Me either, but I will comment on the family home issue. I think in most cases its more like my wife and I where we bought the family home in our own names because we didn't know better, and now that we do its an expensive exercise to transfer it into a trust because of stamp duty on transfer.

I believe thats correct. The additional protection comes from having the director of the company thats trustee owning no assets. So for instance if our family home was in my wifes name, but as director of the company thats trustee for the family trust I get sued (in that capacity), our family home is still safe. Of course if you're like us and…[Read more]

There's many, many flaws in your plan, but at the very least, 20k p/a is around $385 p/w, and 30k p/a is around $575 p/w, so your plan relies on anyone who matters (purchaser/bank/whoever you want to trick here) not realizing that the rent is $200 p/w above market value with no justifiable reason.

Why can't you use some of that $180k – $250k to pay down the mortgage? Does your IO loan not allow it?

Doesn't sound likely. That said, there's always negotiation. Remember, if you don't proceed, he doesn't get anything at all, so maybe you can negotiate down to a consideration that still allows your project to be profitable. Failing that, I guess you can 'land bank' until the 10 years are up. Pity you're already well under way on getting plans…[Read more]

Thoughts? I think if you don't pay, they'll simply disagree.I guess if I was in your shoes, I'd be trying to get into contact with one of the people who built the "already 4-5 multiple dwelling blocks in the subdivision" and talk to them about how they went about things.

I'd definitely talk to your solicitor. It doesn't sound right to me, but you're better off being sure.

I'm no expert, but I did just cover off a few of these things with my accountant yesterday.Cost to setup a trust is minimal, few hundred dollars, with no ongoing costs if you decide not to make use of it for a while.If you want to setup a corporate trustee though, the corporation costs a bit more to setup, and has annual ASIC fees to pay (around…[Read more]

Hey, those look like almost the exact color scheme I've been wanting to do our house in. I'll have to show these to the wife!Great job, look forward to hearing how the revalue goes.Shape, is that just kitchen or any plumbing or something? Is that all states generally? I hadn't heard about that before.

The first thing that jumps out at me, is that you don't seem to have gotten any discount on your interest rates. I know this wasn't your questions, but even the big banks should come in around 7.1% after discounts. Maybe you should talk to your lenders and see if they can do something about reducing them?My second thought is that you'd do better…[Read more]

Nice vids, very encouraging.I was reading through a back-issue API that featured you, and it had a quote along the lines of: "you won't find these deals on the internet or an agents window, you need to do the legwork.". I'm wondering if you can expand a bit on that, what kind of legwork? Is it just visiting as many properties as you can? Talking…[Read more]

I'm not sure what advantage you see in keeping the suburb secret when it could well let you get better advice if you specified it.

How did you come up with that interest figure? Is that your conservative "what if?" number? It seems to be over 9% p/a.

Make sure you let them know you're leaving the door open while you wait though. "Ok, thanks. Please let them know I'm prepared to listen if they change their minds or want to negotiate, but for now I'll keep looking for something else."

Didnt post the followup on this really. Condition of the Development Permit was to seal the road for the length of the property (approx 42mtrs so about 50mtrs by the time you joined to the front road), also to put in concrete channel and gutter for that length. Spoke to a road construction company and their estimate (not quote, just over the…[Read more]

I did it with the second house I bought (3br townhouse in Hawthorn) a number of years back now. RE agent was quoting a range and said vendors only interested in offers prior that were above that mark. At that time underquoting was standard anyway. In our opinion that house was in the upper ranges for quality in the price range we were looking at…[Read more]

Thanks for all the responses. I guess at some point brick walls could come back in favor, but by the same light I dont think plaster walls will ever go out of favor. Looking at a block of flats, old 70s brick boxes basically. Structurally ok, kitchens need an update, but with the walls between the flats being bare brick on each side.

Could be, I just figured the 3 years prior to last year would have pushed things up enough to still have had growth over the entire period.Ahh well, just take a bit longer.

I think I'd go back to the accountant and ask him for figures to show why selling and buying a better tax placed property would be of benefit.

If you're a 30ish single income family in the 30% tax bracket I'd be less worried about tax and more about profit.Have you asked your accountant what advantages there are to buying a different property 'structured better for tax'?I'm far from a tax expert, but if the plan is to get positive income in your wifes name (either buying property in her…[Read more]