Can anyone help with this question? We have had a 2bdrm unit managed in Orange for 12 months (R&H) and are just about to move to another Agent. Can anyone recommend someone who they've had success with? I've called all of them but I find it hard to judge over the phone. Thanks in advance

We have a unit in Orange (since Jul LY). We've been using Raine and Horne however after a recent inspection of the property we have decided to move on and test another agent, possibly Blowes (Tania). They all charge around 8.8% and don't seem to discount (I've asked all of them!).

Cadia has indeed recently put off a number of contractors attached…[Read more]

These are great websites. Definitely if you're time poor this is the way to go. For me, I'm in a stage of life that I had the time to source, buy and style things myself. It takes alot of time and effort but at the end of the day, it cost us $200 in styling products in addition to the $400 in paint and $1900 in carpet. So a total of $2,500 for…[Read more]

Great post xdrew. You've got a good thing going on there!

Karen that's a great tip We got a broken, stainless steel fridge, only a few years old for free off Gumtree. We also got a broken, large plasma for $15 off Gumtree. Amazing what you find when you dig…

Catalyst – the price comparison came from recent sales in our block/ immediate area (PriceFinder) – of units with similar specs (size, aspect etc).As the unit is still in the cooling off period I'd prefer to retain privacy at this stage. As I said, I'd be happy to email pics to individuals and I have.

My income is zero so worth considering if the rate is right.Thanks for your help.

Hi Terry and Jamie,Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, both names on the title and I am currently one week off having our third child so, not working and haven't this FY.So I'm thinking the offset option is going to make the most financial sense. It will mean IP#2 goes from neg to pos geared but that's not too bad given the profit will be…[Read more]

Actually i forgot to add the current balance of the offset to the profit. The offset balance would be approx $170k against the debt of $172k, meaning interest is only charged on $2k (??)

Hi Terry,So my understanding if i put the profit in the offset would be that we would only pay interest on the difference ($172k-$145k=$27k). This is obviously alot less than the current monthly IO payment on $172k. Is this the best decision tax-wise when it comes to claiming the interest?Thanks!

I should add, the above cost us approx $2,500 total. That includes $1900 in carpet, $400 in paint and only a minor outlay for display furniture as we will sell it all and acquire back at least 70% of our initial outlay (due to some serious bargain hunting on our part!). Some big ticket items (like the lounge, outdoor furniture set) we borrowed.

Thanks Richard, yes sadly will go up 0.9%…and probably will continue the uphill trend for a while I'm guessing!

What are you suggesting then Jamie? So you're saying just have the offset against the PPOR paying P&I and leave the IPs as IO loans?

Thanks for that Jamie and Richard. Currently on 6.52% with a lend of $425k so would expect a rate around what Richard's quoting for a lend of $700k.Would you keep the structure the same? Currently both IPs are offset with IO. Would you do P&I for the PPOR if we have no intention of converting it to an IP in the future? Cheers

Busydude – congrats on your success in Blayney. Having lived there for over 3 years and seeing the significant increase in rents, we also considered Blayney as an investment option. However, for people reading this, I would be cautious in investing in Blayney in terms of long term capital growth. This is the primary reason we didn't invest. Yes,…[Read more]

Thanks Mike that's really clear and straight forward! Cheers

Thanks Terry that's helpful. I guess that's why I was trying to separate the IP portion within our tax return so not to skew or inflate the figures. But I think I need to be an accountant to get this completely accurate! Thanks again

Thanks for your help everyone. Very comprehensive Ferdinand. It seems there's no simple formula to figure this out. I was just interested to work out if our IP was positively geared after our tax refund.Cheers