Each state is different on the exact rules of getting the FHOG. It might be worth you ‘moving’ in for a couple of months. Just read the fine print and see if you can move in without actually shifting your furniture, if you know what I mean. The FHOG applies to your first home too – whether you live in it or not. Ie, if you don’t get it on your…[Read more]

I’m with you on this one. The yields that are being asked for are simply ridiculous. There are so many more things in the universe of investments which will give better yields, yet industrial property continues yields continue to slip. I bought one property 5 years ago at 10% yield. At the time I planned to buy one every couple of years and…[Read more]

Most PM’s will want a week’s rent to put someone into a property. This will add up if you have high turnover, however, managing the property yourself is going to take a fair it of your time.

I rent an IP to students most of the time as it is adjacent to a university, but as a ‘normal’ rental, not as a short term, by the room type. There’s…[Read more]

Thanks for the responses guys.

It is a PPOR for both of them – neither have any other property. I guess the ‘price’ of the transfer would be whatever it needs to be, but both of them definitely want their share of the capital gain. CGT doens’t come into it as it is PPOR for them both.

The issue is really the stamp duty, which is calculated on…[Read more]

SPAM!!

Sara, if you want customers for your business, then become a regular forum contributor and add your expertise to people’s problems. It’s OK if you want to leave your contact details in your sig, but blatant advertising is not wanted or appreciated.

I would say that you are more likely to harm your business reputation than help with this…[Read more]

I would suggest that anyone can get started in property if they truly want to.

I think the question is not how much money you earn, but what do you want to achieve, and why? If the why is strong enough for you, the how works itself out. If you persist with enough determination towards a goal for a long enough period of time you will achieve it,…[Read more]

I’d use a broker. They’re going to find the best deal for you, and they know how to ‘dress’ an application to ensure that it has the best chance of being approved. Spend your time chasing the deals, leave the insurance to someone you can trust.

It probably doesn’t apply to you, but I’d recommend anyone takng out income protection while they…[Read more]

I have a business (pty ltd) which is the trustee of my investment trust. I hold shares and real estate in the name of the trust. My wife and I are directors and shareholders of the pty ltd company.

I use the business for non investing income, and own all ‘doodads’ in the name of the business – ie cars, phones, compfuters. These are all…[Read more]

You’re unlikely to find any accurate, up to date information as much of the rental market is very informal.

If you want to know about rental yields and vacancies, just go to your local real estate agents on the weekend and pick up all the for sale lists, and the renatl listings. If there are very few rental listings, there isn’t much vacancy.…[Read more]

I’ve read the for’s and against’s on this thread, and I’ve got something for all of you: You are all right and you none of you are right.

The idea that someone can say ‘shares is better than property’ or ‘property is better than shares’ is as sensible as people of different religions slaughtering each other with the battle cry of ‘my god is…[Read more]

I can’t comment directly on the situation that you’re in, but my advice with any type of financial transaction is have a full set of audited financial statements bound and ready going back 3 years. Give this to the underwriter doing the insurance.

As a general comment on Income Protection insurance – if you’ve got a regular job and you’re…[Read more]

I was looking at a recent refurb and they appear to have done the splashbacks with glass painted or coated on the wall side with white.

It looks quite stunning and very easy to clean. Has anyone had any experience with this?

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We all need somewhere to live – but do we all need a CBD apartment?

A friend of mine was renting his refurb project to his son whilst working on the exterior (completed interior first). However his son decided to go and chase money at the mines in Mackay so left him without a ‘friendly’ tenant. He spoke to his next door neighbours, whose son was looking for a somewhere to live. They came to an agreement where…[Read more]

You can pay 100% of a purchase price for a house if you want, that way you’ll get very positive gearing.

The important thing to remember is that building wealth can occur through many different ways, but they all have something in common: leverage/gearing and the power of compounding interest.

If a house has a net rental yield of 4%, and you pay…[Read more]

Just reading this again, you’re getting a lot of advice about doing IP for tax purposes. But this guy (sorry if girl) has two dependant kids and is the single earner in the household. He’s only got enough income to qualify for $250k loan. I’m thinking tax deductions are the least of his problems.

IMO tax minimisation strategies only start to…[Read more]

I’d just like to add that the ‘breadcrumbs’ which track how deep you are into the forums don’t seem to be working.

ie home >> forums >> help needed

The old format had clear and easy to use breadcrumbs and I found them useful. Many forums omit this important feature and leave you ‘stranded’ after posting or…[Read more]

I meant to add… I have my own way of mentally checking the yield.

Which is, for every 100,000 of purchase price you need $200 dollars a week in rent. A $300,000 house needs $600 a week to be positive cashflow (now, there’s not to many of those around!).

A $150,000 house needs $300 a week and so on.

Underneath it is almost identical to…[Read more]

It is just simple mathematics – like any formula you can jig the operators around and still get the same result.

To work out gross yield, you multiply the weekly rent * 52 weeks in a year. This gives you the total rent for the year. Now divide that figure (yearly rent) by the purchase price. There’s your yield.

ie $100 week rent on a property…[Read more]

No, I haven’t spoken to other lenders as it is not a full refinance, merely an adjustment of limits with the current line of credit I have on the place, but I might look at fixing part of it into a fixed rate mortgage, and leaving a certain amount as a line of credit.

I want to stick with this bank for the moment as they seem to understand me…[Read more]

This is probably a boundary realignment and not a subdivision so approval would be faster. My friend just cut a corner off his block, 1/20th of his land size, but the escalating land prices meant that this corner paid off his outstanding debt on the whole block by selling a corner. Another one I know of bought a 5m strip from the neighbour for…[Read more]