I'm about to do mine thru

 http://www.apeicourses.com/

can't vouch for it yet (& I plan to do full agents licence flyer the 1st 3 you need to be a rep)

reason I chose them is
1 cost (also check out the funding avail via gov)
2 by distance – I have 2 young children & live in the country

Hi Sir Danger Mouse,

My first time logging in for some time (since being active on the forum last we're based back in Vic our home state and had 2nd baby this year).  We'd be happy to chat with you about our experiences in developing.

One concern I have off the bat is what / who your end market is (the inner east is not an area where buyers…[Read more]

peter.matey wrote:
Meg,Thank you very much for the elaborate response to my query. You are right I am still trying to do my first project. Every time I do feasibility something or the other does not add up and my first project is still waiting to see light of the day.But I am not complaining as the property market has not moved & I am learning…[Read more]

You need to speak with a lawyer, accountant and banker.  The bank can't half sell a property so they would take security over the whole of it.  Any changes to title aside from spousal to my knowledge incur stamp duty.Sounds a strange set up, your accountant may suggest setting up some sort of company structure before you even start to sell s…[Read more]

Know what about selling it?  How the bank treats it (partial release of security), how to subdivide (generally see a town planner and surveyor) …..

Thanks Catalyst,Turns out our property manager had the wrong property (wasn't even one of our houses)!Our Electrician who we called out is annoyed (he turned up to the house where no one was home but the power was on) as is my partner Carl who built the house.Another case in point as to why I'm progressively taking on the PM of properties…[Read more]

Agree – nothing wrong with Toowoomba – was just pointing out that choices don't need to be limited to there and a great idea to diversify if already in the Twmba market

Bendigo?

Hi Peter,Great that you are getting into your first project.  What happend with the two homes you were considering doing as 'owner builder' in your earlier posts?Seems to be some confusion from the comments above as to difference between strata, community, company, single unit dwellings, freehold titles etc.,  Could be due to posters being i…[Read more]

Hi James,One size doesn't fit all.   For my two bobs worth…You are in a great starting position.The buiding boost is only around for contracts signed before the end of January 2012 (construction within 2 years).By buying vacant land or off the plan you minimise your stamp duty costsTake advantage of the boost, the current great time to build an…[Read more]

beedie wrote:
Wolfe……As promised links below on our latset development 5 aparments and the house . .just hit the market only couple of weeks overdue……http://www.realestate.com.au/property-apartment-qld-greenslopes-107993056http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-qld-greenslopes-107993066Hows the civil unrest in the suburbs over your…[Read more]

Hi Scott no mates,Not sure if you are involved personally with the reao site? If so could you please let me know?Meg

On the surface Sunni1 you are in a good position to take advantage of some of the many opportunities at the moment.  Without paying mortgage insurance work off 80/20 ie.,Your existing property is worth $700KThats a lending value against it of $560KLess the $300K you are already usingLeaves $260K to use towards your property investment portfolio A…[Read more]

Hi Chazzawazza,From what you've said I'd definately recommend staying off the tools yourself – would cost you more in time (holding costs) and stress than getting in the guys who do this day in day out.dcwwood made a great point about the current grant that is available in Qld for total value (land and construction) of up to $600K for building…[Read more]

Hi Charlitayla,Goomeri is a lovely little town (we have a farm at nearby Kilkivan).I'm certainly not against investing in rural areas however I caution over Goomeri's size.  You could be lucky enough to get a tenant who'll live there for years without a problem – we don't ever hear of much trouble from Goomeri despite it having a great pub!  G…[Read more]

Hi Bamboocow,You don't say which city but I'm guessing Perth (from the R40 zoning)?You could be onto something, or you could end up holding this (could be less than desirable tenants, if the area is) for longer than you intend.  What is going to change in the area to bring this suburb up; is there new infrastructure coming, jobs, push of pric…[Read more]

Engineers aren't cheap – the figure you've been quoted doesn't sound OTT.

Hi ChazzWazza, Bit like Alice in Wonderland – which road you take, depends on where you want to go….Consider your goals, how fast you want to get there, risk tolerance, strategy including tax etc.,   ie., if you have plenty of discretionary time you might want to consider renovations to buy and sell.  However this could be affected by your fin…[Read more]

I'm not sure that I'm seeing the benefit to you or the builder in your proposed strategy…  By the time you buy the property, pay stamp duty and acquisition costs, holding costs and selling costs – too risky in my view.  You might like to consider instead taking the step back which the current vendor has already done and find a property without t…[Read more]

Hi Robtan777,I've bought a couple of properties in the past with DA's / plans already in place.  In both those scenarios the vendor needed out due to their own circumstances changing and I was fortunate to have done nicely out of them as I didn't have any lengthy holding costs waiting for approvals to come thru (we started building on the same…[Read more]