When buying off the plan, the common trend is to use deposit bonds, so that your deposit is not tied up for 18 months etc until completion of the building project and subsiquent settlement…
It’s another way to keep your money in your pocket longer. Use the deposit bond instead of your own cash for the deposit. It costs though.
Given this is your first investment property Im assuming you are wanting cash flow, may I suggest that 2 townhouses will spread your risk. My neice recently purchased a beautiful townhouse on a decent size block of land for $150K in Labradoor Queensland.
As a mortgage broker myself, I know the bank has a duty of care to fully indentify by way of documentation i.e passport, drivers licence etc anyone trying to borrow money or take out a mortgage.
I would suggest the bank is at total fault here and your freind shouldn’t have too much to worry about. I would hope thier solicitor as already taken this path of action and bought to the banks attention that they were NEGLIGENT in thier role
St Kilda is a great growth area (next melbourne Bondi I believe) Get online each saturday Melb Age and check out surrounding prices to make sure you are getting a good deal.
Or jump on a plane and make a quick trip if you are seriously considering buying it will be worth it. The price sounds reasonable…
If this is an inner city apartment then you should take note that there is currently what people are considering an over supply. I think the property you are talking about is Market St.
I recommend you access the age online each Saturday and check out real estate prices, also the reiv site will give you valuable info on vacancy rates for rentals and expected growth figures etc.
I strongly suggest you have a local represent you as a buyers advocate, yes you will pay a fee but better than ending up with a lemon of an investment.
The most tax effective strategy would be as follows
1.Establish a line of credit on your home and put in all surplus money and savings you have.
2.Make sure the LOC has sub accounts so that you can keep your personal mortgage seperate from you surplus funds that would be used for investing.
3.find a suitable investment property (hopefully cash flow positive) and take the deposit and costs from your LOC
4 Borrow the rest of the money needed against your investment property (do not let the bank take cross security over both properties)
5 Use the form 1515 form to get deductions back on a weekly basis and put this money and all your rental and salary into your personal mortgage. This will help you pay off your personal debt quicker.
6 Pays interest only on the investment property until you are happy with the level of debt reduction on you personal mortgage.
Given your very first investment property is cash flow negative (congrats by the way) a strategy you could look at moving forward is to get creative and purchase some with a positive cash flow.
Be mindful when purchasing cashflow negative properties you should do your sums on the following basis, i.e if rates go up or if you have to drop the rent. if you can still afford the property on this basis then its worth considering. If you continued to purchase properties that were cash flow negative you would run out of income to sustain these properties… hope this helps
Congratulations, they say when writing a book often the intro is the most difficult.
As someone who currently works in the industry of assisting people to invest in property, with a marketing background I would like to say this about your draft.
The intro is informative yet real, it sounds as if it comes from the heart, most people today want to know you have put this out there for them to succeed not to build your own profile. (As we so often see with business or financial mentors.)
It makes no too often heard promises of how to get rich in 11 minutes or less and it suggests that what you are proposing in your book can be used by anyone.
Only one suggestion maybe edit the paragraph relating to Julie’s boss’s reaction & insert some info about your credentials. Too often we see i minute wonders with no creditials writing books on specific subject matters. Personally myself, before I buy a book I want to know the person that wrote it has both academic and practical qualifications about the subject matter at hand.
Again congratulations for stepping up to the challenge of writing a book so that others may benifit from your knoweledge!!!!!