Tamsyn Parker: Could you be a landlord?

It's not just dirty dishes which landlords have to deal with.

A workmate was recently talking in the lunchroom about renting out his house after buying a new property and it was amazing the number of negative stories which emerged about the perils of being a landlord.

Kiwis love to talk about property and with Auckland's property market so hot at the moment it's easy to just think about the capital gains that can be made.

But as Diana Clement's piece shows being a landlord is not that easy.

Landlord's have to deal with everything from unpaid rent to smokers, pets, property damage and subletting.

Of course landlords aren't perfect either, as many of those who have commented on the piece have pointed out.

PROPERTY ATTRACTION

Owning property or other assets could become even more attractive for some after reading Mary Holm's column in the weekend.

It seems that savers aren't likely to see much in the way of good returns in the bank any time soon despite the official cash rate being increased twice this year.

Before the global financial crisis savers were able to get as much as 7 per cent or 8 per cent by parking their cash in a term deposit.

But as interest.co.nz's David Chaston points out that period was an aberrant.

Banks are awash with cash at the moment and are able to access money on the international market cheaply meaning there is little reason for them to encourage more saving by increasing rates.

There's been a lot of talk about how mortgage holders are going to feel the pain with rates going up.

It's easy to forget that only around 33 per cent of households have a mortgage.

According to 2013 Census data 28 per cent have no mortgage and a further 29 per cent rent. The other 10 per cent was unknown.

There are a lot of retired people who rely on their bank savings to help boost New Zealand Superannuation.

WORKING UNTIL 70?

It was interesting to note last Friday's announcement about the Australian government's decision to lift the pension age to 70.

The age increase won't be in force until 2025 but will affect all those currently under the age of 50.

In New Zealand the Labour party wants to increase the age of eligibility for New Zealand Super to 67 but so far there has been little talk of lifting it beyond that.

Even with people living longer it's hard to imagine working until you are 70.

As David Chaplin suggests in his blog the Australian change could see a few Kiwis returning from Australian to pick up super here at 65.

To me it implies there is going to be more and more emphasis in the future on private retirement savings like KiwiSaver.