Am i too old…

Given your age you would have to consider your ability to service the debt and also if things were to turn pear shape did you have a safety net in place. You are relying on capital growth to fund your expansion. Obviously those who are younger have time on their side to pick up if things fall to peaces. You will have to be careful to make sure you take calculated risks. The key thing you will have to be aware of is that although you have built your dream home ( fantastic btw!). Your ability to borrow may be made difficult as its not able to be deducted from a tax perspective or taken into perspective from a debt servicing calculator ( i.e. the banks) . Hence the debt you currently have is considered not so good. Hope thing has given you food for thought.

Have you considered using your superannuation to invest in property?  Depending on how much you and your wife have in super, you could consider establishing a Self-managed super fund (SMSF) and invest in property using the funds you have in super.  Banks offer special types of loans for borrowing through superannuation, and this can be a tax effective strategy.  Only downside is they generally only look at lending around 60% of the value of the property.

You would be in control of the SMSF (just need an accountant to do the financials and annual reports for you) and you still get to choose what properties you wanted to invest in.

I think it would be a good idea for you to seek some guidance from a Financial Adviser, especially on who has a lot of knowledge in the SMSF area.

I work for an Adviser and we have had clients start establish SMSF with as little as $100K and started their investment portfolios. 

Not too old.

I started later than you. Like you, wish I had started much earlier. I'd be retired now. I've been buying like crazy (according to my friends) in the last 4 years and I'm going part time next year. 

The buy, wait strategy won't get you there in a hurry though.

Hi Rob,

Thumbs up on the decision to purchase house rather than units particularly if your strategy revolves around Capital Growth. There are a few strategies you can implement, i.e. development, subdivision, GF's, and the good old renovation. Which areas have you been targeting?

Regards

Shahin

Hi Rob

Sure happy to send you a copy.

Would you like to shoot me an email and i can respond to you with the PDF attachement.

Cheers

Yours in Finance

Hi Rob,

At 39 you have the potential to be well and truly in the game.

If you plan on retiring at 60 (for example) you have 21 years of investment fund in front of you. This is about the same amount of time you have spent in the workforce (allowing a bit of wriggle room for higher studies etc). This means you have as much of your working life in front of you as you have left behind you – you are at the halfway point.  

While 21 years (approx) is a fairly long period of time it can go quickly if you fluff around pretending. That is not to say be foolhardy and make rushed decisions – rather it as a reminder that time can be eroded pretty quickly if you take your eyes off the ball.

But all of this is irrelevant if you don't know what you borrowing position is. Grab yourself a decent broker and start a conversation with him/her. I recommend steering clear of many of those major franchised brokerages but rather look for a broker who owns and runs the store and, importantly, is an investor themselves.

In the meantime start refining how you intend using your property in retirement. The answer to this simple question will help you work out what strategy you need to employ which, in turn, helps to determine which property and where.

Be interested to hear why it has taken so long to build your first home. That is not being disrespectful, rude or condescending – rather it may help you identify roadblocks you and your wife have which has stopped you getting on the property road so far.

Hope this helps.

Ha – I didn't differentiate the build and own property previously hint.

Congrats on moving up the salary scale – that will make it easier to service loans.

Do you have any equity in your property? When a bank assesses your borrowing capacity they will look at your income levels and your nett asset base. As I said in my earlier post grab yourself a decent broker and start the 'how much can I borrow?' discussion.

Armed with this information you'll be able to refine your strategy and work forwards from a know position.

I suggest only focussing on the first property. Some people get too overawed when they think about multiples of property. One at a time is enough at this point of time. As your portfolio grows your broker (who'll become your next best friend – if they are any good) will be able to guide your purchases with future borrowings in mind.

While property is the vehicle – finance is equally/more important.

Hope this helps.

I do not think you are too old, even though it is better to start investing earlier. Just do a lot of research before buying and just follow all great advices that people provided in this thread. 

39 your still young, there are people who do no nothing in their whole life, so starting now is not a bad idea at all.

Risk is the only thing you need to consider but also there are other types assets you can build on.