Forum Replies Created
Hi Clare,
Very interesting… What state are you in ? I would like to check the FHOG criteria you mentioned because it could benefit a friend of mine in a similar situation. [blink]
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auTomtkb,
Are you saying that a basic house would cost $260K to build or does this include what you paid for the land?
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auYes, good suggestion.
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auHi Suzie,
If I was going to sell privately I would get decent looking sign out the front as a priority. The people that are most likley to pay the most for you property are the ones that go driving around the streets looking in the area where they REALLY want to live. They will generally pay more becasue it’s more of an emotional decision rather than a purely price based one.
The agent should have put an estimated selling range on the agreement. If he did , was the lowest end of the range way below what you think you can get for the property?
If you go to the property search page of my website you can find a list of private sales websites that you could choose to list on if you wanted to get some internet exposure.
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auThere was no LMI in my case because 20% was covered by equity.
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auHi Tamtam,
Click on this link fir Info on titles-
http://www.echoice.com.au/servlet/HomeLoanInfo?pn=/homebuyercentre/findrighthome/typestitle.html
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auHello again tamtam,
Our first loan was 106% of the purchase price of the investment property (which gave us enough to cover related purchase costs). We used equity from our owner occupied house so there was effectively nothing out my own pocket and we got maximum tax advantages from the loan interest. This gave us a great start.
Your associated costs will vary according to the price of the property and the state that it is in-
Try out the realestate.com.au calculators-
http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=loan&t=res%5B/url%5DTodd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auHi tamtam,
It is difficult to say if it would be CF+ because you have only given the gross return. What are the other costs involved eg: strata, body corp, sinking fund etc? and what sort of loan interest rate can you get?
1x bedders tend to have other drawbacks. Do you know what the floor space is? because this can be a problem for lenders and may make it difficult to resell if you need to. You will also need to ask what type of title exists on the property.
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auHi Ellie,
I have not purchased a boarding house but I have put a fair bit of research into them and I experienced difficulties in getting loans for them too.
I personally would not like to manage one myself because they can be very time consuming (form what I have heard from others).
You should also make sure the boarding arrangement is approved otherwise it could be shut down as a boarding house and you may have to settle for a lesser rent. There are also different state regulations regarding multi-room accommodation and I know some places have actually shut down because it was too expensive to bring them up to current safety standards. Obviously after the childers tragedy there are a lot more stringent laws to abide by-
This recent article may be of interest to you-
http://www.taswa.org/downloads/Policy/Boarders%20&%20Lodgers.pdf
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auHi Sand,
Lock up stage is basically where the property is built to the point that it has the roof, walls, windows, doors, floors but none of the inside fit-out. You will probably find that each builder has a bit of a different idea of what should be included in the lock up stage.
I’ve had a Tamawood spec home before and they’re OK for the price. Quality also depends on the specific builder that does it.
Tamawood tend to build fairly low ceilings as a standard (which I don’t like). If I had my time over I would pay the extra to raise the height by a couple brick courses. I didn’t like the look of the standard bricks either. The front door started falling apart when it got wet. Apart from that we didn’t have any problems and I thought it was reasonable value for money. We got a builder to do the whole package (landscaping included).
My view is just get something built as quickly as possible because then you can get a tenant in and providing you with rental income sooner. Unless you’re going to live in it and then the advantage would be that you get into your own property sooner and stop paying rent wherever you are now.
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auHi Sand,
I can give you the contact details of my builder. He has won Master Builder Awards and has his own team of tradesman. He built a very nice 4 x bedroom house for me in Northlakes Estate, Mango Hill. I didn’t have a single problem through whole process. He is a legend. Not sure how far up the coast he would go from Narangbah, but you can only ask.
If you email me I will send you the information.
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auMr Simba,
If the agent is desperate for an offer, why don’t you just submit a really low one. You are not revealing your upper limit if you go in really low. In this sort of situation I would do a RP data or property value.com search to find out what the property sold for previously and what it owes the current vendor. This would give you a little bit more knowledge to work with.
Sounds like this agent is playing all the tricks in the book on you. Please keep us updated because I think it would be a great challenge for us forum junkies to come back with some good counter strategies for you to consider.
Like Derek says, be prepared to walk away and then you will have the greater power.
