Ha !Always good for a laugh, thanks for posting. It sounds like an average banker's IQ has to match the average bank interest rates

Hi Ladybird,Some of the energy efficiencies will be down to the tenant (use of applicances, TV etc). However, a lot of the efficiencies are built in, so you have a lot of control over how efficient the homes will be. Depending on how far you are in the process, the properties will have an energy efficiency rating (using a software tool called…[Read more]

Hi Scotty, Electric hot water units are the latest target due to their poor efficiency, especially storage tanks. The efficiency is not good, they warm up the water whether it's used or not. Instantaneous electric water heating (i.e. turn on the tap and the water heater starts up) will still be OK though. Obviously, if you already have an electric…[Read more]

Hi Vita,Our staging is for a 2Br apartment, and we're paying around $2,500 for 4 weeks in total. The staging is done before the photoshoot and runs through all the open inspections. Looking at the photos we have, it looks a lot better with furniture than just being empty. We also chose to stage because people very often look at apartments and…[Read more]

Hi Fredo,Are you still looking at staging ?If so, let me know. We're in the processof selling a two-bedroom apartment at the moment, and have decided to stage. In initial reactions are good, the property is an off-the-plan property and looked a bit bare. The effect of staging the place well is definately a positive one. Reply to this and I'll let…[Read more]

Hi Karen,Haven't gone through the sales process yet, but we bought from Professionals Mackay, the RE agents name was Robyn Land. She was very professional, answered calls promptly and generally did a very satisfactory job. A good place to start if you're looking for a start place.

Hi Salina,Yes, they seem to be. Whenever me and my wife go to a viewing, agents always talk to me and generally ignore my wife. The fact that she's small and asian also seems to reinforce this attitude.This is great ! As people have already mentioned, you can use this to your advantage. Once we realised this, my wife would walk around taking notes…[Read more]

Hi Ladyo,We have a property in Rockhampton, and about a year ago changed to use a lady called Lyn Hansen who works out of an estate agents called Livingston & Molloy RE (they're part of the 'Professionals' chain of RE agents). She's always been quick to respond to any queries, and is very professional and knowledgable in the dealings we've had…[Read more]

Hi Blackjack,Sorry to hear about the problems you had. We had a similar situation about a year ago. Our tenant left but the place was left in an absolute state, fleas in he carpet due to the tenant owning a dog, dents in the internal plasterboard walls because the son played soccer indoors, broken windows due to the soccer games, etc. Our PM…[Read more]

Hi Talis,You're right, I do sound like my Dad ! I must be getting old……When I got a margin loan, I calculated a 50% LVR (basically, borrow a dollar for every dollar you put in). What I also did was make sure that I had a further 20% in cash that could be put into the margin loan account in an emergency. For example, for every $10,000 you…[Read more]

Hi Talis,You can do what you say, but may I issue a word of warning. If you've been following the news recently, the people who invested through Storm Financial were encouraged to do pretty much what you're suggesting (i.e. take equity our of their PPOR, use that to leverage into shares) and a lot of people got completely wiped out! Obviously,…[Read more]

Without pushing too hard, I think you should be making something of an issue of this. I'm not sure of the rules for accountants, but it's a requirement for any company with an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) to monitor, provide and record training for their employees. Is there anything similar inn accountancy circles?

Hi Andlim,That's understandable, from what I understand there are quite strict measures as to what consitutes urgent repairs, there's a list of situations and scenarios starting on page 16 of the CAV guide that you can find here and may be useful;…[Read more]

Hi Andlim,The figure of $1000 is mentioned in the Residential Tenancies Act of 1997 (Section 72), but you should be aware that it's only applicable to urgent repairs (defined as safety and security repairs by Consumer Affairs Victoria). Section 32 also mentions 'landlord or agent', so the agent is authorised to act on oyur behalf.So, in answer to…[Read more]

Hi Cataldop,In short, i think the answer will be 'no'. In Victoria, the payment is a 'net' payment i.e. any electricity generated by the solar panels will be used in the home first, and any surplus will be fed back into the system at the $0.60 kWh. As far as I know, there's no exceptions.

Hi Elmondo,This is a property website, but I'd be surprised if everyone only buys property. Either that, or I'm the odd one out…….Diversification is definitely the way to go. Spend time with a good financial advisor on how to spread the asset allocation and don't make any hasty decisions, remember the old adage about the deal of a lifetime…[Read more]

As far as I can tell, all figures seem to have been covered but in my experience your figure for holding costs may be a little low.Think of it as a 'money-in, money out' timeline i.e. you first put money in as a deposit, maybe wait 30 days for settlment, do the reno work, put it back on the market, sell the property, then wait for settlement…[Read more]

A few other people have already posted this type of question. I suggest you search for "cashflow capital" in the search box at the top right hand side of this page and see what people have previously said…..

Hi Joyce,Try the following link;http://abs.gov.au/websitedbs/D3310114.nsf/home/Census+datato get to the initial page of census data. If that doesn't work, try the keywords 'Census Data' and you should be able to find your way to the same page.

We've purchased through them in the past, and they've found good properties if you're looking for positive cashflow (although CF+ properties are easier to find at the moment). A lot of the properties they list are available on sites such as realestate.com.au etc but they also have buyers agents in certain areas that get properties before they go…[Read more]