I’m personally not a fan of creating market distortions – which different tax treatments of properties based on new/old. This would create a new bubble for OTP/house and land.

Unfortunately no party has looked at creating a long term sustainable system, instead putting bandaids over the existing cracks in the system created by previous interventions.

*hire a building inspector and have the property inspected by a property manager
*Utilise a buyers agent who can complete the due diligence on your behalf

Don’t buy sight unseen of course, but it’s not that difficult to have someone work on your behalf.

If the land already has its titles released and can be purchase immediately and there’s no requirement to go through the builder, that’s not OTP. It’s just a land developer showing a house available which can be built on site, many builders do this to drum up business as advertising.

Depends what you mean by ‘poor credit rating’. Is it defaults, previous bankruptcy, poor repayment history on current loan?

Very deal specific, so best to have a chat with a broker who can give you advice relevent to your situation.

Regional, Hobart and the outer suburbs of Adelaide are the main picking grounds for CF+ properties in Australia. There have occasionally been properties which have been CF+ when Brisbane bottomed in prices, but that’s changed in the last two years.

Areas like Elizabeth SA, Wagga Wagga NSW, Orange NSW you’ll find reasonable cash flow.

Keep in mind that you don’t want to buy a cash flow property at the expense of any capital growth, else you will limit your ability to grow your portfolio in the long term, or enjoy strong growth in rents etc. Regionals are more likely to have limitations in CG due to weaker demand and huge supply availability is council/shires adjust their urban boundaries to allow for growth.

The cost being paying stamp duty and any other government charges all over again, and if you’re more than 80% LVR LMI all over again.

Great way to burn 10’s of thousands – for what benefit?

A lot of people like the sound of having things in trusts, but generally cannot articulate what the actual benefits for them are vs the costs. Trusts can be very handy for those with substantial portfolios in certain States who want to minimise their land tax, and for high litigation risk professions. For most other people – it’s likely to be overkill.

Focus on saving as much funds into your offset account as possible for your next purchases. Dependent on the timeline for you to change the existing PPOR as an investment property and whether you buy another PPOR, it may benefit in running a debt recycling strategy. Fundamentally it’s all going to come down to your ability to save a significant amount of funds towards your next purchase before the wheels start turning.

Generally the vendors aren’t looking for creative – they will want more money.

So you realistically need to remember that the vendors and agent will know an eager buying party = will pay more. If not they’ll string you along until someone else will.

Pay the PPOR loan out and setup a new loan releasing equity to be used for investment. You then have no personal debt, and the equity released if you used for investment use will be tax deductible. Win win.

Whether a trust is even worth it in your situation is dependent on your specific situation – for the most part many people who use them dont realise it’s complete overkill. Are you in a profession which has a high likelihood of being sued?

Keep in mind, by buying properties together you’re both going to have drastically reduced borrowing capacities if you ever borrow separately for anything – including a personal place of residence (your own home).

Trusts have a place, especially if you work in a highly litigious industry – otherwise it can be overkill, leaving you additional costs for minimal if any gain.

The vast majority of lenders accept 80% of the rental income, some lenders such as CBA and NAB will have yield caps.

That’s just one tiny factor compared to a multiple other layers which will affect your borrowing capacity – have a chat with an investment focussed mortgage broker who can weigh all the factors up to find the best lending options.