Pretty much Colin – the value in buying in Adelaide right now is for your general buy and hold properties – where you can get some good strong returns and upward capital values.

Perth will be an interesting market to watch when it starts bottoming from its current slump, an area I’ve got an eye on.

The value difference here is under the assumption that the fixed option is cheaper than the variable – what if rates drop further?

A lot of people would have come to the same line of thinking and chosen 4.99% fixes not that long ago instead of variable with offset, only to see themselves paying 1% more than if they went variable.

How many market…[Read more]

Every man and his dog is doing it Colin, so generally there’s little if any good returns for the most part.

In that price bracket Adelaide is going to certainly trump Brisbane on yield. Capital growth is speculation, but we’ve already seen strong growth in Brisbane so it’s a case of asking whether you’re coming late to the party if buying there now. Adelaide has come from a point of a previous correction after it’s last boom and bouncing for a few…[Read more]

You can still borrowing 95%+LMI, however you have to ask yourself whether its worth it. LMI rises exponentially in cost, so generally above 88%+LMI the leverage value diminishes to the point that for every dollar of deposit you save, you’re actually paying $2 in extra fees -hardly a good return on investment. In terms of LMI, I’ve written about…[Read more]

For the most part don’t mix financial decisions with emotional decisions. You would be better off finding a good quality positive geared investment and then just rent a holiday property when needed. The upshot of this besides from a better clean cut investment is you can always rent a new location – variety is the spice of life. :)

So you’d like to find a way to start losing money so you can reduce your tax (by a fraction of what you’d need to lose)?

Exception would be depreciation if you haven’t already organised a schedule.

Yes they still exist, whether they’re of value is another question. Once you tick over 90%, LMI rises exponentially. It gets to the point for every reduction in $1 of deposit, you’re paying $1 in extra LMI – not a very good return on investment. 88-90% is ideal for investing, as it balances the ability to leverage as much as possible, whilst…[Read more]

Are you talking about buying off the plan for land that another developer is developing and you hold until completion – or developing the land yourself?

Generally the end value is going to be priced in if the former, if the latter then it’s just a standard division scenario which depending on the market you’re in can be profitable, but easy…[Read more]

Hey @storeybuilder – that article looks familiar. ;)

In terms of releasing equity out post renovation – you can either release to 80% and pay no LMI or release to 90% and pay LMI. Keep in mind however that any LMI already paid is credited into this mix, so you may find you’re paying minimal LMI to release significant equity funds.

In terms of…[Read more]

Agree jeta, granny flats have indeed put downward pressure in markets where they’ve been allowed to be developed easily in planning laws.

Very unlikely – especially if pre-existing. Insurance is a for profit business, they’re not going to put a policy with a payout for something likely to happen in the future. ;)

There’s millions of properties in Australia, there’s no reason not to pick an A grade property over a B-D grade investment. If it were an older property I could forgive something like this more, but being only six years old it should NOT be suffering from these issues, so it’s telling about the quality of the build.

Exactly Richard – I’ve put through three applications this week for Lease doc/Lo Doc – at sub 5.5% rates, no exactly ‘high’ rates considering it’s commercial lending.

Correct Huilo – you can extend your capacity by entering into the commercial space – lending in this space is regulated differently and lender’s have a lot more flexible policies. I’ve actually written about some of these options here:…[Read more]

SPG pushes house and land packages + developments if I remember correctly – not a fully independent traditional buyers agency, as they receive revenue from builders/developers for pushing their stock.

If you’re looking for an independent buyers agent who is a serious property investor themselves I’d suggest having a chat with David Mews from…[Read more]

Their servicing has fallen off quite a bit since 12 months ago – plenty of lenders which have much better borrowing capacity than them. We generally don’t use them as we’ve found lenders which have a better mix of good policies for investors which allow them to keep growing their portfolio, strong borrow capacity and pricing.

As Terry has said – there’s usually broad definitions in the trusts which count children, grand children, extended family etc.

You can add your wife to the title, however this can trigger a stamp duty event so you would want to ensure you get advice on this – you don’t want to be up for a surprise of 20k+ bill. The same deal goes for moving property into a trust, you may be liable for paying stamp duty all over again on the property.

In terms of lending you can add…[Read more]

They’re definitely not always accurate 100% of the time, but can still play a valueable role in getting an understanding of a properties value – so much so that they’re used by a lot of lenders to value properties for lending. (Residex and RPData in particular).

We use Residex in the business a lot for both our research and for clients want…[Read more]