I like the colour consultant idea, hmacay!

If it is your first fixer-upper project, start small.
I think it is important to choose a property that is very overseeable- budgetwise and timewise, with a safety-chusion all around it.
In your enthusiasm it is very easy to take on too much too soon.
Work out the budget room-by-room. Tradesman by tradesman.

One very important thing about organising tradesmen is to schedule them so that they do not ‘clash’ with each other.

It can be so [ohno][ohno2][thumbsdownanim if tradesmen arrive on the same day and are in each other’s way and have to wait for each other to finish! It will slow down everything and will cost you more.
And get the materials to the site in time!

It is not easy to estimate costs of big projects. Save the more ambitious projects until you are confident enough.

Especially in this market, take into account the time necessary to sell as well to allow for interest payments on the loan. And be realistic about the selling price it this market.

It was all so easy to make a good profit during the boom- but realistically, much harder to make a profit by doing fixer-uppers right now!

Celivia

OK, coming back to gilad’s original question, I still doubt the value of this Positive Real Estate seminar.

On their website http://www.positiverealestate.com.au/
they advertise, for example, one aspect of their services: “Locating high yielding investment properties”, and state they offer “positively geared or positive cash flow”.

That’s all fine, but then they come up with an example (investment indicator)on their home page, so I just assume it is one of their best ‘deals’ for they wouldn’t want to show their worst deals on their homepage:

Purchase Price: $280,000
Rental Income Per Week: $280
Investment Yield: 5.2%
Cash Flow After Tax: $1,662
Capital Growth (10 years): 4.47%
Capital Growth (12 months): 10.9%

Well I’d call this negatively geared. Where is the cashflow?
My understanding is, that a cashflow property does not depend on taxreturns. Is this based on the returns of some one in the highest tax bracket?

Anyway, you can find properties with up to 6% yields, even in capital cities quite easily yourself.

I still believe that it would benefit you more to spend your $500 on buying a variety of property investment books than it is to spend it listening to some spruikers who will give you information on just their strategy.

That way you’ll be reading about different strategies, which will help you decide which way to go.
You may later, if you decide to stick with a certain strategy, decide that you still need to go to a seminar to further educate yourself about that chosen strategy, at least you have an idea of what you can expect, and what else is out there.

But to pay $500 for a seminar and then possibly decide that this is not the one for you, is just a waste of your money.

And, since Jenman was mentioned in this thread, I’d like to quote him here:
“There are no good get-rich-quick spruikers. Only varying degrees of bad.”

Celivia

Sounds exciting, mja!
I just want to say, because you’ve mentioned bamboo flooring, that this would be a great and practical choice, since you are thinking of renting it out later.
My husband has just installed a bamboo floor somewhere, I had a look and absolutely loved the look of it! It is ever so hard wearing and also environmentally friendly.

If you have it finished with Super Aluminum Oxide finish even better because it is low in dangerous & toxic substances which many people are getting concerned about-especially when there are kids playing on and the floor.

Celivia

Yes, and I think also when they are leaking, or being damaged in a fire or crushed.

I think there should be strict rules/legislation set for the disposal of these smoke alarms.

But…how do you know if your smoke alarm is leaking?
Is there a device that can detect it?

It only needs to be a little bit damaged, have a little crack inside, and this sensitive cancer-causing radio-active waste is leaking into the environment every day.

Am I being paranoid?[fear]

Celivia

Yes, our IP has a hard-wired smoke/burglar alarm, and in our own home we have battery-operated smoke detectors which are, apparently, invisibly wired to the toaster. [whistle]
We also have fire extiguishers installed near the kitchen of own home and IP, and a fire blanket.

Does anybody know whether smoke alarms are relatively safe? There was some hype surrounding the radio-active nuclear waste in smoke alarms some years ago, and I haven’t really heard any follow-up on that.

I’d be interested, too, Endless Summer, to find out about legislation about who is responsible for replacing the battery in smoke alarms of our IP’s.

Celivia

Hehe, first of all, I like the topic title, Milly,
“My Poor Neglected Home” Sounds like a good title for a country song. [guitar]

It is very true for us, too. There are several (maintenance) jobs to be done at our PPoR, but if anything at all needs to be done to our IP, it is always attended to immediately!

In some countries, the maintanance, improvements and renovations of your own home are tax-deductible when you set up a LOC and pay the renovations etc from that. Sounds like heaven to me. [thumbsup]

Celivia

Dr.X, just out of interest, (because I love these little debates my family, too, sometimes have) we have heard your side of the debate that’s going on in your house, but I am curious to know what is being said on the other side of the debate.

I respect your points against TV watching, but what’rebuts’ have your family members come up with? Wanna tell?

Just asking because you do not all seem to agree or you wouldn’t have spoken of a debate.

So TV can be:

[biggrin]Escapism

[biggrin]Good entertainment without having ot go out of the house.

[biggrin]It’s free (unless people have pay TV)

[biggrin]Relaxes people.(Some people relax best when they can be braindead for a while) )

[biggrin]There are educational programs and documentaries that are interesting or fun to watch.

[biggrin]Gives people something to watch while doing other things, like knitting or peeling potatoes.

I’m sure there are some TV lovers here who can make some fun points to add to this debate?????[biggrin]

Celivia

So your mum can’t get a loan to buy a house with you.
So she will help you pay off a house you’ll buy by renting it -paying less than market rent.
So you would want to help her more if you could.

I can’t see anything wrong with your plan *as is*, but how would you feel about giving her some future security by offering her part of your equity whenever she reaches retirement age?
(Part of) the rent she will be paying to help you pay off your mortgage can then be regarded as her ‘savings’.
This way you both will financially gain from sharing this house.

Celivia

Hi Gilad,
perhaps you would benefit more from reading books by different authors who use different investment strategies first before deciding to go to a seminar.
A few authors are: Jan Somers, Margaret Lomas, Steve Mcknight, Teresa Wainwright.
These will give you different angles.

From having a look on their website, I figure that Positive Real Estate mainly locate properties for people.

They also recommend that you use their own industry professionals.

The speakers at the seminar may be not be there to merely inform, but also to introduce (read: sell) their services.

I’m not saying that there’s always something wrong with that, as long as you are (very much) aware that this can happen. You wouln’t want to be talked into something or sign up for something you are not sure about or regret later on.

So, I just think it’s better to shield yourself with some knowledge before going to a seminar [medieval] so you’ll feel more confident and aware of what’s going on.

Celivia