Hi 5c1,

I had a quick look around – do a Search on Google for “Insurance Ombudsman” and you will likely be directed to “Financial Ombudsman Services”, perhaps in your State. But do start there.

The role of an Ombudsman is to work with you to help resolve issues where “David is struggling against Goliath”. I would think your situation deserves to have a “Big Brother” called in to help you to resolve your losses in light of that “weasel clause” used by the Insurance Company against you.

Benny

Hi 5c1,

As one who has never had a tenant doing that, can I ask just what actually happened to the house? Like, do they knock down walls to put pipes in, or flood the place leading to rot in the floor? Without your words today, I wouldn’t even have thought of growing cannabis as being “malicious damage”.

Can you help me understand more by explaining just what damage was done?

And hey, sorry to hear what happened – thanks for the “Heads Up”

Regards,
Benny

To all members:-
A spammer was recently found to be approaching members in PM (Private Messages) and offering finance.

The recent spammer was posting under the name Santana, but is now Blocked. Should there be any repeat, don’t hesitate to advise us using the Report button, or even a PM to Admin if wanting to include more information. Be wary of anyone who appears to have just joined pi.com (they have very few posts) and are offering finance or other “deals”.

As per the rules, members are entitled to advertise their business via their signature – but not as a link within a post, or by using PMs to “cold call”.

Help us to keep this site free from unwanted contributors by informing us of any transgressors. And thank you to those who alerted us to Santana.

Thank you,
Benny

is it worth renovating property’s around 60-70k?

Not enough info to answer it straight up, except to say that others have done it, but surely it would depend on each individual case. As always, don’t over-capitalise – and, in some country towns, that might not be too hard to do.

But yeah – buy the problem, and sell the solution. Darryl seemed to do that pretty well, and you saw his Buy prices, and then his Reno’ed Values afterward !!!

Benny

Hi Mikey,

Welcome aboard – you have come to a good place. I just did a quick check and saw that LMI based on a $400k buy

at 95% is $14k
90% is $7.7k,
88% is $5.0K and
85% is $4.3k

So, you can see how things take a sudden turn Northward once you exceed 88%. I should have done 89% too – but you can do that.

Here’s the calculator for Genworth:-
http://www.genworth.com.au/online-tools-forms-and-reports/lmi-tools/lmi-premium-estimator

Benny

Hi Ben,

What sort of properties are going to be best suited, am I looking for new builds with better depreciation initially?

One of the subjects I am wanting to highlight in my “Big Picture for New Readers” thread is one that discusses this whole subject. Maybe THIS thread could become the one I want?

I do know that some well-regarded people on here have talked to this subject in the past, perhaps as individual replies to other threads. Hopefully they will add links, or reiterate their positions for you in this thread.

As I recall, the concensus tended to be that a second-hand property with large land was mostly better – unless you were actually developing the new property yourself (giving yourself the savings that a developer would usually take as profit).

Of course, this means that the gearing would be less as you have saved so much cost…. but who seriously wants to pay $50,000 more so they can get $20,000 of that extra cost back again as a Tax deduction?

Benny

Hi Tom,

I thought with a positive geared property and my numbers stacking up ok 330 shouldnt have been a problem?

I totally agree !! I think you might be about to find that a Mortgage Broker can come up with a WAY better result for you than most individual banks can. Of course, right now, we are firing blind as there isn’t any info re your income apart from rent. I am guessing that you have a reasonable income to be able to put aside $60k in cash.

Anyway, I have a lot of faith in the abilities of MB’s – so watch out for replies from one of them – there are a host on here, just check the signatures of any others who post a reply to you. They are Masters in choosing just “which bank” is the best to use first for an investor, and also the ones to use last – all because some lenders have differing lending rules than others.

Certainly, from the post you made, I would be very surprised if there wasn’t a positive result possible from somewhere. The Equity is a big plus – let’s see what the MB’s can offer re getting your DSR higher. A tete-a-tete with one of them could prove to be a goldmine for you.

Benny

Hi Rebecca,

I’ve only just been approached to invest into Armstrong creek

Whoa !! Warning – cold calls from businesses wanting to sell you property is one of the louder “alarm bells”.

There are several alarms that give a warning that you might be about to buy something that is less than it is presented to be. Other alarms include them “Wanting to check that you have plenty of Equity in your PPOR” so a cross-coll mortgage will HIDE the fact that the new property is OVER-priced.

Then there is the “Fly you free to the Gold Coast to invest…” but they DON’T allow you to have free time to check out other RE agents’ offerings. THe biggest alarm is if they RUSH you to sign the contract, AND they have a solicitor and finance all lined up for you. Run a mile in those cases.

https://www.propertyinvesting.com/buying-investment-property-off-plan-dumb/

Do take a look at a very good Article by Jason (above link). One of the more important sentences is this one:-

Having worked directly with builders myself, I’d say many were over-valued from the beginning because the sales price included hefty referral fees to pay financial planners or other industry professionals who recommended these properties to their clients.

Watch out that you are not paying over-the-odds for this place – do have a look at other comparables of similar property types in that area. If “yours” are $40k more than most, it begs the question – “Why?”

Do a Search for Reventon – I believe I have seen other posts with that name, but I don’t recall the outcomes – sorry,

Benny

Hi Pat,

I’m not sure what I’m allowed to post on here in regarding my number or website etc but feel free to contact me for any questions. I love talking property!

Like many business people on here, you may include contact details, website, in your signature. Do not promote your business via any link in the post – but if anyone wants to make contact, your sig points the way.

Benny