Will I never learn?

[TheBacon]

I did it again. I was desperate for something to read on the train.

Heaven forbid you look up and actually make eye contact with the people around you. Accepted practice is mp3 player, sunnies and something to read. Anyone looking around or talking must be a psychopath and is to be avoided.

Anyway, back to my story, what I did was to pick up a copy of Your Investment Property. What a waste of time and money this magazine is! There are some articles on investors – not bad, but not a lot of detail that an investor would look for, more nice stories to encourage you really. There are state-by-state market updates – OK, but nothing you don’t get in the general media.

The really painful section though is where potential growth suburbs are described. Not one piece of useful info in them at all. Nothing relating to why a suburb might do well, nothing on increasing rentals, nothing on infrastructure or changing demographics. Just a description of the past quarter, year and 10yr growth rates.

Wow! What great info! This is exactly what is presented in the tables at the back, only in text form instead of numbers! Wow!

I’ve bought this mag three times now – twice because I mistakenly thought it was API, and this week because I wanted something to read rather than pretending to not look at people in the train. The only thing going for this mag over API is print/paper quality. Other than that, it has less information, no real analysis of the markets, and it costs more!

Next week, if you are in Perth and some guy on the train makes eye contact with you, or heaven forbid, says hello, don’t be afraid, it’s probably just me.

[see also http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36929&referrerid=131]

 

[lizzie]

actually .... i didn't renew my api mag subscription for a similar reason, and am now finding that i miss the snippets that were really of no use to me but were interesting to read.

however - if you want a great read, subscribe to the residential property developer mag.

 

[Miss V]

Lizzie,

Which one is that? I don't think I've seen it at newsagents. What sort of info does it contain? I am a magazine nut and would rather read YIP than woman's day any day of the week. API is definately my favorite though.

 

[wylie]

Which one is that? I don't think I've seen it at newsagents. What sort of info does it contain? I am a magazine nut and would rather read YIP than woman's day any day of the week. API is definately my favorite though.

Reminds me of a plane trip I took twelve years ago when the flight attendant came down the aisle offering magazines. She offered my husband BRW or The Bulletin and offered me New Idea or WW. I nearly popped a blood vessel, but didn't make a fuss, cause where can you hide on a plane when you have caused a fuss?

 

[boomtown]

Maybe its because Im a buy and hold kinda guy but all of the property investing magazines do absolutely nothing for me.

This board kicks their *** !!

 

[GreenTreeFrog]

Ooooh my blood would boil at that one too Wylie!

And your story, Wylie, reminds me of a trip to the bank to apply for a loan in a French speaking province with a French bank manager. Despite the fact that I was doing ALL the talking while DH held the baby, he refused to make eye contact or respond directly to me until my husband (who realised what was going on) turned and sat there watching out the window at the yachts drifting in the harbour! With no man to talk to, this twit finally had to answer me directly.

 

[ianvestor]

however - if you want a great read, subscribe to the residential property developer mag.

I picked this up recently and found it rather boring, but I suspect I have just had bad timing, in that the issue I got was "The Green Issue" where 95% of the whole mag was about recycling or carbon or water, or recycling carbonated water, who knows. Don't get me wrong, I like trees n stuff, but this issue was not my thing. I'm looking forward to seeing if the next issue is more interesting.

 

[travelbug]

Reminds me of a plane trip I took twelve years ago when the flight attendant came down the aisle offering magazines. She offered my husband BRW or The Bulletin and offered me New Idea or WW. I nearly popped a blood vessel, but didn't make a fuss, cause where can you hide on a plane when you have caused a fuss?

My hubby would just take the BRW and give it to me and take the WW.
It is frustrating isn't it!

When I wanted to buy a new car I looked by myself. Most said "bring your hubby in". Well I did intend on bringing him in but only for him to check it mechanically.
When we turned up They looked to him. He directed them to me saying 'my wife is buying a car". If they continued to talk to him I left (followed by hubby). Obviously they don't need my business.
Whenever we go to financial advisers etc my hubby says "talk to Lynne, I'm just the puppet". He has no clue about money. He often says "if it wasn't for Lynne, we'd have nothing". I told him I wanted to tape that in case he ever leaves me.

Have you ever been to a Positive Real Estate talk? Their mentor guy (David) is anti women I'm sure. He totally ignore me and another lady when a young man walked up to him.

I had to laugh when a few months ago they ran a workshop just for women. The first topic "how to get over your fears". Now I cannot imagine that as a title for a male workshop.

Well I'm sure men have stories too but it can sure be frustrating on this end.

 

[Andrew_A]

Borders

I just visit Borders and read these magazines for free, beats the library anyhow. Have considered not buying API at times, but the human element with people connected with this forum being featured keeps me buying.

 

[TheBacon]

Right - I'm off home (on the train). Will walk past a newsagent and see what's there.

Of course I will make sure I talk to the woman behand the counter because she is likely the owner and the man is employee/husband/peon

I had some thoughts regarding men talking to men when discussing business and ignoring the women:
1. Its not done to talk to some other dude's chick when he's in the room. He might hink you are trying to pick her up.
2. Some men dont know what to say, where to look, how to stand etc when talking to women - so ignore them as a defence mechanism.
3. Some men are just plain stupid

None of the above excuse the actions. I would hate my daughter or wife to be excluded from something or given less attention.