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auHi Tomtkb,
What is the tenancy situation at the moment and how attractive are rents? At least if you build and get a tenant you will have some incoming cash to support your debt (I am assuming you have a mortgage). If you are worried about over capitalising just build something basic.
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auHi Suzie,
It’s me again. I just wanted to ask- Has the agent got a good sales track record becasue he achieves the best price possible for the vendor or because he sells lots of properties? If he sells lots of properties it could be because he is good at lead generation and downward price conditioning which it turn gets quick high volume sales.
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auHi Suzie,
This agent is following a very common lead generation strategy.
I agree with Dr X, make sure you don’t get bitten with an advertising charge.
Also be careful that the agent does not start conditioning you down on price once you have sign an agreement. The common practice is to get you signed up to an agreement by stating a sale price that they think you will be happy with (which they have no accountablility to achieve).
Then they start getting people to come through your house and make comment. The agent will usually start saying people are not liking things about the house and you should drop the price because the market is telling you it’s over priced because of all these issues and ALL these people are saying it. The thing is, if it is an ‘open house’ listing, most people will not really be serious about buying the house anyway (they’ll be just looking out of interest or to research). When the house reaches an easy to sell price then, bingo!! the agent gets his/her quick commission.
If the agent is truly confident of doing better than you can, then make sure the base level of the sale range on the agreement is the agents commission amount above your private sale price. (That’s if the agreement layout is the same as NSW RE agreements).
Just be careful that the agent doesn’t destroy the perceived value of your house by advertising it widely with a continually reducing price.
I have a couple of questions for you that will make a few things clearer for me-
1. What has been the response been like to your private listing?
2. Do you know what the true market value of your property is (which is most reliably obtained by a professional valuer)?
3. Do you display a private for sale sign out the front of your your property ?
I don’t know how much you know about the successful strategies for selling privately but I have seen some good information around lately. I will try and find it again for you.
If you decide to go with the agent just make sure you go over the agreement with a fine tooth comb. Remember when it comes to realestate and business ‘It matters not what is said, it matters what is written down and signed'”
Hope this helps
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auHi Tamtam
I have given myself a safety buffer by locking some of my properties into 5 yr fixed interest rates. If you have a couple of good capital growth properties then you should build up some good equity in 5 yrs. There are ways of drawing on that equity later to make sure you have some funds to access for emergencies.
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auHi Tamtam,
I make an offer on a property and then I get the following 4 conditions on the contract as a minimum-
1. Subject to finance
2. Subject to valuation
3. Subject to building and pest Inspection
4. Subject to legal opinionThese give me good options get out of the contract before it goes unconditional.
Before you sign a contract you also need to make sure that you read it carefully and become aware of any costs that will be incurred by withdrawing from the contract (at any stage).
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auQuote: do you think property prices are going to double in 8-10 years?
while the government is trying to restrain wage growth….and make australia competitiveget real
Properties MAXd…
good luck….
hb,Yes, I do think property prices will double in the next 8 to 10 years and I am buying plenty of properties to take advantage of it. So is Margaret Lomas but what would she know?[biggrin]
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auHi Dr.X
I disagree with your statement that the Jenman system does not work in the real world. I just sold a property through a Jenman agent. Because I knew the system well, I made sure the agent followed it.
The property sold for way above what other agents had sold similar properties in the area for.
The extra commission was minimal and was more than offset by higher price that the agent got for the property using the Jenman system. The other bonus is that I did’t have to pay a cent for advertising.
To Brahms,
If Jenman agents are doing there job properly, they would not want to sell to an investor like you or me because we want to buy at bargain/wholesale rates and they should work on getting the best price for the vendor.
They should target mainly owner occupiers who buy with the heart which is an emotional decision (not as price concious). So I agree, do not buy through a Jenman agent if you want a bargain. I would certainly sell through an Jenman agent again though.
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.auHi Anita,
The deal sounds great as long as it is legitimate and the developer doesn’t run away with your money. CF+ property isn’t the only way to invest so if I you can find another way to invest (with minimal risk) why not go for it. Direct investment in a property does offer a lot of safeguards though (compared to the 15% deal that you mentioned).
Todd Burns
http://www.freepropertyhelp.com.au
