I'm doing alright in life. This is a forum for general discussion. I don't expect anybody to take my advice and I really couldn't give a shit what you think either. Personal insults on a general forum are for the childish and intellectually challenged. Why don't you sit back for 5 years and wait for the next boom?

Other countries in the world are on a totally different economic cycle to America. America sent itself broke on needless wars and ridiculous lending to sub primers.

Russia is booming
Asia is booming
Australia is booming
Everybody shed a tear for the yanks and move on. It's their mess, let them worry about it

Worry worry worry
Analysis paralysis
Investing is not without risk
Negative gearing now would be stupid unless you were looking at long term
Negative gearing is pretty stupid full stop.
The positive cashflows are out there
Foreclosures, falling prices, haggling sellers down, etc etc. It's just a tranfer of wealth from one to another. One mans junk is another mans gold. Everybody has to consider their own circumstances. The once in a lifetime real estate deal comes along every week. Just because the newspapers say the world is ending means jack shit. Newspapers are run by lefties that want communism back who work for minimum wage. Why believe what you read?
The world will not end
The sun will come up tomorrow. People will get rich. 10 years from now you'll be hearing about how people got rich when everybody else panicked. There will be bookstores full of these books and we'll be going……………if only I had……………..
Get greedy when everybody else is cautious
Your debts are the banks problem. If they give you the money and you can afford the repayments, don't worry.
People aren't going to stop living in houses. Don't worry, be happy

Avoid blocks of land like the plague
Building is expensive. It is now cheaper to buy a house than build it
A block of land provides you with absolutely no tax breaks. It doesn't pay you rent. They are very hard to offload if you get into trouble.
Bricks and mortar. The time is nigh

We aren't spending billions every week on a war in Iraq
Our banks are the most profitable in the world
Our raw materials are being bought by the millions of tons every week………..and will be for many years
Our population is growing
Immigration is at an all time high
Our country has a massive budget surplus that our government can spend on infrastructure to stimulate the economy if needed.
America is bankrupt. We aren't
Australia doesn't have to spend 700 billion dollars to bale out the mickey mouse banks that lent billions of dollars to people who couldn't repay the debts.
Chalk and cheese.

It depends on your attitude to risk. It is expensive to build and the costs are increasing. Values may decrease a little. You may end up with negative equity. However, if you've done your numbers properly, you will be in front. Building projects have a habit of blowing out. There will be unexpected costs, delays and frustrations with subdivion. These problems will drain your cashflow. It seems the return for your risk is pretty low. I would sit on it over the next 6 months and just get a bit more of an idea where the market is heading.

Australia has mass immigration. All our capital cities have urban sprawl. WA is being bulldozed for housing. House prices will not plummet because their isn't enough of them. It isn't America. Interest rates came down 1% today. The sooner you get into property the sooner your life gets going. The sheep are scared. The Lions are feeding.

If you think the property is realistically worth $550-570K in the current market and you owe $530, try selling for for $545. That will help you cover real estate fees at sale and you may break even. If it's hurting you, get rid of it. Save the cash and look for a better investment where you can fully gear your husbands income. It sounds like you're losing money. If the property was in your husbands name you could go interest only and fully gear it. No loss at all. Put it on the market at $545. Reduce it a bit if you don't sell in a fortnight. Properties are selling if they are priced realistically. The days of greed are temporarily over. It's a cycle. The wheel goes around. People are always looking for houses and if they perceive good value they buy it. Growing families need bigger houses, people are moving to Perth in droves and need somewhere to live. The house wasn't an investment property and hasn't been set up to make the most of negative gearing. You're haemorrhaging cash. Sell it immediately.

I like your reading list so we are like minded. I am happy to bounce some ideas around on the forum. I am no millionaire so I'm no mentor. I invest in business. Business generates cashflow. Cash is king at the moment. The shares and property market has taken a bath. The folly of negative gearing has been exposed. Negative gearing may not be any use for another 5-10 years but who knows? Sometimes when the stock market crashes, everybody invests in real estate. I personally believe that anybody on  even a ,modest wage can negative gear one property as you only give your tax money to the government anyway. Might as well own a real esate investment instead. If the property market drops off as many predict, positive cashflow investments may return. They are hard to find after the boom in property values over the last 5-10 years. Australian property is clearly over priced and the remarkable gains of recent times are over. You make your profit when you buy. Appreciation is a bonus and when you consider the amount you spend on stamp duty, agent fees, interest, you probably lose money. Positive cashflow properties are the way to go but hard to find. I prefer to concentrate on my local area rather than trawl the state/country for deals I know little about.

New houses are definitely the best for depreciation. The best ones are only a few years old or brand new is the key. As the house ages you get less and less you can depreciate.

Off the plan is not necessarily a bad thing. Consider the area. Is there a high rental vacancy? You will need a tenant. What is the area like? You will need a tenant that won't trash your house. Who will build it? Are they reputable or if they are an unknown, find out what else they have built and take a look at it.  What is the socioeconomic area? Will you get the rent you need? Familiarise yourself with the design and find out what project builders are charging for similar designs. If it's good value it's good value. Buying off the plan usually saves you some money. Your profit is made when you buy. Appreciation is a bonus and is no certainty for many years in the current environment.

mug investor