However, ladies, remember that men also have the same hang-ups and insecurities. Ever wondered why that confident guy who seemed to be flirting with you never actually asked you out? Or why he seemed to have no trouble talking to his mates but couldnt string a sentence together when talking to women? Probably because he was ****scared and didnt know what to do.

This seems to pass for most men as they realise that women are not that scary, but I think for some men it remains, or they never learn to push past it.

Anyway - as a bloke, thats about as much psychoanalysis as I can take for one day.

Hang on, you probably werent looking for someone to answer your question, just show some empathy... ooops silly man stuffed up again

TB

 

[kph]

I did it again. I was desperate for something to read on the train.

Heaven forbid you look up and actually make eye contact with the people around you. Accepted practice is mp3 player, sunnies and something to read. Anyone looking around or talking must be a psychopath and is to be avoided.

Next week, if you are in Perth and some guy on the train makes eye contact with you, or heaven forbid, says hello, don’t be afraid, it’s probably just me.

[see also http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36929&referrerid=131]

LOL!! funny stuff TB
I caught the train on the weekend to the footy and can relate to what you were describing.
Its a bit like being in an elevator. People talk as they walk in but when the doors close...its total silence.

People are weird...

 

[toony]

I met my wife on a train - should have bought a magazine....

Only joking.

 

[steveadl]

I picked this up recently and found it rather boring, but I suspect I have just had bad timing, in that the issue I got was "The Green Issue" where 95% of the whole mag was about recycling or carbon or water, or recycling carbonated water, who knows. Don't get me wrong, I like trees n stuff, but this issue was not my thing. I'm looking forward to seeing if the next issue is more interesting.

Yeah I agree, the last issue was a bit dull. I know it's the way of the future, but I don't really give a rats about the green building stuff at the moment. The couple issues before that were fantastic though, so give it another shot Ian.

Only comes out 10 times a year from memory and they always seem to miss their deadline by a few weeks Miss V, they don't have an official website for the mag, but it's brought out by the Property Council of Australia www.propertyoz.com.au

Also, know I've mentioned this before but Bacon - if you're looking for something to read, buy the Thurs. edition of the AFR. The property section usually has at least 10 pages of articles in there on current issues and stats. and makes for a much more interesting read than API these days.

 

[wylie]

I am fairly shy and not a "talker" on buses or at bus stops, but do acknowledge others standing there. Hubby catches a bus every day and is a "talker". He says he cannot understand people who catch a bus with the same group of people every day, but who never acknowledge each other, or say hello, so he makes the effort.

One day recenly, he called me and said the bus had left everybody at the stop and he needed to get into the city for a meeting, so could I please drive him in. I got to the stop and hubby brought five other people over. He said it was hard to choose. I met five new people and drove them into the city .

Gotta love that man .

And the other funny thing that happened about seven years ago (hardly the dark ages) was when I took my kids to chose carpets for our bedrooms and downstairs room. The snotty woman totally ignored me. She was serving somebody, but could have easily said "I will be with you as soon as I am finished" and I would have been happy. After about ten minutes standing around like a stale bottle of beer, I decided to let my kids (about 3, 7 and 10at the time) climb all over the little metal stands the carpets were displayed on. I would never usually have let them do this, but she was giving me the pips.

Finally she deigned to serve me. I asked "how much is that berber". She said "Oh that is pure wool, I don't think you could afford that". What the ???? I insisted on finding out the price. How bloody rude. I wasn't wearing rags. How would she know how much I could afford? She was probably peeved that I had let the kids run around, but that was in retaliation to her rudeness.

Anyway, I chose a carpet I liked, and asked for somebody to call to our house to measure up. She insisted that hubby HAD to be home in order for her to arrange a measure . I bought a lovely house full of carpets from another store .

 

[TheBacon]

I bought a lovely house full of carpets from another store .

Good stuff! Kinda like the scene from "Pretty Woman", but with kids and carpet eh?

TB

 

[TheBacon]

...if you're looking for something to read, buy the Thurs. edition of the AFR. The property section usually has at least 10 pages of articles in there on current issues and stats. and makes for a much more interesting read than API these days.

Great tip! Stumbled on Thursday AFR at work, and you're right, pretty good.

TB

 

[Bayside]

So what were the suburbs? lol

 

[boomtown]

Kudos for Pretty Woman and carpets - I burst out laughing.

 

[travelbug]

I met my wife on a train - should have bought a magazine....

Only joking.

Haha.

Bacon- thanks for the heads up on the workings of a mans mind.

Unfortunately these situations occur with biases from women also (as wylie explained).
Wylie my friend walks into the shop and asks for the most expensive they've got (of anything). He says he's going to buy the most expensive anyway so why waste time. He does have very expensive taste.

I learned a long time ago not to judge a book by it's cover. Our friends multi millionaire father used to walk around in stubbies and a Tshirt. He said no one asks him for money that way.
Years ago there was a lady who used to walk around Baulkham Hills. She looked like a bag lady. Our local Real Estate agent told us she is always looking in RE windows. Everyone ignored her when she asked prices. Not him. He has sold her 2 properties (she collects them).

Thanks for the laughs guys.

 

[lizzie]

i agree it's not as good as it probably is - with all the green stuff - but i'm still enjoying.

i'm only up to page 29 and finding the article on the substantial investment in the subway system in rennes (france) very interesting ... sydney needs a kick up the butt and put in something like this instead of building more roads with traffic lights every 100m