Negative gearing in it’s current form helps soften the blow of losses somewhat – but you’re still making a loss. No point trying to make a loss just to try get some tax back, you’re still worse off.

The exception is if its non realisable ongoing losses – ie depreciation, but Benny has highlighted the most important point: don’t chase deductions…[Read more]

Hi Bernie, where are you investing in the US currently? Most of the areas in the US which had strong returns seems to have eroded since the recovery, would be interesting to see what markets are still giving those strong returns.

Can’t comment on the actual company – but there are plenty of these groups around – Forsalebyowner etc. In the end its comparing apples with oranges, as it’s just listing the property on the internet, not exactly the same service as an agent who will be able to negotiate etc.

I’ve seen a few of these come up when buying properties – I even tried…[Read more]

Depends – can’t see if rising the prices, but likewise a significant downturn in price would be odd, unless it was a real eyesore. A lot of the retirement villages being built now have quality amenities etc, so it may very well just mean the neighbouring area is going to be fully of quiet neat little homes. ;)

Just because your bank said you can only borrow $180,000 – doesn’t mean that all lenders will say the same. Any investor wanting to build a significant investment portfolio will need to have a strategic lending structure to ensure they maximise their capacity and factor in long term finance challenges which arise for investors. I’ve written about…[Read more]

Good post Jamie. It’s something which is definitely becoming more popular – just had a maternity leave deal approved this afternoon, another being submitted this morning.

Thankfully the banks are becoming more and more warm to the concept and having specific policy to cater for the reality of the situation.

Interesting decision – I wouldn’t even know my tenants names without checking, I try to keep things running as a business than personalised.

Be careful to assume land prices will rise during the time. Being your first home and a single income with dependents, you may want to consider that it would be prudent to wait until you’ve settled into your new home and then recheck your budget to see if you can afford the investment. The last thing you want to do is sink your hard earned savings…[Read more]

There are some meta-filters out there which can search through listings Australia-wide across re.com.au, domain, real estate agent’s direct websites etc. The best one I’ve probably seen to date is https://www.realestateinvestar.com.au/ME2/Default.asp in that regard.

Plenty of great minds in these groups – most cities have groups of likeminded people meeting up semi regularly. There’s a group of investors in Adelaide who meetup once a month here, I believe theres also some fairly regular ones in Melbourne.

75% LVR is definitely possible, but remember there is a general trend of rate for risk in commercial lending – the higher the LVR the higher the interest rate.

They’re definitely not non-recourse. If the property market crashed 50% and you went bankrupt, they’ll still come after you for any losses incurred.

I’m not sure what you’ve been reading to be going about non-resource commercial loans in Australia, you might be confusing this with Lease Doc loans OR reading US based info sources?

To answer the actual questions though:

*To draw equity from an existing commercial property, pending lender policy if the numbers stack up to show you can afford…[Read more]

There’s specific products for this – you don’t need to go down a traditional loan if the retirement village is an aged care bond etc?

Effectively they work as a facility which can creep up over time amortising the interest.

What’s the ‘unusual’ situation?

Happy to have a chat with you Panina. Getting into your own home whilst affordable will at least give you the breathing room to rapidly pay down your personal debt, freeing up that equity to get buy investment properties.

There’s little to if any value in getting more than one broker looking over the deal unless you don’t trust your initial broker. (in which case don’t use them). On the other hand ‘shopping’ the deal around to multiple brokers shows poor respect for a brokers time, as we’re only paid on the settlement of a deal.

All brokers get people who make…[Read more]

If you’re looking to buy your own home – do this first. You can put all of your cash into that property, reducing the repayments as much as possible. AFTER this you can then setup a seperate loan account drawing out equity from your own home to purchase an investment property, allowing you to effectively have your cake and eat it – the best of…[Read more]

What I’ve suggested is not a refinance at all – so there’s no assessment required, no discharge, estab of govt charges ($500+ in fees), and takes circa a week instead of up to a month for you to have the funds available. It’s just an amendment which splits an existing loan into two loans, which allows the second loan to be paid down and drawn…[Read more]

What I’ve suggested is not a refinance at all – so there’s no assessment required, no discharge, estab of govt charges ($500+ in fees), and takes circa a week instead of up to a month for you to have the funds available. It’s just an amendment which splits an existing loan into two loans, which allows the second loan to be paid down and drawn…[Read more]