Are you sure they're decreasing public housing in that suburb, and not just focusing elsewhere for new public housing?

Maybe you should slow down and explain the situation and what it is you're trying to achieve?

Hmm, in that case I suspect your accountant is confused, maybe like me he's confused your past with your plans. The renovation is a capital expense incurred as an investment. If you borrow money for it, the interest should be deductible.

Well that's two different things. You're talking about living there while you renovate?

Think of the condition of the house when you buy it as the starting point. Work to bring a property back up to the starting point is a repair, work to improve the property beyond the starting point is an improvement. So even if its run down when you buy it, you're not repairing it, you're improving it.  A repair cost is immediately tax…[Read more]

Hmm, interesting. I guess I've only heard of situations where the existing fencing could be considered sufficient for the purposes of both parties.

As far as I'm aware you're never in an obligation to pay for new/replacement fencing. If you agree to fence then you need to pay 50%, but you aren't required to agree.Now this might be different for different councils maybe? Or if there is no existing fence at all? I'd call the local council and ask them.

Wow, I read threads like this, and I'm so happy I accidentally stumbled onto a great manager. Great communication (both ways) regular inspections, verbal catchup after each inspection with a following written report. Advice if I ask for it. Happy to put rents up. Vets potential tenants and presents top few for us to choose from. As far as I can…[Read more]

Jamie M wrote:
If serviceability is really tight – look at fixing some (or all) of the loan. They assess the serviceability on fixed rates differently. That said though – you need to make sure you can afford it! Look at your income/expenses and make sure that it won't be placing you in any financial hardship.

Its very easy (and tempting) to…[Read more]

The only questions you should be asking yourself are "Do I want to sell? If so, for how much?".People seem to get carried away when a developer knocks on their door for some reason.

Risk/Reward tradeoff at the moment. Just settled and rented out a nice 3 bedroom house giving us that, a block of 3 flats and our PPoR. Could probably afford another one, but right now I'd prefer to make sure we have comfortable reserves in serviceability, and start paying the PPoR down aggressively. Whilst the next movement in rates will almost…[Read more]

lifestylez wrote:
Your numbers look mostly correct to me.  Don't forget you can claim depreciation on newer properties which will increase your after-tax cashflow.  For example, if your gross cashflow on the property is -$15,000/year:Tax Saving @ 30% tax rate: $4,500$10,000 Depreciation @ 30% tax rate: $3,000Therefore your after-tax cashflow i…[Read more]

For a lot of the final show I really wondered how they'd handle a total profit of only around $10k. After months of contestants talking about how winning the show would be "life changing".  And no, I don't imagine the other contestants got paid anything, it was a competition, the risk was to spend all that time and walk away with nothing.For all…[Read more]

Don't forget a depreciation schedule.

In an inflationary world, expect higher (perhaps much higher) interest rates, so if we get into that boat people will need to be in a position to handle increased repayments, be that from income, or from reserves. I've been reading a lot lately too, and I'm darned if anyone can tell if we're going into a period of hyper-inflation, deflation, or…[Read more]

You seem to be confusing independent with interdependent. Interdependent would imply the partners depend upon each other.

I don't mind them, but I don't get why all sites have a search criteria of 'more than' for everything other than price. If I want to look for 2 bedroom apartments, I want to look for 2 bedroom apartments, not 2+ bedrooms. Just seems like a strange criteria they all enforce.

Don't disagree with either of you. I guess I'd say calculated risk is good, but blind risk is bad. Its the people who just accept that what the banks will loan them is what they should borrow that scare me (for their sakes). Its like the people who hear that negative gearing is good and paying tax is bad, so they run out to buy the most negatively…[Read more]

itsandrew wrote:
Nice allegory but it seems to be a bucket of cold water on aspiration.Kevin who then should own property?  Are you advocating a return to serfdom?  I'd be interested in your thoughts on this especially for the third little pig.Andrew

I didn't interpret it that way, it seemed more a warning of the dangers of over-committing in a…[Read more]

(Terry, correct me if I'm wrong)..A contract is only unconditional after all the terms have been satisfied. If the deposit was a term in the contract that hasn't been satisfied, then the contract can't be unconditional  yet. Check the wording on the contract.