Hi FIGJAM,

Here is an article we wrote last week on "The top property investing websites you can't overlook" for Smart Property Investor magazine. It is a guide to what interesting investment information you can find online.

Cheers,
Adrian

Hi xkfalcon,

A fixed price contract best is you need to borrow money for the reno off your bank. Both line of credit loans (which are available on some of the more flexible variable rate home loans) and construction loans often require a fixed rate contract in order to approve the funds to you. They then will pay the builder directly at each…[Read more]

@ Jamie,

Thanks for this. That was a typo. Meant to say "fixed price contract". I've corrected the original message

Hi Sunny,

My colleague recently showed me a one-bedder that sold in inner Sydney that was a prime candidate for positive cash flow. They are out there.  

My suggestion would be to use a mortgage repayment calculator to help you crunch the costs. Can you reply with figures on both those options?

Cheers, Adrian

Hi Dsenior,

Here is a basic example of how a negatively geared property can turn into a positive cash flow property due to rental price growth. You can see that rental income starts to exceed mortgage repayments by the 6th year before costs. Obviously this projection will depend on how much rent grows in the area you purchase. You may want to…[Read more]

Hi Peter,

That is a fair concern.

I've written up as an example the costs of buying a property here. In the examples I've crunched, the buying costs are just under 6% (with Lenders Mortgage Insurance) , and the selling costs are just under 4%. 

So, my examples have a total sunk cost of around $39,000 to buy and sell a $400,000 CGT exempt…[Read more]

@pvasi

I thought I'd quote from Noel Whittaker's Making Money Made Simple in order to answer your question:

"The best course is to sell the old house, use proceeds to help buy the new house and then borrow against it to buy the investment property. This enables the rents to be offset against the interest."

@Newcastle Knight

Here is a useful quick guide to SMSF property investing:

http://www.switzer.com.au/your-money/superannuation/the-rules-of-smsf-property-investing/

@JT7

Did you read the Gittens article on productivity?

http://www.smh.com.au/business/productivity-rising-but-few-notice-20130310-2fu22.html

@Sebastian61

I second your thoughts. It seems many people are diving into mining towns with one single employer. What happens if the mind lays off staff, or worse, closes shop? You've got an expensive flop on your hands

These are some of the highest risk properties around. Know the employment conditions in the area…