Elders Launceston is one definitely to steer clear of we had endless problems with them. Peter Lees who we are currently with are very professional and would reccommend them for property management.

Ravenswood is split by the main road which you use coming from Launceston CBD and leads to the IGA and splits in two. If coming from Launceston CBD the area to the right of that road is referred to as old Ravenswood and is considered the better part the part to the left has a lot of commission housing and if you are a Landlord more undesirable tenant pool(to try and put it nicely)

Have to say can’t remember if I got a S32 for our purchase.

If you refinance IP and use the funds to pay off your PPOR the interest on those funds will not be tax deductible as the purpose the funds were used for are not income producing. Which is why Terry’s suggestion is the way to go sell IP, pay off PPoR and use surplus for deposit/buying costs to buy a new IP

SQM suggests vacancy rates in St Albans are around 1.6%

http://www.sqmresearch.com.au/graph_vacancy.php?mode=p&postcode=3021&t=1

Yes there are problems if the loan defaults both properties are in the mix also if you want to sell the original property you might have difficulty refinancing the 2nd property to stand alone or be up for LMI if the equity of the first property was used as a deposit.

someone else will be able to explain it better than me. The LOC is for investment purposes therefore interest is tax deductible so you don't want to be reducing the interest paid on it when you have non-deductible debt.

The offset account would be attached to your non-deductible debt(ie your loan on your PPOR), any spare money including rent goes into the offset, offsetting the interest paid on your non-deductible debt. Say you have a loan for $200K and $10K in the offset account you would only be paying interest on $190K.

Yep you would still have to pay CGT but it would be the best time to sell as your gain would be taxed at the lowest rate

Capital growth is slower in regional Vic but you can buy a near new/or new 3-4 Bedroom house for around $300-350K which will give you high depreciation. Also there are a fair few properties where the rental yield is pretty good and the vacancy rates are below 2%, we are currently looking in Bendigo, Ballarat, Wodonga and Geelong probably just going to watch the sales and rental markets for a few months but at the moment I'm liking Bendigo

Because the capital growth is slower would need to plan to hold it for longer.

To avoid Lenders Mortgage Insurance(LMI) a state which the Lender is happier releasing equity you need to be at or below 80% Loan to Value Ratio(LVR). Currently if your property is estimated to be worth $320K and you owe $240K then your LVR is 75% meaning you could comfortably use around $16K of your equity without going over the 80% and incurring LMI. Some Lenders might go higher than 80% to 85% or 90% but the loan process would be more lengthy and stringent and you would be up for LMI

Was discussing this with my lender yesterday, they don't have the concept of a Line Of Credit, for investors like myself what they do is create a standard IO loan draw down the funds and dump it in the redraw for you to use as you need, would this situation be different because the funds are put in the redraw instead of an offset?