G’day Paul,

10% seems pretty high for property management fees, we negotiated down to 6% as we were building a house at the back and the property manager wants to get it once its completed, but her normal rates were around 7%. Its a very competitive industry, so negotiate, advise them you are a property investor in the area and are looking for a…[Read more]

Wow, sounds like a pretty substantial project you’ve got on your hands, I’d say that you’re first step would be to set yourself a time/$ budget and work backwards from there.

Restumping can cost as much as $5000 (from memory)
Rewiring can be quite expensive, budget for a couple grand depending on the quality of the board and existing…[Read more]

Ahh the million dollar question, unfortunately there is no simple response to this question. If you really want cashflow positive, you’re going to have to get out and start looking for them, there are so many different solutions to achieving cashflow positive properties, unfortunately I don’t think you’re going to get the magic simple solution on…[Read more]

Sounds like there isn’t a whole heap of capital growth to play with there, some $22,000, have you factored in the stamp duty that you paid when you bought, the legal fees/conveyancing, the cap gains when you sell, the interest you’ve paid while holding the property, etc etc. You’ll probably find that the $22k that you think you’ve made will be…[Read more]

Interesting to hear Wylie, as I said, I think its like insurance, you don’t need it until something goes wrong [biggrin]

Could be wrong, I’m still pretty new to the game, each to their own.

D.

Hi kiwiperu,

Long story short, you can build over SOME storm sewers and easements, not over pits, and if you are planning on building over them factor in quite a bit to pay for the additional expense. Have a chat to the councils planning/building department, they’ll tell you real quick what you can and can’t do specifically with your block, then…[Read more]

I’d use the architect, essentially they are a more qualified individual, nothing against Draftys. We’ve used both and our architect has been worth the additional money, he’s identified may issues and work arounds that the draftsman didn’t, now I can’t categorically say that this is the difference between an architect and and draftsman (may have…[Read more]

G’day Munno,

There are plenty of tools out there to help with tracking rents, expenses, etc with regards to property, but the question is is it worth managing your own IP. In my opinion no, I suppose the whole “To get a property manager, or not to get a property manager” is a bit like insurance, you don’t need it unless something goes wrong.

If…[Read more]

Our new townhouse we’re building had to have some sustainability features in its design to get it through council, can’t recall if this was DSE imposed or by the municipality. So this meant that we had to put in a water tank, solar panels, etc etc. We chose a water tank.

Something to think about going forward, people can buy/rent new…[Read more]

Both, I’ve heard the saying (can’t quote who):

“I invest for capital growth, cashflow allows me to hold onto the property, capital growth makes me rich”

Sounds like a good idea to me. My primary purpose is to generate long capital growth, but I also have some good yields which allow me to hang onto them. Wash rinse repeat.

Hi Viral,

This sounds like a question for your accountant, unfortunately a partnership is not a partnership like a trust is not a trust. There are many variations on these and each has their own lending and taxation implications.

I’m currently involved in a series of joint ventures with family members, we’ve structured different projects…[Read more]

Hi Paul,

congrats on taking your first steps towards property investing, now onto your questions:

1. No it won’t cost you anything to get a pre-approval.
2. I don’t think there are any implications to having multiple pre-approvals, essentially you’re running a scenario and filling in paperwork to speed up the process should you find a property.…[Read more]

I’d rather take a hit from the All Black props than that sort of hit.

South Yarra and similar affluent suburbs will always command a high price and have shown strong growth figures over the past decades, it is a good area to invest in for capital growth but there is usually a high buy in (a friend of mine just bought a 1 bed unit on toorak rd, very original, very basic, $280 k), so depends what you’re buying for,…[Read more]

The 3 bedder would probably get 200, and the 2 bedder probably 170, they are about 100m from the uni so very close. The rooms can command about 120 per week, so the total for 5 rooms is around 600 per week for students vs 370 for normal tenants.

Cheers, actually its a duplex style place with one residence having 2 beds and the other 3, which makes it 5 beds in total.

Note that there hasn’t been any real interest in this? Would anyone be interested if I can get some more solid prices?

Hey, I’ve got to keep my costs down somehow.

Actually my friend is sourcing them from overseas, so he’s basically cutting out a few middle men hence the good prices.

Thanks Derek, any chance you can lay your hands on one of these and send it to me?

I’ve started developing my own template and appear to be on the same path as what you’ve described, but I’d like to leverage off what people are using that is working (i.e. is giving investors the information that they need, and is getting investor $$$).

Any help…[Read more]

Any feedback on this guys? I’m sure there are investors on here that have gone in search of equity partners????

D>