Paul B. wrote:
Also grab a tub of spackfilla and fill in any holes before you paint! Well worth the extra couple of minutes effort.

I can't believe how many people neglect to do this. I saw a house once that someone had bought to flip. They hadn't prepared the walls AT ALL. Just painted right over what was there. Chunks out of the wall, and…[Read more]

Thanks. We are very happy with the result. Good equity gain and CF+

Normally we would have polished floorboards but because of the damage we just carpeted. Just cut back the burnt floorboards and replaced. Not too bad.

They have their own rules. You'd need to read the regulations of the one you are considering.

When it comes to sell there may be limited buyers. I'm not sure how they stack up as for as CG goes. .
But as a safeguard for your parents to move into it may be worth looking into.

Can you do renovations? What restrictions are there? Can you sell to…[Read more]

Positive Real Estate have been pushing Coomera for 5 years now because they build units there.

Just be very careful. When you don't know an area well you can easily make a poor purchase. One suburb may look very similar to you but may be completely different to the knowing purchaser

Chris funny you say that. In 2011 I asked if anyone wanted to come and see our reno (and maybe pick up a paintbrush) but no-one was interested. I would have jumped at the chance had someone offered that a few years ago when we started full renos. 

We haven't bought an IP for 12 months but are over renos at the moment with our new PPOR. Really…[Read more]

It sounds good in principal. I would speak to a lawyer first though. Are there spouses or significant others. If you and your brother own it and get divorced for example ex is entitled to half.  What if one of you dies? Who's entitled to your assets?

I'd get legal documents drawn up to show who owns and owes what (just to cover all bases). And…[Read more]

How can it be technically a one bedroom and really a studio?

I consider it to be a one bedroom if it has a separate room that will fit a bed.

Yes. But as with all things there are good and not so good. A good one can sometimes source deals before they even hit the market. Agents can contact them if they know a seller wants a quick sale or is willing to drop their price. At the end of the day agents want a sale. If they know an agent has lots of clients they'll often ring them.

I've…[Read more]

Just to clarify the $15,000 was an all up cost.  Yes we do a lot ourselves. First 2 days strip everything out (kitchen, bathroom etc). We strip gyprock if necessary, strip wallpaper, carpet, prepare walls, paint. We put gyprock up, and cornices and set. 

Friend (electrician) does electrical. We pay a plumber (mates rates). We also pay my BIL for…[Read more]

Hi, I'd get rid of the timber if it's that cheap stuff that's nailed/glued on. Just re gyprock the wall behind. If it's nice proper timber you can stain or paint it. From the sound of the house it's the cheap stuck on stuff.
The strips between the sheets of (not gyprock) is just to join them. I think it would be more trouble trying to patch over…[Read more]

What items are you talking bout taking photos of?

We strip the kitchen and bathroom so it doesn't matter what it looks like (it's going in the skip bin).
A kitchen price won't change in price much f it's a bit bigger or smaller. Same with a bathroom. The extra cost comes if you want to change the layout.

So pretty standard with pricing once…[Read more]

If one is in a high income bracket and it is negatively geared it's more tax effective to have it in that persons name. If it's positively geared it's more tax effective to have it in the low income persons name.

But if you sell and it it is in the high income persons name it will cost you more in CGT (assuming a profit).
So you need to look at…[Read more]

We just got quotes for ours. It was quite confusing. We had back neighbour, side neighbour and internal to section off granny flat. We just got him to quote the 3 bits separately.

The total cost varied by $1000 with 3 different companies.

I like colourbond. We had it at our old house. Put it in 15 years ago and it still looks like new. But it's…[Read more]

What do you mean "in this way".

In NSW if you pull out you lose your .25%.

Best to lose your deposit than have to fork out thousands getting it to comply (or have to rip it out because it doesn't).

Sounds like they are avoiding your calls etc. Probably a reason for that.

There has certainly been some good CG in the last few years in 2770.

Rents have stabilised and demand is there for reno stock which is also pushing prices up.

The yields are still good but not like they were a few years ago.

As mentioned you need to be careful with selection of area and particularly streets within areas. Pick incorrectly and…[Read more]

It depends if there's been capital growth.
That would allow you to access equity sooner.

Assuming you have and don't want to go over an 80% loan. You can borrow (assuming servicability) up to 80%

eg if your house is worth $500K and you owe $350K you could borrow $50K. Because $400K is 80% of $500K.

That's a very simple example. Hope it…

Taproot- what is it you actually want to know and why?
What state is it in. I have access to NSW, Queensland and SA.
I can give you sales figures etc but I won't give out peoples names.

PM me if you want the info.

Awesome example of the power of photography.

Nigel I totally agree. But in my defence I did know the area very well and I knew if I didn't buy it on the spot it would be gone as it was being sold by an agent that had no idea. One in the same complex sold for $20K more the next week and was not in as good condition. It was a great buy and has…[Read more]

haha. That is so true. I bought a villa in my lunch hour once. Looked at it, went to the office, signed the paperwork. It DID have a 5 day cooling off period.

I spent weeks agonising over buying a car.

Yes but when one rents commercial properties don't the tenants pay all outgoings (rates etc)?