaid school feesNow this pisses me off. Its one thing if they were high school students getting this treatment (they are angsty little bastards anyway) but these are primary school students!
I don't think there are many primary school kids who actually realise the relevance of fees, nor would they simply go home and tell mum and dad to pay them. With this treatment they would go home crying to mum and dad at how they were humiliated in front of the whole class and board from not being allowed to do anything all day long. Its just cruel!
I STILL remember being told by one teacher (I'm pretty sure it was in 1st grade) that if I got nits I would have to have my gorgeous long hair shaved off! Right in front of the whole class! This kind of shit scars little kiddies for life.
From what I understand about the curriculum for becoming a primary school teacher you need to know at least something on childhood and developmental psychology. I have a good friend who is studying towards her dip. ed. in primary teaching and there is tons of psych stuff in there.
Obviously these teachers missed or failed that bit of the course or they wouldn't have done this to small children!
Its just great to know what idiots we have to shape and mould the future of this nation isn't it.
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In my many adventures of "window shopping" over the web I have come across the ultimate peripheral device for the PC...
Now as you guessed by the title its a keyboard, your probably thinking booooorrrring. But take a look at this:
My preciousnow who wouldn't love to be able to change your keys at the click of a setting? Sure I might not need to write in Russian or Asian alphabets but I could definitely use it for better gaming and easier access to short cuts in photo shop.
I was planning on saving up for new spiffy gaming keyboard (the current one has been given one to many drinks of coffee by little Mr Mr) but I am now seriously thinking of waiting for the Optimus as its so versatile!
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As quickly as my blog started I have already ignored it for 3 days...
I do have good reason though and I thought I should explain before anyone thinks I don't care.
I have neglected blog world for Plutarch, yes that's right, the fall of the Roman republic has become more important than blog world.
So if you do happen to stop by and there is nothing new here its is just because I have an exam in 2 weeks, then one on Australian literature to 1950 the week after. But if I find anything insightful that I feel the world has to know about in my studies Ill be sure to fill everyone in hehehe
In the mean time you can tell me your thoughts on this...
http://blogs.smh.com.au/lifestyle/samandthecity/
Miss "I ripped off sex and the city" She annoys me thoroughly and yet she has hundreds of people replying to her. Am I the only one who hates this woman?
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In my morning trawl of the online news, I came across this....
Little Harry Potter very obviously trying to show the world what a big man he is!
I know that between movies 2 and 3 of the saga there was some talk of Radcliff dropping out of the filming of the Harry Potter movies due to him not wanting to be forever known as the one character, but this is a bit tacky.
His rep has been quoted as saying "Daniel does not want to step away from Harry Potter but he does want to show he is a rounded actor capable of … diverse roles."
Diverse is right! From little boy wonder to on stage porn star. That certainly is diverse. I wonder who on earth gave him permission to do this though. He is still only 17, so I assumed his parents would have to have some say in his choice of role for the time being. Are they actually okay with this??
Also there is the issue of his fan site. There have been a couple of quotes used from their forums, very obviously written by very young girls. For instance "When I saw it I couldn't breathe for a moment. I was shocked. But [the] pictures are very cool and very good. I like it ... They're awesome!" He is corrupting young girls all over the world!!! Introducing sexuality to girls who probably hadn't given it a terribly large amount of thought until they saw "Harry Potter" with a half naked girl standing in front of him. One of the promo pics has a naked girl on top of him from what I gather. Is that what we want little girls to think of when they see the next 3 Harry Potter films??
This email from a concerned parent pretty much sums up how I would feel if I saw my 9 year old looking up Radcliff's new project
"We as parents feel Daniel should not appear nude. Our nine-year-old son looks up to him as a role model. We are very disappointed and will avoid the future movies he makes,"
I just think its highly inappropriate, considering his position in the lime light at the moment, to jump onto a stage and do numerous sex scenes in a controversial play just to prove his worth as an actor.
Ill be very curious to see what "diverse" acting jobs come out of this move.
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