Foundation, I agree with you that credit will be harder to come by in a bust. However, credit doesn’t completely dry up. Properties still change hands. Those with strong balance sheets, cashflows and high salaries will still be able to get loans. Also vendor financing will be much more common in a bad market, which bypasses the banks…[Read more]

Originally posted by foundation:But surely ‘locking in’ values near the top of the market won’t be much use if the value of current holdings falls, will it? Lenders will still want to see balance sheets where total loans outstanding < total current market value. Unless their LOCs are sufficient to buy outright (no loan), these ‘experienced…[Read more]

What will I do when the bubble bursts? BUY! Experienced investors would be prepared for the bursting of the bubble anyway with LOCs locked in near the top of the market and cash reserves.

In a bust (probably due to a recession) sellers get desperate and are flexible on terms.

People go bankrupt in property when they buy at the top of the boom on…[Read more]

Sandy, backing up a bit, is it a good idea for you to be buying a property without a deposit? Rent to buy usually involves higher than normal rent. If you don’t have a deposit, does that mean you’re spending beyond your means? If that’s the case, can you afford the rent to buy payments?
Alex

Guilty. I’m a CA, qualified 2001.

Majority of CAs would start the CA program right after uni, average 3 – 4 years. So average age would be 25? I qualified early (just b4 I turned 24) but most of my group were 25. Nothing wrong with 25 yo grads as a lot of people switch careers to accountancy. A lot of firms like non-accountancy backgrounds if you…[Read more]

It’d be like forming an owner’s committee, right? Get the owners together, then lobby the police, council etc to clean up the street, and say you’re willing to put some money into repairing the homes, etc.

Basically, it is much more politically involved. If you can get some reporters to make some news about it, etc to influence the council…..

Having a broker is great, especially if you’re in the UK: they can operate in the bank’s time zone.

I bought Australian property while I was working in Japan. I got the loan through ANZ (via my mortgage broker) and I had to have my signature witnessed by the Australian consulate in Tokyo. They charged me A$20 per signature, but I suppose that’s a…[Read more]

Personal opinion here, but tall developments tend to have higher costs (body corp). Also, there are more things that need fixing, especially lifts.

I don´t think you should think of it as ´I´ve been waiting for 4 years so I have to move now´. The cycle is moving down so if anything you have plenty of time do your research, etc.

What would b…[Read more]

Agree with G7. Incidentally, why do you think the place is worth $430k on the current market? The seller has put it on the market and it isn’t selling at $400k, so it certainly ISN’T worth $430k. If rent of $280pw is correct, at $430k that’s a 3.3% yield. That would have been peak price and it’s certainly a lot quieter now.

Besides, I don’t think…[Read more]

Bexi, I think you’re jumping the gun a bit. From your post you don’t seem to have an idea about what you actually want. Do you want income? Capital growth? Both? What is your tax situation like and how will the property impact it? If you buy in the US how do you manage it?

Before you buy a place, I’d suggest going to your local library and…[Read more]

I don’t think Oz is overvalued to the same extent as Japan was. At the peak they said that the land around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo could buy the whole of Manhattan or something!

After 15 years of stagnation, though, even Tokyo isn’t that expensive. You can get a decent enough 2LDK (2 bedroom unit) for maybe 30m yen, which is only about $400k…[Read more]

Personally, I have one permanent file for a property with purchase info, depreciation reports, contracts, etc

Then I put the ongoing tax stuff (agents statements, council rates, body corp) in each year’s tax file.

Then just put together a little spreadsheet for the tax year.

Anything that’s not directly related to tax (agents ads, etc) goes to…[Read more]

Simon, but even if an offset account is used, extra payments are still considered paying off the principal of the loan, right?

If in the future say $100k is redrawn to buy a PPOR, the ‘purpose’ test says that the interest isn’t tax deductible because it’s for a PPOR.

In other words, paying off the loan on an investment property and then buying…[Read more]

Also, Sid, you may want to go back a step and put down your objectives with property investment. Are you looking to build your retirement fund? If so when do you want to retire, etc? How much can you afford, what is your tax situation and what happens if your circumstances change? (Change job, kids, etc).

Property investment is only a tool: what…[Read more]

1) Read all the property books you can get your hands on (especially ones that talk about how to deal with agents)

2) Decide on a few suburbs you might be interested in and research them thoroughly (historical price reports, demographics, talk to people who live there)

3) Look at lots and lots of properties, both rentals and sales.

Dmichie, just on your comment. What if the Chinese grow strong enough economically to start buying Australian property en masse? I’m thinking something like the late 70’s and 80’s with the Japanese buying up everything in sight.

Back then the Japanese were just flush with cash so they bought hotels, apartments, whatever in Australia and the rest…[Read more]

Sounds good to me. I’m planning to hold the property buying for the next 2-3 years while I go to London to save as many pounds as possible. A lower AUD will increase the AUD value of everything I save, and then I can come back to Oz and pick up distressed properties.

The boom times will come again. I’ll just pick up properties at the market lows…[Read more]

Also wanted to add: to the usual ‘package’ that investors go through:

Talk to accountants, lawyers, mortgage broker, insurance broker.

If you’re interested in the student market (given you want to rent out the rooms individually) ask around at uni as to who does this. Get the agents they used and talk to them.

In short, start gathering…[Read more]

Hi, c_pagie84. Don’t know anything about the Melbourne market, but I’d suggest running searches on http://www.realestate.com.au and http://www.domain.com.au. Start getting out there and looking at properties. There’s nothing like ‘on the ground’ info.
Alex

Hi, Darryn. To be a bird-dog means finding good deals to people who don’t have the time to look for them. In other words, you have to know how to find a good deal FIRST before you can be a bird-dog. What are you bringing to the table? Just having time and a good attitude isn’t enough (though it’s a great start).

My suggestion :start looking at…[Read more]