Hi Basil BD,
We were researching the same issue a while back. There are several ‘noise dampening’ fencing options you can look at. The main idea of the fence is to ensure that it’s tall enough so that the noise is diverted over the top of your house. SO if you picture a line from the train to your house, thats the ‘path’ of the current sound. Put a fence into place then draw a line from the train to the top of the fence, continue the line onwards. If the line still intersects your house, the fence needs to be taller.

However I also found an American University study which tested a range of leading noise reducing fences. They found that irregular fencing had a better effect then flat or level fencing surfaces. In fact they found the best solution was to not spend money on these high tech fencing materials but use trees or tall shrubs to act as bufferers along the fence line as the irregular surface of the branches/leaves makes for an excellent insulator. Both for noise and visual appeal. So maybe a std fence with a row of needle pines might be the way to go.

Hope this helps.
Brett.

Cairns appts are great if looking at holiday rentals but they are seasonal (greater vacancies during off-peak periods). However a decent manager can usually keep them full.

Most Cairns locals are either in the southern or western suburbs. North is where the rich people live [biggrin].

Go have a look. At worst you’ll have a top holiday.

Just one piece of info I picked up on this forum earlier (which I’m happy to pass on) is that if your don’t immediately buy another place (i.e. go rent a place) then this one will remain your PPOR for tax purposes. Check with your accountant about the 7 year rule for CGT.

When we moved towns we rented out our old place, and moved into a rental place at the new town. When we eventually sold the old place after 3 years, there was no CGT as it was still deemed to be our PPOR.

However if you do buy another place then the rented one will stop being your PPOR.

Well, well, well..

I don’t know if this qualifies as an AHa moment but it’s definately a happy one!

Ans I was so smug at working out my CGT over the weekend. I’m almost disapointed..

..almost [biggrin]

I found the property sales maps you can buy, which show how mauch the current owner paid for the property and when, very useful. In Queensland you can order them from the Dept of Natural Resources and Mining. The link to their smart maps site is as follows:

http://www.nrm.qld.gov.au/property/mapping/blinmap/property_sales_map.html

You buy a map which contains the property your interested in and the surrounding properties. You can buy maps from A4 size up to A0. The larger maps contain more properties but I just got a $35 A4 map of the block I was looking at. Once you have the last purchase price, you can work out how much it’s appreciated based on the areas growth. It also gives you an idea on the property turnover in the area. And if there’s a similar property nearby that’s been sold recently, it gives you a top idea on the price you can look at paying.

Have fun,
Brett.

I’d be suprised if there were such a thing. The problem with termites is that eradication of one infestation is no guarantee of future protection. An insurance company would be wary of insuring any propert at risk of termite damage, especially as something as simple as the owner putting down woodchips as mulch could encourage new activity. How would you like your claim for insurance disqualified just because you were trying to save water on your garden beds? About the only places they would insure are those whose risk of infestation was negligable.. And then it wouldn’t be worth your expense to get the insurance…

Brett.

Hi Stargazer,
first of all, just came from the Masterclass in Brisbane, so thank you for giving me a question I might be able to help with (homework is to answer three questions in the forum).
Tusts were discussed in general. I believe in regards to negative gearing you can use a hybrid trust where you take out a loan (as in you the entity, not you the trustee), gifting the proceeds to the trust to invest, and you get the tax deduction for the negative gearing part. Just as you would get a deduction for negatively gearing into shares (because your negatively gearing into your trust, whcih then invests it into property). A hybrid acts like a unit trust in this regard but like a discretionary trust when it come to distributing income and capital gains. That being said I’m NOT an accountant so seek professional advice. One of the tips from tonight was treat all advice as opinions until you verify it yourself

In regards to asset protection a trust will protect your investments if you (as in you the person) are sued. If however one of your tenants falls and hurts themselves, they will sue the trust (as it’s the trust that owns the investment property). So all your properties could be at risk there. But this is why you have landlords/public liability insurance. Again, I’m not an accountant or an insurance adviser. If pain persists please seek professional advice.

I’m reading a good book on the subject called “Family Trusts” by N. E. Renton. Also Steve has the newly revised Wealth Guardian which covers how they use Trusts.

Have Fun.
Brett.

Just recently sold our IP in Mt Isa… and still not convinced it was the right thing to do. Having been born in Mt Isa, Worked for MIM for 6 years till it was bought by Xstrata, whom I now work for, I have a rough idea of how things stand. Mt Isa was the definition of stagnation before Xstrata bought MIM. Property prices went no where, captial appreciation was unknown. HOWEVER, it always had good rental returns due to the fluid population. When Xstrata bought MIM there was a reinvestment into the Mount Isa operation. For the previous 4 years the cathc cry was cut costs. Xstrata came in and changed that to ‘Lets utilize these resources to their upmost’. One of the first things they did was move services from Brisbane to Mt Isa, and employ almost 500 new people (mainly in the support/maintenance area as that’s where people had been removed from previously). This ment a sudden influx of families to Mt Isa. Any half decent property was bought and the rest were rented out. Occupancy rates in Mt Isa are very low. However there is a higher then average turnover. The mines has pretty much stabilised on their new employee levels. However the towns other businesses are still playing catch up to meet the new demand for their services (don’t expect a painter to be able to pop over to your place if it needs a new coat). So the population (I’m assuming) will grow a little more to meet this demand. New land is being released. However land is not really in stortage out there. Just housing and builders. The mines life span (last I heard) was approximately 15-20 years. However there’s a lot still to be explored out there, so don’t think this is an end-date. Mount Isa is also a transport gateway and the only real regional centre in that areas of Western Queensland.

As I said, I’m not certain I did the right thing in selling that property… Seemed like a good idea at the time though.