Apart from the depreciation schedule which is one of your best friends as an investor; ditching the self managing is a wise move until you have more experience or probably ever, you tend to attract the tenants who wouldn't bother applying through an office due to their record.

Qlds007 wrote:
Agree with Derek don't hold any NRAS stock in my own portfolio but have financed a few dozen for clients.

Not saying they are all bad or overpriced but make sure your Broker orders an upfront valuation and you get a copy of the valuation report before going unconditional.

You have to ask yourself if the marketing agent (as Derek…[Read more]

Not sure if you can get it in E-book form but 'Investing story by story' by Jan Somers is a great read for inspiration.

If the development  deals were profitable then that's an obvious choice as pointed out  

Depends what sort of an income you need as well, presumably if you are looking with a longer investing time frame and talking 20%+ p/a returns then it's going to have to be value adding or business of some kind. Not a bad place to be starting from anyway if…[Read more]

Have you explored the chance to use the property as something with a commercial angle? Sounds like a fascinating property, trying to place it but I don’t have quite enough information at the moment

Yes good advice about doing as much as possible on friendly terms, that’s useful advice for pretty much everything involving property negotiations, don’t burn bridges unless you absolutely have to.

Occupancy isn’t really an issue for any property that is in decent condition, the rental market is quite healthy.

I buy in this area often, generally 480 will be a little tight for a house buyer but good choice for townhouses and excellent choice for apartments. Work with 5.2% gross yield as a rough rule of thumb. All depends on what you are…[Read more]

Doesn’t sound that bad if you are keeping your family, youth and health! Bought a few houses in that range 50-100k discount from previous sale price in the last year, some crying vendors but it’s really just a question of changing perspective in most cases, still a lucky country!

Quite a large complex. Not necessarily a red flag as it could be a premium location.

Would be inclined to look at smaller complexes for relative yield and land value/content in the same area, or even houses if just for comparison before going ahead, the condition questions are worth exploring though, you would want to know the chance of ongoing…[Read more]

Can be area specific, are most of the other houses in the street rendered? In terms of a longer term rental would be hard to go past the paint option though.

Excellent article, thanks for sharing!

Like development it’s important to know your end market, who you will be selling to and for what price, once you own that space you can work backwards through the marketing, renovation work, purchase price/location/property type to work out a detailed feasibility study to arrive at your present position!

Don. wrote:
I think 25bps is a good call. Leaves the RBA plenty of room to move on monetary policy. Don't forget we still have the highest cash rate (in the world?) or up there at least.  There is still a lot to do in the area of fiscal policy reform and a downturn may speed things up in this area, who knows? Not that we would wish it.Company…[Read more]

rusty05 wrote:
I guess it begs the question tho, is an 8% return the minimum that we shoud be aiming for or do the numbers still not work at 8%? I'd be interested to hear what returns people find works for them – Obviously it depends on costs etc because it's a gross figure. Rusty

It is an interesting question because it directly relates to…[Read more]

They always seem to be clued in about the Brisbane residential market, has to be the best free market update in Australia I think.

Damien Y wrote:
For QLD:

I find information Queensland interactive mapping an excellent way of searching a property to identify its exact land size and which local government it resides in.

http://gis.qld.gov.au/iqed/map/

As Andrew has mentioned a number of larger councils within Queensland use the PDonline system i.e Brisbane, Gold Coast,…[Read more]

PFrankyX wrote:
I am based in Sydney, considering my first investment purchase in QLD. I have read that i must use a conveyancer in the state of purchase. Is this correct and if so, does anyone have any recommendations for conveyancers in Brisbane?

Are there any other considerations to be made for purchasing property in QLD?

If you are buying…[Read more]

You just need to have a look at the ownership records to know what a massive impact investors and investor groups have on a town that looks suspiciously like a ponzi scheme such as Moranbah. Plenty of money has been made and will be in the small mining towns but the risks will only be fully known after the fact, also there are other issues to…[Read more]

Kristin Simondson PBRE wrote:
…If you want a real estate agent to find you the best deal as a buyer no matter which agency the listing is with – get a buyer's advocate…>

Great advice

People should know better… but they often don’t is the issue, a combination of effective regulation and education has to be part of the answer.

Qlds007 wrote:
Hi HbayHate to say there is no change in the investment rate of Stamp Duty and has been stated it will be determined by the Contract date rather than the Settlement.I have a forum client where we are looking at a Call Option contract to get around the Contract date and make it July 1 rather than pre June 30 to lower the acqusition…[Read more]