Talk to your accountant. Maybe you need to get the property values as at when you moved out. Haven’t got my books with me to give you a reference.

In my view while no doubt there are a number of building defects etc you can’t identify, there are issues you can eg can you get a car in the garage, etc etc. You can try all the windows and doors for ease of movement. Fine, you don’t eliminate the need for professional reports, but you can ask the vendor or tenant about the neighbours etc.

Sonja,

You rented a house with air-conditioning. The landlord is required to repair it if necessary. If the agent causes trouble, tell them you will need to seek an order for compensation.

See for example:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/nsw/NSWCTTT/2004/187.html

Make a note of your conversations with the agent, as surely if they’re…[Read more]

The issue probably is whether the standard of accommodation being offered will attract good tenants. If you invest in keeping your property looked after you will attract better tenants.

Your PM should check references etc so that the risk of bad tenants is minimised.

If your cashflow forces you to have to make a choice of any tenant rather than…[Read more]

I would expect there would be penalties if your estimate of tax liability turned out to be inaccurate.

From the ATO website:
Change of circumstances

You must complete a new application and advise us of any change in your circumstances during the year – for example, when you sell a rental property or your taxable income changes to the exte…[Read more]

Your bank should be able to issue coded deposit books so all your deposits go into the one account, but there is a number s howing which property it relates to.

I have several deposit books for one account. The tenants are happy too, because they know that their payment can’t be confused with anyone else’s as long as they use the coded deposit.…[Read more]

Novice Guru,

Don’t automatically dismiss this deal as too big. Do a bit more research especially into how much you can borrow, tenancy history, cost of renos, rents in area for similar housing.

You can then make an informed choice to proceed, to proceed with partners or not to proceed

If your situation has any comlications eg family trust, get professional advice. I read recently if you have infant beneficiaries structuring super payments to them as pensions may save tax.

The new land tax changes in NSW are miniscule in effect for many investors in rural areas. One property I have that grosses several thousands has land tax of $18.00 a year. Another with four tenancies will be the equivalent of at most $2.00 per week per tenancy.

I am very happy if these changes will keep people away from investing in NSW, as…[Read more]

Just because 100k people buy a book doesn’t mean they will all act. Also of those who act several will not buy more than one or two properties and several will sell what they purchased for a number of reasons and not reinvest in property. People will have trouble with tenants, agents, unexpected repairs etc etc.

There are a number of regional…[Read more]

Unless your solicitor/conveyancer regularly does conveyancing in the state you wish to purchase I’d use someone in the state I was purchasing in.

You may find your husband’s employer’s requirements are because of Fringe Benefits Tax and concessions for remote housing.

ATO Interpretative Decisions 2003/157-160 show there is different treatment of mortgages and rent from the employer’s point of view.

Rather than hide things from your husband’s employer and run the risk of penalties to the…[Read more]

I would think a 12 week vacancy period is excessive. However, when I do my budgets I work on 4-6 weeks vacancy. The issue might be more one of risk management ie if the property is vacant for x weeks, have I resources so I can make the payments.

Instead of emotive words like “dog”, maybe it is better to look at other terms like opportunity…[Read more]

If the property hasn’t been used for income-producing purposes, non-capital costs of ownership such as council rates can also be included in calculating the cost base.

Selling costs and purchase coss are also taken into account in calculating the taxable gain

There are a number of sources that might be useful:

Council, not only generally, but there might be things in their management or social plans
local newspapers – try the local library and read the bcak issues as that will give a picture of whether industries are growing, have potential or are declining
if any of the major employers are public…[Read more]

You will often find there is a demand for reasonable quality rental accommodation in country towns. People might shift there for work on 2-3 year contracts and not want to buy for such a short time.

But as Richmond said you need to investigate the town. For almost all my working life (27 years) I have been in towns under 5,000 population.…[Read more]

There were meant to be a number of primarily business taxes to be cut out as a result of GST, not necessarily residential stamp duty.

Those figures look like Dolf de Roos, the theory being it’s based on numbers so you may need to look at 100 to buy 1. How you look is up to you, may not need to be physical. But they need to be properties that meet your strategy ie if your budget is $x then looking at 99 properties that are selling for multiples of $x doesn’t count. Then in…[Read more]

Mining towns can be risky as their economics depends on the orebody, and world prices. My experience is they have boom/bust cycles. If you can buy at the right time there is money to be made subject to the orebody and world prices.

Do plenty of due diligence. There were a couple of threads earlier in the year on investing in mining…[Read more]

Mark,

Don’t be worried about questioning anything. In fact, I think many people might buy a book or watch a program and think this is easy. Whereas, I think the message is not that it is easy, but that it is achievable if that is what they will focus on. Many people will never go further than buying a book because even going into investment…[Read more]