I have used this over the past year with some success.
You don’t have to use an accountant. All you need to do is download the forms and in competing them essentially do a pre-emtive return for the year ahead.
The ATO assess your future liability against current PAYG tax paid and amortise the remainder over the remaining months in the year. They…[Read more]

??????

Would you buy a pair of shoes without trying them on? a car w/o a test drive? or a spouse w/o……….

No-one likes rhetorical questions but you would have to be mad to buy a property without setting foot inside.

How many of us have seen stunning photos on the net and arrived at the inspection to find the place shares a wall with a…[Read more]

Just a note on my credit card experience.

You can get around the problem by getting addittional card(s)issued to your spouse/friend/slave etc.

As you are not the primary card holder you bear no liability for the debt. Even if the card holder perishes you are not liable. As such the lender won’t hold it against you.

I discovered this when I…[Read more]

Hi Andy,

Perth and Brisbane are OK. But for the property that you are describing I don’t know how you could go past Cairns. I just found a 4 bed 3 bath 6 year old house in a good suburb that will rent for over 7% gross on a long term unfurnished basis. It only cost a little over 200K, the vacancy rate is negligible and there is excess demand f…[Read more]

There is no one value for a property. There are statutory, mortgage, market, just terms compo etc. values which can vary greatly. That is why the valuer would have tried to qualify his instructions by establishing the purpose of the valuation. The valuer has to conform to the parameters of the instructions or accept legal liability for an…[Read more]

Mel’s right.

Bearing in mind that the valuer will probably be doing 3 or 4 vals in the day he inspects your property it makes it a whole lot easier if you or the agent can provide some reasonable comparables. They should be settled sales of alike properties in close proximity to your new purchase. It’s always worth being bullish with your est…[Read more]

BDM,

As much as the agent you refer to may be inventing the buyer I thought it’s worth noting that whilst it may defy popular logic they could be real.
I once had a buyer come to the agency who was a mad keen sailor and desperately wanted to find a property in Parriwi Rd in Mosman so he could overlook the afternoon regattas at the Spit and Middle…[Read more]

First things first….of course the agents are legally obliged to submit all offers to the vendor.
But whilst we’re generalising about the agents lets add the fact that like the used car salesmen, politicians & journo’s their behaviour is a reaction to what is rewarded in their daily experiences.
Not wanting to get into nature vs. nurture but…[Read more]

Wow,

2 pages and no numbers. Everyone must be pretty modest or perhaps not vulgar enough to set specific $$ goals.

I personally have goals relating more to total market value and time than net worth or passive income. Based on some pretty conservative estimates and excessive spreadsheeting I speculate that when I hit $1m(it is hard putting…[Read more]

Jump in with both feet.

If you have to pay mortgage insurance, do it, if you have to buy the worst house in the suburb, do it etc.

Use the net to find an area that you can afford and meets your required property profile and talk to a number of banks, brokers etc. as they all have different criteria and you will find someone who will supply you…[Read more]

Hi there

As the previous posts have suggested your decision needs to be a considered one with lifestyle being placed above finances.

That being said (and I don’t know what stage of life, ie how old you are) I made the choice to rent and buy a couple of years ago and it has afforded me the cash flow to accumulate faster and hopefully bail out o…[Read more]

Hi Nobleone,

Thought this post may have been about my tenants from the title.

Regardless, I would think that your strategy would on a macro scale depend on your existing situation, time horizon, cash flow & reserves etc.

All being equal though if you are trying to build wealth in the medium to long term I would personally suggest the buy,…[Read more]

Hi Elves,

I could have written your post myself. I too have a tenant in QLD who lives at home(on benefits) and is continually requesting minor work.

Since I bought the place in September I have had to repair power points, ceiling fan, shower seals, oven handles, door jams, handles, light sockets, kitchen cupboards, TV arial interference(?)…it…[Read more]

Afternoon Daniel,

I’m a commercial leasing agent and typically we would charge 50% of our standard scale of fees being 11% of gross annual rent excluding GST for a new 3 year lease or 15% for 5. This applies to negotialtion of a new lease with an existing tenant.
This is a bit of a grey area though as I know of agents who charge a full scale. It…[Read more]

Hi all,

Have ascended from residential real estate to commercial. Finishing a val qualification and aspiring to a life of unfettered sportsfishing by 35. 3 IP’s, no PPOR.

Morning Brian,

Whilst it may be fairly anecdotal I used to work in residential r/e in ’99 and couldn’t count the number of buyers I came across back then who were “waiting for prices to fall” because the market was “overheated and just about to crash”. I kept in touch with them in successive years as prices continued to rise and yields fall…[Read more]

Argyle,

Rental values are stagnant and yields are falling due to demand/supply factors more than wage levels. The simple fact that we are all running around buying investment properties is increasing the ratio of IPs to PPORs. With a static number of tenants there too many properties available and consequently rents are steady or falling. If…[Read more]

Crashy

I too have read the more recent edition and with the obvious ‘different strokes for different folks’ out of the way the following points come to mind. I note that the figures in the 13 y.o. book may be somewhat inaccurate.
I found the ‘More Wealth’ book quite positive in its appraisal of +ve gearing with an anecdote springing to mind of…[Read more]

Thankyou for your insightful feedback everyone.

I must say that the idea of dedicating time and money to the IPs for the next 9 years before consolidating borrowing and lifestyle exposure to city brick & tile sounds like the way to go for me.

I have considered commercial property but that really would be too close to my current 9-5 and I suspect…[Read more]

I have fixed 2/3 at the moment and keep the rest on discount variable for the offset. Both IO. I think it’s an under rated method of risk reduction and locking in the greatest expense related to the properties allows me to be a little more aggressive in other areas. Beware the time that passes between signing up fixed and settling though as t…[Read more]