JIngo
You are right, ours was a long term buy and hold and work and save. Thanks for your lovely comments. I am enjoying the fruits now, it is such a shame my husband isn't here to enjoy it with me.
TMNT
As soon as the aussie dollar started increasing I knew I had to get out of the Cairns market. The rental market relies on the tourism, with a lot of southerners renting and working in Cairns. Tourism drops, so the southerners go home, vacancies go up and the properties go down in value. Nutshell version
I was basically working on, when the properties doubled in value that was when I got out, they went up more after I got out, but I do believe in leaving some for the one following you. That way you can sell.
I was advocating to all the friends that bought up there to get out while they could, some did, but some refused saying they thought it would be OK.
I had bought in when the Cairns market was really at rock bottom, so I didn't have to wait long for mine to start increasing in value. Thats when I went crazy and bought everything I could afford, they were going up in value before settlement.
You have to know your market.
Chris