At this point in time I find him to be that good. Now saying that he is good for me and that may not apply to others. I find Dale always challenges me on why I am doing things and if there are better ways. He is also conversant with Wraps and is an active property investor and keeps veru up to date with changes by his involvement with things like http://www.somersoft.com and answering questions in the API magazine and doing seminars around the joint. He also has written a book on tax system that was not a bad read.

In the end…..the choice is yours.

P.s. I didn’t live in Melbourne. I could never afford my wifes shopping bill if I did.

Enjoy
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“Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.”
Lat., “Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.”
-Horace, Odes

Hey Pete,
Welcome to the Forum PI.com[]
There are a hundred difernt ways to skin a cat and so likewise a multitude of options to complete a property deal.
Sounds like you have been reading Margaret Lomas type theories.
I personally do not like to rely on the tax breaks to make it positive. I would rather the property paid it’s own way. By this I mean the property rent(income) covers all the outgoings (costs) and leaves me positive or nuetral. This way I can keep on doing deals as long as I have deposits.
hope this helps.

Enjoy
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“Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.”
Lat., “Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.”
-Horace, Odes

Hey Kirby ,
I use Dale Gatherum-Goss. He writes in the API magazine and does other Property related seminars, etc. A nice bloke to boot.
His website is http://www.gatherumgoss.com .

Enjoy
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“Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.”
Lat., “Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.”
-Horace, Odes

Hey there dafledz,
There are many creative ways to get into property with little or no moey down. I would suggest reading Nothing down for the 90’s by Robert Allen.

May give you some ideas. Also worth coming to the Masters event to give you more ideas on property.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy
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“Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.”
Lat., “Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.”
-Horace, Odes

Hey Tom,
I find that I treat agents with respect but I expect them to work for my interests.
I must admit with some agents I call a spade a spade and tell them what I think of there tactics and approaches. It is always fun to go to a new agent acting like you know absolutely nothing to see how they treat you. From there you can see how they really work.
Whenever I talk to them I always keep in the back of my mind that they are salespeople. They only make money if they sell therefore they will tell me what I want to hear to make me buy. On the flip side if you know that and remember that then at least you know where you stand.

The only way I have become more confident is to realise I have the money and I am in control of what I buy. To that end I tell them what I want and how I want it and see what they deliver. I have found with the one agent that I have devloped a good relationship with I do buy cakes for the office (occasionally) and when a deal goes through I buy her flowers or a gift in appreciation. It is a small token and small cost to get me the best properties early.

Enjoy
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“Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.”
Lat., “Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.”
-Horace, Odes

The other upside is if they are eligible for FHOG and have a deposit then you could get some money back out of the deal ASAP and use it elsewhere on a deal.

Just a thought.

Enjoy
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“Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.”
Lat., “Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.”
-Horace, Odes

Hey Trish ,
The key ingredient that Margaret Lomas relies on is a healthy deprediation schedule. She uses the tax return on the loss but also uses depreciatioon on the property, fittings, etc to push the tax return ito the positive instead of costing you money.
So the deal may cost you $5000 which is deductible but you also then apply the deductions from the depreciation and hey presto the tax dept give you $25 per year. While this is not neccessarily a bad thing you are still relying on the ATO to make it positive. MLomas calls this Positive cashflow as different from Positive geared where you do not need the ATO help to pay all the costs.
The other downside of depreciation is that you are effectively reducing the capital value of the house as ou depreciate it. So if you depreciate $5000 for building depreciation and you originally paid $200000 once the depreciation is applied the new value of the property for CGT purposes is $195000. Soif you sell the house three years later for $250000 then the CGT will be calculated on the spread of
$250K – $185K = $65K.

This is the way I understand Depreciation to work and I am not an acct or any such thing so if I am wrong please you people who know please let me know if I am wrong .
Hope this helps.

Enjoy
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“Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.”
Lat., “Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.”
-Horace, Odes

Hey all,
I am looking at the numbers and wondering if they stack up.

Here is how I look at a deal.
My assumptions here are that you are borrowing the whole amount from the way you talk about valuations.

Using Susie’s numbers

Purchase Price – $125000

Interest rate – 6.0 %

Rates – $1500/year – 28.85/week

Costs

Interest/week on interest only basis. – $144.59
Rates – $28.85
Mgt Costs – $17.10

Total – $ 190.54

Now this allows no excess of before we even consider maintenance, Settlement costs, and insurances.
I also allow 2-3 weeks vacant depending on location.

So on your numbers Susie here is what I would like/need to do the deal.

If my costs are roughly $186/week.
I allow $10/week maintneance
Insurances are roughly $10/week.

Allowing say 2 weeks vacancy here are the yearly numbers.

Rent – $9500
Costs – $190 + 10 + 10 = 210* 52 = $10920
So on rough numbers you would be losing $1400/year without any really big unexpected goodies.

While you may get a deduction on the loss I still struggle to see how the deal can be positive.

The simplest bench mark I try and get close to is the 11 second solution. rent *1000 /2 is purchase price. eg. 190*1000 /2 = $95000.

Now I won’t deny my numbers are tough but I want to keep buying more and more and doing it this way enables me to buy lots of properties as long as I have a deposit. Susie et al please don’t feel that I am snubbing your numbers as I am just showing you how I look at things.

I have actually bought houses outside the rule on occasion because they offer something else.
For example I bought a house that was rented for $160/week and it cost me $85000. The reason I was happy to do that deal was because the property was well under valued and not 1 month later I got a revalue of $100K and now 7 months on it would be sold for around $130K. Another property I bought for $73K which would be lucky to rent for $130/week I spent 30K(ish) on a reno and I would have rented for $200/week but instead I sold it for $152K.

I always use the 11 second solution for my guide but am willing to look outside the square if a different exit strategy presents itself. I hope this helps and I would love to hear others opinions.

Enjoy
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“Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.”
Lat., “Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.”
-Horace, Odes

Hey Jezzah,
Without knowing all the details. Why not try and wrap the property to someone thus turning it from Negative to positive. It will also allow you to sell it to an owner not a renter. Maybe the people in the property would be interested in buying the place off you. What sort of numbers are we talking about for the property ???

Enjoy
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“Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.”
Lat., “Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.”
-Horace, Odes

There are probably a number of ways to lok at this statement but the one that hits me first is that property is all about people. The most important part of being a property investor is dealing with people. To be passionate about property means to me that you focus on the people and love the challenges presented. To be passionate about money is to ignore the people and or use them as neccessary. For me I find the less I worry about screwing every red cent out of a deal and enjoy the challenges, the better I do.

For me property is a passion and money is a great side effect.

Enjoy
AD [:0)]

“Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.”
Lat., “Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.”
-Horace, Odes